All Things Piscatorial

Jim and Matt - Go Fishing - Part 1 - Click Here

I was very fortunate this time picking up Mat as I was asked in to meet his mother by her carer who said Jayne would very much like to meet me.  She gave me a huge hug and couldn’t thank me enough for taking Mathew fishing and relieving him of some of his frustrations.  I’m sure there are lots of my fellow coaches who have felt that sense of satisfaction.

Mathew wanted to try something different this week from the whip, so I suggested we go for a bit of feeder fishing and try for a Bream.  This meant setting up a rod, cage feeder, and different hook lengths and, of course, baits.  I took along some brandlings as I knew the slabs were quite partial to worm and casters and some of that green stym ground bait.  After the ground bait mixing lesson, it was time for a casting lesson.  This he took to quite quickly, and managed to grasp the clip up method, so a worm and casters went on the hook and out it went.

There was nothing doing for an hour and quite understandably Mathew started to get bored.  I wanted to persevere, but he wanted to go on to the whip, which I set up for him.  Although it was a little early in the year for this water, I thought I would give a banded pellet a go.  Sure enough, after 10 minutes I hit into a nice Bream.  Yes, you’ve guessed it, Mathew wanted to change back to the feeder again and try for one himself.  He didn’t have to wait long before the tip shot round and a fumbled strike latched on to a very nice slab of approximately 5lbs.

We all know the jump from whip fishing for small silver fish to feeder or waggler fishing can be huge for a young pupil – you can see the enthusiasm go up a notch as he carefully unhooks his big Bream. Mathew is now becoming more and more interested in the make up of fish and their biology, so I suggested a trip to Sparsholt College when they have their next open day.

Jim Rice

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