Then the phone rang. “Hello Ed, how are you?”
There was no mistaking the rich, deep, booming Yorkshire voice of David Seaman, the ex Arsenal and England goalkeeper.
“I’m ok thank you Dave, nice to hear from you, have you been fishing lately?” I asked him.
“Not recently” he said, “but that’s why I’m phoning you Ed. ‘Chips’ has invited me over to his place for the weekend for a spot of fishing and I can bring along a friend. Tone (Tony Adams) was going to come with me but he’s had to drop out. I know it’s short notice but would you like to go?”
I had got to know David from football related Corporate Events and I knew he was into carp fishing so we had got chatting about fishing instead of football, as a result of which we became good friends. ‘Chips’ was actually Sir Chips Keswick, a very wealthy man, and I had met him a few times as well.
I knew that ‘Chips’ owned a large country estate of around 200 acres located in the Cotswolds, and that as well as a grand country mansion House the estate contained a six acre lake. The lake was very seldom, if ever fished, so it was a rare invitation indeed and one not to be turned down.
“ Would I like to go? Need I answer that” I said. “When do we leave?”
“I’ll pick you up around one o’clock tomorrow afternoon. Don’t forget your dinner jacket . Oh, you’ll need to provide your own bait as well. See you tomorrow then, Ed”
I decided that I would treat it as a ‘fun’ session so before Dave picked me up on friday morning I called in at my local tackle shop and bought some maggots and dendrobaena worms. Together with a couple of tins of sweetcorn and a groundbait mix this was all I would need, apart from rods, reels, hooks, etc.
Dave arrived in his ‘Tonka Toy’ (Range Rover) as arranged around one o’clock on friday afternoon and we were soon making our way through the traffic heading for the Cotswolds. Chatting on the way he told me that the lake apparently contained a good head of quality roach and rudd, some tench, mirrors and commons up to 30 lbs.plus, although they had seldom been fished for so they could go bigger, no one really knew. It contained some decent perch as well.
We arrived early evening and were shown upstairs to our rooms by a manservant named James and told to be down for dinner at 7.00pm when we would meet Sir Chips and Lady Keswick.
I couldn’t believe the size of my room, it was as big as the whole ground floor of my three bed semi. There was a big screen TV, a free bar stocked with beer, wine and spirits, a luxury bathroom the size of my bedroom back home. And best of all it was at the rear of the mansion house and overlooked the lawn which led down to the lake.
Time came for dinner and I made my way downstairs and saw that four other guests had arrived and were joining us. I immediately recognised three of them as Roger Daltrey (of The Who rock band) and Chris Tarrant (the TV personality) They had also been invited to bring a friend and Roger had brought along a drummer who had performed with Rod Stewart, Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne and many others, although I didn’t have a clue who he was, but obviously he must have been pretty good. Chris was accompanied by Dean Macey who I had previously met a few times when tench fishing.
After introductions and some canape’s and champagne, we all sat down to a wonderful nine course dinner with sumptuous (and no doubt very expensive) wines, after which we retired to the library room for brandies and port.
I hadn’t done any fishing yet but I was thoroughly enjoying my stay, I could get used to this I thought to myself.
The following morning, after breakfast, we made our way down to the lake for a walk around under the guidance of Scotty, the gamekeeper.
It was a beautiful morning and there were signs of fish dimpling and rising, with the occasional carp leaping out of the water and crashing back sending ripples across the water. It was a truly wonderful looking lake surrounded by trees, edged with reed beds, patches of ornamental lilies, and an immaculate grass lawn all the way down to the waters edge. Further out there were a couple of smallish islands, on one of which a pair of swans had chosen to raise three cygnets. There was also the usual assembly of moorhens and coots as well as a couple of mallard ducks. At one end of the lake there was a boat house with a small jetty jutting out into the lake through the reed beds. Close by was a lovely old wooden pavilion with a large verandah which overlooked the lake.
By now I was getting quite excited at the thought of fishing a lake that had not really been fished before. It took me back in some ways to my boyhood days when we used to say ‘I wonder what’s in there’ and we actually fished places where we really did not know. The ‘unknown’ really does add an extra sense of excitement and I couldn’t wait to get a bait in the water and start fishing.
Dave, Chris, and Dean decided to have a go at the carp, whilst Roger thought he would have a go at fly fishing for the rudd. The ‘drummer’ was still pissed from the previous evening (his head must have been drumming) and decided to give it a miss. Anyhow he wasn’t really an angler, just a mate of Roger’s.
I thought that I would have a crack at the roach as I had never caught a 2lb’er and it was rumoured that they could be in there.
I set up with my 13’ Shimano Symetre Specimen match rod and the new Mitchell 300 loaded with 4lb. b.s. line. I attached a waggler type float and a size 14 spade end hook to 3lb.b.s. nylon. The float was shotted so that only a ¼ inch of the tip was showing. After loose feeding some maggots I began to get some action. The first fish was a roach of 1lb 15oz, following quickly by another of the same weight.
The next roach went 2lb 3oz and then one at 2lb 2oz. What followed was absolutely crazy fishing, roach after roach and not one of them under 2lb, with ten over 2lb 8oz and the best two both 2lb 14oz.
Wonderful, wonderful fishing, but really it was all a little bit too easy, there was no challenge at all. There were no keep-nets allowed by the way, meaning that all the fish were in tip top condition.
We then had a break for a picnic lunch and a chat. The lunch was served up on the balcony at the pavilion. Roger had caught a lot of rudd on the fly up to just over 2lb., and the others had all caught carp up to 30 lbs.plus, so we were all having a good time. Good stuff, but it was going to get even better, for me at least, and for Dean also.
Dean with the biggest ? Fish in the Lake – 44lbs – plus a few ounces.
As we sat there eating, drinking, and chatting away, I noticed some ‘scattering of fry’ near the boathouse jetty. This could only mean one thing – perch strikes. So I thought that I would re-locate to that area and try for a perch or two.
I moved over to the Jetty and changed my rig so that I could fish dendrobaena worms instead of maggots as I prefer them when fishing for perch. I positioned myself a little way along the jetty parallel to the reeds so that I could present my bait close to the reeds and alongside them rather than through or over the top of them.
Before I started I made up a groundbait mix of damped natural worm extract to which I added chopped dendrobaena worms. Before I cast a line I fed in a few small balls of this mix and set up with a size 12 hook, tied direct, on which I impaled two of the worms.
After a few casts the float sailed away and I was into a good fish. A nice start with a perch of 1lb 12oz. This was followed by one of 2lb 12oz and one of 2lb 10oz. The next perch was an even better one of 3lb 9oz.
A chubby looking (not me) perch of 3lb caught on two dendrobaena worms.
I was beginning to really enjoy myself when the float sailed away once more and I struck into what was obviously an even bigger perch. My rod arched over and the clutch gave line as the perch headed for the reed beds. Firm pressure kept it out and I gradually managed to guide it into clear water. Again it made a dash for the reeds and took line, but with firm pressure I was able to keep it away from danger.
Gradually, slowly but surely, I was able to guide it towards the net. Yet again, it made another dash for the reeds, but now it was tiring through its efforts so I was able to gently draw it back towards the waiting landing net.
As it came towards the net it swirled on the surface and I caught a glimpse of it for the first time. It was absolutely massive. It was huge. A real monster of a perch. It looked every ounce a 5lber. My size twelve hook looked ridiculously small in its hugh cavern of a mouth and I silently prayed that it would not pull out.
By this time my heart was pounding furiously and my pulse racing as I prepared to draw it over the rim of my landing net.
“Got you” I shouted “Yeeeeeeees,Yes,Yes,Yes” I just couldn’t contain my excitement.
Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and a shaking sensation.
“Eddie, wake up Eddie. You dropped your magazine on the floor and nodded off ages ago”
…and here it is – the one that got away!
Eddie Benham
