Five fishes (two loaves)

A trip to one of my favourite waters in the U.K. produced one of those memorable fishing days that stick in your mind for a lifetime. After visiting several customers during the day including farmers, dairies and coal merchants, and dealing with the multitude of problems that the recession had brough about, I stopped at one of my favourite lakes. In deepest Suffolk there is a small trout lake that is always a delight to fish on an early August evening, plenty of warmth in the sun and in the distance a lone combine harvester whirring away in its own cloud of dust, slowly traversing a gentle slope.

Only a small lake of two acres it is just over 18 feet deep so the fish have a large volume of water in which to hide but the owners have built a few small jetties on the banks with adequate space between each, there is a lovely lodge with tea & coffee available. This particular evening I had already been well fed and watered so straight to the lake with my best fly rod. There were four cars in the parking bay so I had competition! A quick scan of the banks revealed the whereabouts of my neighbours. I was hoping for an evening rise but a stroll around the lake revealed blanks, one fisherman had been at the lake for 3 hours without so much as a hint of a take. My favourite spot was taken so I opted for a  quiet smoke and a relaxed half hour.

Still no fish appeared, time to have a try where others had failed, I attached a black chenille on a 12 hook to a slow sinking line. Counting down to 30 seconds I had a sudden pull, fish on, Heads turned from the other fishermen, they suddenly woke up. Within 2 minutes I had my first fish of the evening, possibly the first out that day. After putting a nice meal in the bag, I cast again thinking that the disturbance might have scared off any other trout in the vicinity, but no, a second take and fish on again. Two fish in consecutive casts. One of the others walked to my spot to see what magic fly I was using, he decided to watch my next cast and sat well away from my backcast. BANG third fish on, soon in the net and my new-found friend could not believe my luck.

I looked around and realised I now had an audience of five, the original anglers plus the owner of the fishery, they stayed at a sensible distance to watch, I could hear a murmer of bag limit (5) My fourth and fifth casts each brought a trout to the net, I had only had five casts and decided I had earned another smoke, my audience were astounded by my feat and congratulated me warmly. I weighed my bag, recorded it in the fishing log and headed to the car and home.

I stopped on the way home to buy two loaves at the local supermaket, to match the parable, on my arrival my wife said I had got it the wrong way round, I should have stopped at two fish. Ah well I've never been any good at numbers.

Skipper