The Fishing Coach

On Sunday whilst on my way to a local game fair I received a telephone call from a very excited former student of mine who I haven’t seen for a couple of years. As I was driving at the time, although on “hands free”, I wasn’t able to give him the attention that he deserved but he phoned me again later that evening and told me the full story, his excitement unabated.

Russell on one of my courses in 2002

Russell was one of my first students, he did his basic course in July 2000 and was always ready for one of my days out but college and, I suspect girls, soon got in the way and he let his fishing take a back seat. He has recently returned to the sport and on Sunday morning caught a new personal best. He phoned to tell me as he claimed that “I’d taught him him all he knew”. Below is an excerpt of an email he sent me later, complete with a photo.

Hi Martin.

I was fishing the new Abbey Lake only 10 mins from my house. It was only the second time I’ve been there. I hadn’t been fishing and caught a fish since about 2006.

On the 1st trip I only got either a line bite or a nibble I couldn’t tell. After that trip I thought about how I could improve. So on the 2nd trip I took a rod with a marker float and I also used a feeder with carp pellet inside to lure the carp in.

I had 2 rods, 1 with a boilie and the other a lobworm and I got there at 7:00 a.m.. The bait was in the water by 7:30 and I sat patiently enjoying geting back to fishing. It was only 8:10 when when I was looking at my rods when I saw the rod start to bend and I was just thinking no way it is going to happen. After a second the indicator went up and it was taking line out and I was ready so I stuck and knew I’d hooked into something big.

It bent the rod right over 90 degrees, just like I got told, they fight like mad it took line and stopped and kept taking line then holding the tension for 3-4 mins. I didn’t dare reel in because it was still tugging like a rocket. As it eased up a bit I started to reel it in a little bit at a time and now had it half way in when it went all the way to the left of me for the trees. I used everything I learnt and just about kept it of the trees. I then had it rocketing back out again when it did a masive arc went all the way from the left now all the way to the right, under my other line round the tree to the edge of the swim and into reeds I was thinking no way am I going to lose it now. I just took the other rod off the stand and put it the other side while holding masive pressure on the fish as it was going deeper into reeds.

Now I had a new dilemma as I had a fish round the other side of a tree and into big reeds so I thought i don’t care I worked hard for this and went into the water only about a foot deep for the 1st 10 foot from the bank. I tugged and held pressure so tight for about 10 - 15 second thinking its going to snap then wow the fish comes out and finally its worn out a bit as I saw a big fish I knew it was a mirror now only making me more determind to get it. I reeled it right up 1 foot from my net then oh my god he went like mad when he saw the net and took more line out for 5 foot and that was its last fight and as I got it closer and netted it.

Weighed the mirror at 14lb 5oz - my biggest fish ever, also 1st fish I caught in 2 years only my 2nd mirror carp and 1st fish to break the 10lb mark.

I added the photo for you I hope you like it.

Russell

This type of feedback is just one of the rewards of my work with young people.

Well done Russell, I hope we can fish together again soon.

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Spring arrived in the second week of May and as most of the passes were open at last, Jan and I decided to harness up the dogs and make a trip to the Vale of York.

The dog team.

I had volunteered to help my old friend, fellow PAA coach and more importantly, my accountant, Graham Walker to run a charity match in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society. Graham, his wife Anne and her sisters have already raised over £5000 for the charity and Anne is planning to do a sponsored walk on the Great Wall of China. See here for more details of Anne’s trek.

We arrived in Graham’s delightful village, Newton upon Derwent at midday and I was whisked off to see the fishery and visit a couple of tackle dealers. The shops were very generous with their donations, particularly Thompsons in Murton who told us to help ourselves to £100 worth of tackle from their shelves and then added two rods to our haul.

Here is a list from Graham of all who supported us:

Pool Bridge Farm let us use two lakes
Martech (UK) gave us the prize money
The Environment Agency provided a rod & reel for every novice
Cormoran provided a keep net for everyone plus a few good prizes and some Muckboots
Dynamite - loads of bait etc
Roy Marlow gave us a day for two at the Glebe
Thompsons in Murton let Martin Porter and me do a trolley dash for prizes and then gave us two rods
York tackle gave bait, a rod and other stuff
Joe Traves provided the meat for a barbecue for 80 people
Bruno, Derek North and Martin Porter came to support the event - I’d have struggled without them
The thirty five contestants, some of whom had to go to the pub every night to sign up new sponsors

and finally, when his mates had gone home, the winner of the £200 first prize in the “proper” match came around to donate his winnings - Chris Kendall, what a gent!

The matches, one for experienced anglers and one for beginners, were held at Pool Bridge Farm and my job was to help the beginners by providing coaching and tackle if needed. There were lots of prizes and a raffle so all the beginners went home with something.

The weather was very kind to us, if a little too hot and everyone caught fish.

This lad went on to win the beginners match

Not all the beginners were youngsters and Bernard caught this fine tench and the first still water barbel I have seen.

He certainly had a wonderful day, taking second prize and we all finished the day with a wonderful barbeque.

Graham and Anne are bird lovers and they have a barn owl that has been rescued but can never be returned to the wild since she would be very unlikely to survive. She lives in a special cage with room to fly and the privacy of an enclosed box in which to sleep. She’s very much still a wild animal and in no way tame. It was a great moment, sat in the darkness of Graham’s conservatory, to wait for the owl to make an appearance each evening at about 9 p.m.

You can see a larger version of the picture here.

We left late Sunday morning intending to return home in a leisurely fashion but made a diversion through Chesterfield to look at my old stamping ground. We had lunch just outside on the road to Matlock in a pub called The Three Horseshoes in Spitewinter - the food was better than we had dared hope considering that we stopped at the first place we liked the look of. It was probably the best Sunday lunch I have ever eaten and I would recommend it to anyone both for the quality of food and the excellent, friendly service.

A wonderful weekend with many thanks to Graham and Anne for their hospitality.

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