National Fishing Week 2006
Angling Taster Sessions held at Barlow Fisheries
Time flies as they say - it seems like only yesterday that I
organised Barlow's National Fishing Week event for 2005, but time and
tide waits for no man, and 20th August 2006 was the latest event in
the calendar for Barlow Fisheries in Dronfield.
The event was opened at 10am by Chairman of the North East Derbyshire
District Council - Cllr. John Holmes and his wife Kathy. It's certainly
great to see local councillors involved with our sport, and John and
Kathy were really interested in what we were doing, they chatted with
the anglers on the ponds and under the guidance of the National Federation
of Anglers coaches - had a go at catching a fish or two themselves.
They even tried their hand at fly-casting, with tuition by Martin Introna
- ex-England fly-caster and fly-tier.
Many thanks to fly-tiers Phil White and Bernie Maher from Press Manor
Fisheries - who freely volunteered their time to demonstrate the art
of fly-tying. As they demonstrated their tremendous skills, they made
dressing a fly seem all too easy. Nothing was too much trouble for them
as they passed on tips and techniques and fielded questions from inquisitive
wanna-be fluff chuckers.
AnglersToday journalists Dave Williams and Andrew Kennedy manned the
'Ask the Experts' stand - which proved very popular. It seems there's
a lot of anglers out there who just like to chat and compare their angling
experiences with the experts. Dave brought along his baitboat, which
always gets people asking questions, while Andrew brought along some
of his pike lures and the latest 'camo' legers for carp bolt rigs. Both
displayed lots of photographs of their catches - nothing like a picture
of a huge sturgeon or mahseer to start a conversation!
The coarse angling tuition for the event was by NFA coaches Paul Lewis,
Lew Lawton, Kev Finnigan, Roger Chapman, Peter Gribbon, Geoff Woodcock
and Dave Frost. They were kept busy by a stream of people wanting to
try their hand at angling. In total over sixty people sat on their fishing
platforms to try out pole fishing, what ever happened to a rod and line?
I had a lot of comments from 'first-timers' who said how easy it was
- and how the event had altered their perception of angling. Credit
where credit's due - the coaches were brilliant. If there is anyone
out there who needs help with their angling, get in touch with the NFA
and they should be able to help.
This year - the organisers of The National Fishing Week had sent some
fishing whips and floats for all the beginners, and it was encouraging
to see youngsters trying them out on the other ponds. Our grateful thanks
to Tony Flint, owner of Climax Tackle in Dronfield, who supplied all
the maggots, so everyone had plenty of bait! Nice one Tony!
The Environment Agency, the main sponsors of the event - even organised
for Radio Sheffield to make an appearance, it's certainly interesting
talking into a microphone and trying to catch a fish to order - 'Oh
dear - I've missed another bite' or words to that effect were uttered
by yours truly. I can honestly say Natalie from Radio Sheffield has
the patience of a saint. Pity she dropped that perch she caught - spiky
things aren't they!
At the end of the day, the weather had been kind to us, everyone seemed
to have enjoyed themselves and a lot of fish were caught, and hopefully
- some newcomers were 'hooked' and will develop into more anglers on
the bank.
Finally, many thanks to Rex and Oenone Ward, owners of Barlow Fisheries,
who loaned us the fishery for a day, without their help this event wouldn't
have taken place, many thanks indeed.
Until next time
See you on the bank
Kevin Miles
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