As a schoolboy I regularly fished the river Stour in Dorset
with friends. In the summer we would
ride our bicycles to Hammoon with our rods tied to the crossbar with
string. A reel and some bread would be
stuffed in the saddle bag as anything else would be too heavy to carry. In the winter we would persuade an adult to drive us down to the bank, in which case
we could afford to take a landing net and a selection of bait, too. Fishing was simple, then.
I moved away from Dorset in 1971 when I finished my 'O'
levels. Work and the busy social life of
the young adult distracted me from rod and line. Later, marriage and children provided further
distractions.
In early 2013 my daughter, who is a wheelchair user, asked
me if I would take her fishing. I knew
nothing about fishing for the disabled so did some research. It turns out that just a few miles from my
house is a small reservoir owned by Wessex Water which has been specifically
set up for use by disabled anglers. We
bought some EA licences and enough tackle to get us started. On the first day of the new season we drove
down to the reservoir and were soon unhooking small roach and skimmers. After a gap of 42 years I was fishing
again. It was as if I had never
stopped. The only difference, it seems
to me, is that it has all become so complicated.
As a boy I had only two rods; a 6ft spinning rod for lures
and live baits and a 10ft hollow glass float rod for everything else. One cheap Intrepid reel was loaded with 10lb
mono for pike and another, even cheaper, Intrepid held 4lb mono for float and
leger use. Hooks were tied directly to
the main line. We caught every species of
fish that swam in the Stour; dace, roach, perch, pike, gudgeon and chub. Most were caught with either bread or worms.
Now the tackle shops are stuffed with a mind boggling
variety of tools, gadgets and bait.
During my first six months as a fishing returnee I have acquired,
without even trying, two spinning rods (6ft and 9ft), two feeder rods (medium
and heavy) and a 13ft float rod. My four
reels, with spare spools, carry various diameters of mono and braid. We never seem to go down to the bank without
a choice of at least five choices of hook bait and several bags of ground bait. Does this increase our enjoyment of a day's
fishing? Of course it doesn't.
New Year's resolution:
I must keep my fishing as simple as possible.
On the other hand, how could I possibly do without a short
Avon-style rod for bullying chub out of a weedy river swim?
