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At Home
The more he develops as a guide, the more Jim Hendrick learns to listen for that certain something in a clients voice.
48 Irish Angler September 2013

The more I do this job the more I hear that special thing.

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Maybe this year the fish move differently into different places at different times, maybe not.

here is a deep satisfaction in acquiring knowledge of a place and the things that live there. You become familiar with the stones that lie along the inner estuary shore and the way they have been laid in patterns by forces that you cant figure, forces over time that must have shaped those patterns. You become reluctant to walk on those stones to avoid disturbing them. The subtle nuances of late September light, the stark hardness of a cool April north westerly blowing grey curtains of showers across lilac skies whilst spring geese V their way home, the uplifting sight of the first swallow when fishing for sea trout, the silence after the last tern has gone, the smell of summer rain on dry rocks and sweet sea pinks refreshed like some bejewelled Italian ice-cream nodding their heads in a summer breeze to the twinkling song of a skylark high in the sky. One-legged oystercatchers limping along a mirrored strand take off and land again and little waders run quickly in groups backwards and forwards in the shallow waters. The curlews startled cry as you walk back a late October estuary the sky already darkening. All these things breed into your skin, into your person into what you are, into what you have become over years north winds, south winds, east winds, sunshine, frost, blue skies, rain, salt and sand. The shape, the colour and the sound of the sea the waves that break on the shore into white bass water where you know it will happen, you can sense it, and you know it instinctively. All these things have built in me over many years from these countless repeated and yet different experiences and

messages I have a sense of where I am I am home. And into this you must add the fishing. What you know is what you know because it has been forged in this instinct and experience. You see the gulls struggle against a grey drizzly sky and you get the heavy rod, the 10-wt, and your heart is racing because its happening and you can be in the middle of it and you move so quickly you hardly remember getting there and you almost run to the location to get a cast off. This is where I am happy, this is what I understand, have understood for a long time. The fishing and the fishing and the fishing. You wait for spring to come and you see the way the winter waves have bent the sand and the sandbars, the new entrances the new exits the different flow and where it was once safe is now dangerous or is now a new fish holding spot. Maybe this year the fish move differently into different places at different times, maybe not. And the familiar anxiety and excitement around the arrival of a new season begins. Bringing people to this environment, to this place to catch fish is what I do. That can be a dangerous thing of course and I have learned to listen for something special in a customers voice or in the way he or she writes an email. The more I do this job the more I hear that special thing. Now dont get me wrong, I dont have special powers of perception but I have learned to listen better. Very often I hear a lot of noise and then I hear a different sound and thats the one Im often most interested in. Both John and Paul make that sound. Starkly different people, they are both very strong in their own ways. Where John is noisy Paul is quiet. Where John is a raconteur Paul

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Then John came back with Paul in 2013. Paul is not like John. He just fishes when he can, which is rarely. Paul is very relaxed and listens intently and goes and does it as best he can. Last year Paul caught some fish. In fact last year was the last time that Paul had fished. So here we were again on the water in Wexford under the sun in a tight head band of summer heat not witnessed since the fabled 76. With a little tweaking every now and again Paul was getting better and better. With a little slowing down John was getting the pace to last in the 25 degree temps stop and start, easy does it. In a day born from a light that makes everything special, the fish came on. Crystal clear water ran the estuary, sandeels tightened and hardened to any structure they could, while from the surface terns picked up eels lost in the rip of currents boiling and bubbling over the tide. Skylarks hovered high overhead almost invisible, their summer song twinkling down to us and somewhere in the distance was the drone of a paraglider. Paul had done exactly what we had discussed earlier and the first fish came to the surface lure like train intent on destruction. John took his fish moments later on a transparent flatwing. It was a day of light and magic made special by the fish, the company and feeling at home with great people.

Coverstory

is a listener, and where John can be found fishing Paul can often be seen sitting and staring, taking his time. Early during 2012 I got a plethora of emails from John, one after the other in quick succession, more questions in each. John wanted to fly fish for bass in Wexford. I liked the emails immediately. They were like a torrent of excited questions from someone who has just found an answer but doesnt know quite what to ask. Paul would lure fish whilst John was strictly a fly fisherman. What lines, what flies, how far, how big, is the wind strong, when can I come, is there current, do you have any time in April? John expressed a bubbling enthusiasm that emphasised all the right things I liked to hear and I knew he would be in Wexford shortly. Hes that kinda guy! We had a tough time of it during 2012, that you already know! John at 58 is tough and wiry and resilient and demands a lot from himself, but there was nothing we could do in the face of a miserable summer on the fly. He went home tired but far from beaten. In fact heres the thing he never lost any enthusiasm in the face of the difficulties we faced. He expressed constant satisfaction about the environment within which we fished, the challenges which we faced at the time, the sights and the sounds of where he was was something that he enjoyed immensely whilst obviously challenged by the possibilities of the fishing. His end of day (in fact end of three days) was fishless but he told me he had never stopped learning from me, from what he was doing and how and where he was doing it. And this is where its at in the guide/client experience John doesnt give a fiddlers about who is using what fly or line or rod or reel. He has his equipment, which is very good, and in which he has a lot of confidence. He was fishing with classic deceivers, Clousers and flatwings, all of which were available in some basic colours there were some darker shades and some differences in sizes too one box only. Perfect. This is what impressed me whilst he had thought about his gear and clothing carefully and his leaders flies and knots were tied very well and he had invested time here, all of this was just a small part of the total experience. This stuff permitted both him and me to engage in something far more valuable than the anxiety and pseudo consequences of not having the latest greatest thing. In other words, we got on with the fishing and what was involved at the time. We both felt quite at home.

In a day born from a light that makes everything special, the fish came on.

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