"Home is where the heart is" according to a well known proverb, and for me "home" is defined less by place and more by people. I have spent most of my adult life living in Vicarages, often impressive architecturally but "tied cottages" and not mine to own, and now that my wife and I do own our house it's an unremarkable, unprepossessing three bed semi with a well tended garden, but nothing to get particularly excited about. To me, the bricks and mortar are merely the "rain shelter" within which life happens and memories are made, and it's the people with whom that life is shared and those memories made that are where my heart is.
All of which, by way of lengthy preamble, explains why today was for me, in words stolen from Bill Withers a "lovely day."
Today was a Sunday, but not just any Sunday, today was Father's Day and although it began like any Sunday in this coronavirus season does for me, by setting up my laptop to log in to online church (it no longer seems strange to "go to church" in pajamas and dressing gown while eating breakfast), the rest of the day comprised of what my own father would have described as "special treats." I never knew what the distinction between a bog-standard treat and a special treat was, but it was a phrase much used in our family during my 1970's childhood.
The treats began with a responsibly socially distanced visit from my daughter and her husband who currently live in London, but are moving to Nottingham at the end of the Summer, and so have been staying in Leicester these last few days sorting things out. After being unable to see them for most of the year to date, seeing them several times over the last week has been a joy, even if hugging remains off limits until Boris tells us otherwise! Cards and presents were received and after a leisurely and unhurried traditional roast dinner courtesy of my wife, I was given an "exit pass" for the rest of the day, and whisked off to the lake by my son and his girlfriend.
It was three in the afternoon by the time we arrived at the club lake, and following a week of heavy rain the grass was wet underfoot and the lakeside vegetation rich, glistening green, and verdant. James and I set up our tackle, both of us float fishing and both electing to use centre pin reels. I matched my cane Allcocks Wizard with a Record Breaker reel from the same manufacturer, while James paired a modern carbon rod with his pin, and so we commenced to fish for carp in the margins with bread and sweetcorn for bait.
The fish came in rapid procession, mostly carp of no great size, but all of exquisite beauty and in pristine condition. The carp in this lake, especially the mirrors, are among the prettiest I have ever seen.
My porcupine quill float was rarely undisturbed for more than a few seconds before darting under, and although we missed countless of the lightening fast bites, by the time we packed up after just a couple of hours of reasonably casual fishing, we had landed around thirty fish between us, mostly carp with the occasional roach or rudd and a solitary roach/bream hybrid.
The majority of the fish were somewhere in the quarter of a pound to one pound size bracket, but I did manage to extract one larger carp, pictured below along with a video of my tussle with said fish. As ever, the Wizard coped admirably with its adversary despite its years now almost numbering three score and ten.
While the club lake mostly fulfills the role of pleasant distraction before the serious business of fishing for specimen perch is resumed in the Autumn, it has become for me a place of connections, connecting me, in its simplicity, with the angling of my childhood, but above all providing a place in which I and my son have time to connect and enjoy each other's company while fishing.
Like I said, for me it's all about the people.
It was three in the afternoon by the time we arrived at the club lake, and following a week of heavy rain the grass was wet underfoot and the lakeside vegetation rich, glistening green, and verdant. James and I set up our tackle, both of us float fishing and both electing to use centre pin reels. I matched my cane Allcocks Wizard with a Record Breaker reel from the same manufacturer, while James paired a modern carbon rod with his pin, and so we commenced to fish for carp in the margins with bread and sweetcorn for bait.
The fish came in rapid procession, mostly carp of no great size, but all of exquisite beauty and in pristine condition. The carp in this lake, especially the mirrors, are among the prettiest I have ever seen.
My porcupine quill float was rarely undisturbed for more than a few seconds before darting under, and although we missed countless of the lightening fast bites, by the time we packed up after just a couple of hours of reasonably casual fishing, we had landed around thirty fish between us, mostly carp with the occasional roach or rudd and a solitary roach/bream hybrid.
The majority of the fish were somewhere in the quarter of a pound to one pound size bracket, but I did manage to extract one larger carp, pictured below along with a video of my tussle with said fish. As ever, the Wizard coped admirably with its adversary despite its years now almost numbering three score and ten.
While the club lake mostly fulfills the role of pleasant distraction before the serious business of fishing for specimen perch is resumed in the Autumn, it has become for me a place of connections, connecting me, in its simplicity, with the angling of my childhood, but above all providing a place in which I and my son have time to connect and enjoy each other's company while fishing.
Like I said, for me it's all about the people.
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