Brothers of the Angle.

Once I'd got a few trips to the river in the bag, started to collect some more tackle and reach the point where I felt well and truly hooked, it turned out that a couple of of my friends at school were also taking their first steps on their own Angling Journies. So as the evenings got longer, a series of after school fishing trips to the local river ensued...often accompanied by one or other of our Dads.
Before long, we were in the Summer Holidays and as we had recently taken on a weekend home (static caravan) by the coast, Mum and I spent pretty much the whole 6 weeks there, while Dad left on Monday and returned from work on Friday evenings.
It was here that my path developed a fork, for I soon discovered Sea Fishing from the wide strech of coast nearby. Fortunately it wasn't full blown East Anglian long distance beachcasting, so my little rod (luckily was one of those combos that could be built in about 5 different ways) was good enough to land my biggest catch, an eel! It was only a reasonably small one and my Dad and his pals certainly made fun of me and my bootlace, but I was over the moon! Over the holiday, I'd discovered not only how to catch eels and flatties, but also dig my own Lugworm, which effecively made me self sufficient and also got me some boat trips, but more on that another time!
Returning to school in the Autumn was a wrench, but no time was lost in telling my mates how I'd been wrangling monsters of the deep, while they too had their own fishy tales to tell. And there it was, from the age of about eight or nine, we became Brothers of the Angle,our very own Cosa Nostra complete with hallowed copies of Angling Times that got passed round each week, and so it was all the way through our Junior and Senior Schooling with its long Summers. Brothers we remained picking up a few, losing a few along the way. New prophets came along in the guise of Dick Walker, Ivan Marks, Barrie Rickards and some were even met...although more on that another time too! Education finally came to an abrupt end, careers loomed for some, the rest of us got whatever jobs we could if we were lucky, and after a couple more years my family upped sticks and moved to another town in a different county so in a world without internet, mobile phones or email the Brotherhood inevitably drifted apart. 
Life marched on in its own funny way; I now find myself with a grown up family of my own but can look back and say I remained true to the spirit of the Angle in one way or another, with perhaps just a brief interlude here or there. Today I still find myself meeting new Brothers on the Bankside, in the Club I run and others I belong to, the ones I Teach and Coach, Famous ones, even dare I say dodgy ones! With the advent of social media, I have connections to Brother Anglers the world over...and yes, that probably includes you! And here's a thing... that special bond from so long ago, a bunch of small boys with scabby knees, wide eyes and big dreams never died...I recently managed to make contact with Phil, my oldest of these old friends, purely by chance. We met up in London one evening after work, had a couple of beers and a curry, talked about the old days and  generally brought one another up to speed. We agreed we'd have to meet up again soon, and...well you may have guessed what we did! Here he is with a Tench he poached on my rod!

So if you're lucky enough make a friend through fishing don't be surprised if you're still mates a lifetime later!


Tight lines

Sydders