the Fickle Fate of Fishing

I dooon't Beeelieve it.......!!!!!

As Gary says, it's been a long time since my dad last tackled up a rod & felt the thrill of a bite, a strike & the resistance of a fish on the end of a line. When I was a kid we'd go to a few local venues, small ponds and the like. Dad would help me set up and we'd spend the day catching small roach, perch, crucians, and just occasionally, a real monster like a 2lb tench would come along and have us singing & dancing all the way home....

But after a few years Dad packed his rods away (actually I sold them when I wanted to raise money for better ones!) & since then, whilst I have always continued fishing, for the past 25 or so years, not once has the old fella wetted a line, although he has threatened to on more than one occasion. Always too busy with the DIY or the homebrew you see.....

So this season we decided we'd put that right & get out there together once again, only this time, I'd be the expert doing the teaching, or so I thought....

Four hours of fishing later, on a favourite Ribble swim, and one 10lb 13oz barbel safely landed, weighed & photographed, and my Dad can't see what all the fuss is about.

"What do you mean son, you've been fishing the Ribble for the last five years and you've STILL not had a double. Let me give you a few tips...."

I'm still not talking to him. Then again he has only just got back, hope he doesn't think I was being funny when I made him walk home....


Barney, I'm working next weekend. So you'll have to take him. Now that he's an expert in all things Barbel, he fancies catching a monster chub now, he's got all these plans & theories to try out....

Watch out Tery Lampard, the Drennan Cup may just be heading North if my Dad has anything to do with it....!

Seriously, well done to Anglers Mail. As Gary has said, in last weeks issue was a free one day licence valid for the first fortnight in September. A great idea, I know that a full licence is cheap & worth every last penny, but this initiative enabled me & my dad just to decide on the spur of the moment & go fishing, rather than having to make a trip down the Post Office to buy a proper one. It was always one of those things that we never got round to doing.

As it turned out, we had a great afternoon out and a couple of lovely fish came our (his!) way. He's still grinning from ear to ear.

It would be nice to hear any other stories of first time anglers making use of this free licence & seeing how they fared on their day out. I wonder how many "new" anglers have been hooked as a result?

Steve.

Fishing can be a funny old game..... the late great Peter Stone put quite a few people onto doubles on the Thames but never had one himself.

Anyway it sounds like your dad appreciated the fish for what it was and you may well have got yourself a new fishing partner. not a bad days work in my book. )

I know Steves dad, Pete and he's a nice bloke. But there is a certain inevitability about taking someone onto your favourite piece of water. You just KNOW he's gonna smash your PB to bits....

anyone experienced similar ?

My 13 yr old nephew hasn't been fishing long but in the space of his first 4 sessions , on one of our little club waters , he managed a 5lb 7oz bream and a
9lb 9oz carp. They may not appear that big but for the water, they were big ! But the main thing was that he achieved in 3 weeks what took me 28 odd years.......there's no justice in the world !!!! oh , and he often brings those facts up in conversation .

Paul,

Big is certainly relative mate. The bottom line is you can only catch what is in front of you.

Perhaps one of the best stories in recent years is the young lad who broke the perch record from a small farm pond using his dads carp tackle to make up some crude floatfishing gear.

Things like that and Steve dad catching the barbel is what makes fishing so gloriously unpredictable.

ps. I spoke to Steve's dad yesterday and I can confirm what Steve says....he is now unbearable !!!!!