Following in the fishing footsteps of the Reverend Stewart Bloor.
The Reverend Stewart Bloor is an ordained Minister and Director of the Sedgley International Christian Ministries. He is also a very keen angler, having come back to the sport four years ago following a break of several years. In this regular column he will tell us about his progress as an angler – His thoughts about the sport, what he learns, the fishing trips he makes, the anguish, the humour, in fact everything he experiences as his angling career develops.
Preparation, Planning and Enjoyment.
I think the adage that says ‘you get out of life what you put in’ is so true, and nowhere is that more evident than in the field of angling. In my work (the ‘day job’!) the importance of strategy, planning and organisation is so crucial to success. Unless things are carefully thought out then the phrase ‘hit and miss’ becomes a reality. I take the same mentality with me when planning the next fishing trip.
What species am I going for? What will the conditions be like? What tactics will I use? What will be my bait approach? What sort of pattern has emerged from previous visits to the chosen water? Questions like this filter through my mind until eventually I end up with a plan of attack. Mind you, having said all that, I am prone to a last minute change of mind and many a time I’ve set off for the Teme and ended up on the Severn! >
Of course, as we all know, fishing is about enjoyment, so I don’t want to give the impression that I’m so regimented that the fun has gone out of the window. Far from it! But, ultimately it’s better to have success in your chosen hobby than not. (I’ll come back to that word ‘success’ later.) What I like about fishing is that to be successful you don’t have to be ‘better’ than anyone else. It’s all about the pleasure that you derive as an individual. But, of course, the reason why we go fishing is to catch fish. Good planning will help us to get the best out of our fishing, thus increasing the enjoyment.
The world of angling has its fair share of ‘experts’. Go into a tackle shop and you will be greeted by the standard counter crew. Ready to dispense expert advice whether you require it or not, these guys know about everything from catching gudgeon in the local canal to the delights of deep sea fishing off the coast of Chile. And of course, when you’re out there at the waterside, you can spot them heading right for you. Usually they are out for a walk with their wife and stop off to tell you how you should be fishing the water. When you ask them if they fish there regularly, the usual answer is ‘Haven’t fished for twenty years mate’.
Then there are those who delight in dampening our enthusiasm. I can remember the first barbel I caught, it was a shade over 8lb. To say I was chuffed was an understatement. On the way back to the car park I passed another angler on his way to fish. I was dying for the question ‘Have you caught anything?’ to pass his lips. When it did, I was so eager to tell him of my catch. ‘Just a small one then’ he casually replied without even raising the tone of his voice.
Still, in spite of the self-proclaimed experts and the discouragers, we press on! Good careful planning definitely increases our chance of success.
It’s now time to look at that word ‘success’. What is success? How does one define it? I think as far as angling is concerned, if you catch a 1 lb chub and it makes you happy, you are successful. If you catch a 5-pounder and you’re down because it wasn’t a 6, you’ve lost the plot.
Targets are a big part of my fishing. I love to set myself realistic yet stretching targets. I’m currently in barbel mode and my aim this season is a double. I’ve had a good start with a Dove beauty just under 9lb, which you can actually read about in the previous ‘Pilgrims Progress’, ‘Debut on the Dove’. With my two target rivers the Dove and the Teme, I’m very confident of a 9 and quietly confident of a 10. But one thing is sure, if I do ‘fail’, I won’t be down in the dumps. But the challenge of the target, I find, is really motivating.
The ‘biggest is best’ mentality is a trap that sadly, many anglers fall into. Some of the highlights of my fishing career so far wouldn’t make the national angling press, but to me they were precious moments. The members of the Mailing List will remember my Spring canal campaign, as I’m an active contributor to the list. From March to June, I targeted the Staffs/Worcs canal in the Kinver area of South Staffordshire. The canal in that area is a renowned small fish water. I’ve seen hundreds of poles across that canal, but never a specimen hunter. I figured that there must be some carp in there and at least one of them must be a double. That was my target, a double carp from the canal.
I selected a very promising looking peg and for the three months of the ‘close season’ that was my fishing home. I put in seventeen sessions and right at the end was rewarded with my target, a mirror carp that tipped the scales at 10-8-12. There were a number of 7’s, 8’s and 9’s along the way, so I knew I was on the right track. As I said, it might not make national interest, but the night I caught that double I was on such a high, I’m certain that I could have taken the short cut to the car park across the canal rather than via the bridge! 
There was another ‘highlight’ during my canal campaign. One of the sessions looked really promising. The boats had stopped, the tow path was deserted, the weather was ideal.
At about midnight, suddenly bright lights appeared and I became the focus of attention of the local police. No, I hadn’t done anything wrong. Honestly! They were searching for a runaway who was apparently ‘holed up’ in the area I was fishing. After the bright lights and the dog handler came the search helicopter overhead. Needless to say, that trip, although eventful, didn’t produce as far as fishing was concerned.
Another one of my target water campaigns was conducted last winter. The object of my obsession on that occasion was the River Stour. Not the beautiful, crystal flowing Dorset version but the rather grimy namesake that flows through the West Midlands conurbation on its way to join its big sister, the Severn, at Stourport. Once heavily polluted, the Stour is a beneficiary of the general upturn in the condition of our rivers in recent years. Running parallel with the Staffs/Worcs canal for much of its life after leaving the West Mids, access is via the undergrowth at the side of the canal!
Although not fished much in the middle reaches I targeted, there are fish in there. Again, as with the canal campaign, I targeted a certain peg. This time, however, chub were my target. Having fished the Stour a number of times, I knew that there were lots of small fish in there. I set myself a target of a 2lb chub.
Over the winter and early Spring I put in twenty three sessions on my chosen river. The fish were averaging out at three every two sessions as larger baits were selected to deter the tiddlers. The target began to edge closer, as fish after fish in the 1lb bracket began to succumb to my charms. Then I cracked it! A lovely looking fish slipped into the landing net one frosty, dark night. Topping the scales at 2lb 4oz, I had reached my target. Again, that night, I was high! taking into account the water and what is in there, this was a real specimen fish that still gives me real satisfaction.
Read the next instalment of ‘Pilgrims Progress’ and see how a first trip to the Great Ouse produced a MONSTER……
The Reverend Stewart R Bloor
Sedgley International Christian Ministries
PO Box 1216, Dudley. DY3 1GW.
Telephone : 01384 – 828033
Web site : www.sicm.org
e-mail : missionscentre@sicm.org
