Sunday 14 March 2010

How It All Began

My first experience of fishing was whilst playing out in my back garden as a child. Our house was part of a group of post war council houses that most of the neighbourhood had bought from the council in the seventies and early eighties and all the surronding fences and walls to the neighbouring gardens were quite low.

Whilst out playing in my own garden, I took particular interest in a neighbour who was sorting out his fishing gear. He was sat at his garden table, oiling and cleaning his reel, airing his keep net, having it staked out on the lawn and generally cleaning out his tackle box. I was fascinated by what I saw and can remember asking him loads of questions. The keepnet looking like a huge tunnel drew most of my interest and from that moment on, I drew up a friendship with my retired next door neighbour - Mr Tom Feasey.

Over the next few months I would always be out in the garden asking him what he'd caught. He would often show me pictures of fish and I gradually became so very interested in fishing. That year and on my 12th birthday on 23rd June 1983, guess what, yep, I got a fishing rod and everything else to go with it from my parents and most importantly, an invite to go fishing with Mr Feasey.

I can remember getting up at 5am on the day we were to go out, I was so excited...and we weren't even leaving until 8am! The time of 8am soon arrived and I'd been equipped with all my tackle and enough food and drink to feed an army. I was all set for my first ever fishing trip.

Almost as if it were yesterday, I can remember it being a glorious sunny day, we set off and the first thing I then recall was pulling up outside a local bakers. There we bought two large loaves of bloomer style bread and then set off to a Naval training base called HMS Dryad. I remember the high security entrance with armed guards as they checked Mr Feasey's permit (he was in the Navy in the past and qualified for a fishing permit via this) and my day ticket, which was bought prior to the event by Mr Feasey as my present from him. After parking up, we headed down the hill to the lake that was surrounded by a golf course. I can remember thinking that this was the biggest expanse of water I'd ever seen but looking back on it now, it wasn't that big at all in all honesty.

Following some lengthy discussions on setup and what to do, I was ready to cast for the first time. A few attempts later, I'd managed to get one semi right, so now it was time to put on some bread. From what I remember now, we were fishing a running ledgered floating crust for the carp. I seem to remember it being a ledgered version as I can remember being shown how to pull on the line and submerge the crust whenever any ducks approached the area. Soon after casting, I can remember seeing my first sights of some fish as they topped out in front of us. The carp would then circle the bait for a while and would gently knock the bread with their tails, breaking up the fresh loaf into smaller pieces before polishing up the broken off sections. I watched in amazement and can remember the slurping noises as these 'monsters' (to me anyway) sucked in a gulp of water and bread alltogether.

All of a sudden, it happened, I had a take on my rod. A carp had taken my bait and sped off across the lake. Mr Feasey guided me through the process, often winding on the reel instead of me, directing me where to point my rod and how to apply pressure on the fish. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally got the fish to my net and we weighed my 'monster', a 7lb 3oz carp, my first ever fish. The smile on my face said it all in the subsequent pictures and from that moment on, another young lad had joined the ranks of angling.

I had many more happy occasions fishing with Mr Feasey before he decided to emigrate to Australia to be with his family. I owe him a hell of a lot, he had the patience of a saint and was an inspiration to me and helped me imensely over the first few years of my angling life.

Because I lived over in the Portsmouth area and obviously, I had no method of transport at the age of 12, all my fishing focussed on local lakes and ponds. I joined a local club and was able to fish matches if kind hearted anglers were able to come and pick up this junior member from his home. Mr Feasey would always be there to find out how I got on in my matches and wanted to know every last detail on my return home each evening after any fishing trip I'd been on. I can remember him too, telling me stories of how he longed to catch a barbel but was always so unsuccessful on his trips to the Avon and Stour. He showed me pictures of his bream and chub but that elusive barbel was to never grace his net before he emigrated to Australia to be with some of his family.

Over the years, I continued to fish in and around the Portsmouth area, that is until I found love. This love drew me over to Bournemouth and when I did so, my attentions immediately transferred over to river fishing. The trouble with river fishing was again, my lack of experience and knowledge. I could happily fish a lake or a pond and I was a dab hand with a pole or a float / match rod but now I was looking at 3oz leads, Avon rods and heavy feeder fishing. The water was flowing and instead of silt, I was faced with streamer weed, reed beds, gravel runs and sunken trees and branches. After talking to few anglers (some of which I extend a great deal of gratitude to) and joing the local club, I started to build up some tackle more suited to fishing rivers. I also had one thing on my mind too...barbel.

Even after all these years of him leaving the country, I still had Mr Feasey on my mind and so strangely enough, it was for this reason that I wanted to make Mr Feasey proud. From that point, on all my trips to the the local rivers, I tried my best to learn how to catch barbel. I spoke to anglers in the know, bailiffs and anyone who was patient enough to answer my questions. Via some help from various sources, I was finally able to achieve my goal on 30th June 2005, when I successfully landed my first barbel of 11lb 13oz, after starting to fish the rivers at the end of February.

At that point in my angling life, I hoped in some strange way, that I was able to exorcise those barbel demons for Mr feasey and I hope that he was able to share my catch and proud moment with me probably from afar. I've often wondered how he was and what he was up to in Australia but sadly I lost touch with him shortly after he left through him moving around and through various movements in my life too. This one is for you Mr Tom Feasey, my first ever barbel:


11lb 13oz barbel from beat 2 of Throop Fishery, Dorset Stour 2005

Welcome To My Blog

Hello everyone, my name is Paul Martin and I live in the Bournemouth area of Dorset and I've decided to write a blog on my fishing exploits.

Most of my fishing is either carried out on the Dorset Stour or on the Hampshire Avon but I do also fish further afield at various times throughout the year.