Season

91/92

DEAR

DIARY..

PART TWO

AUGUST

hat

which needs

to be

proved cannot

be

worth much."

NIETZSCHE

"Madame, we are the press. You know

ou r power. We fix all values. We set all

th e standards. Your entire future

depends on us."

JEAN GIRAUDOUX

Following

on from the

Linear trip

the

wife and I

were invited down

to

Kevin

Maddock's

own

Withy Pool

for a

couple of days. The intention was not

to do any serious carp fishing, though

should I want to the opportunity was

there.

Kevin's rise from garage mechanic to

publisher

and

owner

of one of the

nicest set ups it's been my good fortune

to visit, is a classic example of what this

country

can offer

someone

who is

willing to work hard, take risks and go

for it. Too many people sit back on

their fat backsides and demand a

luxurious living from the State as if it is

owed

to

them.

In

their eyes Kevin

would be viewed as another lucky

bastard. Oops, sorry! I almost slipped

into lecturing mode there.

Arriving at lunchtime on a hot

guided

tour

of the

pool. Withy

is

splendid.

Crystal clear waters, landscape

gardened banks,

and

carp

of a

size

to

make your ja w drop.

W e left

Kevin's

kitchen, walked across his lawn and

stood

on the

banks

of the

pool. It's as

close

as that.

"Let's

go

round

this way I'll show

yo u

some fish."

We

strolled

in the sun

together whilst he explained how he

had turned Withy into the water it is

today

with hardly a fish under twenty

pounds and a best topping forty. "Look

through those branches," he said,

"there's usually a fish or two laid up

here." Even without polaroids

I had no

difficulty

spotting

the two fish.

Christ,

I

thought, staring at two enormous

kippers. Kevin peered over my

shoulder

and

said, "They will

be

about

twenty five, c'mon I'll show you some

bigger ones

if we're

lucky."

Sure enough, sunbathing

in

some

sunken branches were three carp of the

size

he was

looking for. Three thirty

pounds plus mirrors. What a sight.

FROM

THE

R I V E R B A N K

There are two lakes at Withy, the one

I have described and a small on e Kevin

dug out, which is basically a fun pool.

It is chock a block full of fish of all

varieties

and it was on

here that

I

chose

to spend a few hours fishing the pole

during

the

afternoon before we

were

to

go out for a

meal. Despite

the clear sky

and high temperatures it was a bite a

Unhooking m y albino Mississippi

catfish.

How

longbefore

I

catch another

one?

(Courtesy Kevin Maddpcks)

chuck with no idea what was going to

come

out

next. Roach

followed

crucian,

which followed skimmer after small

common, after perch, mirror, gudgeon

etc. It was wonderful fun.

After about an hour the tiny Image

Worm float buried just like it had done

before but the strike was met by a solid

resistance that didn't budge. I thought I

was fast but it started to nod slowly

and

kite

to the left.

Steady pressure

saw

a big near black shape surface and roll

over. It was an enormous bream. Like

most stillwater bream coming from

heavily stocked waters its weight

didn't quite match

its

size,

but at 51b

9ozs I wasn't complaining. I certainly

can't recall catching

a

bigger bream

before on the pole.

A t

steady intervals during the

afternoon four more bream cropped

up

before

I came off one putting an abrupt

end to their co-operation. No more

showed after that which was a pity

because the first fish was if anything

the smallest of the

five.

Looking back I

wish I'd weighed the others but it

bigger,

it

wouldn't have made

for any

more pleasure.

Around four o'clock Kevin joined

m

and was staggered to hear about the

bream, "There

are

only nine

in

he

said, "but

the

best

one we put in did

go nine pounds, have you got it?" Only

then did I begin to regret losing that

last one.

We chatted

on

discussing

his

upcoming attempt on the World

catfish

record

in Russia. In between times I

continued

to

catch fish until

one of the

'carp' I

hooked refused to

submit.

Despite having the pole directly over

its

head

and

with

the

certainty that

it

didn't weigh all that much it still stuck

to the bottom like a limpet. "I bet this is

a

cat", said Kevin. Sure enough

it

was,

but not any old cat, this was an Albino

Mississippi Catfish and

without

a

shadow

of a

doubt

I had in my

possession a British record fish. We

weighed

it,

photographed

it,

witnessed

it and if I hear much more about

bloody introduced records I swear I'll

claim it. Now won't

that

put the 'cat'

amongst pidgeons!

Poor old Kevin. Catfish Kingof

England, preparing to travel thousands

of miles across

God

knows

how

many

frontiers to the

Volga delta, miles from

any

civilisation,

in

search

of a

record

cat and a tosser like me gets one on his

back

lawn. Ain't

life a bitch!!!

Seriously we had a good laugh about

that fish and in

truth

it was

caught

three times

in

three days,

so it

obviously isn't very clever, but how

many records

can you

think

of

caught

on the pole? I guess I'm just a star!

On the subject of records, the cat isn't

m y first involvement with

a

record fish.

M y step grandfather caught a record

silver bream shortly after the Second

World War which he had

stuffed

and

mounted in a glass case. The fish was

authenticated

by

someone from the

London Zoo but unfortunately was lost

in the great floods of 1946/7

before a

claim

could

be

made.

To my

eternal

shame I have to admit to compounding

the tragedy by losing his personal diary

during

a

house move which

fully

documented its capture.

The concept of making record claims

has

always

left me a bit

cold,

particularly nowadays when many fish

ar e known by name. If you catch a carp

four ounces under the record today and

I catch it again at four ounces over

tomorrow what

is the difference? W e

both have caught the same fish haven't

we? There are no doubt anglers around

today

who are claiming to have caught

a hundred twenties when in reality

they have actually only caught two

dozen different ones. Catching

it the

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