“Uncle Paul, when are you going to take me fishing?” Asked Josh, my eight year old nephew.
It’s amazing, I remember my first fishing trip over 20 years ago like it was yesterday. My dad took me to a small picturesque quarry pool which was absolutely stuffed with small fish, perfect for my introduction to angling. My first fish was a tiny perch and I remember feeling so proud that I had caught this amazing creature all by myself! A great day. 
Since that special day, fishing has given me so much pleasure and I have been lucky enough to catch fish beyond my wildest dreams and it has also taken me all over the world. However, one thing has always remained the same – I enjoy my fishing as much now as I did on that first trip!
Back to Joshua’s first fishing trip – the first thing I had to do was find a suitable location. Josh lives in Gloucestershire, an area where I don’t really know much about the local fishing, so I sent a mail to the FISHINGmagic Mailing List asking for information. As always, I received several replies from other members giving me names and locations of various pools in the area. I finally chose a recommendation from Paul Williams (Thanks mate!), Chad Lakes near Stow on the Wold. To quote Paul “It’s absolutely stuffed with fish and perfect for Josh’s first trip”. That was good enough for me!
As we drove towards the pools on a perfect Friday morning Josh was ‘babbling on’ about his expectations of the day. I decided to ask him how many fish he wanted to catch today “Five” was his reply. This made me smile, I knew that provided that we reached this number he would be a happy boy, and if the pools were half as good as Paul had said then five would be quite achievable! One thing that did worry me a little was when he said “Don’t worry Uncle Paul, I know how to cast and wind in, I’ve seen it on Tom & Jerry!”. It may be a long day I thought to myself as I smiled at him. 
We pulled into the parking area to find a few cars already there. We paid for our day tickets and carried our gear towards the lake. I’d like to say that Josh shared the carrying but after about 10 yards I ended up with nearly all the tackle! The pool looked ideal, about 2 1/2 acres, nicely maintained and the water had a good colour.
We chose an area adjoining the syndicate lake, which gave us a depth of 4ft under the rod tip and an island for “Uncle Paul” to fish towards later in the day. Whilst we were tackling up we could see people all around us catching fish, a great sign. We were told by a neighbouring angler that the water was stuffed with perch, roach, bream, tench and a good head of carp to 20lbs-plus.
I tackled up Josh with a 10ft match style rod, small match reel loaded with 3lbs mainline and a 1.7lbs bottom to a size 18 barbless hook. I didn’t spend too much time going through the set up with him as I felt that it was more important that he learnt how to cast and play the fish today rather than get bored with technicalities.
It was finally time for that first cast, a moment that we all remember and one to savour! To stop the rod flying into the water we both held onto the rod and made a great cast about 2 rod lengths out. I showed Josh how to sink the line, threw a few maggots out and we both waited with baited breath (and hook!) for the float to dip. 
Sure enough, after a few seconds it began to bob and then suddenly disappeared, “Strike Josh!” I said. This he did but he missed it – damn! We cast out again and waited, once again the float began to move until it was dragged sideways under the water. This time Josh’s timing was much better and the hook was set and he slowly wound the fish in and he was just about to swing it to me for unhooking when it dropped off! I looked at Josh and he was visibly upset, but I quickly got him back to the job in hand by re-baiting and we cast in again.
This time, when the float disappeared, he made sure that the hook was set well and a great little perch came to Uncle Paul for unhooking. His face was a picture and he was even more proud when I informed him that my first fish was also a perch, all those years ago! The important photo followed and he posed like a professional angler with his prize before he slipped it back into the pool carefully.
That was it, he was hooked! He had caught his first fish within two minutes of casting out. I was as happy as he was, the joy it gave him to hold that perch in his hands, a very special moment for both of us!.
The rest of the day just got better and better despite the torrential rain. I decided not to set up until I felt that he was comfortable with casting and playing the fish. And, after all, this wasn’t my day – it was Josh’s. He soon mastered casting on his own although it didn’t always end up where he had planned! His target of five fish was soon passed as he caught a fish nearly every cast, skimmer bream, roach, gudgeon and lots of greedy perch followed. By now he was becoming a professional, he was criticising my casts, asking me if I caught this many fish on my first trip and even moaning about the carp angler on the adjoining bank constantly adjusting his buzzers! I remember thinking “This boy will go far!” 
Just after lunch I decided to set up my rod and cast a small bomb towards the island for the carp. I wanted to show Josh what a carp looked like and, if I’m honest, I wanted to show him what a ‘top angler’ his Uncle Paul was! I baited with a 14mm Solar fishmeal boilie and catapulted 1/2 dozen pouchfuls of trout pellets around it. Josh was very impressed by my long cast and even more so with the buzzer! He’s a bit of a Playstation ‘whizz-kid’ and soon worked out how it worked – he made me feel very old!
He continued to catch small fish and was swiftly approaching his 25th fish when the bobbin dropped back and I struck into a fish close to the island. I soon felt that it was a bream so I passed the rod to Josh and he wound in the biggest fish he had ever seen! He couldn’t stop giggling until he touched the fish and was covered in good old ‘snot’, “You’re not a real angler until you’ve been slimed Josh.” I informed him!
But the best two fish were yet to come. I was tying on a new rig when I saw him strike into a better fish which was trying to drag him into the lake. I adjusted the rear drag for him and told him to take his time. He was blowing and groaning from the power of what had to be a carp, but I was determined not to take the rod from him. After about four minutes I slipped the net under a carp of about 4lbs – he was ecstatic and so was! I explained the importance of using an unhooking mat and caring for the fish and we weighed his massive prize – 4lbs 5oz – WOW! I have been lucky enough to catch carp to over 35lbs but this 4lbs-plus fish gave me just as much pleasure as catching a 30 myself! A few photos to show mum and dad, and we slipped the wonderful creature back into the pool. He was so excited that he had to sit down for a few minutes and have a drink of coke! 
The rest of the day was wonderful and beyond my wildest expectations let alone Josh’s. He soon mastered casting, playing fish and caught a total of 37 fish including perch, roach, gudgeon, skimmers, two bream of 3 1/2 lbs and, of course, the massive carp.
The only way I could get him to pack up was to take the rod off him and pack it away quickly! We then had to tell every angler we passed how many fish he had caught and how he thought that he had caught the record number of fish for a 1st time angler!!
And for me, well it was also a very special day and spelt out what fishing is all about. It is so important that we introduce more youngsters to our wonderful sport so that it continues to remain strong and progress forward. As for Josh, well, on the way home he did exactly what I did on the way home from my first fishing trip – he fell asleep, no doubt dreaming of big fish and his next trip! I can see that I will be driving down the M5 a bit more often now we have another angler on our hands – Watch out John Wilson!
Chad Lake
Situated on the B4450 between Stow on the Wold and Bledington. Two pools, one day ticket and the other private syndicate. Day tickets £ 5 per day Adults, £ 3 children/OAPs. Night permits by special permission. Tackle, bait and refreshments on site. Telephone 01451 831470.
