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Londoner submits to public fish-slapping
Inspired by a Monty Python sketch, a charity fund-raiser in London with an odd-ball sense of humour submitted himself on Saturday to being slapped in the face with a couple of wet fish.Ben Fillmore (24) turned up at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park in central London as promised at high noon to be publicly humiliated with two fresh Scottish rainbow trout at the hands of student Lucy Berry (23).She had paid £210 on internet auction site eBay to be part of Fillmore's quest to raise a total of £10 000 for the Stroke Association."It felt OK," Fillmore confided to reporters afterwards. "My face feels a bit taut and the fish really stinks. It felt very slimy -- but it was definitely worth it."The stunt was an homage to "the fish-slapping dance" in which John Cleese and Michael Palin, both in safari outfits, take turns whacking each other with fish in a classic episode from television's Monty Python's Flying Circus.Berry has so far raised £2 000 pounds for the charity, which helped his mother survive a stroke six years ago.He said he has more stunts in the pipeline -- as well as a project to scale Mount Everest.
Fly fishing smallies in the fading summer
It's unbelievable how some years are dominated by certain types of fishing. Some years the surf is hot for stripers or blues. Some years trout fishing is hot in the streams. This year the hottest fishery going in freshwater is the smallmouth fishing in the rivers and streams throughout New Jersey. While most fly fishermen consider fishing for trout the ultimate sport, one day with a good dose of bronzeback with a buggy whip just might make them think twice. If I had to pick one fish that was my all-time favorite to catch, Ol' Mr. Bronzeback would be at the top of the list. Pound-for-pound, inch-for-inch, there is no better fighting fish to be found in the sweet water. While smallies are found both in the still waters of a lake or reservoir, they especially are feisty when they are found in the current environment of a river or large stream.
Low flows compound a high drama
This summer has certainly been one of great joy for holiday-makers and sun worshippers. The sun has been working overtime while the rains have been on strike - until this last weekend. River fishing has been virtually at a standstill except for some trout fishing around dusk and sewin fishing at night. Rivers like the Towy and Rheidol have produced a few quality sewin intermittently despite the low water levels. Sewin, often referred to as the children of the tide, have been scarce on most rivers and even on rivers where stocks appeared more numerous, the fishing conditions have been atrocious. Anglers sometimes equate catches with stocks when in fact the catches often reflect the fishing conditions. Anglers are very concerned about the future of sewin and salmon stocks especially as several of those important nursery streams are drying up.
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