05/04/2025 Junior Coaching #2, Revels Fishery.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you may have heard the news that Mrs H turned 50 years young during the week. I’m glad that you don’t age a year for every time ‘Happy Birthday’ is sung to you because, if that was the case, Mrs H is now 109 years old!

Happy birthday Mrs H and thank you for putting up with three ‘F’s…Fishing, Formula One, and Farting… Dammit! Now she’s 110!

Spring, like an old car, was struggling to get going at Revels today. Sure, the Primroses around the place looked very pretty. But they were shivering in the chill of a persistent Easterly wind, and every brass monkey within 15 miles had their thermal tighty-whities on…

The Lead Coach definitely regretted leaving the thermals at home upon arrival (at 8am) because it was brassic! It was no joke either. The Lead Coach even considered plunging his hands into Si Wagner’s pockets to see if they were any warmer. But a lesson was learned last time when hands fell foul of the numerous booby traps that help deter thieves, perverts, or just anyone with cold hands.

Some of the coaches needed convincing that the ’10 mistakes tackle set up’ created for the session had any mistakes in it at all? Maybe the juniors were not the only ones going to benefit from today’s tutorials…

Also, making an appearance for the first time this year, was the lead coaches seat box. Looking pristine and white, it blinked in the brightness of daylight on a rare day release outing from ‘Shed Jail’.

Many comments were made about how ‘that box doesn’t look level’. The Lead Coach was repeatedly questioned on his alcohol intake, the frequency of visits to ‘Specsavers’ (other optical robbers are available) and whether, like a Haggis, he had one leg shorter than the other (for running round the Scottish mountains).

There was a sharp intake of breath when it was pointed out that it was the ground that was sloping and the bubble on the boxes level was smack where it should have been!

They were right though, it did look a bit wonky…

You’re never too old to learn new things. Even the Lead Coach learned that, should you wish to conduct a tutorial on ‘How handle a pole and use it for feeding’, it is very definitely a good idea to pack ALL the sections of the pole.

The pole in question was deficient in sections to the tune of one and therefore rendered useless. It became apparent that, the missing piece had in fact become broken at some point in the past. This only proved that the frequency of use was not that frequent at all…

With everything set up it was time for chats and bants. This is where the REAL Mud-Slinging happens. We’ll call it banter, but it can have a harsher title that may not be mentioned here!

Your eager juniors for today were:

A slightly taller Alexander Adey

A fully concentrated Josh Roe

A full of questions Harry Willmer

An in the narrow bit Freddie Hallett

An in the corner Jake Whitlock

An on the flier Alfie Ellis

A fully coached George Ellis

A baggin up Rowley Carter

A down the slope Mia Evans

A hidden from view Freddie Campbell

A little bit of a Boo-boo Alec Campbell

Taster sessions were:

Sam Hosford & Zander Miller (great name for fishing!!) with delightful sister, Grace…

Your thunderbolt (the correct collective noun for a group of 5 angling coaches) today were:

Graham Howard – Fred Flintstone

Martin Roe – Barney Rubble

Si Wagner – Mr Slate

Lloyd Richards – Dino

Jon Bass – Bamm Bamm

The first tutorial was a shocking and only slightly exaggerated set up involving rods strewn everywhere, nets positioned a three-day camel ride from the angler, and many more things wrong that have been witnessed before, and not just at junior events…

The box was levelled (another one!) and positioned closer to the water. The nets were brought closer, in front of the angler. A side tray was used and the bait put upon it. Rods were tidied and the group were shown roosts on which to store them. Bags were brought closer to the box for ease of reach. Basically, a set up that looked like it had been dropped from 500 feet, now looked tidy, safe, and efficient.

This set up was then used by the Taster Sessions.

With our groups getting larger, the Lead Coach doesn’t always get the time (or can’t be bothered) to walk around the lake to see everyone. This not ideal because a full account of the day is difficult to report. A better effort will be made in future, but confidence is high that everyone received efficient and knowledgeable coaching coverage by the intrepid team.

The usual ‘up the nostril’ photos were not taken this time. But Charlie Adey kindly wandered around getting a few shots for me (Fanks!) and these can be seen in a gallery at the end. (You WILL read this rubbish first!)

The second tutorial was about how to sit with, use and handle a pole, particularly when using a pole cup. Feet, knees, (and boomsey daisy!), and body positioning were all covered and promptly forgotten as each junior was given the chance to have a go at dropping a tennis ball into a ground bait bowl. The levels of cheating going on was mind blowing. Resting the pole on the bowl, kicking the bowl closer if the full 8.5 metres was a struggle, in one case doing it so fast that one could hardly believe it had happened. But it did though, didn’t it Mia Evans? (She was so proud of herself!)

For some it was frustrating, for others the amount of daylight remaining was checked. (I thought my life had gone on slow motion at one point. At least the fish would have been really hungry by the time the bait dropped, and much, much older!)

By the end, the day had evaporated, and the car was being reloaded once more. A day that goes by in a heartbeat is one that has been enjoyed. Today was one of those.

DDAS Juniors has expanded beyond anything that could be imagined when we started 7 years ago, including the ‘Covid Years’.

Thank you to everyone for making my day so much fun.

The usual enormous gratitude to Jon Bass, Si Wagner, Martin Roe, Lloyd Richards, and for the first time, John Evans. Thank you, gentlemen for your help, knowledge, and unwavering support.

Thank you to Jason Fricker for letting us use the lake at Revels, and Dean Hodder for information and mild insults… Much appreciated (not the insults!)

Our next event on the 10th of April is fully booked I’m afraid. But there will be other opportunities to fish other rounds of the knockout later in the year. There are only 5 places for each round, so be ready for when the booking goes live. (9am, 10 days before the day of the event).

The following day (11th) the club has its annual AGM/presentation evening (7:30pm at Weymouth Angling Club Headquarters behind the Range). An exciting even where you can see and hear dynamic and effervescent reports of the year’s happenings (The Treasurers report is a particular highlight), some money is given to charity, there may or may not be some interpretive dancing, and some trophies get handed out. There is cheap drinkypoos to make all the above a little easier to cope with.

Do come along…

On Saturday 17th April, the juniors head back to Harbourbridge Lakes for the first Silverfish Only Match. The match where you catch more Carp than usual (They don’t count). Priority will be given to competitive juniors first but, any places left can be filled with juniors wishing to attend for coaching.

Please leave it until Thursday before the event before you book in for coaching. By then, the competitive juniors SHOULD have booked in, and we will know how many spare spaces we have.

That’s all folks….

The Mud-Slinger…