Fishing for tranquility

Hi,
In my last post I was telling you about my fishing sessions so far this year. I have only managed to get out 3 times and can't say that any of them were rip roaring successes. The actual fishing, that is to say the catching of fish hasn't been an issue, it's in terms of the other commodity that most anglers crave that has been a disaster.

I am talking here about tranquility. If I can't get that, there is no point in going fishing. I may as well take up golf because at least with that sport you can't finish up with an idiot sitting next to you for a five hour fishing session.

If you remember our first fishing outing of the season, my wife and I went to a very large fishing complex and arrived at about 9:30 am. We chose a large pool and had it all to ourselves. That is until a man who could neither sit still nor keep his mouth shut for more than two minutes decided to set up next to us. Our sport, and more important to us our tranquility, was ruined for the day.

Fishing session number 2
The following week we decide to put the previous week's bad luck behind us and have another go. We went to the same fishing complex and arrived at about the same time as the previous week. Again we chose a pool that nobody else was fishing so that we could indulge in our quest for that much needed tranquility.

All was well as we settled into relaxation mode; my wife with her book and me with my rod. There was hardly a breath of wind and we were sheltered from the sun by the dappled shade that came from a row of small trees behind us. Every now and again a fish would jump out of the water and have a little splash in this idyllic bit of paradise.

We should have known it was too good to be true because I'd only been fishing for about 10 minutes when 2 blokes settled on the pegs right opposite us. They were both in their twenties and neither of them looked like they had the foggiest about tranqulity. "Here we go," I said to Terry Anne, "another fishing session about to be ruined."
Now she is of the glass half full persuasion and replied,"They might not be too bad, let's give them the benefit of the doubt."

Well guess what, I of the glass half empty mindset turned out to be right, not only did they keep shouting to each other, but they also had to keep shouting into their phones. These two blokes had more phone calls in 1 morning than I get in a year. Anyway, as if that wasn't bad enough they were presently joined by their father, who judging by his state of health must've just got off the critical list for something almost fatal.

The old fellow had to be assisted to his peg by one of his sons who then had to tackle up for him. It was quite touching in a way to see these chaps doing everything for their father who obviously loved a bit of fishing. I would've pinned a medal on them myself if only they'd done it all quietly. They spoke so loud that we could hear everything they said, including every other word which almost always started with the letter "F" and if it didn't, it would begin with a "B".

I guess what put the icing on the cake for us was the old fellow. For five hours he didn't manage to catch a single fish, but he was quite happy to while away the day swearing, belching and farting. I don't know what he'd had to eat but we could hear him breaking wind across the other side of the pool.

Like I said, the fishing itself wasn't too bad, I caught some nice carp, a few bream, a hand full of roach and a lively tench. If the fishing had been bad we'd have packed up and gone home, because although the three stooges who sat opposite us did provide us with some entertainment it wasn't what we went fishing for.

I don't like lecturing people, but if you do go fishing, please give some respect to other anglers who may be searching for tranquility. Fishing isn't all about noisey swim feeders and bite alarms. If you see somebody sitting all by themselves, don't set up beside them like the pool stalker. If they are on their own, that's probably how they'd prefer to stay, so give them a little space and go a couple of pegs further on.

In my next post I'll tell you how we got on in our next fishing session. Was it a case of third time lucky? I'll give you a clue things went from bad to unbelievable.

Just a reminder about my fishing book. "Fishing: Learn from the Tips & Laugh at the Tales" a download is available on my website which includes the contents pages, the introducton and part of a sample chapter. Please click on the link below the download is free.Go to my website for a free download