Barbless is better

[Guest MikeConnor]

We arrived at the river just after eight o´clock in the morning. Last swirling shreds of mist were slowly being dissipated by the sun, and it promised to turn into a very nice day. Nice days are relative of course, personally I prefer overcast days for fishing, but a nice sunny day is a pleasant thing in and of itself, and not to be sniffed at.

 

Tackling up at about the middle of our chosen stretch I elected to fish upstream, and my partner down. We agreed to meet at the car at midday for lunch, and went our separate ways.

 

Nothing much of note occured on my meandering way up the river. I caught a couple of nice fish, and the morning was very pleasant. Spring is probably my favourite time of year for fishing, the fish are hungry, although not yet in the best of condition, and there is plenty of fly-life hatching.

 

Trees, bushes, grass and plants have that“freshly washed“ verdant green in a multitude of shades, there is plenty of water in the river, and nature seems to be finally slowly waking up after it´s winter sleep. Birds are busy calling, mating, and building nests. Other creatures are busying about their appointed tasks, and all seems right with the world.

 

My diary notes two fish of reasonable size were creeled, both on a partridge and orange spider, fished upstream on a short line to likely spots. Not many fish were rising as yet, and there was no general hatch, not a particularly common occurence on this rough stream anyway.

 

Quite a few undersized fish were caught and released, some in very poor condition as a result of leeches. These creatures get at the trout easily in winter, when they are lying more or less dormant in their bolt holes, and some fish are massively infected.

 

Shortly after ten-thirty, I turned and retraced my steps to the agreed meeting place.

 

After waiting ten minutes, and still seeing no sign of my companion, I walked down the river for a while in search of him.

 

Reaching a bend in the river well concealed by a large group of fairly dense trees and bushes, at the edge of a field full of cows, I heard some faint shouting, and imagined I heard the word „help“!

 

Rather worried, I hurried on, and as I rounded the bend, I could now hear the shouts quite clearly. Dumping my gear, I commenced to run as fast as I could to the source of the yelling, and one of the most amazing sights met my eyes.

 

Almost surrounded by a large group of cattle, my companion was sitting in an odd position, his waders and trousers were down around his ankles, and every so often he emitted a heart rending yelp, jumped, and then after a while commenced shouting for help again.

 

Astounded, worried, and perplexed, I rushed up to where he was hunched, and attempted to discover what the hell was going on.

 

Obliged to answer a call of nature, he had partly divested himself, and hunkered down to do the necessary, when something had stung him on the backside. Leaping up, he had immediately come crashing down again, as the rusty barbed wire he had not seen lying in the herbiage had caught his trousers.

 

Reaching behind nimself, he had then got the arm of his jacket caught in the same barbed wire, and while trying to free himself had then done the same with the other arm.

 

Hopelessly trapped, and bleeding from several wounds, which had steadily worsened as he struggled, he had commenced calling for help, wriggling about with his legs, and continuing the fruitless attempts to free himself from his awful predicament.

 

Now all this would have sufficed to put anybody in an awful state, but to cap it all, the barbed wire was attached to an electric fence, and he was being jolted at regular intervals from this as well, which accounted for the heart rending yelps being emitted at regular intervals.

 

Seldom have I seen anyone in such a terrible state. He was covered in mud and crap, bleeding from several nasty gashes, and was on the verge of exhaustion.

 

It took me a few minutes to find and cut the wire with my knife, and I had to bend it back and forth quite a few times before it broke, even after hacking half way through it. I got a couple of nasty jolts myself.

 

His relief at not being constantly shocked was immediate, and it did not take me long to get him disentangled after that. He had no idea how long he had been lying there, but said it had seemed like an age, and he thought he was going to die there. He was as white as a sheet, and completely disoriented.

 

After an unconscionable amount of time me half carrying him, we reached the car, and I took him to the local hospital. They cleaned him up, dressed his various wounds, and decided to keep him under observation for a while.

 

I went in to visit him later that evening with his wife, and he seemed perfectly OK again, although somewhat chastened by the whole affair.

 

This happened quite a few years ago, but I now take either extreme precautions, or a very wide berth around barbed wire, and one addition to my angling kit which sometimes raises an eyebrow when people see it, is a stout pair of wire cutters in a pouch on my belt.

 

TL

MC

[Guest Simon Newbould]

Mike.....

 

Fabulous story mate

[Guest Vagabond]

Yes, great! Still chuckling

 

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Vagabond

[Guest fisherman]

Great Mike,

I just hope your mate does read these forums.

Dave

 

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ANMC Founder Member