One of the happiest times of my angling life was when, for several years, I fished quite often at the fishery complex of lakes and River Trent that my old pal, the late Walter Bower, ran at North Muskham.

Walter was a fantastic man. A body builder who won the Mr Universe contest, and a very innovative inventor as well, and he ran his fishery in quite an amazing way.

There were many numbered pegs along the substantial length of river where anglers enjoyed good sport on a day ticket basis, but one particular spot was set aside for the exclusive use of Walter himself, or occasionally, by special permission for Walter' s pals.


The spot had been chosen carefully to provide good sport, especially in early season.


It was on a bend where there was a good current sweeping close into the near bank with tree cover and access made easy by steps cut into the steep bank.

The special advantage of the swim was the facility to carry out pre-baiting without anyone else fishing that spot until the pre-baiting was completed.


In the closed season Walter and I hatched a plan to kill two birds with one stone.

I needed a good catch to provide me with sport of a high standard and photographs for an advertising feature that I had been asked to do for a certain tackle manufacturer.

At the same time Walter wanted to use the catch to provide publicity for his fishery.

The bed of the river at that spot had been filled with irregular shaped boulders by Walter so that samples of bait thrown in attracted the fish and got them to take the bait eagerly would stay where the fish could locate the food without the food items being swept downstream by the current.

For more than a fortnight before the end of the close season Walter and I baited the spot twice a day.

Then, early in the new season I settled into the baited swim one evening and began a long spell of fishing that lasted right through the night and well into the next morning. When I stopped fishing, tired out, I had over two hundredwieghts of fish in two massive nets and I was so pleased when Walter sent along a professional photographer to record the catch.

I was simply amazed though when I discovered that Walter, knowing how tired I would be, had erected a tent and a sleeping bag for me to kip in beside the river after he had fed me a lovely breakfast in his house. Pals like that make life well worth living.






John Neville