Newbie Anglers

Aged 72 and 14 - Year One.

We really didn’t mean to get into the heavy stuff or anything. It just crept up on us as if we had no choice. We were just larking about, enjoying life, happy on soft stuff like roach and rudd, until Wil caught that two-pound carp. After he’d landed his fish, I asked him what it was like to play it and he said the world around him had disappeared and the only things on earth that mattered were the fish, his delicate tackle, and himself. I had watched as he’d tried to reel in, stopped as the fish stripped line from his reel, and the whole thing was played out again and again. I was hypnotised and wanted what he had experienced.
Once we’d gone heavy there was no return. I did try the heavy stuff and managed six-and-a half pounds but Wil being younger could take himself to nine-and-a- half pounds. We both wanted the experience of doubles but winter approached. We’d started in April and gave ourselves until the following April to reach a double each, and then we would go cold-turkey before carp fishing became a total addiction and took over our lives. Maybe.