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He is also a very keen angler, having come back to the sport in 1995 following a break of several years. In this regular column he will tell us about his progress as an angler – his thoughts about the sport, what he learns, the fishing trips he makes, the anguish, the humour, in fact everything he experiences as his angling career develops.
Pilgrim’s Progress – read it everyThursday!
Surprise, Surprise – Expect The Unexpected
One thing about fishing is that you never know what’s around thecorner, or bend, as the case may be…This week’s Pilgrim’s Progressis all about a number of surprises that I’ve had while out fishing.The three fishy surprises I want to write about all concern carp.
Fishing a local pool a couple of years ago I spent the whole ofthe autumn / winter period targeting pike. Actually, I caught justone pike in the numerous visits I made. But at over 20lb, I wassatisfied. It’s important that we enjoy our fishing, and I’m happy toput in a lot of time to catch just a few larger than average fish.
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But the visits to the pool did produce another fish that was areal turn up for the books. One afternoon, fishing a legered sprat.The float dipped, I struck, and realised I was into a nice pike. Ihadn’t had the ’20’ at that time, so was looking forward to breakingmy duck with a nice fish. Playing it to the net, I had the surpriseof my life. Before me was a double figure mirror carp, 12 lb 4 oz tobe exact.
It really was a bizarre catch. I smiled at the times we talk aboutwily carp, and almost give them the intelligence of a Mensa member.The times we fine tune our rigs, moving the tubing a couple ofmillimetres, adjusting the hair, to fool the crafty old carp intotaking our bait. And here I was, catching a good fish on 15lb wiretrace, two big treble hooks and, by carp standards, coarsepresentation.
My second surprise happened when I was barbel fishing on the RiverGreat Ouse in Buckinghamshire. This was my first visit to the river,last summer, and I had found a nice spot that had ‘barbel’ writtenall over it. I was on a night session and I had a few small fish theprevious evening, before settling down for the night and targetingsomething decent.
At 4.00 am the bait-runner screamed into action. I have documentedwhat happened next in a previous Pilgrim’s Progress. In fact, thestory of my visit to the Great Ouse was the third article I wrote.So, for a full account, check out the archives. But what ended up inthe net that night was a big, fat, round common carp of 23lb 3oz. Itwas, and still is, my personal best carp.
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The third fishy surprise took place on the River Severn inWorcestershire. Again, fishing for barbel, the rod went and I wasinto another nice fish. At the time I was chasing a Severn double.’This is it’, were my initial thoughts. Slipping the net under a nice12lb 12 oz fish gave a real sense of achievement. But it was nobarbel, it was a common carp.
In the corner of its mouth was a 1.7 hooklength and 22 hook. Ismiled to myself as I thought of the matchman that for a few secondshad played the fish of his life, only to lose it as it uncontrollablyraced off, like a runaway truck. That night in his local, he probablypleaded with his mates…’Honest guys, it was this big…’ Of course,no-one believed him. If you’re that unlucky angler, show this articleto your mates…..
The River Severn also featured in another surprise. Fishing on thelower Severn last year two coffins came floating downstream. Now,I’ve seen some pretty bizarre things floating down the river, butcoffins!! Nothing was on the news that night, so as far as I knowthey were devoid of life. Or death, as the case may be. Still, onthat fishing trip my companions were Rik Belenger (Carp Angler) andPaul Williams, so the only stiffs that day were the ones on the bank.(Sorry guys, couldn’t resist it…). Merv Wilkinson was also with usand before the coffins appeared I heard him shout, ‘Sedge, there’ssome overtime on its way down’. I couldn’t think what he was talkingabout until the coffins duly appeared in my swim…
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Now for this last story, let me say that what I am about to writeis the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth…Going backin time to when I was about 18, I had just been fishing and wasreturning home in the dark. I can remember the exact spot I was in,driving back home to Sedgley. Suddenly, I noticed an object in thesky, hovering in mid-air. It’s a rural area so the sky was dark, theobject was clearly there, it wasn’t a figment of my imagination orthe lights of the town playing tricks with my mind.
I pulled over, fascinated by this obvious UFO. Even down to itssaucer shape, I was left in no doubt what hovered in the air aboveme. Suddenly, and without warning, the UFO shot across the sky at aterrific speed. Although I was in a quiet area, with no traffic inthe vicinity, as it sped off the UFO was silent.
The next night, in our local paper, was an article that mentioneda large number of people had seen the same object at the same time asme. Certainly the most bizarre tale I can tell in connection with myangling. (Let me just add at this point for those who may bewondering how I reconcile my evangelical Christian beliefs with lifeon other planets – I don’t. I don’t believe in life on other planets,but I know that what I saw was real. As I don’t want to stray awaytoo much from fishing, and there may only be a handful of peoplereading this who are interested, mail me direct if you want todiscuss further).
So there you have it. Some surprises I’ve had in my fishingcareer…UFO’s…coffins..oh, and some unexpected carp…
Next Thursday it’s back to realityand terra firma and instead of questions about life on Mars, I’mgoing to tell you about Living On An Island. The Island Pool that is.See you next week….
The Reverend Stewart R Bloor
Sedgley International Christian Ministries
PO Box 1216, Dudley. DY3 1GW.
Telephone : 01384 – 828033
Web site : www.sicm.org
e-mail : missionscentre@sicm.org
