The Fishing Coach

Week five of the summer holidays and back to Twynersh with the assistance of Lee Blundell with kids from PAYP Slough.

Tuesday 23rd August was the first day - our usual swim on the match lake was occupied so we set up in the corner of lake seven. By the time I had gone to Slough to pick up the mini bus and collected the students, Lee had, as usual, set up the tackle and got the fish feeding in all the swims. We had probably the best day’s fishing of the holidays with one lad catching more than thirty five fish. Roach, bream, perch and even dace were caught.

The second day we returned to Twynersh with a slightly different compliment of young people and a new key worker Steve, but the weather was very different. It rained all day, heavily at times with blustery wind and the resultant drop in temperature overnight was not condusive to the fish feeding very well.

All the students managed to catch fish but it was very difficult and their attention began to wander. This led to some mischief that resulted in one lad being banned from the fishery by the manager Paul. The boy in question continued to lie about what he had been seen doing by both myself and the fishery manager, making matters much worse for himself. I had a long chat with him afterwards and explained that had he owned up and apologised he would have got off much more lightly.

Maintaing good behavior with such children is hard work and I would guess that some of the people these kids have come in contact with have not been prepared to make the effort. The young people have been able to avoid trouble by creating a confrontation that the person in authority was not willing to give the time or effort to deal with. This is not a criticism of the key worker Steve who did not witness this incident and was totally suportive throughout.

The day was cut a little short because everyone was wet through and the result was that I spent most of yesterday drying out my coaching tackle.

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This was my last outing with Reading PAYP this holidays and I met a new key worker Becky. She had never fished before and like her charges proved an enthusiastic pupil. Frobury is an excellent fishery for coaching and has yet to let me down, it always produces fish that fight well and can be caught by even the most unskilled novice.

All students as usual caught fish and Becky caught her first fish - she is now a convert to the noble art.

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Following my last two days coaching when very few fish were caught I was in desperate need of a few fish for myself and a bit of tranquility. The Kennet is always the answer at such times and the main reason I belong to the Wasing Estate syndicate is to find this peaceful environment. Although the Kennet is a shadow of its former self at the moment I still love this river and often seek sanctuary on its banks.

So Wednesday found me on the Warren beat with my Drennan Super Stick float rod and trusty lightweight centrepin looking for the roach and dace. I had purchased a lot of cheap casters from Vince at Davies Angling and with about half a gallon of hemp I was able to feed heavily all day. A size 18 hook to a two pound hook link was suspended under a lighter avon style float than I would use in this swim for barbel and I proceeded to catch a fish every cast, all day.

Now I never use a keep net but had I done so this day I would have been unable to lift it up the high bank I was fishing from, it would have been so full of fish. I wish that some of the people who say there are no small fish in the Kennet could have seen all these fish. The biggest dace was about ten ounces and the roach were no bigger, but a wonderful day’s fishing.

I was embarassed once by a barbel of unknown size who intercepted my single caster fished off the bottom and proceeded to smash my two pound hook link on its way to the nearest snag. I was not after barbel that day, although they are probably my favourite fish. I needed to catch lots of fish, without any dramas, using the sort of finesse that comes with light trotting and that is just what I got.

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Week four of the summer holidays and I had promised PAYP Slough that I would organise a different venue for the two days this week as a special treat. I had arranged with Les Weller to take them to the fishery he manages at the back of Sandown Park racecourse called Wayneflete and provide a barbeque as well. I then recieved an email from Bury Hill Fishery asking me to take part in the filming of a promotional video on the second day of the course. When I replied that I would be unavailable that day due to a coaching commitment, David DeVere invited me to bring the course there. It would have been rude not to, so plans were changed.

On the first day we arrived at Wayneflete and drove to the car park where we were met by Les with a tractor and trailer filled with bales of hay. This was our transport to the banks of the Snake Lake where we were to fish. I should explain at this stage that the Snake Lake is so named because of its shape but some of the young people who were brought up on a large urban housing estate were concerned about the reptiles they thought it had been named after. It took us a while to re assure them but this was spoiled when one lad saw a grass snake swimming across the lake. If your only knowledge of snakes comes from Hollywood, then all snakes are deadly and such fears are understandable.

The day was very bright, making fishing difficult, although eveyone caught something. At lunch time Les and key worker Jackie cooked sausages and burgers on the barbeque and shortly afterwards we were visited by the owners (James and Lionie Wickes) who had kindly given us permission to use the fishery. They spoke to each of the children and their visit was a welcome addition to the day for the experience of the young people. We were even invited back!

After lunch I set up a twelve metre pole to fish under a bush on the far bank as the only real chance of hooking one of the lake’s carp. This is quite a difficult thing to handle, being only a cheap pole and heavy at full length, so only the stongest of the group could use it. Jackie, the key worker, was the first and under close tuition caught the first fish.

Later one of the young people, a well built lad, had a try and caught one even bigger as the group shot shows.

During the day Les was a mine of information on both the history of the site and its management and although the fishing was not great on this particular occasion the varied experiences the young people encountered made the day worthwhile. However one lad broke a rod (only to be expected and not a tragedy) but the sad thing was he was unable to own up to his mistake and sent the rod to me with someone else. A lot of work yet to be done!

The next day we went to Bury Hill where David DeVere had not only reserved us four swims on the famous Miltons Lake but had given us permission to drive the mini bus right to the lake side.

I had explained about the fishery on the journey there and had told them all about John Wilson making one of his TV programs there. So we arrived with great expectations but again the weather was hot and bright and the tench and crucian carp for which the lake is famous failed to show. It would seem that David had chosen the wrong weekend for his promotional video as none of the lakes showed their full potential, we caught a few fish but packed up early due to the intense heat.

Just as we were going to load the tackle on to the minibus, David and the film crew appeared. I quickly set up three whips with plastic casting weights and we demonstrated the pendulum exercise (those of you who have done one of my beginners courses will know what I mean) just for the cameras.

Thanks to Les Weller for this picture.

Having justified our attendance, we made our way home.

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