The Weekend Away was held at the Angling Project in Wraysbury
The prediction on the weather front was for rain, rain and more rain, and up until lunchtime on Saturday the forecast was dead right. I got totally soaked rushing about trying to make sure that all the children were under cover, but after a wet start to the weekend we were well and truly blessed with lovely weather.
The Angling Project is the only place of its kind in England. The whole place is a dream come true, fish everywhere what more can an angler ask for.
We are very grateful to Les Webber for allowing us to use this great site. I had a great team of helpers for the weekend, and I would like to thank Linda Gray, Rob Allen and Pat Gray for all their support. To be honest I could not have run the weekend with out them. Thanks Again.
The children attending were as follows Jessica, Aran, Ben, Jamie, Andrew, Alex, Michael and Joe.
For some of these children it was the first time they had spent a night away from home.
The fishing at the Angling Project is good and each child had there own propose built swim, which makes fishing much safer. I set up a number of projects over the weekend, firstly we had 4 matches, and these were split in to two groups.
Group One; Jessica, Ben, Jamie, and Andrew and Group Two Alex, Aran, Michael and Joe.
Each match had two winners; one from each group and a certificate was awarded to each winner, and trophies for the overall winner of each group. Other projects over the weekend were all based around fish and fishing. I wanted each child to be able to set up his/her own fishing rod and correctly set up a Float Rig and a ledger Rig. I am really pleased to say that each child is able to do all those things, and as a result can now go fishing on his/her own, in the knowledge that he/she can fish in the correct manner, this for me is a personal achievement. Well Done Everyone. For me personally this weekend is a great achievement, I am very proud of the fact that I have been able to share my passion for Angling.
Our members are the future of fishing and conservation, I hope each of them enjoy the rest of their angling life.
Here are some of the many highlights of the weekend I arrived at the project at 7am along with Linda, Jessica and Aran. And started the task of setting up for the weekend, unloading all the tackle and food, getting ready for the children to arrive at 9am. The children started to arrive from about 8.30 and you could see from the look on their faces that this was going to be a weekend to remember. I started my first talk of the weekend; the important safety factors, the rules of the place and most importantly talk about fishing. While all this was going on Linda was busy making her nest for the weekend, making sure that the all food was ready and everything was it the right place, of course making sure that some tea towels were ready for the children for when the drying up was needed.
Then after the talk it was time for action
The lake had very recently had about 8,000 Golden Rudd put in and I am pleased to say that these lovely fish where very keen to be caught. Over the course of the weekend a number of these Rudd were caught, most weighed in at about 8-10oz, we also had a number of small Perch and roach were also caught and one small Bream. The children fished two matches on day one. The weather for each match really could not have been more different. In match one the heavens opened and then the second match had us soaking up the sun. Bizarre
Linda provided a lovely lunch and two of the children washed and wiped up, to be honest I did not have much to do with the food and cleaning up, but I understand that all the children did their bit and Linda was very happy with their efforts, so a big thank you for all the help you gave Linda over the weekend After the last match of the day we had a chill zone, time for the children to run around and play their games, it gave us coaches time to sort all the damaged lines and prepare for the mornings fishing. After our wonderful Tea, it was time for some more coaching; this also allowed time for Pat and Rob to have some time to themselves and catch a few fish. In fact I think Pat would have emptied the lake if the sun had not gone down, and he was unable to see his float. I think he caught 20 fish in less than two hours. I spent that time showing the children how to set up a rod and line, how to tie hooks and shot the line in a correct manner. I am pleased to say that every child managed to set up a float rig on his own. Well Done.
Then at last I could wet my line, believe me it was pure torture looking at the lake all day and not been able to fish it.
I did manage to catch a few small fish, but I was really after a large fish, so the children could see a real live big fish.
The children were all in bed by ten and I think that most of them were asleep by eleven. We the coaches were still trying to catch the big one, but it was not to be. So at twelve-thirty we called it a day. It was very strange for me, because the place that was filled with laughter and shouting all day, was now so still. I felt like a mother hen, just checking my little chicks, were they all warm and comfortable? Are they all safe? Once I had checked them all a couple of times, I made for my Bed and I guess I was asleep by one-fifteen. Then movement awoke me, it was Ben off to the little boys room. Once again I had a checked about and once again everyone was in the land of nod. Then at three I was again woken by movement, once again it was Ben off to the little boys room.
At last I was asleep, until four-thirty when I had a calling, it was coming from the lake, it sounded like this. Steve!! Steve it is time to get your rods and come to the waters edge, and of course when I heard this voice in my head, I just had to do as it said, and as if by magic I was fishing. The sun was just coming up he water was still; my chicks were all fast asleep. It was just a Heron and me sitting in the cool morning air, if that sounds good, it was. Then at about six the door opened, and out came Pat in to the morning air, soon to be followed by Rob. Then at about six-thirty the first little face appeared, good morning Alex, before long the whole place was alive and the day had begun. I carried on fishing for a while, and I could now smell the wonderful smell of bacon and eggs, coming from the kitchen. Once again Linda was waving her magic wand around the kitchen and as luck would have it, Just as I was thinking about calling it a day on my fishing, when the wonderful sight of the float disappearing under the water, I struck! The line went tight and that magic moment when you know you have hooked a large fish. This fish was a Bream and it weighed in at a very nice 7lb. I was really pleased that Jamie was sitting next to me at the time, because he was really keen to see a large fish. Not only Jamie but also the rest of the children where very pleased to see such a lovely fish. It was a good talking point over breakfast. After breakfast we had a tidy up and got ready for the first match of the day. Once again a quite a few fish where caught. Short break for lunch, when sandwiches were taken. A bit more tidying up and then the last match of the weekend, which proved to be the one when the least fish where caught. We finished at about four, packed up the remainder of the fishing tackle and bits and pieces.
Then it was time for the presentations.
As I stated before we had a number of certificates to hand out for match winners and trophies for overall match winners.
I would also like to make a special mention to Aran for all his extra help in kitchen and Michael for never giving up all weekend, he tried his very best to catch more fish, but sadly it just was not his weekend, and I would like to thank Jessica for all her help in trying to keep the young ones happy by playing games. Aran won an extra prize for all his effort, two spools of fishing line. Michael won a fishing reel for never giving up and Jessica won a trophy for been extra helpful and the fact that all weekend she was fishing with seven boys and three men, and never once complained that she was the only girl. Well done to you all. I wanted to award one child who had put in the most effort and progressed to most over the weekend, this to be fair was not an easy task, so I asked Rob to vote on whom he felt had improved the most. When asked he replied with the name Alex, and I am pleased to say if I had to choose I to would have said Alex.
Alex not only improved his own skills but many times he went to the aid of others, helping where he could.
Well Done Alex.
I was very happy to see the parents at the presentations and enjoy the success of their children. we have come a long way together and I am very proud of what we have done in the past twelve months. I am working on new projects all the time; with your help we can take our club a long way. This weekend away has been very hard work at times, but seeing those faces light up every time their float went under made me very proud indeed.
Thanks again to all those who made this weekend a success.
Tight Lines
Steve Gray
Kingfisher Piscatorials