‘I am sat looking out of the window at a new scene. We have recently moved from the moor-tops of Yorkshire to the more gentle and relaxed pastures of the Lincolnshire Wolds, making new friends and discovering new waters that beg to be explored’
So what has this to do with my angling diaries, you may ponder. Well, apart from time in H.M. Armed Forces, my freshwater angling has mainly been centred in and around Yorkshire. My diaries go back about twenty years, which seems a long time but in truth I do regret not keeping them for much longer.
Prior to my note making, all other previous angling trips, the catches and the incidents, funny or otherwise, remained only accessible from my ‘little grey cells’, as Hercule Poirot would say. Now we are in a different county and my diaries take me back to my home ‘waters’ as it were; things to look back on with affection.
These diaries are no more than scribbles (made in haste) of angling trips both productive and disappointing but never the less I think they are a valuable personal repository of memories which might be otherwise forgotten. I apologise in advance for the scratching and scribbling in these diaries; sometimes I am rushed to record the day, sometimes tired, but I do at least attempt to make some form of record. I will never have handwriting that compares with a calligrapher but at least I can read it…sometimes.
Only yesterday evening, relaxing in the cosy confines of our lounge or ‘snug’ as Ruth calls it, I was looking back through the ‘pages of the ages’ as they have been called. My fingers slowly scanned the scribblings of days spent on one of my favourite rivers, the Ribble. As a Yorkshire man, I travelled over the border into Lancashire, or ‘bandit country,’ regularly to sample the excellent fishing that the River Ribble offered. It was a little day ticket stretch that I discovered quite by chance
Unfortunately, it has not remained the same wonderful venue I enjoyed so much, as, sadly, and like many things, it changed for the worse – publicity for one thing, the other being the original owner’s son, who has taken away everything that made it so special. All these aspects have conspired, in my view, to spoil the place so much that I gave up visiting quite a few years ago.
However, I digress…
The following is a page picked at random from my diaries regarding one of my many trips to the Ribble. As you can see, Thursday the 5th June 2007 was a reasonable day’s fishing; well, for me at least.
Move on to the next visit and despite having a guest with me and wanting him to have a good day the result was a big fat blank. We all have off days but after the visit on the 5th, well, I was a tad miffed!
Another random page: a trip to the river Swale. Even the best of us can sometimes be confused regarding club stretches. Then another trip to the river Wharfe; also another slow day.
My diaries do not just refer to coarse fishing; I am also a regular sea angler or maybe irregular would be a better description. I fish both from beaches and charter boats and my records are somewhat haphazard but still serve to help a failing memory.
Let’s do a random sample… this from a club trip to Helford in 2015.
As you can see, that particular boat trip was quite successful for me; I only wish that some of the others were as productive.
Another club trip to Lyme Regis in 2011…Although it is not in the record, I well remember using a new rod when fishing the breakwater; the wind was so strong that it blew the rod tripod over, despite having a heavy bag hanging on it to steady it. The result was my new rod ended up with several smashed lined rings, an expensive couple of hours.
I could go on and probably bore you with many such diary entries but I feel you are maybe thinking ‘why did he bother’?My answer is already in the first few paragraphs. Maybe now you will feel inclined to put pen to paper if you do not? It only takes minutes and lasts forever…
Writing & Images – David Craine, Lincolnshire Wolds, Autumn 2024
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