The Fishing Coach

On Thursday Joe and I went to the Warren beat on the Wasing Estate. We were armed with lots of casters purchased from Davies Angling in Staines and a variety of pellets. I had established that a spare pair of waders that I had would just about fit him and I also purchased a new bait apron at the same time as the casters. Davies Angling sell frozen casters that are cheaper than fresh ones and are fine for loose feeding so the bait bill was not too bad as we only needed a couple of pints of fresh for the hook baits.

The day began early with a “big boy’s” breakfast at Max’s cafe on the A4 at Padworth and we were on the water by eight. I set up two float rods, both with centrepins, one loaded with six pound Drennan float fish line and the other with eight pound Fireline braid. I started Joe of with the rod with the mono and after feeding the swim with hemp and casters while I showed him how to work the reel, we waded out into the river and started to trot double caster under a one SSG loafer float in a fast glide no more than two and a half feet deep. The roach and dace were lined up waiting for the bait and “a fish a cast” was the order of the day for the first half hour. It is so much easier to teach float control and bait presentation when the local fish population are in a co-operative mood and Joe continued to learn quickly. I could see that he was really enjoying this learning experience so I played my trump card and switched him over to the rod with the braided mainline. He was pleasently surprised by the difference and found float control much easier, he also hit more bites.

We continued trotting with the braided line, up to our thighs in fast flowing water, with me feeding quite heavily with the hemp and caster in the hope of a big chub or even a barbel but no such luck. Nevetheless Joe is now a centrepin enthusiast and is looking for a river he can trot near to his home so that he can fit his new found pleasure in with his demanding work schedule and family ties.

I had forgotten to bring my camera but Joe had his camera phone and the pictures on this post are courtesy of him.

After lunch we changed swims to fish the one in the picture above that is slightly deeper, I was able to demonstrate the need for a different float and a shoting patern slightly more complex that the one we used in the shallow swim. The fishing was slower here and we soon changed to a feeder on a quiver tip rod so that I could explain the techniques of legering in fast flowing water. Joe was rewarded with a slightly larger chub than those he had been catching on the float but still no barbel.

Later that evening when I finally got home I received an email from Joe with the pictures on this post and the following kind words.

I just wanted to say a big thank you for the two days coaching, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I found trotting today using the centre pin especially satisfying; your coaching made something which can be very daunting straight-forward, easy to follow and enabled a complete novice like me to have a good crack at it. You can certainly call me a convert!

If you ever want to refer someone to me for an impartial view on whether coaching is worth the time and expense, please let me know and I’ll be happy to tell them what fun I had and all that I learnt.

Thanks again for some great and thoroughly enjoyable fishing and I hope to do it again soon.

Thanks Joe!

All in all a tiring week with very early starts and often long days with evenings of preparation in-between but read these words and look at the pictures on this and previous posts and you will see why it is all worthwhile.

If you'd like to leave a comment on this post, here's how.

About this time last year I received an email from a man who wanted to polish his skills as he was already regularly fishing the river Thames and had been fishing since he was a lad. We tried to organise a day out together but as he works in the area of worldwide insurance, this last year with its natural calamities made this very difficult.

We finally got together this week and he booked two days, Wednesday and Thursday for our outings. He was having some problems leger fishing the Thames, getting his feeder rigs tangled and was worried about his casting accuracy. He told me by email that he had many other questions and so I decided to make Twynersh our first venue. I knew I could catch him some fish there and there was plenty of space for casting lessons.

We fished lake one and I demonstrated the method feeder in the hope of catching him a few trophy fish for photographs. I set this up on a bite alarm so that I could demonstate a couple of simple uncomplicated feeder rigs to cure his tangling problems. We also did a little casting practice and soon improved his accuracy by refining his casting techniques. Joe is an avid learner, he quickly grasped everthing I showed him, his enthusiastic questions demonstrated his rapid grasp of the concepts and made his instruction very challenging but all the more rewarding for me.

We were unable to get any worthwhile response to legered bait so I showed him how to use a polaris sliding float this has become a very popular method at Twynersh due to its extreme depth and although he hooked a small carp it became tangled in some underwater discarded line and the manager, Paul had to get a boat to release it. Very few carp or tench were caught on the whole lake and so we changed to float fishing with lighter tackle, fished very shallow.

I fed handfuls af small mixed pellets and Joe fished Dynamite Baits Swimstim Amino soft hooker pellets on a size sixteen hook. He began catching roach and rudd at every cast.

I would not like to estimate just how many fish he caught but he was more than pleased with the sport he was having and with what he had learnt.

I had already planned to take Joe on the river Kennet to teach him some river legering techniques and as he was enjoying float fishing, a technique he had not practiced much recently I decided to give him a real treat on the following day.

If you'd like to leave a comment on this post, here's how.

Having had Sunday off, I was back on the bankside on Monday and Tuesday coaching with my new NFA hat on. I am now both a PAA and NFA licensed coach. The venue was Beale Park at Pangbourne, Berkshire, a wildlife and gardens park where the EA had organised a two day event for the public to come and try their hand at fishing. There were about a dozen NFA coaches and we were quite busy, spending about fifteen minutes with each person or small group. Everyone caught fish, primarily bleak, the lake is linked to the river Thames, but some were lucky to catch small bream, roach and perch.

Sometimes it was one parent and their child, other times it was a whole family of young people.

I remain unconvinced as to the value of these short taster sessions to the sport in general but the participants certainly enjoyed themselves.

The EA also ran “pond dipping”sessions where visitors were able, with the aid of a net, to glimpse the wonders of the underwater environment. I was fascinated to see the small fish, insects and other invertibrates that were caught and I was very surprised to see a bullhead.

I have not seen one of these for years. They are also known as the Millers Thumb.

Just before the end of the second day a young lad, admittedly not an absolute beginner, caught the best fish from the swim I had been allocated.

Beale park is not far from Junction 12 of the M4 motorway, I have seen it sign posted for many years on my way to my beloved river Kennet and wondered what it was. Now I know.

If you'd like to leave a comment on this post, here's how.