Fishing The South Pacific (straight to video)

Image Above: Tackle Box made from an old video case.


I am sat amidst what looks like the aftermath of a rock festival, a long train of debris surrounds the lake like a tide mark. Summer has brought its fair share of litter louts to the pond, tins of sweet corn and empty bags of ground bait mix with half eaten packets of crisps and pop bottles, fish food and fisherman’s food.

The smell of weed wafts over from the next peg and in the distance on the far bank a voice breaks into a few verses of and old Roxy Music hit.  The vocalist is a big guy and continues to run through hits that may have been popular in his youth.  I reach into my rucksack and pull out a video, South Pacific. There is a pause as I look at the palm trees and dream and then I open the case and take out a fishing float.

Zen And The Art Of Angling

Image Above: The Chinese Garden, Liverpool Garden Festival

August has arrived and summer is on the ebb. This morning as I walked the avenue towards the park and the lake the sun had managed to pick out only the attic windows of the houses leaving the pavement below to the shadows of trees in leaf. At the lake with the new homemade rod rests I had finally organised I set up creating a little armchair for myself by the water. It was all a little too relaxing. A fellow angler took the adjoining peg and for a couple of hours we managed to coax some roach and skimmers from the still water. It was hard to leave but the mother of all bike rides awaited, a tour of the parks, the promenade and a visit to the garden festival with at least six children, one brother, a wife and a father. I found myself at another lake by lunchtime in the Chinese garden and my father reminded me that it was strictly no fishing which is such shame to see all that water and seating going to waste.