Chapter Five

Dave (Stewpot)
During that season I managed to become friendly with some of
the fisherman from my town. Many, as I mentioned, had no
transport so getting to the lakes meant a long walk to the
station and a long walk to the lakes. As Ann and I now fished
most weekends it became known that we would take anyone out
there and back if the contacted us. This is how I met Dave and
started fishing with him. Dave was a very quiet guy when he
fished and when we fished together sometimes we never spoke
for hours. It wasnt that he was in anyway anti social he just was
thinking about fishing all the time. He was a great innovator and
would alter tackle to suit his needs. He would make individual
floats to suit a particular set of circumstances. He built his own
rods and I remember when long range casting became the
thing he had his own remedy. He adjusted his rods so as he
would use a two foot butt extension on casting then removing it
to fish the rod as normal. He also built his rods with oversize
rings and these were spaced to help gain distance on casting.
He experimented with most pieces of tackle, methods and bait.
We spent hours casting on local fields, testing lines, knots etc...
At about this time some anglers had caught a fish now and
again but no one was catching Carp on a regular basis. There
were a group of about eight anglers who fished solely for Carp
seriously and Dave was one of these. Although I had now caught
a few Carp I was miles away in knowledge from this group. My
first goal was like many other Carp anglers, to catch a 20lb+
Carp. Dave assured me there were several fish about that size in
the lake we were fishing. Dave read anything he could read on
Carping as most anglers did. I think he was different as he would
read what a known angler wrote but then go his own way. Most
anglers were just going through the motions and as no one
caught Carp on a regular basis a mystique grew about Carp.
They became these magical fish that had mystical powers. Of
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course in reality our methods were not sound and there were
less Carp in the lakes than most species so less Carp were
caught compared to other species, basic mathematics really. It
was supposed that Carp were so wary you needed to fish at long
range and so casting over a hundred yards became the norm.
This meant using hunting catapults to put out free offerings and
using stiff rods which to be honest I found crap at close range.
No one I can remember stalked the margins or even fished the
other lakes in the complex in those early days. At that time I
guess we all thought the other lakes had no Carp.
Later I was lucky enough to find out differently, thats in the
Gucci Chapter. This was all to change for me when a new
member joined the club, fished an unpopular swim and
hammered the Carp. Stories started going around that this guy
was catching Carp every session he fished. Some of the group
started talking to Ian (I think that was his name) and he would
openly give them advice.
I only met him the once and he seemed like a really nice guy.
From this moment I guess everyone realised that Carp could be
caught but more thought and effort was needed. There were no
secrets between this group of Carp anglers on the lake and so as
stories of successes were shared a pool of knowledge helped
things change quickly. Over the next two years the group started
to catch Carp in numbers and the Carp began getting names.
Some of these anglers went on to become very well known in
bait manufacture and caught many nationally known Carp. I
think Dave caught every known large Carp in the lake we fished
at some time or another. I fished with him many times often with
Ann and always really enjoyed his company. We were both
practical jokers and often played tricks on each other. Here are
just a few of my memories of those times.
We fished a week long session and all I had was a single
portable gas cooker. As Dave worked in a butchers shop and was
kind enough to bring all kinds of meat cuts, I agreed to do the
cooking. All week I was juggling with pots and pans keeping
things hot as I cooked other items. The last morning of the trip
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we were sitting on our chairs when I noticed Dave flicking a gas

cooker on and off on and off. I have not got much gas in that I
said, Dave assured me it was OK as this was HIS cooker. He had
watched my all week struggling and all the time had a second
stove.
On another trip I had caught a carp during the night and decided
to sack it until it was light. It was well known I worried about
Carp being stressed or injuring themselves in a sack. The
educated anglers out there assured me that sacking a Carp was
actually beneficial to the health of the fish, so who was I to
doubt them. I buried a bank stick deep and clipped a sack with
the Carp inside.
Finding a nice clear piece of water near the bank I lowered the
sack in gently before going back to sleep, uneasily. In the
morning I told Dave about the Carp and asked Ann to set up the
camera. I walked to where I had put the bank stick, nothing
there. Now I was panicking imagining a poor fish trapped in a
sack unable to escape. I thrashed around in the margins hoping
to find the sack. Ann was looking on and mentioned there was a
water trail leaving the area. I jumped out and started to follow it
noticing Dave sliding out of his chair sheepishly. The water trail
ended up at the far bank side and there was my bank stick.
Obviously after I had gone to sleep he thought it would be funny
to give me a heart attack and move it. I nicknamed the fish
Houdini.

Dave would not only pull my chain no one was spared. During
this time many new faces appeared at the lake.
Most were quiet and glad of what advice if any they could get.
One I remember though knew everything but was always asking
you just to confirm his knowledge. This would be about the time
we moved from spook rigs to the hair. He told Dave he knew all
about this secret method but did not know what to use as the
hair. He had also heard about PVA and was this it. Dave
explained that the hair was usually PVA string. For those who do
not know what this is it is a material that dissolves in water.
In effect this guy was attaching his bait to a hook with a
material that would dissolve leaving the bait and hook
separated, so he was fishing a bare hook. I am not sure if Dave
eventually told him or he found out for himself but I never saw
him much after that.
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There were also people that just wandered in your swim who
never fished. I guess they were just lonely or liked the views.
One of these was a poor guy who stuttered really badly and
always asked if we wanted anything from the shop.
Dave would delight in sending him for a PP3 battery. We could
only imagine the conversation when he tried to ask for a
pppp,ppppppp,three bbbbbattery.
I was once fishing the spot I first fished with Ann and it had got
really windy. I spent hours trying to cast a bait in the right place,
between the trees. After losing several end tackles the air was
blue and Ann wandered off until I calmed down. Eventually I got
a bait where I wanted it and was watching the fish move in over
the free baits I had put out. All of a sudden a huge splash
occurred in amongst my swim and fish spooked in all directions
sending out huge bow waves. I looked around and way off to the
left a guy was holding a rod. I could not believe it, this idiot had
cast right over huge lily patches to fish in my swim. I grabbed a
rod pole and raced off to make a new friend. Racing in the swim
I was confronted by the largest man I had ever seen. He was
trying to get his now tangled line free repeating loudly it
wasnt me it was him I raced out onto the path to see Daves
rear end disappear into a swim much further up the lake. I went
back in the swim smiling and introduced myself properly, it
turned out he was a guy we will call Lockee. There is a story
about my new gigantic friend in the chapter called Castle Lake.
Anyway he explained that other Dave had come in the swim and
obviously seen me struggling to get a bait out. He mentioned
that Lockee had nice rods and could he have a cast with one.
Turning towards me he cast at my swim, handed the rod to this
poor newcomer and ran while line was still coming off the reel.
Before Lockee could figure out what was going on his lead had
landed right in my swim causing the huge splash mentioned
previously. I told him it was fine and explained Dave was prone
to that sort of thing. It turned out he was also a doorman or
perhaps just a door. He was certainly big enough but was really
a nice gentle guy. The funny thing is that normally working as a
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doorman the big guys were not your proble. It was always some
little guy in a crowd or gang that caused trouble. Eventually I
spent some time with Lockee and he had great delight sharing
his hobby with me. He had this enormous model railway he had
built and I really admired the detail in the layout.
Dave introduced me to the old hook on your line ploy. We were
using bite alarms that made a sound when fish took line. Dave
would take some spare line with a hook tied onto it and sneak
over to my rods at night. Carefully putting the hook over my line
he would sneak back to his Bivvy to start the fun. By pulling the
line gently the alarm would sound and I would rush out to see
what was happening. I would crouch by the rods returning to my
Bivvy as all went quiet.
Dave would repeat the exercise and for hours I would be rushing
out in my underpants ready to strike the rods. Eventually he
made the mistake of falling asleep leaving the device in place. I
woke up first and whilst checking my rods found it. Realising
what had been happening the next night I returned the
compliment.
Another guy who wandered into our swims for months hurried
off as soon as you tried to talk to him. It transpired that he was
deaf and shy. Eventually he did start to chat and have a cup of
tea with us. On occasion Dave would be behind him while I was
trying to talk to him. Dave would whistle in a high note. This
poor guy had one of those old deaf aid boxes that hung around
your neck and rested on your chest. He would start banging it
and shaking it thinking it was going wrong. Dave would stop
allowing me to gain some composure and then repeat the
exercise. Ann normally disappeared into the Bivvy not able to
contain herself leaving me trying to keep a straight face.
Eventually he caught Dave and took it all as good fun. After that
if Dave whistled he would normally catch on straight away and
turn around to catch him. Dave knew many people that I did not
and over time I met some of them briefly.
I remember another large guy turned up at the beginning of the
season dragging two large plastic bags. He said he had a little
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grass growing plantation nearby. He had heard he was being

raided so cropped it all hoping we would all help him get rid of
the evidence. He went all around the lake handing out whatever
amount you wanted or thought your body could handle. Dave
was strange in that department as although he liked a Puff he
did not smoke cigarettes. I guess the belief that smoking dope
was addictive for Dave did not even stretch to include smoking.
Up until that time I had smoked the odd joint here and then but I
realised that most of the fisherman I knew smoked joints quite
often and believed it helped them concentrate. I smoked more
that session than I had ever smoked in my life. I did somehow
manage to catch a Carp and I think I realised why they called it
Dope when I later looked at the photo.
I remember Ann, who took this photo was in front of me, I have
no idea what I was
looking at here.
I do not remember
much about that trip but
I am alive so I guess it
was ok.
I seem to remember at a
later date the guy who
bought the grass around
fell out of a tree on an
island while spotting
Carp and hurt his knee
badly. He later walked
around the lake selling
off his tackle vowing
never to fish again.
Weeks later with a
change of heart he had
to go out and spend a
fortune replacing it all.
There were many funny
memories I have of the time I spent fishing this complex and one
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I refer to as the burial at sea. It was fairly early in the morning,

first light if I remember. To my right was a narrow spit of land the
jutted out in front of me.
Fishing there had as many advantages as it had disadvantages.
It stretched out much further into the lake than any other swim
so you could fish closer to the far bank and bays. It was very
narrow, just wide enough to take a bed chair so a Bivvy was out
of the question. I could make out the bed chair perched right on
the tip of the spit. I could see there was an angler in a sleeping
bag moving on top of it. As he started to unzip the sleeping bag
as though in slow motion the front leg of the bed chair started to
collapse. Realising the danger he fought to unzip the bag quickly
but I guess it was stuck. The front leg dropped completely and
the sleeping bag with him in it slid slowly into the lake, just like
the burials at sea. I shouted to Dave and rushed around to the
help the now screaming guy. I arrived at his swim to find him on
the bank, soaked and red faced. I made him a hot drink while he
changed into dry clothes and we sat for a few moments quietly.
I guess that looked really funny he finally said. I just spat out
my tea unable to stop the event replaying in my head. I never
saw him again, ships that pass in the night.
There was a little local shop that opened near the lake when the
very elderly owners decided it was time. The wife, bless her, had
a black moustache and beard that as hard as we tried we could
not take our eyes off. Without appearing to be unkind the lady
was also of large proportions and was permanently seated on a
stool so you had to serve yourself. I never met her husband but I
knew she had one as she would be constantly shouting at him
with work instructions. Dave, his brother and two other friends
decided to walk to the shop to get an ice cream as it was a hot
day. I stayed with the tackle not being hungry. When they
returned Daves eyes were red and the others could not stop
laughing. Apparently Daves brother liked a particular ice lolly
that had a space travel theme as a name. They were all in the
shop and Daves brother walked up to the owner and without
thinking enquired if she had a Black Hole. Dave described the
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scene, his brother tried to keep a straight face and froze. Dave
pretended he had dropped something and disappeared out of
sight rolling on the floor. One of the others turned his back and
was sobbing with his shoulders going up and down
uncontrollably. The last guy just turned and walked out of the
shop. The lady never batted an eyelid saying she did not but
was there anything else he wanted. Eventually they gained
there composure and made their way back to the lake. I kept
using the words black hole in conversations with his brother for
months forcing him to burst into laughter.
His brother also gave me a stomach ache from laughing on
another occasion. He had turned up at the lake to fish for a
weekend using his new SUPER BAIT. After carefully setting all
his tackle up he proceeded to catapult out hundreds of baits.
After he had been toiling for a while Dave and I were in
hysterics. His brother could not see what we found so funny until
he looked out at the lake. He had somehow got his bait mix
wrong and all his baits were floating on the surface, the seagulls
loved him.
Dave tended to give people nicknames and I dread to think what
I was known as behind my back. I remember one guy he called
Panda as it looked like he had two permanent black eyes.
I think he was probably a miner as all miners I knew could never
completely get the coal dust from around their eyes. He called
filled round rolls turtles and got great delight out of filling them
with salt and daring me to eat one hole. This ended up with me
spitting the roll everywhere and him on the floor laughing
hysterically.
When I look back I really enjoyed the time I spent fishing with
Dave. He really was an inspiration to me and made me think
more about my fishing.
Dave could fish sea or freshwater for any variety of fish or in any
conditions and was equally as competent at any.
My most vivid foul weather memory was of us turning up to fish
a local river for Bream one winter. We sat on our seat boxes and
it started to snow. I went back to my van to seek shelter but
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Dave never followed. Over time the snow stopped and the sun
came out. I went back to the river and there was Dave still
fishing. He stretched and got up and the snowdrift that had built
up behind him stayed solid still with his impression firmly in it.
Ann is always pulling my leg about the really cold and sunny day
we turned up at a favourite lake of ours. It was very still and the
water was like a mill pond. It was really strange, not one other
angler on the complex, I had my pick of swims. I took my normal
hour setting up the rods and Bivvy. Finally relaxed, I cast out and
watched
my
end tackle slide
along
the
completely
frozen lake.
The last long
session
we
fished together
was an amazing
time for me and
showed
me
quickly
things
can change and
It also got me a
bit of payback. I
had still not
caught a 20lb+
Carp but had
been
really
close. I had also never caught a common Carp which again
seemed strange as I knew they were not rare in this lake. I had
however caught a lot of large Tench some close to the clubs
record.
We had arranged a weeks holiday together and spent time
arranging everything we would need. By now I was
experimenting with bait recipes and bait presentation. The bait I
came up with I felt offered everything and the way I presented it
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made me feel really confident. We arrived at the swim and as it

offered a left and right side to fish different areas, we agreed we
would each fish one side for half the week and then swop sides.
We tackled up, baited our swims and waited. By now I had some
long range Tricast rods so was out well over a hundred yards. I
had been to a national Carp conference and listened to a really
interesting talk about these new rods by a respected angler. He
finished the demonstration by inviting someone from the
audience to break a single strand of the material Kevlar used to
wrap these carbon rods. The member of the audience failed and
I decided to order a pair of these new blanks there and Then.
When they arrived Dave made them up for me and they were
fantastic. We went up to a local field to test them and I could
flick a three ounce lead 80 yards with ease. That night I had a
screaming run, I could of course not see what was happening
and now never fish at night for that reason. This fish was moving
differently to the others I remember catching. It moved slowly
and very deliberately but I was being very gentle and it seemed
to come into the net very gently. I think its a Tench I kept
saying. The fish swam sedately into the swim and straight into
the net Dave was holding. is it a Tench? I asked. If it is it is
the first 20lb+ Tench I have ever seen he replied. I did not
believe him but he was struggling carrying the net to the rubber
mat I used for unhooking. We opened the net and to me it was a
monster.
I do not care what anyone says, you never forget your first 20lb
Carp. I knew it was the biggest carp I had ever caught and we
weighed it at 27lb. I cannot remember if Dave called it by name
or I just made it up but I remember it had like a aura around it in
the half light and so I remember it as The Ghost.

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I was over the moon to say the least and Ann was as happy as I
was. It was as if a huge weight had come off my shoulders. That
day Dave had a nice double and we saw lots of fish moving over
our baits. We kept the baits going in hoping to keep the fish
interested in our swim. We had lots of line bites and twitches but
no more runs. To be honest I really did not care about the lack of
action and was walking around with a permanent smile.
Suddenly around mid afternoon I got another another screamer,
this time the fish was not cooperating. It kited right around to
my left in danger of tangling Daves rods so he reeled in. As
quickly as I gained a few yards the fish got them back. It was not
that the fish now was making powerful runs it just stayed where
it was and sulked. It seemed no matter how much pressure I put
on the rod it was not going to budge.
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It took me 20 minutes of gaining and loosing line before it was

finally circling deep, just in front of me. The water swirled and
huge vortexes were being formed on the surface. Eventually the
fish burst to the surface.
I knew straight away it was another 20lb+ Carp. As it saw us it
made a run away and gained about 20 yards before I managed
to turn its head back towards us. Dave neatly netted the fish and
it was indeed another 20lb fish.

To say I was over the moon would be an understatement and it

did not stop there. In that first half of our session I landed 2
more fish, both over 20lb. Dave also managed to land fish but all
of his were doubles.
Dave was really looking to fish in the area I was in and
midsession we changed sides as agreed. Unbelievably I caught
three more fish all over 20lb bringing my total to seven 20lb+
fish and I lost the biggest fish in the lake right at the net. It was
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so close if I had jumped into the lake I think I could have landed
it.
Dave continued catching....all doubles. Crazy things like that
happen in fishing and I will never forget that session. It gave me
so much confidence in my methods and that bait that from then
on I fished expecting to catch a fish.
When I went to France if I had any doubts they would be
completely dispelled by the results I had there as you will read
later in the Chapter dedicated to French fishing.

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I will never forget all Dave ever shared with me. He influenced
more than anyone else I ever fished with. On occasion we would
fish together but I was roaming more afield and was able to fish
at different times of the week. Gradually Ann and I fished alone
but if we were on the lake word soon spread and the take away
15

orders would appear. Ann and I have travelled the world since
those days and I lost touch with Dave. I hope he and his family
and all others mentioned here are healthy and happy and still
reeling them in.

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