How to Handle an Eel.

Coming up towards the end of my holiday in East Dorset and today whilst out fishing on the campsite lake, I caught an eel. 

European Eel (Anguila anguila)

Now it is many a long year since I have found one of these critters on the end of my line and it got me thinking about how difficult they are to deal with when it comes to removing hooks etc. 

I was fortunate that it came off the hook in the landing net of its own accord, so I could return it to the lake easily, but for future reference the following page from the Specialist Eel Angling Group on Maggotdrowning.com gives good advice on how to handle these very wriggly, slippery (and in all honesty not very nice) creatures. 

Unhooking and Handling of Eels

Tatty is now sorting out his fishing tackle.

Tatty's Riverside Rant

I had some spare time this morning so, as the weather was nice, I decided to buy a pint of maggots and spend a few hours down by the riverside, trying to fool those nice fish into jumping on my hook. I went to a stretch of water on the River Great Ouse, controlled by the club I belong to, namely the Blunham and District Angling Club.

As it was, I caught a couple of small roach, a gudgeon and a young chub which was all very enjoyable, but the thing that put a dampener on the whole business was the amount of rubbish that had been left at the bankside by a previous angler.

Discarded broken fold up chair

As shown there was a broken fold up chair, along with a bait box lid and numerous food packaging items.

A Pringles Carton Plus Other Assorted Rubbish

It amazes me that as this water is supposedly only fished by club members, how they can be so stupid as to leave their discarded rubbish where it falls, knowing it reflects badly on the club and us other members. For the record, I collected it all up and disposed of it in the correct manner.

Discarded Bait Box Lid

If there was a way to identify this/these idiot/s, I would have no qualms in naming and shaming them. The title litter louts is too mild for what I think of them.

Tatty is off down the shed...

Coarse Fishing Season Opens Up

You find Tatty in quite a good humour for once. No grumbling or grouching from me at the moment (well not much anyway). 

And the reason is.....

The UK coarse fishing season has started up and the rivers are open again.

OK, I am fully aware that there is no close season on most stillwaters in this country anymore and I have had the odd day or two on the bank in the last 3 months (during the close season), but nothing can beat sitting by the river, rod in hand, trotting a stick float through a swim, hoping that a large Chub, or even better, a barbel will pounce.

A sweet little perch, caught on the River Ivel

I am very lucky living here in Central Bedfordshire. This area is not known as big fish country for nothing you know. The River Great Ouse and the River Ivel both flow through close to my home, giving me some of the best sport available in the whole country.

The Ivel is particularly close to my heart and for fishing information, why not have a look at the Ivel Protection Association website.

Writing News

Over the last week or so, I have been researching and writing some articles for Suite101.com about various British Comedy Giants. A couple are now complete and are available to read by clicking on the titles below:-

British Comedy Giants: 

LARRY GRAYSON    REG VARNEY

Please let me know what you think and some ideas for other comics to feature would be very acceptable.

I am currently researching another piece on Charlie Drake, soon to be followed by Will Hay.

 Last Word on the Villa Debacle

I hear on the radio tonight that the Villa are to appoint Alex McLeish as their new manager sometime on Friday morning. As you are aware I have little (or no) time for the  Villa, but this surely is a mistake. The fans will hate him and the style of football he gets his teams to play, will not go down well there.

Royal Ascot

Let's go back to the good old days when I used to operate a daily racing bulletin. 4th day of Royal Ascot today and I like the look of Eternal Heart in the Queen's Vase. Mark Johnson's filly has won well previously at Sandown and Musselburgh and comes here in good heart. Only thing that worries me is that idiot Joe Fanning in the saddle, but let's hope he's only needed to sit on top and lets her get on with the intelligent bit.

ROYAL ASCOT 5.00 ETERNAL HEART

OK, that's all for this bulletin.

Tatty has turned off the lapdog!

Only Time for a Short Update

Good day to one and all and I hope everything is hanging straight and not perpedicular.

I am writing this episode a bit earlier than I normally would, mainly because I am considering getting up early on Sunday and taking my rods down to the river for a few hours. It does depend on the weather somewhat and whether I could be bothered to crow-bar my back end out of the pit at some ungodly hour of the day. Will more than likely be a fishless waste of time anyway, but hey-ho!

Racing Snippets

Well, we had a pretty good day on the ponies on Saturday, where JAMES DE VASSY did the business for us at 8/1 (earlier available 11/1 and better). As for my other choice, NIGHT WITCH ran well and wasn’t too far away in 4^th. She may be worth keeping an eye on for the future. KAUTO STAR however was disappointing and did not seem his normal self. You can generally rely on him to make a mess of at least 1 fence in a race, but he just didn’t seem right and as if age was catching up with him. I hope it was just a bad day at the office, but I do have my concerns.

Now on to today’s fare. In the early months of last year, TRANS SONIC won 3 times in short succession at Southwell and in the 3.35 at the same course, I believe he stands an outstanding chance of returning to winning ways. Down in class, he has not been disgraced when running at higher levels and the booking of Joe Fanning is eyecatching. The meeting at Ffos Las doesn’t excite me at all, so we’ll leave that well alone.  
RESULT : Unplaced - Broke well and made the running on the rail. Asked the question about 2f out and had little to offer.

That’s all for this time. A bit on the short side I know, but things will be back to normal soon.

Keep swinging,

Tatts