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John has recently moved back to the UK and now has a house on the banks of the Warwickshire Avon. He suggested that I call in to see him and his wife Angie on the way back from the Wye to do a spot of fishing together whilst we swap some books.
He said "I've got a boat and will buy a little electric outboard and we can travel up and down the river looking for pike." This sounded fantastic, and I really enjoy fishing from boats so I jumped at the chance.
When I arrived I saw it. John had just dug a fibreglass boat about 6' by 4' out of his compost heap that the previous owners had left behind - and it leaked. True to form, John had got Angie a fibreglass repair kit to fix the leaks which she was still doing when we arrived. Then a quick blast of paint and it was launch time. Guess who got on it first? Angie had done a great job, there was just a little weep from around the plug at the back, so a quick tap with a hammer to tighten it up and we were off.
The outboard was excellent; silent and moved the boat really smoothly, suprising as with my 17 stone on the front it was dipping down. John got the better drivers seat, but with the rods, lures and flasks on board there was no room for our legs which were tucked up under us. The boat was so small, with my weight at full speed, the bow wave was in danger of flowing over the front of the boat and sinking us, so we took it steadily, noticing that the water in the bottom of the boat was still increasing from around the bung - but not too fast. A quick lean every half hour concentrated the water so that I could bail out while John steered.
We had great fun although being so small it did steer more like the coracles we travelled together in whilst fishing in India than a conventional boat. We could, however, get in all the places that you aren't allowed to fish from the banks.
Whilst the pain in the hamstrings grew as the day passed by, we had great fun and will look back on the day of us fishing like a couple of kids, and having the same level ofenjoyment.
Although we caught no big fish, John had two pike to about 4-5lb, I had three perch and a pike of similar size, it allowed us to travel in silence watching the buzzards, sparrowhawks, herons, kingfishers et al.
We do some daft things together but ended the day agreeing we must do it again, but in a bigger boat!!
Thanks John.
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