It’s almost a year ago now since the Fred Bonney of the Barbel Society announced that they would be having an auction for items and days out to help aid their Research Fund. Richard (FM’s owner) emailed the FM staff (Geoff Maynard and myself) with something along the lines of ‘Can either of you two chumps come up with anything that we could offer to help them?’
Fortunately, the little group that I run in Marlow had a new intake that year in the shape of former Arsenal and England goalkeeper, David Seaman and I wondered whether he would give up some of his time to offer a day on our little stretch. Without hesitation he agreed and I set about putting together a little package to make it all the more interesting. Whoever won the bidding would have a lunch in the hotel as well and maybe, if they stayed late enough, one of my DBS (Death By Sausage) sandwiches cooked en plein air.
We kept that last little bit out of the announcement just in case it frightened anyone away, but the item went up and was won by Les Darlington who would be bringing his friend (and Golden Scale Club member) Jon Berry. So far so good, but now the dates had to be arranged and I was hoping for a late winter day, March to be precise, but either Les or Jon couldn’t make it then and after eliminating many other dates we all finally settled on 22nd August. The next bit came as a shock to me, meet up at 6:30 (yes?) in the morning.
And so the day dawned with fair weather in prospect and I have to say that one thing I love about living high in the Chilterns is when you drive down to Marlow and see the early morning mist sitting in the valley, something the Marlow residents never get to see. By the time I pulled into the car park David was already waiting and I had to excuse my bleary-eyed appearance, early mornings are NOT my favourite time of day. However, saying that, the view across the weir is so beautiful at this time of year I should really do it more often.
Shortly Les turned up and soon after Jon, who had only just got back off honeymoon a little over 24 hours before. David and I had tossed a coin to see who would fish with whom and again to see who had the choice of top or lower swim and guess who won? Well, I like to put the inexperienced ones in the best swims first, gives them a better than average chance of hooking something, or at least that’s my excuse…
The rods hadn’t been out that long, in fact I still had to tackle up, when we saw David was leaning into something. Something very big indeed, so I got the camera out and started taking pictures. The fish soon got the message that David’s a big lad and the winner of this fight was never in any doubt short of the line breaking.
FLASHBACK :
The day I first met David was opening day, 16th June, last year when he was on our water fishing with Keith Arthur for a sequence for Keith’s Tight Lines programme. I’ve known Keith on and off for the past 12 years and so when I was sure they weren’t filming I went to have a word and hand on heart, I had no idea who the guy fishing with him was. Keith then went off to have a word with the technical guys doing the filming and I was asking this ‘other’ chap about his fishing.
He mentioned the fact that he only lived across the road, quite literally, and how could he acquire a ticket to fish here regularly. Since I do the tickets I said I would ask, all members have to be cleared by management first and since it was a normal working day my contact was at work so I phoned her. I then asked what the chap’s name was and he said ‘David Seaman’….. “David Seaman, the footballer, goalie, played for England?” (even I knew that much) and he said “Yes.”
I had to apologise for not having recognised him for gone was the moustache and gone was the pony tail. So I spoke to management and explained that he would like a ticket and back came the immediate response that he could have one – and since it was the very beginning of the season he could pay full price. Fame might bring you a lot of benefits, but it doesn’t get you a discount at our fishery!!!
Keith caught a barbel, same barbel he’d caught in match some years before only now it weighed 11lbs 1oz, if memory serves me still. It was caught on a bait that David had loaned him as well as providing some loose feed or a PVA bag of something, I forget, but David did say he was owed one.
We still didn’t see much of him because he likes to fish outside of his apartment on the upper section of the Thames where he’s take carp up to 35lbs, I’m think he said, but he did contact me once about a 32lber he’d landed. He also had some big pike, a monster river tench, and I think it was there that his father caught a 4lb eel. He also came to this year’s pre-season barbeque that I organise and whilst there donated a pair of his old training shoes to Frank Guttfield and his wife to be sold at an auction for charity.
PRESENT DAY:
With the fish in the net it was lifted onto to unhooking mat and it was then that the fish looked a really big one. It was weighed in the landing net and the scales had been tared with -1¾lbs to allow for the net. When everyone had finished their final calculations it came out at 13lbs 14ozs, not the biggest out of there this year and not David’s biggest, but one cracker of a fish nonetheless.
We took it down by the boat to release for here the water is quiet so it doesn’t have to swim hard once released, it’s still well oxygenated, and we have a little platform made up of concrete block to release it from. Slowly it regained its strength and David released the fish, which as usual, slipped to a deeper bit a lay there for a while, I call it sulking, almost like having a shame for being outwitted. One thing was certain, David had finally collected his debt from the weir having obliterated Keith’s 11lb 1oz catch from the previous year.
So that was the first and the hope was, since it still wasn’t even 8 o’clock, this would be one cracking day for catches.
I didn’t have any idea as to what the others were doing for a breakfast, but I fried myself an egg and had it on a bap. Not to be upstaged, David says he’ll order a bacon sandwich from the hotel and asks us all if we want one, having just eaten I declined so I’d done myself out of that. Now when we talk about bacon sandwiches from the Compleat Angler it’s not like you get them off a burger van at the side of a layby. It’s all served nicely on a plate with a side order of crisps and some salad too. Talk about shooting myself in the mouth (I know it should be ‘foot’, but you don’t eat with your foot.)
More hemp and other stuff goes in and we wait for more big fish to arrive. The morning drags on and the day is getting hotter, 26° is promised.
Lunchtime arrives and we retire to the Bowaters restaurant where we all enjoy a splendid 3 course meal, David and I stick to beers, but the lads are promised a bottle of wine. The banter and stories are terrific as you can perhaps imagine coming from someone who has travelled the world and come into contact with so many people. David’s stories aren’t bad either (winking smiley) like the time Noel Edmunds caught David out with a ‘Gotcha’ award over the catching of a pike that turned out to be one bought from Billingsgate Market.
He also signed some early programmes for Les from some QPR games, one of the teams he played for in his younger days, and he also had some photos that he signed, one for my next door neighbour (honest!) as she thinks he is really sexy. He signed one for a fellow I used to pick up in my bus before I retired, he’s disabled and doesn’t communicate apart from ‘yes’ and ‘no’, but he understands everything that goes on and is an avid Arsenal fan. He’ll be really chuffed with it, I know.
That over we get back to the fishing and for a change, Jon and I try trotting a few maggots downstream, but all this results in is some small dace. Back out go the heavier leads with pellet hookbaits and another load of hemp. David, yet again, did catch another fish, but you wouldn’t believe how a perch could fancy a 14mm hair-rigged pellet.
The afternoon is scorching, there is no shade to be had here. It starts to look as if David’s fish is the only one we’ll see and how right that proves to be. Frankie, David’s girlfriend, joins us for a little while and has a word with everyone, but even she can’t bring the fish in, sad to say.
David has to leave around 6:30, before the DBS, perhaps he learnt his lesson about my cooking from the pre-season barbeque although he did say he’d enjoyed that. So after thanking him so and bidding him farewell, I started cooking the sausages and the onions. My wife had brought everything down fresh in the late afternoon.
Even into the early evening nothing else happened, it was now almost feeling like that one fish was called Tony, ‘Tony one in t’river’. At 9 o’clock Frank Guttfield turned up to say hello, but by then we were packing up ready to go home. I only have to travel 5 miles up into the hills, whereas Jon and Les have to go quite a way, Les back to Worcester. However, what with all the shlepping I’d done up and down the bank I was absolutely cream-crackered.
I think that everyone had enjoyed themselves and in confirmation of that I got an email of Les this morning (Tues) saying they had. They are welcome to come back anytime they like and try again, in fact Jon is a regular visitor and has been on Roger’s boat a few times, he says it is his favourite fishery if only for the view. There will be another time, there always is, but for now it looks like David Seaman, just as in his football career, saved the day once again.
My thanks to all concerned, The Compleat Angler and Macdonalds Hotels for their generosity, Richard Hewitt the owner of Fishingmagic for suggesting we did something for the Barbel Society and partly sponsoring it, and last but not least, my latest friend (dare I presume that?) David Seaman for making it a perfect day whatever happened. It’s a bit sad that he’ll shortly be leaving Marlow to not too far away, but this could mean either we don’t see him again since he’ll have his own bit of river running past his back garden or we’ll see more of him from now on as he yearns to get back on the Thames for a 15lber! I hope the latter.
