I had finished the first year at 6th form college in Godalming and had made a hash my first year exams, was not happy about the 2nd year on the way, didn't want to go to uni so my enthusiasm wasn't the highest. Eventually I had a series of set tos with the head of year and we, as football parlance has it, went our separate ways by mutual consent. And I had a weekend job in a local department store that I transfer to full time with that was highly tempting. Almost the same day, I stopped fishing. How moronic was that? I loads more time through not having to do homework in the evenings any more, and I well recall that I was a bit startled one time convinced that there was something I was supposed to be engaged in and it took me a little while to get used to it. So I might have filled that time by going to the fishing tackle shop and improving my bait and tackle since now I had far more income than I had ever had before.
Instead I started going to the pub, and it was many years later when I was working with a mate on a sweltering clear day as we strolled past a large pond at lunchtime and could see the carp swimming near the surface that I mentioned that today was an ideal day for angling with a floating crust. He had no idea that I enjoyed maggot drowning and I'd forgotten, but he promised he'd sort out a day for us to go. He did, but when he examined my bait and tackle, he advised I chucked most of it out as it was too old, too rubbish or just plain illegal.
So an expedition to a fishing tackle shop was timetabled when we went and I spent an eye-watering stash of cash on bait and tackle as well as a rod licence and permits. We had a superb day and I got the bug again, and my mate asked if I would like hopping off for some weekend sport. I thought that was a cracking idea and he booked for us to go down and spend some time on the Avon near Christchurch and we went down on the Friday evening, checked into the bed and breakfast and got an early sleep and we were up at an appalling time which came as a shock to me for a Saturday, but by the time we arrived to the river, settled in, got set up I had recovered my equilibrium and had a fantastic day, altering bait and tackle set up as the thought took me.
It was interesting in the evening when we went into Christchurch for a bevvy, as it became obvious how vital maggot drowning and the Avon is to the area. A lot of the pubs had pictures of fishing scenes, stuffed prize carp and copies of the fishing newspapers along with the rest of the papers.
On the Sunday we went to the fishing tackle shop and replaced bait and tackle that had been lost or used on the Saturday and had another excellent day by the Avon. I even made friends with a water rat that was interested my maggots and I kept bunging him a few and he came really close.
It was a fabulous break and I got home completely exhausted and retired for an early sleep and a resolve to do it again as early as possible.
20101216
Instead I started going to the pub, and it was many years later when I was working with a mate on a sweltering clear day as we strolled past a large pond at lunchtime and could see the carp swimming near the surface that I mentioned that today was an ideal day for angling with a floating crust. He had no idea that I enjoyed maggot drowning and I'd forgotten, but he promised he'd sort out a day for us to go. He did, but when he examined my bait and tackle, he advised I chucked most of it out as it was too old, too rubbish or just plain illegal.
So an expedition to a fishing tackle shop was timetabled when we went and I spent an eye-watering stash of cash on bait and tackle as well as a rod licence and permits. We had a superb day and I got the bug again, and my mate asked if I would like hopping off for some weekend sport. I thought that was a cracking idea and he booked for us to go down and spend some time on the Avon near Christchurch and we went down on the Friday evening, checked into the bed and breakfast and got an early sleep and we were up at an appalling time which came as a shock to me for a Saturday, but by the time we arrived to the river, settled in, got set up I had recovered my equilibrium and had a fantastic day, altering bait and tackle set up as the thought took me.
It was interesting in the evening when we went into Christchurch for a bevvy, as it became obvious how vital maggot drowning and the Avon is to the area. A lot of the pubs had pictures of fishing scenes, stuffed prize carp and copies of the fishing newspapers along with the rest of the papers.
On the Sunday we went to the fishing tackle shop and replaced bait and tackle that had been lost or used on the Saturday and had another excellent day by the Avon. I even made friends with a water rat that was interested my maggots and I kept bunging him a few and he came really close.
It was a fabulous break and I got home completely exhausted and retired for an early sleep and a resolve to do it again as early as possible.
20101216
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