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Senior (and not so senior) moments


Vagabond

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Chesters, from another thread

 

 

Unfortunately myself by far his junior nearly croaked today carrying a concrete block a 100 yards to the dam (time was 2 were no problem) not only did my underpants fall down to my knees my trousers almost followed so i used that to get my breath back half way then cleverly let it fall into the water 2 feet behind the head bailiff (himself 85) overwhelming his wellies ,between us we can just make one decent worker lol

 

Can happen to anyone - it happened to me whilst Spey casting - fortunately whilst I was practicing on our lawn rather than standing in mid-river . Lesson learnt - belt and braces whilst wading, Incidentally, the best advice I ever had on wading was from my Icelandic host on the Nordura back in '95. "Dave, you are a brave wader - but not a good one !"

 

Anyway, Chester's adventure reminds me of a recent plea from one of my syndicates for two strong lads to collect some old railway sleepers and deliver to said syndicate. Now my sleeper-slinging days are well and truly over, but it was not always so.....

 

Back in my days as a volunteer footplateman I was rostered one January day to fire a "permanent way train" In detail, to chug up the line, stopping at intervals to pick up old sleepers that the permanent way gang had replaced as part of routine winter maintenance. It had been snowing since the sleepers had been flung into the cess - and freezing so the sleepers were encased in ice.

Every time we stopped, I got down to help lever the sleepers out of the ice and chuck them onto the sleeper wagon. (Firemen are expected to do EVERYTHING on this railway) My hands got quite blue

 

Eventually we had a full load and time to go home. Eagerly I climbed on the loco to the welcome warmth of the fire, seized the shovel to replenish the fire, swung a load to the front of the firebox, and..........

 

hands were not just blue, they were numb as well, so I lost my grip on the shovel and into the firebox it went./

 

Jock the driver and I just looked at each other in disbelief. Fortunately, we carried a spare in the toolbox (shovels occasionally break) so more cautious firing got us back home OK

 

Reported loss of shovel, expected a ribbing, but nothing was said.

 

I should have known better

 

That evening, the usual evening feast of curry (strong curry - we had would-be master-chefs in our ranks) was prepared in the locomen's lobby . Someone passed me a large plateful. i grabbed a spoon and set to.

 

As the first spoonful became gob-bound, the entire lobby shouted as one man

 

"DON'T LET GO OF THE SPOON DAVE"

 

They don't let anyone get away with anything on the Bluebell

 

 

  • Like 6

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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I have accidentally pulled down my own trousers metal detecting ,unlike my son i dont use a spade i am a keyhole surgeon when it comes to holes and use a hardened trowel but this involves dropping to your knees then (as you know) getting two people back on my feet.

Anyway luckily in an empty field albeit next to a road i cleverly stood on my own trouser leg getting up and having no waist (or rather the opposite) its like an inverted funnel with no waist to hold the waistband ,i stood up trousers and pants remained in a kneeling position! i wont make that mistake again .

Had i been in the next field where theres many kids on occasion i have no doubt i would be on the pedo list for exposing myself!

 

Another mistake not to make is wading in water deeper than your waders ,i cleverly went into what i thought was shallow water in the military canal and it was chest high ,with full waders i couldnt climb back out and even trying to lift a leg out to drain the water out impossible in the end i had to bounce along the canal untill i found a slope in the bank where i could haul myself out seal like and drain the water out so i could stand

There IS a reason wading staffs were invented but at the time i didnt think i needed it in what i thought was a bit of knee deep water

 

I hate cold hands when i worked on the canal it was a freezing day made worse by working in the water ,i was trying to turn a branch in the canal that had its end in some very thick ice from a quaint flat bottommed boaght called the mudlark ,try this the leader said and handed over a heavy 6ft long steel bar (point one end chisel the other) i grabbed it but my hands didnt feel it and it went straight through both of them to a watery grave for 6 months until it was found when that section was drained ,my name was mud as those are who cock up the simplest task had he passed me what i thought it was the boat hook all would have been fine

Edited by chesters1
  • Like 1

Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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  • 1 month later...

I am just packing a shoulder bag for tomorrow's fishing trip. Must put in my tube of porcupine quills. Forgot it last week and was faced with having to free-line on a very twiggy bottom whereas for best results a bait fished an inch or two above the twigs is better.

 

Improvisation is the name of the game. On the banks of the pond grows Pendulous Sedge Carex pendula, with flowerheads some 4 to 6 inches long. Picked one , attached one end to my line with a clove hitch and hey presto an instant waggler float.

 

Bite detection was OK, and tiddlers could be swung to hand. Any fish above three or four ounces is strong/neavy enough to straighten out the clove hitch** and thus cause the sedge to drop off - but there were plenty of fresh sedges to provide fresh "floats"

 

As one gets older there is this tendency to forget things, but the improvisation learnt in one's youth (war on, tackle scarce) often comes to the rescue.

.

 

**Which is why I used soft herbage rather than a wooden twig - such a knot in nylon will snap easily if it can't straighten

 

 

 

 

 

.

Edited by Vagabond
  • Like 1

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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There's a lot to be said about using a twig for a float, more natural for the fish. When I first started fishing with a couple of friends and their uncle we'd sometimes see an old geezer nearby fishing with a twig he'd snapped off a bush and put onto his line with float rubbers. The sod used to catch a lot more than us too :yucky:

John S

Quanti Canicula Ille In Fenestra

 

Species caught in 2017 Common Ash, Hawthorn, Hazel, Scots Pine, White Willow.

Species caught in 2016: Alder, Blackthorn, Common Ash, Crab Apple, Left Earlobe, Pedunculate Oak, Rock Whitebeam, Scots Pine, Smooth-leaved Elm, Swan, Wayfaring tree.

Species caught in 2015: Ash, Bird Cherry, Black-Headed Gull, Common Hazel, Common Whitebeam, Elder, Field Maple, Gorse, Puma, Sessile Oak, White Willow.

Species caught in 2014: Big Angry Man's Ear, Blackthorn, Common Ash, Common Whitebeam, Downy Birch, European Beech, European Holly, Hawthorn, Hazel, Scots Pine, Wych Elm.
Species caught in 2013: Beech, Elder, Hawthorn, Oak, Right Earlobe, Scots Pine.

Species caught in 2012: Ash, Aspen, Beech, Big Nasty Stinging Nettle, Birch, Copper Beech, Grey Willow, Holly, Hazel, Oak, Wasp Nest (that was a really bad day), White Poplar.
Species caught in 2011: Blackthorn, Crab Apple, Elder, Fir, Hawthorn, Horse Chestnut, Oak, Passing Dog, Rowan, Sycamore, Willow.
Species caught in 2010: Ash, Beech, Birch, Elder, Elm, Gorse, Mullberry, Oak, Poplar, Rowan, Sloe, Willow, Yew.

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Very true, but in this case the rubbers were with the quills at home. The old cycle valve rubber (bought in bulk and chopped up as and when required) was ideal - I still have some, packed in powdered French Chalk and as supple as ever after over 50 years.

Edited by Vagabond

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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I suppose if you have a sharp knife you could split both ends of the twig and trap the line in those?

John S

Quanti Canicula Ille In Fenestra

 

Species caught in 2017 Common Ash, Hawthorn, Hazel, Scots Pine, White Willow.

Species caught in 2016: Alder, Blackthorn, Common Ash, Crab Apple, Left Earlobe, Pedunculate Oak, Rock Whitebeam, Scots Pine, Smooth-leaved Elm, Swan, Wayfaring tree.

Species caught in 2015: Ash, Bird Cherry, Black-Headed Gull, Common Hazel, Common Whitebeam, Elder, Field Maple, Gorse, Puma, Sessile Oak, White Willow.

Species caught in 2014: Big Angry Man's Ear, Blackthorn, Common Ash, Common Whitebeam, Downy Birch, European Beech, European Holly, Hawthorn, Hazel, Scots Pine, Wych Elm.
Species caught in 2013: Beech, Elder, Hawthorn, Oak, Right Earlobe, Scots Pine.

Species caught in 2012: Ash, Aspen, Beech, Big Nasty Stinging Nettle, Birch, Copper Beech, Grey Willow, Holly, Hazel, Oak, Wasp Nest (that was a really bad day), White Poplar.
Species caught in 2011: Blackthorn, Crab Apple, Elder, Fir, Hawthorn, Horse Chestnut, Oak, Passing Dog, Rowan, Sycamore, Willow.
Species caught in 2010: Ash, Beech, Birch, Elder, Elm, Gorse, Mullberry, Oak, Poplar, Rowan, Sloe, Willow, Yew.

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Vagabond,

 

What the 'ell is French chalk? I mean isn't chalk chalk?

 

I thing floats are like fishing rods... There are functionalities and then they become accessorized. Since floats (bobbers) have very little status in the US, except to fluff chuckers, all sorts of bits and bobs work for us.

 

Phone

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What the 'ell is French chalk? I mean isn't chalk chalk?

 

Chalk is chalk, as you say, but French chalk isn't: it's Talc.

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Improvisation is the name of the game. On the banks of the pond grows Pendulous Sedge Carex pendula, with flowerheads some 4 to 6 inches long. Picked one , attached one end to my line with a clove hitch and hey presto an instant waggler float.

 

You probably lost about 90% of your reader base right there! :D

 

I've often used a reed stem when floater fishing for Carp, a split in each end and just pulling the line into the split is enough to survive a cast with a pin - it provides a bit more weight to gain more distance when freelining - it can anchor the bait just off a lily pad - it can also mask the line - whilst a Carp may shy away from a line shadow it's rarely bothered by a floating reed stem and will snaffle a floater adjacent to the reed.

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Chalk is chalk, as you say, but French chalk isn't: it's Talc.

Thanks ayjay and to satisfy the pedantic

 

"Talc is a hydrous magnesium silicate mineral with a chemical composition of Mg3Si4O10(OH)2." Very soft, and in powdered form known as French Chalk, Natural rubber powdered with French Chalk and kept in a cool dark place seems to avoid denaturing almost indefinitely as I said above in post #5

 

Pleased to hear of other improvisations - ingenuity is the hall-mark of many successful anglers

Edited by Vagabond

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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