You may recall that I was subject to a run of bad luck recently during which I lost a treasured nymph box and broke my nymphing rod.

Not only did this double disaster have a severe effect on my mood, but it forced me to re-evaluate certain behaviour and procedures, most obviously, “look where you’re going” and “zip up your pockets!”

The good news is that although my particular version of this fly rod had been discontinued, the manufacturer found both of the sections I needed ‘in the back of the warehouse’, and also that several of my fly fishing friends kindly sent me ‘emergency’ flies so I could continue fishing and guiding.

Losing my nymph box was a blow because many of the flies had sentimental value. Some were given to me by my fly fishing heroes and a few of my own ties were responsible for catching some truly memorable fish.
So a valid question here would be “If you weren’t actually gonna fish with them, why were they in the box?”
My answer to that would be “Er… I don’t know!”

So, as I carefully placed each fly into my new nymph box, I asked myself two questions. “Are you actually gonna fish with this?” and “Are you prepared to lose it?”
If the answer to any of those questions was “No” it didn’t going in!

The net result is a more streamlined box containing ‘efficient’ flies that is now attached to my waistcoat by a lanyard.
To paraphrase someone famous, ‘It’s only a fool who doesn’t learn from his own mistakes’

And as a footnote, I am delighted to announce that thanks to some kind and honest gentleman’s actions, myself and my lost fly box have recently been reunited!

So to recap, my rod has been restored to its former glory; I have new fly boxes that are attached by lanyards; I now have more quality nymphs than I had before I lost my box; I’ve learned a few valuable lessons AND I got my original fly box back!

I’m not a particularly religious man but as it is Sunday I will leave you with this quote…

‘The lord moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform’