Two sad old gits do it Crabtree style!

[comanche 3,038]

Just had three days away on the Dorset Stour and the Royalty with a mate . We are both experienced anglers in that we've been fishing for years but that does'nt mean we are actually any good!. To make it harder ,or maybe to give us a plausable excuse for failiure,we decided to do it Crabtree style-- Ok I did take an old Mitchell300 as a spare and "M " was using his super modern centre-pin reel but I opted for an ancient greenheart rod and elderly ,much repaired, old Nottingham drum .Most of the other anglers seemed to be preoccupied with worshipping The great barbel God and seemed to think us a bit weird for wanting to catch anything else. Had a great time with the roach ,dace ,eels perch and chub.Smallest fish a foul-hooked minnow . We had a few good ones too but not without an element of luck and a large dollop of comedy.M's hat blew into a weir pool at one point and as I retrieved it with the rod tip from the shallows I spotted a decent perch hunting fry.

In went a little bleak but not quite where I'd intended it to land .Down came a tern .Amazingly the bird dropped my bait almost where I wanted it and ,whack .Straight into a two n half pound stripey .Despite falling off my rock into the Stour I landed it . Having released the old girl we discovered that "M's "lack of familiarity with my camera meant that instead of half a dozen perfectly posed shots all we had was one out of focus picture which really did'nt show the fish at it's best .Nice shot of my reel though!

On the last day I set-up for perch in another pool.Cane-rod ,wooden reel,4lb line through to a float-fished lob-worm fished tight to the edge of a reedy island.Had a few small ones -but as any stripey looks good to me I was happy enough in my little "Crabtrean" World. When I thought I'd hit the jack -pot it turned out to 5lb Jack-pike which I managed to land despite the need to lay flat-out on the bank ,with the rod held skyward in my left hand whilst reaching down the 6 foot drop with the net with the right hand. When a bit later It was obvious that I was into another pike I resigned myself to a quick snap-off as usually happens when a pike 's teeth hit a 4lb line....Ten minutes later an angler, who'd probably been wondering what the joker with the funny hat and "organic tackle " on the far side of the weir was playing- at ,approached to offer assistance. I explained that I thought it was just a 4lb jack and although I was treating it gently due to my light line I fully expected the inevitable bite-off.Any way it was a long way from being ready for the net as it was still churning around in 12foot of heavy weir -water. He wandered back to his swim and was just out of ear-shot when I saw the fish for the first time. At that moment I really wanted his help!

Following a lot of giving and taking of line interspaced with precarious dangling over the bank in a somewhat ungainly and decidedly unstylish manner only to have the fish make yet more dives I wangled it into the net. My number 8 hook was securely and very luckily in the scissors of the jaw .Certainly no monster but considering the circumstances at 11lb the pike made a very memorable finish to the day .

When I find time I'll try to post the pictures that prove that while me and my mate are a long way from being good anglers we at least have some entertainent value.

Edited July 4, 2008 by comanche

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Nice write up mate .Some people get too absorbed in the 'specimen 'side of fishing to appreciate anything else .Makes me smile when i see a lad weighed down with realtree kit and catches the odd decent fish or blanks .Sometime ago ,on our local stretch of the avon ,i was barbel fishing with the usual minimum kit when a couple of bankside hunters came along and asked how i did .Before i could say much the other lad blurted out that hed had a 15lb barbel to which i replied that id nothing like that but i had them to 12lb and 8lb and 7 inbetween .I could see the look of disbelief so emptied my net there and then as i was due to leave soon anyway .Words excaped them and off they went ,heads down and mumbling . Im not a smug person but i smiled as i shook the net out .

Crabtree over needless expense every time mate .

[comanche 3,038]

Thanks FD. I have to admit that one bit of the Stour looked like a carp lake ,there were so many specimen hunters after barbel. We kept walking untill we found a stretch to ourselves. Yep I'd like to catch a barbel or any really big fish but I don't enjoy combining fishing and camping.Each to his own though. One chap had a superb 7lb chub from a free stretch while my mate watched. He'd waited 3 days for it so though it would'nt be my idea of fishing he certainly deserved it. One thing we did decide on early was not to try to emulate the locals .Once we started fishing as we did at home we started catching. We still probably looked like a pair of wallies though. Any way all the best .

[comanche 3,038]

As threatened a few pictures .Those who have seen these pictures have commented that my hat is a"very gay one " or looks like something from the middle Ages. Have to say that my mate was'nt actually smoking his pipe ,just using it to keep his gentles warm..... Perhaps the original title should've been ." A bloke with a pipefull of maggots and a pratt dressed as a Mediaeval homosexual do it Crabtree style ."