‘Alas I didn’t catch that day but of course Fred did, a lovely fish of nearly ten pounds, which turned out to be his largest fish that season and made the front page of the Anglers Mail’.
I first met Fred in the late summer of 1988. My dad had been in touch with him regarding a couple of barbel related questions and shortly afterwards he arranged for us both to have a day’s fishing with Fred on the Hampshire Avon at Dudmoor. We met at the river early in the morning andwalked across the fields to the swims.
At that time I had never caught a barbel so you can imagine the excitement and expectation I felt when Fred put me in a likely looking spot. After I had tackled up he came over and in order to show me the exact spot he made the cast for me! I remember thinking that it would only be a matter of time before a barbel picked up my bait, especially as my rod had been cast in by the master barbel fisherman himself!
Nothing happened, the barbel didn’t read the script and eventually floating weed made sure I needed to recast. Fred’s likely looking spot was in fact pretty much under the rod tip, so it wasn’t too difficult to cast back in the exact position. Alas I didn’t catch that day but of course Fred did, a lovely fish of nearly ten pounds, which turned out to be his largest fish that season and made the front page of the Anglers Mail.
After that day we became good friends spending many days fishing together on the Avon, Lee and then on the Kennet. Whilst I tend to fish for most river species much of my time is spent fishing for barbel, mainly on the Kennet and needless to say Fred’s expertise was a huge influence from the first day we met and I watched him catch that lovely barbel I was hooked.
Fred took many hours out in order to help me with my tactics, tackle and bait and always told me to ‘’ keep it simple and make sure you catch on your own terms’’, something I have never forgotten and try to do to this today.
I have since been lucky enough to catch lots of barbel so he taught me well. Fourteen years ago Fred got me into a fishing syndicate on the Kennet, which was then run by a man called David. Every year he would organise an event called the Gentlemen’s Occasion… I’m not quite sure how this name came about as it is not entirely appropriate!
After a day’s fishing on the Avon both Fred and I had caught our fair share of eels and whilst I was putting mine back Fred had decided to keep his in a bucket to take home.
At the end of the day he carefully put this bucket into his rucksack and we wandered back to the car. What he didn’t realise was that the lid of this bucket was not on properly and every now and then an eel would pop out if his rucksack and escape to freedom.I was walking behind Fred and could see what was happening.
Eventually I stopped laughing enough to tell him that his eels were escaping and making a bolt for freedom.Fred said we should get a move on so the escapees would be kept to a minimum, however when we got back to the car the bucket was empty…nothing was left for Fred’s tea the next day!
I have so many happy memories of Fred and his practical jokes but these are the ones that spring to mind.Fishing remains a major part of my life and Fred was a major part of my fishing… which says it all really.
Anyway the Gentlemen’s Occasion consisted of a day’s fishing followed by an evening meal in a local pub. On this particular evening Fred had purchased a remote controlled fart cushion and decided to bring it along. I remember David would, at certain times, try to be sensible and cover any issues that may have arisen in the season. He would call us to order and all the ‘Gentlemen’ around the table would fall silent in order to listen to what David wanted to say.
Needless to say that was all apart from Fred who would let off this fart cushion at the most inappropriate time…and have us all in stitches… except for David! We all saw the funny side, including David and to be honest there probably weren’t too many important decisions to make anyway!
On another Gentlemen’s Occasion I remember Fred had organised a silver platter for David and arranged for it to be served to him by the landlord along with our food. As you can imagine David felt quite honoured to have had his dinner served this way, however when he removed the lid he had an almighty shock, there they were… 4 crayfish, caught by Fred during the day, claws up and ready to pounce. After an initial fright he found this very amusing and after all they were served with a lovely salad garnish!
The syndicate is still going and in fact it is now run by me and every year we have our Gentlemen’s Occasion… but no longer with Fred’s practical jokes.That brings me onto another food related story, well kind of anyway, which happened soon after meeting Fred for the first time.
After a day’s fishing on the Avon both Fred and I had caught our fair share of eels and whilst I was putting mine back Fred had decided to keep his in a bucket to take home. At the end of the day he carefully put this bucket into his rucksack and we wandered back to the car.
What he didn’t realise was that the lid of this bucket was not on properly and every now and then an eel would pop out if his rucksack and escape to freedom. I was walking behind Fred and could see what was happening. Eventually I stopped laughing enough to tell him that his eels were escaping and making a bolt for freedom.
Fred said we should get a move on so the escapees would be kept to a minimum, however when we got back to the car the bucket was empty…nothing was left for Fred’s tea the next day!
I have so many happy memories of Fred and his practical jokes but these are the ones that spring to mind.
Fishing remains a major part of my life and Fred was a major part of my fishing… which says it all really.
Kevin Dyer, Kent, Summer 2022
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