A frequently asked question in strategy meetings I attend is "what would good look like?" or "how would we know if this was a success?" Sometimes the answer is easy: there are metrics, measurables, performance indicators and outputs that answer the question, but at other times the response to the enquiry has to be more nuanced.
As I reflect on the last weekend and the Christian Anglers Retreat, what I see looks very like success. The number of barbel was significant but a long way short of spectacular, the weather at times was shocking but the "sum of the parts" created a wonderful "whole". Only one angler blanked, some lovely barbel were banked, most anglers connected with the odd decent chub and the camaraderie and fellowship were second to none.
My own lack of barbel didn't diminish my sense of having had a great time fishing, and although my "two for the price of one" pike and chub adventure on the opening night (both fish are pictured below) provided a few minutes of high adrenaline excitement, it was spending a couple of hours trotting with a centre pin during a rare sunny interlude on the Saturday afternoon and catching a steady stream of 4 ounce perch that was my angling highlight. Sometimes the pleasure lies in things altogether more subtle than mere pounds and ounces.
Very few of us fished on Sunday. It was a morning for chatting, loafing about, eating and packing up, which began (as all fishing and camping mornings surely must) with bacon and mugs of hot coffee or tea. Pete, our normal camp chef had been called into work to sort an emergency, so David and I took on the role of catering corps, and the smell of bacon wafted across the campsite.
Only three anglers fished, the indefatigable and endlessly enthusiastic John Rellie tried legering worms and Jez tossed a maggot feeder into the river for half an hour, but even the small fish were proving obdurate and uncooperative, and quiver tips remained still, baits untroubled.
Loz was awarded the "angler of the Weekend" prize, for catching a brace of barbel on his first ever trip in pursuit of the species. Primarily a fly fisherman, Loz is a recent member of the group, and he and John Rellie (both on only their second trips out with Christian Anglers) have proved to be good company and welcome additions to our happy "band of brothers".
Predictably, when Pete returned from his unscheduled dash into work he couldn't resist a few casts (there are few people I've fished with who are as single-minded in their pursuit of their quarry than Pete), and his persistence paid off with four barbel in under an hour, a fitting end to the weekend. As has often been said "if your bait's in the water, you've got a chance", and Pete certainly took his.
Roy, retired Yorkshire miner and the weekend's "king of the bleak" (he did also manage a decent chub) formally rounded the weekend off with a prayer, and a succession of anglers returned to the four different Counties they'd journeyed from tired yet refreshed and eager for the next time we get together on the bank.
Catching fish, sharing friendship, making memories ..... it doesn't get much better.
My own lack of barbel didn't diminish my sense of having had a great time fishing, and although my "two for the price of one" pike and chub adventure on the opening night (both fish are pictured below) provided a few minutes of high adrenaline excitement, it was spending a couple of hours trotting with a centre pin during a rare sunny interlude on the Saturday afternoon and catching a steady stream of 4 ounce perch that was my angling highlight. Sometimes the pleasure lies in things altogether more subtle than mere pounds and ounces.
Very few of us fished on Sunday. It was a morning for chatting, loafing about, eating and packing up, which began (as all fishing and camping mornings surely must) with bacon and mugs of hot coffee or tea. Pete, our normal camp chef had been called into work to sort an emergency, so David and I took on the role of catering corps, and the smell of bacon wafted across the campsite.
Only three anglers fished, the indefatigable and endlessly enthusiastic John Rellie tried legering worms and Jez tossed a maggot feeder into the river for half an hour, but even the small fish were proving obdurate and uncooperative, and quiver tips remained still, baits untroubled.
Loz was awarded the "angler of the Weekend" prize, for catching a brace of barbel on his first ever trip in pursuit of the species. Primarily a fly fisherman, Loz is a recent member of the group, and he and John Rellie (both on only their second trips out with Christian Anglers) have proved to be good company and welcome additions to our happy "band of brothers".
Predictably, when Pete returned from his unscheduled dash into work he couldn't resist a few casts (there are few people I've fished with who are as single-minded in their pursuit of their quarry than Pete), and his persistence paid off with four barbel in under an hour, a fitting end to the weekend. As has often been said "if your bait's in the water, you've got a chance", and Pete certainly took his.
Roy, retired Yorkshire miner and the weekend's "king of the bleak" (he did also manage a decent chub) formally rounded the weekend off with a prayer, and a succession of anglers returned to the four different Counties they'd journeyed from tired yet refreshed and eager for the next time we get together on the bank.
Catching fish, sharing friendship, making memories ..... it doesn't get much better.
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