The last two FWTC sessions have really been a chance for me to sort out my gear after a long lay off from doing pretty much any fishing at all, and to remember what on earth to do. On both occasions I was joined by fellow coaches Jerry and Tom (I refused to write their names the other way round for obvious reasons!)...
However, on this occasion, I was fishing with Mike and Lydia at Todber Manor on Whitepost Upper Lake. I had thought that Faith was coming too, but she was spending the day with Grand parents. With added attraction of, I'm told, 'new boyfriend', Henry... More gossip as it comes in...
The lake was more populated by more anglers than I had planned for, so I hastily threw my gear into peg 4 and sent a message to Lydia to hurry up because pegs were few and getting fewer. The message really worked because she only picked it up at 11.56pm... When they did turn up, they both shoehorned themselves into peg 3, and the banter began in earnest...
As usual on Whitepost, there were fish everywhere. So, a big weight could have been on the cards. But this was no practice and we were there to enjoy the day and the summer sunshine. Method feeder scored most points and with Lydia catching fish from the off, It was evident that we were going to be counting the number of fish we caught to determine a 'winner'.
After faffing around with pole for while, I caved in and picked up the feeder. It was at this point something really weird happened.
A dark shaped floated up the lake at about eye level, turned, and headed straight for my face! I say floated because it was flapping very slowly, a bit like a large butterfly you see in the Amazon or something... My eyes widened as I realised it was a flaming bat! I saw it's eyes, weird nose and teeth before it veered off to my left and behind me. I've never been that close to a real bat before, other than the one that hit me full in the chest when I arrived at the River Ouse too early one morning. With no torch I had to wait for the sun to shed light on my path to the river. So I stood on the bridge, in the middle of nowhere, listening to the river below in the darkness. When, 'THUD'. Something I had not seen stuck me in the chest with a squeak, fluttered about, and flew off. Seeing as I had virtually nearly soiled myself instantly, I thought it wiser to wait for first light from the safety of a locked car....
'Batman' reappeared after a few minutes, wafted past and attached itself to the tree next to me. Mike tells me it was a Pippistrelle Bat and, unfortunately, probably not long for this world being out in the daylight. It seemed to be taking insects or even drinking from the surface of the water. He took off again after about 5 minutes, and we didn't see him again. A freaky, but lovely experience and I wish him all the best....
Back to the fishing and, as I approached my 9th, 10th and 11th fish, Lydia didn't seem to think numbers mattered anymore seeing as she was still on 3 or 4...and quite right so, it's not a competition, so who's counting? Well, me actually....
We stopped for lunch (All very civilised don't you know?) and picnicked under the shade of a tree, had a good old chat, then got back to some Carp worrying. Great fun was had on the top kit in close with meat, catching some bigger fish than seemed to be on the feeder.
But all too soon it was getting close to finishing time. Some of us were not counting fish anymore, but a new rivalry had emerged. Because it's so shallow in close, you can see the fish feeding easily. Mike and Lydia by now were literally crossing rod tips in an effort to snare one particular fish which had been christened 'Goldie' by Lydia.... The banter and 'arguments' escalated as I packed away, which was very funny to watch...I ended up with 29 Carp averaging around the 3 - 4lb mark, so it was a reasonable days fishing...
I took my gear to the car and, never one to miss a chance to enrol new juniors to our cause, spied two young ones with their dad fishing further up the lake. After a chat and the giving of a business card, I said my goodbyes and, as I turned to walk away, I heard "Can we do this dad, I want to do this, can we? Please, please, please?". Nothing makes me smile more, I have to admit....
Back to say goodbye to my fishing buddies for the day, only to be greeted by a very excited Lydia, virtually skipping and brandishing her phone towards my face saying "I got him!". Photo evidence proved that this was indeed true and I imagine any bragging rights that Mike had on the day had just melted into insignificance after the capture of the now infamous 'Goldie'. Thank you for a fun and relaxing day guys, it was just what the doctor ordered. Who knows, we may even get some juniors at the next one!
....and now, Goldie! Look at her face! Mike is not going to live this down for quite a while!!!
Juniors Sec.