By Stevie Munn
Wee Davy And The Otter The Six Mile Water at sunset was the setting for this story.
D
uring this astonishingly strange time, it is easy for us to become depressed, downhearted or feeling that there is no hope, especially if you have other problems or lost all your income due to Covid. But we have to stay upbeat and there is no better tonic I have found over the years than humour. So, I have decided enough of feeling down, it’s time to remember the great days and some of the real fishing stories in my lifetime of angling. I’d like to introduce just some of the many remarkable anglers and characters I met along the way. Now I am well over the half century, I thought it was time to write some real fishing tales - stories of the fun times, the unexpected times, the lost fish and the leaky waders and the times of growing up fly fishing, and of the love of the outdoors which never really ends.
Remember you should fly fish for enjoyment and if you’re not enjoying it you probably need to give it up and try something else that you might enjoy. Fishing is meant to be fun. I see a lot of people taking life and ,indeed fly fishing, a bit too seriously. I must add I have always been very seriously into fishing, but that’s a different thing entirely. I was reading a fantastic book recently by the late Hugh Falkus, who for me is one of the all-time great angling writers. The book was one of his lesser known works entitled, ‘Some Of It Was Fun,’ which gave me the inspiration to write down some of the events in my life that still bring a smile to my face. There are many individuals that I could write about, however the first angler I want to introduce is my old friend from Belfast, David Telford, known locally as ‘Wee Davy.’ He even
has a fly named after him which is in the late Malcolm Greenhalgh’s great book, Fishing Flies, A Guide to Flies from Around The World. Sadly Davy’s medical condition slowed him up, but he fished with me often before that and was a very passionate angler and also a really good photographer - and excellent company. Through the years we spent many days on many rivers and loughs all over Ireland. He had many nick names, one such being Davy Indian, as when I first met him he was into rock music and motorcycles and had long black hair. I know he won’t mind me saying he did look rather like a typical Sioux. I used to joke with him that he probably had some Spanish blood, from when the Spanish Armada were shipwrecked off our coast in 1596. Just general teasing, the kind you can do with real friends and he always took it in great humour.
Irish Country Sports and Country Life Spring/Summer 2021
61
