The Piscatorial Raconteurs & Friends – Memories From A Lost Summer & Autumn’s Early Refrain

A slow afternoon continued into an early evening, the fish had all but disappeared and wherever I cast my float energy levels could only be described as low and slow. Still I had seen plenty of wildlife, including the first ceti’s warbler of the summer. This year I have not heard the cuckoo’s and that made me sad thinking they hadn’t made it, but then I reasoned they may just have found new territory (I hope).

My float bordered by lilies would appear to hold risk in its placing, but I know the ways, the tactics in plotting an escape, and the split second timing required to overt danger. Of course it does not always play out in a favourable performance and as the day wound down my best laid plans were becoming ever more dimly lit as the late afternoon sun dipped behind the tallest oaks. And then something happened, my train of thought being derailed by an evening angler. Rarely do I see another fisher, but this chap was an exception, he did not stop to enquire but passed by, preparing himself just around the way from me. I proceeded to watch him. He gained a vantage point and stared into the clear pool below. 

He had about him a most singular intent that suggested he was going to catch. I looked on forgetting any understanding of ‘how to fish.’ There followed a brief lapse in time, in what was a blink of an eye he had caught four fish, compared to the hours I had spent trying without result. I was in awe of his prowess, he was a joy to behold. When satisfied he left as silently as he arrived, again not stopping for congenial pleasantries.

Looking into the pool I could see my quill, it remained upright and unmoved. I’d been given a lesson or four as it figured and offered the answer to a question often asked ‘why do we angle?’ Simply one never knows what may happen, what one may see or hear and that being with nature is preferable to nearly anything I can think of. With the solitary fisher on my mind and the sun setting closing another day I packed up and walked back towards the meadow, as I reached the gate I turned to look upon the pool and on cue the evening angler in his liquid blue livery flashed low over the water to bid goodbye.

Pallenpool – North Norfolk, Summer 2023

The Engineer

The Piscatorial Raconteurs handmade wares.

These Beautiful Block Leather centrepin cases made by Ian Perryman will feature in Octobers edition but here’s a taster.

Issue No. XIV – The Piscatorial Raconteurs Articles.

Pallenpool, Sussexman, Darjeeling, Paul Adams, David Craine, Martin James MBE, Earthing The Current, Carl Hier, Tengisgol &Solithar

Pallenpool – Tales From The Pool ‘After admiring the most splendid tench I stretch out on the wicker punt chair to luxuriate in warming sunshine and tune in to warblers warbling in the reed bed. I become lost to a memory‘ continue reading

Sussexman – Flowing Water ‘The details of that first visit were repeated over the next months and eventually one or two trout graced my own landing-net. These too were taken triumphantly home for my mother to grill but very soon the necessity to eat any captures waned in comparison with the mere delight that concentration on the river supplied‘ continue reading

Earthing The Current – A Tiger Among The Lilies ‘An hour in and without any warning the water bulges away in front of me into the pads, my aging Speedia rasps a battle-cry and the foil indicator flips skyward. Raising the rod, I feel the pressure and the thump – thump of a beating tail looking for sanctuary deep into the jungle to my left. continue reading

Darjeeling – Coming To Life ‘It is magical here. Outside, a sweltering heatwave, but under this deep cool emerald canopy we are travellers in a different land. And for this brief but delightful journey my fellow traveller is a tenkara rod made of golden canes‘ continue reading

Solithar – The Hidden Realm ‘There are many damsel flies on my right, just two feet away. The little snake has gone away. There are beautiful wild flowers to my left. The earth is enjoying moistness after lacking rain for a while. And the rain shows it passed this way, in the colour of the water. Small fish are splashing here and there – are they playing hide and seek with the sun behind the passing clouds?!… Birds quickly cross in flight the openings between the willows.‘ continue reading

David Craine – What’s Not To Like ‘Now my cunning plan; I have read many times that a hooked chub will return to its companions and will warn them of the angler with his tricks and schemes being close by. I am hoping that this is the case so I return the chub straight back into the swim and change back the end rig to the pellet-and-paste presentation’ continue reading

Martin James MBE – A Memorable June 16th ‘It was time for that badly needed fresh brew. During the course of the day I had a total of ten fish, all on bread flake or crust, all caught no more than three feet off the bank, my success was down to watching for a fish, then slowly stalking the quarry often on hands and knees, and often through nettles‘ continue reading

Tengisgol – Richard Walker Was A Mod ‘Thirty minutes behind the wheel, and knowing the fishery was close, I was delighted to see a smartly presented signpost directing me to the lakes and away from the narrowing lane. A short upward slope, through a gated entrance and the car park appeared, laser-level in a modern-looking slate grey shingle surrounded by newly planted, raised beds‘ continue reading

Paul Adams – A June Storm ‘The rain fell as large drops, initially spaced such that each reverberated as a discrete “plop”. Within minutes it grew to a heavy deluge, the river now an angry, choppy boil. Sitting close, and amplified under the umbrella, the collision of rain-on-river was a crescendo of sound that drowned out all else at its brief peak.‘ continue reading

Carl Hier – ‘Listening & Learning, early Trips To The Wye ’There were always several lethargic salmon seen at that time of year. Indeed, hundreds of decaying salmon carcasses would be strewn on the banks at previous high-water levels and in the margins during November and December, their journeys done, spawning complete, their mission accomplishe.’ continue reading