ISSUE 9 – SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 – FREE
Ashford Carbonell’s fishing syndicate Castle Gardens’ 2-ton gun Mackenzie & Smith Ludlow’s sculpting legend: Adrian Jones Linney croquet club Bentley’s wine merchants Travels with Aubrey
“With that, there’s a tug on the rod. A bite, a bloody bite! I’ve actually caught something. I reel it in somewhat incompetently as Sam grabs the net, and a young female brown trout emerges.” I’M standing on the bank of the River Teme, not far from the A49, I’m trying to learn exactly what it is that makes thousands of men and some women sit – every week for hours, days, even whole weekends – down by a river in pursuit of fish. The enthusiastic Sam Jones, acupuncturist, remedial massage therapist and recently-appointed Chairman of the Ashford Carbonell Fishing Syndicate, is doing his best to explain it all to me, but the roar of motorbikes and the sudden gale that’s blown up is snatching his voice away. For the moment at least, I’m none the wiser. Mercifully, the wind drops, the motorbikes disappear and Sam starts putting hooks on to lines and digging out a box of little ballbearing things; hooks and line I’m familiar with but Sam grabs the line and bites the little ball thing on to it. For one confused moment I think Sam’s going to pick his teeth
with the hook, but no, he’s just tightening the weight on to the line. “I could use pliers but… “ he shrugs with a grin. He’s brought a whole mini picnic: bottles of Ludlow beer, comté cheese, good bread and posh pickled onions that look like tiny hats. It’s at this point that I decide I quite like fishing. Sam’s been keen on fishing ever since he was a kid, growing up within spitting distance of the Teme: “I cut my teeth on the River Teme really. I didn’t have a rod licence then, but would dig up worms at home and dangle them in. I wasn’t as keen as a kid as I am now.” He’s not kidding, now he will fish anywhere he can – in the sea, rivers, ponds, you name it. The most he’s ever caught is 11 fish in one go (he only kept two, the rest were too small to eat). He’s also caught a salmon overnight, in Scotland – and once caught a huge salmon in Ireland; he now hopes to take the ‘triple crown’ with a Welsh
fish this autumn. It’s fair to say he’s pretty keen on fishing. Yet he, and the rest of the 60-strong syndicate, are real sticklers for rules and legislation. “I used to fish to eat but now it’s more of a sport, it’s more about conservation, for the river and the riverbank.” The subject of poachers and migrant fishermen who illegally take from the river gets him hot under the collar. He tells me about Operation Leviathan, a recently launched West Mercia Police campaign to raise awareness of fish theft and illegal angling. Some migrant workers who fish to eat aren’t aware that it’s an offence to take from rivers and waterways without permission. It’s a bit of a hot political subject, but it seems that the poachers are the real issue. After all, the serious poachers know exactly what they’re doing – and the consequences for the river. Getting started in fishing isn’t as straightforward as you might think
– www.ludlowledger.co.uk –
either. You can’t just turn up and give it a go wherever you like. You need to have a rod licence from the Environment Agency to fish in England (except the River Tweed) and Wales, you need permission to fish, and you also need various bits of equipment which, as with any hobby, range from inexpensive to top of the range. Sam’s got a couple of rods which he fishes with, but he points out that they can be bought for around £30 from local suppliers like JMC Tackle on Ludlow’s industrial estate. You can also buy a pint of maggots for around £2.80 – that’s a lot of maggots. Sam buys small amounts and keeps them locked up in a plastic container, double wrapped in a paper bag. He jokes that it’s a test of love as to whether your partner will put up with maggots in the fridge. The maggots will last for a fair few days
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