Ten years of coaching (part 3)
Taster days are designed to introduce new anglers to the sport and are organised on a fishery by the owners or controlling club and are usually well publicised in the local press. They are funded by the Environment Agency and organised by the old (now defunct) NFA but it is hoped that the Angling Development Board will take over soon. A group of coaches set up around the fishery and are sent a member of the public or two for a period of twenty minutes free coaching.
They can be very hectic but great fun and a chance to fish new venues or old favourites. One recent one was held at Sparsholt Agricultural College near Winchester where their Fisheries Studies Department have created their own lake and stocked it generously. This is only normally fished by the students and their guests and is an opportunity not to miss. I managed to get a place on both days this year and took my assistant Tayler Clark.
He caught his first stillwater barbel as well as a thirteen pound carp on a float.
I even managed a carp on the float using a centrepin as well as a lot of bream.
One of the other coaches brought a young lad who caught the first golden tench I had ever seen in the wild - I would have swapped that for my carp any day of the week!
The days are really for the public and that is really where the rewards are, look at the size of these roach.
Unfortunately this lad didn’t want to hold his carp so some old publicity hound held it for him.
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You mentioned a bivvy last year and I thought I saw a picture of you in full cammo, 10 years on, No I said you must be seeing things. Congratulations on the ten years,some testing times but worth it.
Les
Comment by Les — June 15, 2009 @ 5:44 pm