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The River Spey, Scotland

I'm here, fly-fishing for salmon on the Spey River in Scotland! Could it get any better? Oh, I suppose catching a fish would be better. Might have to wait until I return in June. Could be better prospects then.
Hey, at least I'm trying out some new gear. Notice I'm sporting a new Orvis fly vest? [Allen] I got it for 1/3 the regular price because is had a "broken" zipper, which I fixed, thank-you-very-much. Also, a new Orvis Mach IV wide arbor fly reel, which is super-silent, has a large disc drag, and is extremely lightweight. Using 8 weight line on a 10', 3 piece, 8 weight LL Bean Orion fly rod. Most enjoyable. Did I mention I'm inaugurating this equipment on the river Spey? Oh, I did. Hmm. Did you notice it's snowing?!

All right, this was Saturday, our day off, from a two week detachment to RAF Kinloss, near Elgin, Scotland. Now, if you notice a slight change in prose, please allow that my audience is expanding, due to it's popularity here in the UK, so please bear with me, my loyal readers.

This is Andy, one of the pilots from FRA, the company that flies our pods. Andy had lived many years in Scotland, near the Speymouth (which, for those of you who don't speak Scottish, means "near the mouth of the Spey"). Andy is using a 16' two-handed fly rod called a "Spey Rod" (no, I'm not making this up). A Spey rod was developed for long [sort of] roll casting across wide rivers, such as (you guessed it) the Spey. Andy was kind enough to bring me along on this outing, and showed my his "favorite" spots. Pretty cool, huh? Sorry, can't tell you any more about this, you fishermen understand.

... obviously, we meet up with the French and drink lots of beer and whisky ! This is part of a french squadron who had brought a couple of Super Etendards which flew as part of the exercise in Scotland. The pod captain from NATO, Eric, who was with me is french, and he was really thrilled that some of his countrymen could be there in Scotland with him. One of these guys is a good friend of Eric's, from his hometown,near Bordeaux. They went skiing on Saturday, while I went fishing.

Come on, Stuart. You're a handsome man, and a brilliant barkeeper! Here Stuart is pouring me a wonderful Scottish lager, called "Tennant's". Stuart is the resident expert on single malt Scotch whisky, amongst other things Scottish. Go ahead, ask him anything!

So, I'm back home now, working on my assignments for the next couple of weeks. I have a longer trip coming up to Denmark and Greece, but there's a bit of exciting news this weekend, so I should have another post for you before I go. Thanks for being patient, but I try not to bore you with mundane posts. Feel free to leave comments, or send us an e-mail. Just a note about comments... I have to turn the comments off after 2-3 weeks, or else I start getting "spammed". So don't delay, if you're going to comment, do it!

Posted by phanvey at March 12, 2006 04:38 PM