I AM indeed a lucky man to have good friends, one being the internationally acclaimed photographer David Woodfall, who has been kind enough to allow me to use the attached photograph of two dead dragonflies floating on the River Clwyd.

I think it is really beautiful: such beauty in death.

However, they were in that position for only moments, and you had to be there to see such a special sight then, like so much unnoticed beauty in our own lives, it is gone, gone forever.

So what? Many will ask it's only two dead flies: who cares?

And therein lays the issue. Who cares?

Most people when they see these lovely creatures in flight, wave then frantically away shouting "get them away from me!"

Yet these delicate creatures neither bite nor sting.

"What is he on about?" I hear you ask.

This article is called gone fishing, not spot the insect.

My point is this: there are many wonders all around us, yet such is the “speed” of modern life, that few have time to look and see them.

“What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare” the first line of a well known poem by famous Welsh poet William Henry Davies (1871-1940).

So it would seem even all those years ago, the pressures of life such that time to think was precious: no change there then.

However, today, we do have time, it’s just that we choose not to do so, yet the green of the countryside is proven to be medicinal, if only we give it a chance.

Now I know from my own experience as a child that sitting around a pond, watching and waiting for the little float upon which I was concentrating, to dip and indicate that a fish was nibbling at the bait.

The float slid below the surface and my fishing line tightened as a fish resisted my attempt to real it.

Having successfully brought the fish to my hand, I looked with thanks and admiration at my tiny capture before gently releasing it back into the water of the pond.

I fished that pond for years, caught and released many hundreds of fish, yet never once saw a dead fish, either soon after I released it, or by the end of the day.

So, with care, it is possible to fish without harming the fish.

So the damage to the fish is minimal, but the health benefit of just sitting and staring is almost immeasurable.

What’s more, experiments carried out by scientist have shown that troubled youngsters, when taught to fish, show marked behavioural changes, including giving up anti-social behaviour.

There is an old adage: “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will feed himself for life.”

I suggest that this may be modified to read “Teach a man to fish and give him a new and better perspective on life”.

If you, like me are in the autumn years of life, then, believe me you will not regret luring to fish: it gives me great joy. If you have a younger child or grandchild, teach them to fish and you will have given them a gift for life and something to remember and thank you for, for the rest of their lives.

I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year, and thanks for taking the time to read my well meant words.