A Light hearted Tale (Robs fiasco)

It is with some of my angling friends that I have had some of the best days fishing, not only in weight may I add but in the laughter and joy of the experience.

I remember well many years ago a trip to the willow pegs at Kirk Bramwith, a place that Pete Johnson took me on a regular basis to show me the finer art of fishing the waggler in my youth, “thanks Pete”, with my son Richard and my then angling companion Rob, now Rob is not known for his shall we say, slender appearance, being quite a portly chap he hates a walk especially to the willows at Bramwith so he was on a downer from the start which made Rick laugh a lot, me too for that matter and watching him haul his barrow up the tow path cursing to himself about how much he hated it ,which didn’t help our now aching bellies, we settled in our pegs and began our days fishing with the usual breaks for laughter of course, we began to catch steadily, chub and roach if memory serves, as the day grew hotter and hotter, but by this time Rob, who isn’t known for his prowess in casting a waggler tight to the overhanging bushes, lost two or three fast taper peacocks which were now hanging from them like Christmas tree decorations, by this time myself and Rick were fishing the bomb and meat for the larger chub and were catching good quality Chub, “Aaaaaagh”, “not again”, came a disgruntled remark which made us bellow with laughter, then the ensuing fiasco of him trying to free it from the trees, to no avail, leaving another waggler firmly lodged in it thereafter resulting in some serious banter from us both he then exclaimed “if that happens again I’m going in for them”!, now it was hot and he had caught the sun, but I did not for one minute think he was serious but after a few more chucks the inevitable happened, “right that’s it, I’m not loosing all of those tapered peacocks to that bush”, Rick was now sitting in Robs peg laughing like a mad man and as Rob deliberated, “shall I go in, shall I go in”, Rick said, “I will go in with you if you want”, obviously showing great pity in his youth, now at this point I just happened to notice, way off in the distance, a couple of dog walkers coming our way up the tow path , now not being one to wined Rob up, not many, I started to incite him into striping off and going in as did Rick and believe me it was not a pretty sight Rob striped down to his oversized y fronts with pale skin and a red head, he looked just like red cap bottle of milk only much larger but as luck would have it the two dog walkers whom Rob had obviously not spotted came face to face with this half naked man up to his knees in water with nothing but the y fronts to hide his embarrassment, so faced with these two onlookers rob did the decent thing and lunged himself in with a great splooooosh! Which cleared the wildlife for miles around and almost cleared the canal of water, this had me in hysterics as it was enough to see rob in this state of disarray, but after retrieving some of his wagglers from the offending bushes he placed them in his mouth like a dog retrieving a stick, “I think he may have found his calling”, this made my sides split to see such a sight with Rick paddling after him, “what a hoot”, as I continued to roll about, trying to bait my hook with a large piece of meat , Rob shouted something like, “shut up you big nosed bandy legged freak”, with a bit more colour of course and after spotting some shiny items hanging in a tree, not that he is renowned for being a bit of a magpie, enquired in a now polite voice, “can I get them”, pointing towards the said items that just happened to be right in the middle of my swim, “go on then” I replied, well after all, he had given me such entertainment that day, so he swam over and stood up, with it only being two feet deep, as he was collecting a whole manner of items from the tree branches, like a little kid in a sweet shop, he turned to me and said, “You are all right Tomo, cast in”, which I did, right at his feet, to which he replied, “watch it”!, I grinned and sniggered but the amazing thing was I latched into another chub almost on the drop which made us all join in with great howls of laughter, so it just goes to show that no matter what is swimming about in your peg, geese, ducks, pike, or Rob , you can still catch ?, oh I would just like to add that this practice is definitely not recommended as Rick came out in a belting rash that night which needed treatment, not Rob though I think he must be too thick skinned by now after fishing with me for the last ten years or so.

It is this that keeps me fishing as much as the fishing itself and to share such times with like minded people is but a great gift indeed, times that I shall never forget, so thank you to all of my friends whom have shared these times with me for they are gents indeed and a wicked laugh to boot.

My mate Rob, a great angler and all round good laugh !