Well my last couple of sessions on the rivers and drains for me this season, could’nt of been any better. For my final session on the rivers this season, I was accompanied by Denis Moules.
He ushered me over for a chat at one of the PAC meetings, and offered to take me out on a trip with him. After trying to sort some dates, we actually got one sorted!
We met at the crack of dawn and trudged across a few fields, Denis leading the way with his trusty old wheel barrow to a virtually untouched stretch of a well known drain.
After a ten minute walk we arrived. Denis was insistant I use two of his old rods which I did and one of my own. He pointed me to an old spot which was known to produce big fish. Out went the rods and the waiting game began. After chatting to Denis and exchanging a few stories, Denis was into his first fish, a lovely double. We stayed here for most of the morning, and then trudged onto the next spot. This produced nothing for either of us, although a cormorant did take a liking to his bait. It was funny seeing Denis running down to his rod and strike into it. Lucky for the cormarant he missed!
God knows what would happen if Denis had it! Anyway at this point we moved on to our next spot.
We ended up at one end of a reed bed. At first I thought there was nowhere to fish, but Denis found a couple of spots. The rods went out and were perched above the reeds. We were fishing each side of them. After eating my lunch and taking in the peace and quite, a fenland voice belowed out “john!!” Looking around, I could see his rod bending into something again. I ran over and clambered into the reed bed with the net and landed another double for him. Again another immaculate fish. We moved to another spot a bit later on. This was our last spot of the day, and unfortunetly we had no more pike.
Even though I blanked, it was a great pleasure to fish with Denis. Very genuine chap, and a wealth of knowledge. Picked up alot of tips and learnt alot.
I have been asked to accompany him again, next winter which is a session I am looking forward too already!
