All Things Piscatorial

Heat Wave – What Heat Wave?

I had an email from a guy who had not fished since he was 12 years of age and who was really keen to get back into the sport.  He had been watching Sky TV & heard Fishermans Blues and thought to himself ’I can do that’. 

His first port of call was to find a coach in his area. That coach, I am pleased to say, was me!

We exchanged a few emails to arrange a day out.  We decided to fish one of my favourite stretches of the River Thames in Oxfordshire – plenty of fish and lovely countryside.

My alarm clock burst into life at 4:30am, I was up and out in no time, making my way up the M40 to get to the river in plenty of time to meet and greet my pupil for the day.

Leigh Dale, aged 25, had made his way from his home in Aylesbury, Bucks to the meeting point on the river at 6:00am.

I should have known it was going to be a tough day, judging by the amount of the much-needed rain that was hitting my windscreen and the puddles on the country lanes.  Nevertheless, I had the saying ‘Rain before seven – end by eleven’ in my mind.

Not only was it raining, but it was also blowing a gale.  We, of course, did not let that put us off.  We made our way across a couple of fields to the chosen swim.

Leigh wanted to learn a number of different methods that would given him a chance of catching a few fish when he went fishing with his mates.

Of course you cannot learn everything in one session, or, come to think of it, ‘one lifetime’.  But I was able to give him a good start by showing him a few simple rigs and different styles of fishing, such as feeder fishing, float fishing with a fixed spool reel and float fishing with a centre pin.

We began with the feeder rod and Leigh started his quest to catch his first fish for over 10 years.  After a few crash – bang - wallop casts, Leigh managed to get both the line and length in no time and was soon hitting the same spot time and time again.  As a result, the fish started to come, firstly Perch, then Roach, Chub and a tiny little Gudgeon.

The wind and rain just got stronger and stronger, but Leigh was still keen to learn and we moved on to the float.  Thankfully the fish were still playing ball and Leigh was really having a great time watching the float dip and then play the resulting fish. 

Despite the weather, we had a very successful day and I am sure that when Leigh got home and dried out, he could look back on his day and feel rather proud of his achievements.

Long Hot Summer Day – Hmm