The Fishing Coach

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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