DESPITE my best intentions to commit more fishing this year, it turned out to be a bit of a lean season, with the family diary preventing trips to Iceland, the Oykel and the Pere Marquette (yes, I know where to find sympathy in the dictionary, thank you!). In Scotland, I struggled through that heatwave and managed to blank on three of the Big Four salmon rivers. At one stage, the nearest thing I had to the fun of playing a fish was reeling up the extension cord of our vacuum cleaner.
However, I remain once again grateful for small mercies—specifically, the redeeming features of fishing for
