Dreams, visions and an angling retreat ..... Christian Anglers Retreat (Day 1)

According to the Old Testament prophet Joel, "young men have visions" while "old men dream dreams", and as someone who can lay claim to being pretty much bang in the middle of those two categories I conclude that I have a right to both. Another prophet, Zechariah (why did they never have ordinary names like "Steve" or "Jim"?) warned "not to despise the day of small things", and while I caught plenty of fish this weekend they were all pretty small, but that didn't dampen my enthusiasm for one of the best weekends I've ever experienced. Neither did the initially wet weather, and the weekend was a significant step forward in starting to realise the vision that several of us had when starting UK Christian Anglers (www.christiananglers.co.uk) and the fulfilment of one of our dreams to host a weekend fishing retreat.

 

 I was fortunate enough to miss the sight of a bunch of men setting up camp in a farmer's field in meteorological circumstances similar to the ones that sent Noah scuttling into the Ark, as I'd spent seven and a half hours in a car ferrying my daughter to and from a University Open Day, and I joined the anglers from Leicestershire, Yorkshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire in the homely village pub just a few hundred yards from the farm, where they were enjoying a meal.

 

After a wet night we awoke to a dry day, and although the fields were as muddy as I'm told Woodstock was in 1969, the sun was peeping through and we were in high spirits as we cooked a bacon and sausage breakfast in the gazebo style camp kitchen. Breakfast was followed by a "Thought for the day" delivered by Andy, one of our number, and a few prayers, and then we were off to our first fishery, the excellent Homeclose Fishery. ( www.homeclosefishery.co.uk ) near Whissendine. The lakes here are pristine (each with its own adjacent reedbed for filtration), as is the condition of the fish. Most of the anglers opted to fish on Sallow Lake ( a pond of about one and a half acres with a small island), while two, Jez and Keith, chose to pursue crucians on the lovely Ash Lake. Both are reed fringed and dotted with lilly pads.

 

On Sallow, bream such as the one I'm displaying in the picture below, dominated, and anglers results varied. Andy and Mick forged ahead with close to one hundred fish each, Andy's coming to the pole while Mick's (seen here playing a carp)  fell to a mixture of waggler and swimfeeder tactics.

 

Carp were scarce, with only a few putting in an appearance, with the younger anglers (with the exception of Mick, who is a bit more, er .... "senior") almost monopolising the few carp caught. Ben (top) took this fish borrowing his dad, Roger's, rod and centre pin, while Sam caught his carp borrowing his dad, Andy's pole. Unfortunately, my Dad doesn't fish and wasn't there, so perhaps I never had a chance!

 

 My son also had one of several miniscule, but truly beautiful, carp that turned up, this pretty little linear being an example of perfection in miniature.

 Only a couple of golden orfe were landed on Sallow, with the honours going to Andy (top) and Pete.

 

 

Meanwhile, over on Ash and tucked into a couple of inviting little corner swims dotted with lilly pads, Jez and Keith were "cleaning up" with golden orfe, the occasional blue orfe and some gorgeous plump little crucians, with each of them catching somewhere in the region of a hundred fish.

 

The fishing on Sallow wasn't nearly as prolific as I've known it in the past, but most anglers managed around twenty fish apiece (with Andy, Mick and young Sam the most successful), and despite me having led for most of the day in the dad/son "match", James rallied and an excellent last hour saw him end up beating me by two fish, leaving him with a knowing smile and the much coveted family "bragging rights".

After packing up and returning to camp, and with the weather now in benign and amiable mood, we chatted, while Pete bossed the barbeque and Andy supervised the younger lads in building an enormous bonfire. The barbeque was followed by us breaking into two smaller Bible study groups, spiritual sustenance to complement the physical sustenance, for which compliments go to the chef.

 

 The evening finished with the bonfire, an enormous pyramid of straw bales and wood, which sent flames licking high into the night sky. Day one, dominated by bream, gave way to night, conversations gave way to sleep, and the older men "dreamed" of the next day's fishing.