The Reverend Stewart Bloor is an ordained Minister and Director of the Sedgley International Christian Ministries. He is also a very keen angler, having come back to the sport four years ago 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.
As far as angling is concerned, some of us are pioneers, others settlers. I’m definitely one of the former. I absolutely adore, and rise to a challenge. One of the club cards I have recently taken out, for the new river season, is the Luton Angling Club. A number of stretches on the Great Ouse, a good section of the Grand Union canal plus numerous stillwaters, I was spoilt for choice.
Planning my first trip, a week into the new season, I studied the write-ups on the various options. One caught my eye in particular as I read the words, ‘It resembles a jungle’. Even my wife, Debby, when I showed her the write-up, immediately said ‘I know where you’re going then’. I think that in many ways, our style of angling reflects our character. Part of my work, as the Director of a missions organisation, takes me to remote parts of Africa. Not for me the luxury of a five star hotel. I sometimes end up in places where, if you kept a dog in those conditions here in the UK, you would have the RSPCA after you! But I love it! So it is with my angling. My wife has given up asking why I come home muddy, wet and covered in nettle stings every time I go fishing.
So, on a beautiful summers day, I set off for the River Great Ouse, near Olney in Buckinghamshire. Although synonymous with barbel, the Great Ouse has much more to offer than that, as I was about to discover. In fact, the Luton AC waters are not known for their barbel, but a telephone call with the Chairman of the club, David Edwards, did reveal that a biggie was caught from this particular stretch a year or so ago. It seemed that the stretch was not exactly heaving with barbel, but they were obviously there, well at least one anyway!
I am very fortunate in that my work schedule allows me to fish mid-week. It means that I usually get the whole river to myself. Rucksack on back, quiver over my shoulder (I love roving) I headed from the car park towards the river. 
Many thoughts went through my mind as I approached the river. The Great Ouse, of course, has been in the angling press so much in the last few years. It was almost like the moment that you are about to meet someone that has a reputation. What will they be like? Will they disappoint? Will they live up to their expectations? Etc, etc.
My first glimpse of the river was good, any doubts I may have had were quickly dispelled. I walked the whole of the stretch I had chosen and definitely agreed with the ‘jungle’ description. There were about three reasonable looking pegs. I decided on one that, if any were to contain barbel, that must be it. There was streamer weed over gravel and the river was flowing at a nice pace, this peg had ‘barbel’ written all over it.
As night fishing was allowed, I had come prepared to fish through till the next morning. As it was now the middle of the day, the sun was high and hot and the river was low and clear.
I started off by fishing maggot. The first four fish were all of different species – roach, perch, chub and gudgeon. I continued like this through the afternoon, taking a number of small fish, but all the time feeding hemp and particles of meat, knowing that the onset of evening would see a switch in tactics. As the sun set I tackled up for the big boys and switched to a lump of pork salami sausage (Peperami), legered in the middle of the bed of hemp that lay enticingly in front of me. The conditions now looked good, surely the bites would come.
But nothing happened. Not until 4.00am that is, the next morning. Suddenly the bait runner began to give out line. Nothing frenzied, just a gentle pull. Thinking it was no more than a smallish chub I tightened the rod and began to reel it in. Fishing with 14lb braid and 10lb hooklength I had no worries at all about the ‘tiddler’ that was on the end. As it gently came in it headed straight for a very dense reed bed that was in the river in front of me. It soon became well and truly tangled, still it was only a small fish and if I lost it, no problem. I pulled and tugged, eventually leaving the line slack till the fish made it’s own way out, at which point I drew it in again and slipped the net under it. 
Simple as that. It was at this point I had the shock of my life. In the landing net was a monster of a carp! I couldn’t believe what had happened, this fish did not even put up a fight, it was just like a lamb to the slaughter. I had even hoped it had set itself free when it was tangled in the reed bed, saving me the trouble of lost tackle. If I’d have known what was on the end, I’d have gone in after it and brought it out by hand!
Laying it out on the unhooking mat, I knew this was a personal best carp that was in front of me. With trembling hands I lifted it up to be weighed. The scales bottomed at 23-3-0. Ok, not a monster by the standards of some of the commercial fisheries around, but beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder, and to me this was a great fish.
I quickly took a whole load of photographs, some of which you can see accompanying this article. As I gently lowered the fish back into the water, boy, did it fight! It powered off downstream with such a disturbance to the peace and quiet of the morning. I think it was only now that it realised it had been caught. I don’t know who had been more surprised, the carp or me.
As I left the Great Ouse that morning a happy man was I. Was it me or did the birds seem to sing that much sweeter than the day before?
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
