“Why Can’t I “
By Derek Lewis
When I was on the buses at Gatwick, taking people up and down from the airport and back to the car park, a new driver joined us called Glyn, and he also went fishing, but never caught a barbel, as he had just moved from Cornwall to Crawley {no barbel in Cornwall} and I must have talked to him so much about barbel fishing that he wanted to go with me down to the Avon and try and catch one.
Because our jobs where 4 on and 4 off, we where able to fish midweek. The first trip we had was to Bisterne {north end stretch} down that bumpy old track to the river. Remembered the first words he said when he saw it {wowwwwww} he had to borrow one of my rods as he had not been able to go back to Cornwall to collect his fishing gear.
I baited two swims with corn and hemp then waited to see what would pay us a visit. Within an hour there was 5 or 6 barbel not big but certainly worth catching, waited till they swam out of the swims and then dropped in our tackle near bank. Things were quite for a little while so I decided to take a peep through the reeds and glen creeped up to the side of me and watched a nice barbel pick up the two grains of sweet corn in its lips and drop it within a fraction of a second. Glyn had never seen anything like it before. It turned out a blank for both of us that day but I think he had caught the bug now. The next trip three weeks later Glen managed to drive back to Cornwall to get his tackle from his mothers house so this time we went to Throop beat 3, I did tell him that this could be hard going as you don’t always see them here.
He didn’t mind though. We parked at the spur road bridge and walked about half a mile downstream and passed an angler fishing under a tree as we approached the swim I was to put Glen in I said do know that a very big fish patrols up and down through this swim. When I told him that, the look on his face said it all. I baited the swim for him couple of pints of broken boilies hemp and a few pellets just behind a bed of bulrushes moved into my swim further down stream about 500yds within site of Glyn.
By now it got to about 2 o’clock and the other angler under the tree came up for a chat to tell us that he had been smashed up 4 times. This I thought was strange as he looked as though he new what he was doing. I said what you are using for bait if you don’t mind me asking and he replied boilies. I said what sort? Well he said they are a fishy sort of smell and red in colour. Then he said “would you like to try some" and I thought didn’t like to say no so I said ok. He then went back to his swim and came back with 8 boilies 4 each, I said thank you." Then he went back to fish. I said to Glen do you want to try one of these so he said are you," I said might as well being he has supposed to have been smashed up 4 times.
So Glyn put one of these unknown boilies on a hair rig and cast in back to the same spot. I went back to my swim and recast with the same boilies as Glyn. Perhaps another hour went passed and then I heard Glyn shouting I’ve got one on Derek, with that I reeled in and run towards Glyn with his rod bent nearly double, I said what do you think it is he said must be a barbel I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I kept on telling him to keep the rod up and take it easy.
It was now starting to come in very slowly and I had the net already in the water and then I see it ought no a tiny wind knot in the line I said for Christ’s sake take it easy Glyn there’s a knot in the line oh no he said but it was nearly in the net, I leaned out as far as I could and she was in, thank god think I was more nervous than Glyn.
Meanwhile while all this was going on the angler who gave us the boilies came down from his swim to see the fish, and as we lifted the barbel onto the scales it registered 13lbs.8ozs had to check that again 13lbs.8ozs, what a fish and first barbel he has ever caught in his life. We all shook hands even with the boilie man and he said good bait isn’t it, I said what is that bait exactly, but all he would say is that his mate makes them and has a fishy smell and there red in colour.
Well was it the bait or the colour or would it have taken a pellet if there had been one in that spot? Mystery. Glyn said as we where driving home I can’t thank you enough Derek for taking me down there. So I said you caught that all by yourself mate and just the look on your face said it all. I was so happy for him. I’ve fished the swim since nothing, just another nice memory.
Derek Lewis – May 2005