Sandbagged!

Sandbagged!
Photograph by Steve Barnett

Tuesday 27 March 2018

"Anticipation is ...

the greater part of pleasure" according to Angela Carter, and I guess she was right. 

Certainly the members of the Peacock Fly Fishing Club have plenty to anticipate this year.  The annual pre-season meeting got underway last night in the restaurant at Haddon Hall and it was packed!  



More than sixty of us turned up to get our membership cards and this year's first newsletter.  Bodies and souls were kept together with a variety of fresh cut sandwiches and chips (chips in England are French Fries in America). 



Our popular, and highly innovative, river keepers held everyone's keen attention with their thoughtfully worked out agenda.  The subjects of which included:
  • phosphate stripping,
  • invasive non native species and their effect on water clarity,
  • our glorious osprey and the efforts made to help him make Haddon his marital home,
  • the availability of emergency fly fishing supplies in the Baden Powell Fishing Hut, which will be managed via an honesty box,
  • the opening day breakfast to be prepared and held therein and...
  • the news of more coarse fishing water available to members at the little lake by Youlgrave! 


This water is a marvellous venue to take a beginner for their first fishing trip.  Your faithful correspondent had the pleasure a couple of years ago to take a very good friend who had been trying for years, without success, to get her river keeper husband to teach her some of our Gentle Art... 
 

Here she is having some great success using a garden cane rod with home-made bird quill float and enjoying every moment of it too!


Lift Bite!
A Bream
All Fools' Day is this Sunday.  The weather forecast is poor.  Who cares?  Not me!  Enjoy your season dear reader, remember Woody Allen reckons that 80% of success is turning up...






Regular Rod