Fishing adventure or disaster?WE’D BEEN ARRANGING our most recent trip (‘we’ being myself, my best bud Gav and my two 10 year old boys) for a while. All of us looking forward to it. The boys more so for the camping experience than anything!We chose a lake local to us in Milton Keynes, Bradwell, available on the MKAA ticket or as a day venue. Our last two attempts there had been blanks so we weren’t holding out much hope. We arrived mid afternoon, all the kit and two kids stuffed into the back of the van; I’m not sure of the legalities of that! Anyway, we started to unload and the boys amazingly lost the use of thier arms, complaining of being tired (already). I tend to assume it’s that age-old affliction that affects children called CBBS (Can’t Be Bothered Syndrome). We found a decent swim that later turned out to be the haunt of the lake’s swan population. We should have realised, judging by the copious amounts of swan sh*t everywhere!! We set up the tents, arranged everything to hand and started getting the lads set up, as much to get them out of our hair than anything. They found the concept of being quiet and not disturbing other anglers rather alien! One chap only lasted a couple of hours; I’m unsure if we was directly responsible, but I reckon we had a hand in it! Sorry mate! Eventually we got settled and sorted, Gav and I put carp rods out with boilies and PVA bags as far as we could cast, the boys on their short 6ft rods dangling maggots in the margins. Leave the maggots in the water for a few minutes, Gav told them, but as soon as he turned his back they were already winding in! “Why are you doing that?” we asked. “Casting is more fun!” Was the reply. Oh dear, it had begun in earnest, stress levels were rising, nerves fraying too! This was the pattern that went of for our stay, along with tangles, lost swimfeeders, snags and any other fishing problem known to man! One of the boys fished an old rusty pike lure out of the margins in my small landing net. He was dead chuffed, he then proceeded to cut it out of the net! Oh my god, that was about 4-0 to the kids 🙁 Then came the rain, thunder, lightning and hailstones. I found out my brolly leaked and the boys were giving it some WWF wrestling as loud as they could possibly could. It seemed Mother Nature was playing her part too. We eventually cooked up some sausage sarnies, and settled the boys down to sleep. Gav and I finally got to relax and take in the wonderful evening, chatting, remeniscing and having a laugh (quietly!). At about 12.30am a bite alarm woke us. Screaming out in the freezing cold clear night. After a short battle Gav (grrrrr again) had a pristine 12lb common in the net. Awesome. Then it was back to bed. Next thing we heard was: “Hello mate? Errrrr you’d best wake up!” “Uh what, where, when?” Two lads from just across the bay, the bailiff’s sons as it happens, had popped round to tell us the Ouse had burst its banks and the lake was rapidly flooding! “Are you sure?” “Errrrr, yeah, our peg is already underwater!!” We decided that discretion being the best part of valour we should make a quick get away. We woke the boys, one burst into tears cos he was so cold and tired, the frost had frozen everything, and started the arduous task of packing up. Anyway, we made it home at about 3am, two very tired lads, two really arsed off adults, although once again one had bragging rights cos of the carp – git! I’d left my bite alarm on a bank stick in the margins. Could it have been any worse? Of course it could, the wife gave me a bollocking for waking the house up! Well, several lessons learned…… 1. My two lads and fishing don’t mix. As a postscript, we’re arranging our next trip to coincide with the various parts of my disfunctional family being with the other parents! Hope you enjoyed the read more than I enjoyed recalling it! |
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