Why it is essential to wear glasses when fishing.

I had a conversation with a client on Friday evening who had just returned from Argentina and told me a harrowing story. While fishing on one of the rivers in Southern Patagonia for sea trout he had taken off his glasses for a while and continued fishing.

While Spey casting the wind caught the line and flicked the fly up into his eye. The hook embedded itself in the lower part of the eyeball along the line of the lower eyelid. Nightmare situation, and when you are in the middle of no where,what do you do. He immediately returned to the lodge,and it just so happened that one member of the party was in fact a trauma doctor and was travelling with a mini surgical kit. He anaesthetised him and removed the hook, and apart from some evil bruising he has had no side effects. He was one of the lucky ones.

I have written this up as a reminder to all of us that it is ESSENTIAL to wear glasses when we are fishing with no exceptions. It is not worth losing one's sight for a silly mistake which we have all committed on occasions. The gentlemen in question was incredibly lucky, and it does not matter how good a caster you are, the conditions can very easily work against you for that one second. Please make this a lesson we can all learn from.