A Bad Break and a Jammy Jack

Back in January on a bright Sunday morning following a severe frost I decided it was a little too dangerous to go fishing on the slippery riverbanks and so I opted to go for a healthy walk instead.

No more than a quarter of an hour after setting off on a walk at a local beauty spot Sundon Hills I had climbed over a stile and walked down a small hill and slipped towards the bottom and my right leg collapsed underneath me with a sickening crack.

After a few moments I decided to crawl back up the embankment towards the stile and tried to see if I could manage to get in a position to climb back over it. The pain unfortunately ruled out that option out before I could try to pull myself up.

Later at the hospital after being rescued by paramedics it transpired I had snapped the tibia and fibia right across at the ankle and was destined to spend 3 months in plaster and away from fishing.

However, where there's a will, there's a way and due to the help of my husband and with the use of a wheelchair I managed to get back out to the lakes whilst my leg was still in plaster.

Patience was at last rewarded and although the pike caught was pretty small it must be said and was caught when reeling in after a last cast, it was just great to be back outside once more.

Stuck pole section - with a difference!

I don’t normally fish with a pole as a rule but decided to give it a go as I like the simplicity and precision of the discipline.

I set up, plumbed up, and caught a few small carp and managed to get myself a bit of a rhythm going regards feeding, shipping out etc. and I was very pleased at how things were progressing and felt that I was really getting the hang of this pole fishing lark.

Remembering what I had been taught by the fishery bailiff (to put my index finger into the second section of the pole to ensure there was no grit in the top 2 before inserting the third section and thus avoiding a sandpaper effect ruining the snug fit of the sections.) Fine no problem until I decided to smear the pellets I was using with Marmite ad I had caught a few carp before using this tactic.

I smeared the pellet and and let the baited line sit in the margin where a good part of my bait had ended up after a mad fit of sneezing earlier and was just about the insert my index finger inside the pole to clean the inside of grit, but realised it might not be a good idea as it was still covered in Marmite, and that this might cause the sections to stick. (I have enough problems getting the lid off when my lads over-tighten and the screw thread on the jar at home when it becomes stuck to the jar better than super glue!.)

In my mind I praised myself for my quick thinking and at once inserted my middle finger instead. Then I was going to catch one more fish and then take a much needed loo break. Just then disaster struck or perhaps more appropriately stuck!

I couldn’t get my bloody finger out! my knuckle was stuck firm in the ruddy pole section and do as I could it just would'nt budge!!!!

I was on my own, I'd got this bleedin' long length of carbon stuck fast on my finger, I needed the loo, my mobile phone was yards away and I couldn't move to get it without showing the world my plight, (one bloke I think realised what was going on but to save my blushes I kept pretending to be looking for something in my tackle box until he looked away and frantically again I'd resume my pulling and yanking!) I finally managed to grab hold of my phone but my hand wet with sweat and slime from the last capture could not hold it properly and the phone slipped from my grasp splashing loudly as it plopped into the lake. Kylie’s dulcet ringtone of ‘I should be so lucky’ would alas never be heard again. The ducks on the lake seemed to find the whole episode highly amusing and appeared to be laughing loudly at my expense.

I was getting seriously worried by this point as I had no contingency plan now as I had no means of cutting off the offending pole if the worse came to the worse, as if I trod on the pole to release my trapped digit, I'd end up breaking my finger not to mention the bank, and I certainly couldn't drive with a 10' long bloody finger nail!!! and then, just then when I thought things couldn’t get much worse, my float dipped abruptly under the water and the biggest carp of the day decided to fall for my Marmite pellet!

For a good few minutes (I know it doesn't sound that long to you but promise me it felt like a ruddy eternity) the pole refused to budge from my finger despite the angry lunges of the hard fighting fish attached as fast as I was to the other end of the pole!!. Why on earth hadn’t I just kept to fishing with rod and line or was back at home at the ironing board?!?

Luckily, at the point when I was just about to blow the whistle for help, I noticed the extra bag of hemp I had brought with me which was still frozen solid waiting at my feet and an old physics lesson popped into my head and I so I placed this on my hand to try to reduce the heat and thus the swelling on my finger. After what seemed to be long enough to have had time to read War and Peace at least 3 times over, my hand had cooled sufficiently for my finger to come free from the section.

Amazingly and fortunately for me the carp had decided to try to hide its embarrasment also and sulked in the tree roots along the margin from my swim instead of heading for the sanctuary of the centre or other side of the lake and so this allowed me to time to play the fish properly and eventually landed a beautifully carp.