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The quiet jolt at a perfect site for fly-fishing
It's that moment when a trout grabs your dry fly. It starts when you see the trout rise before you feel the grab. A millisecond later, the trout jolts you, and it's almost an electric sensation, as if you are wired directly to the fish. For a lot of people who fly-fish, it's the single most exciting moment in all sport. This is better than watching any sport because here you are the participant, not the observer. And the way you take this to the highest level is by casting a dry fly to wild fish in a pristine wilderness stream. That is what has always led me back to the Middle Fork San Joaquin River, high in the Sierra in the Ansel Adams Wilderness, the best place in the West to try and catch the grand slam of wild trout in a single day: rainbow trout, brook trout, golden trout, brown trout and a strange-looking hybridized mix I called the "golden-brook." Even though the trout are not large here, you have a chance to get 20 to 50 grabs in a day.
He's cast as a top fishing guide
As a child, Gary Mauz was so dedicated to fishing, he would go camping by himself and spend all day exploring the best fishing holes along the Neshaminy Creek, especially where it flowed into the Delaware River. Mauz, 43, still loves to fish. But now, he's generally not alone - he's either guiding or instructing others in fishing - and his years of experience have taken away some of the guesswork in finding good fishing spots. His business, the Delaware River Fly Fishing Guide Service, is based on his knowledge of the area. His clients often include tourists who like to hear a bit of local history while they're fishing. As a professional guide who guarantees that you will catch fish, he also relies on his ability to read the water surface. He looks for places where a strong current can carry the line, and where slight impressions on the surface might indicate where the water is deeper and where fish might hide.
Flyfishing gets its hooks into the girl about town
To be honest, I'd class myself as more of a socialising and shopping girl than one who messes about on the river. But this was the Four Seasons, the hotel brand that's a byword for stylish luxury, and if it was pitching fishing as the latest activity for the girl about town, maybe it was time I swapped my wedges for waders. This was going to be deluxe fishing: fishing where you don't have to touch the fish, fishing with champagne and sandwiches back at the hotel. Basically, it's having a laugh, standing in the sunshine at a pond in the country and then having a spa treatment. My previous experience with the rod was hardly a success. When I was a child my father took my younger sister and me fishing at Sandy Balls holiday park in the New Forest. We didn't catch anything, so dad had the cunning idea of buying some fish fingers from the site shop and putting them in our nets for mum to cook back at the caravan.
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