I don’t think so, as, in my opinion at least, there is nothing more fulfilling, nor satisfying, than a net full of flesh. Fish flesh. And the sight of a stocking, especially a Christmas stocking, when the world is happy and looking forward to a festive feast; a stocking that will bring new life and vigour to the stream, is a sight to behold.
I can only vouch for fishing life in the Thames North East region, but the two fishing clubs of which I am privileged to be chairman, both have and enjoy an excellent relationship with the Environment Agency.
It amazes me when I hear of stories of clubs and officials being at loggerheads with the EA; we have a great bunch of Agency guys within Thames NE, and we enjoy a super relationship. ‘End of!’ as my youngest would say.
And, as a result of that relationship, and our hard work in improving river habitat over the last few years, our meandering river-based club enjoyed a second annual stocking before Christmas, bringing two year old barbel, roach dace, and chublet to our stream.
Did we just shout the loudest and we were heard? Do we put a huge amount of work and effort into our river to create excellent habitat for our varying year classes of fish? Do we have a good head of specimen fish… well, specimen for such a small stream, proving the sustainability of our fishery and worth of our fishery management policy?
Well, we don’t shout loud, but yes we do work hard as a small club of fifty plus members to ensure we give the stream every chance of nurturing its fish, and in-river and bankside habitat. Like most clubs we are in it for the long term. And not wanting to wish away my remaining years, but in twenty years time when this 50-something split cane and pin wielder is in his seventies , there will be no greater joy than watching a young enthusiastic whipper snapper member landing his first small stream barbel, perhaps a pristine crimson-finned beauty of four or five pounds. Or his first five pound chub, which in two decades time will still be a monster from such a small meandering countryside stream.
So to participate in the beautiful, brisk and bright December morn stocking of several bucket loads of two year-old barbel, along with twice the number of roach, dace and chublet is a veritable Christmas present indeed. A stocking to be cherished, a stocking that will bring sport, fun and happiness to increasing numbers of anglers over many years – and long, long, long after the turkey bones have been thrown and the Christmas pudding is cold.
Hopefully many of these barbel will disappear into the ranunculus for a few years and emerge as lean, mean, two or three pound fighting machines. And be the eight pounders the younger club members of today will be catching in a decade‘s time. Actually, thinking about it, us older guys will still be treading the banks then, health permitting of course. But, already a handful of these juvenile barbus – not more than six or perhaps seven inches in length, have been caught on light trotting tackle or while rolling small cubes of meat around the slacks and softer water. And boy do they perform well against a lightweight float rod or in my case, perhaps an 11ft Hardy lightweight Sheffield, with slim whole cane butt, whole cane mid section and a spliced tip, especially when married to a small centrepin, a 3.5 inch Allcocks aerial of yesterday, a lightweight Speedia four inch narrow drum, or modern Kingpin or Lythe.
Or, as on my most recent Christmas outing, a beautiful 10 ft 6 inch whole cane butt Artisan Wizard from Hertfordshire rod maker (and master float craftsman) Paul Cook. But my pre-Christmas session – a stolen two hours between the festive domestic chores was with Cooky himself on a private Colne valley weirpool.
We enjoyed a delightful, if painfully cold, winter roaching session, trotting maggots and micro baits of bread flake. I field tested my new Artisan (more about that in a future article) with a three and five eighths Witcher Avon Elite – a mini Bisterne reel in all but name. Two pound ten ounce line – don’t you just hate dealing in nought point something thickness line? – a traditional yellow and red tipped Cooky roach float and a one fourteen bottom with size 20 barbless. My net for the day was an early Chris Lythe prototype from about 15 years ago.. much to the chagrin of fishing buddy, and net-maker, Cooky!
We opted for a couple of snowy pre-Christmas hours, knowing the rain was on its way and the ensuing melt within days would bring icy floodwater to the stream which would charge through the pool moving the fish to an unreachable slack and deep comfort zone. We also opted for just a couple of hours knowing that any more would freeze our middle-aged bones.
The surrounding Colne valley lakes were frozen, and an icy mist hung low above the fields. Our breath froze but a shared flask of hot vegetable soup was a welcome treat.
We both trickled just a few maggots into our chosen swims and ran our fine tackle through several times before a first roach was taken. Somehow winter’s coldest days — it was around minus five as we fished — seem that much warmer when you are catching, despite the icy wet feel of every redfin. The Artisan Wizard was just magical, happy to strike a small roach at 20 yards as it has a modest chub of three pounds since. And I am sure it will handle a Colne barbel and mighty Lea chevin with consummate ease before season’s end.
After we had banked a dozen roach each, the biggest a satisfying ten ounces, I decided to keep a landing net full of prime redfins to capture an image of the essence of winter weirpool magic. That image may in due course be used for a 2010 Christmas card to my angling friends.
In the meantime I move into the new decade with heart-warming memories of fish nets and stockings.
Gary Cullum
