Rivers Opening
It’s the first day of June and it brings us that big step nearer to what we river fans have been waiting for since 15th March – the opening of the new river season on 16th June. 
Anglers everywhere are tuning up their tackle right now in readiness for the big day. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that heavy rain will stay away and give us a chance to enjoy the most significant angling day of the year. Okay, we can still fish the river if it’s coloured and heavy with extra water, but it’s not the same is it?
I don’t know where you will be but I’ll be on the river Dove trying to sort out a nice barbel or two. I did well last year in the first few weeks, catching a few ‘nines’ and a 10.12. But any barbel will do to begin with. After all, there are no unwanted ones are there?
A Dying Art
When we fished at Melton Pit a few weeks ago we got talking to one of the locals, an old-timer who had fished there for years. He was oozing with enthusiasm for the sport and when he wasn’t actually fishing himself he was on the water chatting about it.
It was good to still see so much passion for angling in someone who had obviously spent most of his long life fishing.
He told us he still made his own floats and was good enough to bring them to the water to show us the next day. They were truly wonderful, lovingly carved from different woods and other materials and each one painted and varnished, and marked up with all the exact shot loadings they took. It’s a long time since I used to make my own floats, but I can remember that every fish you caught on a home-made float meant so much more than a fish caught on a shop-bought one.
Tether Rigs
On two occasions in the past few weeks we’ve come across two really nasty instances of tether rigs that were attached to fish we caught. Tether rigs, for those who don’t know, are rigs that, if lost through breakage when casting or playing a fish, can’t be got rid of easily by the fish. And then what happens is the rig becomes tangled or caught in some way on an underwater snag and tethers the fish to it.
Please, when tying up any kind of rig, give some thought to the danger of tethering. Tie the rig so that the weight, swimfeeder, or whatever else you may have on the line, can slide off if the line breaks.
Sweet Prince, formerly known as Eddie
My old mate Eddie Bibby, the scouse without nous, has been known by many names over the years, few of them pleasant, but the other week, while playing crib over the internet, his American partner, claiming to be a model and ballet dancer, bayed him farewell with the words ‘Goodnight, my Sweet Prince.’
Course, his first mistake was telling me, for as you can imagine he hasn’t been allowed to forget this, and the jibes have ranged from ‘give us a twirl in yer tutu Prince,’ to ‘she’s a hairy-a**** truck driver with tattoos on her knuckles with a penchant for old scouse gits.’
At the recent Mailing List’s North Vs South match he told the South that if they lost, being as he was royalty, they would have to bow and kiss his ring.
Naturally, that was all the South needed to spur them to a resounding victory that would otherwise have been impossible. Next time Sweet prince, tell the North they’ll have to kiss your ring! 
Sweet prince, formerly known as Eddie, is now Rip Van Winkle, formerly known as Sweet Prince, formerly known as Eddie.
You see, just lately he can’t stay awake. He now gets in his sleeping bag, lights a fag, and promptly falls asleep and doesn’t even wake up when it burns down to his fingers.
And last weekend he missed a club match when he couldn’t get out of bed following another hectic night across the Atlantic playing cards with his ballet-dancing princess.
He swears she’s not a truck driver and sent us this picture of himself with her when they met recently.
Now don’t all go rushing off to play crib tonight. She’s Rip’s princess.
Try tomorrow night when he’s out.
