Totally Awesome Fishing Day

This week, I had a visit from an old (not so old!) hero of mine, the 'awesome' Graeme Pullen and his son Mike.
They run a hugely successful and popular fishing channel 'the totally awesome fishing show' see http://www.totallyawesomefishing.com/ . They came up to Rutland to do a film on the early season bank fishing on big reservoirs.
After a bit of fun in the fishing cabin, talking about the flies, methods and locations, we headed out to (hopefully) catch some fish for the camera.
Lots of fish, thankfully from various spots around the lake, so the guys were chuffed. They are a super Father and Son team and very good at their job and it was an absolute pleasure to meet them.
They made it easy and relaxed, although I wasn't relaxed as I wanted them to catch one of the good grown on fish for which Rutland is famous.
I took them to a place which I knew didn't have many stockies and we saw a huge fish swirl out in the lake. Just about within castable distance, Mike, took my rod and with his newly improved casting style (he got a few tips throughout the day which helped enormously) and made a lovely long cast to the 'biggie' out in the lake.

The fish turned and it followed his fly right to his feet and as he was about the recast it snapped at the lure. It snapped at it but missed! Darn it, or words to that effect, it could have been the fish of the day, or the lifetime. Although these guys have caught more big fish than most of us have had hot dinners, Mike was devastated.... 'that's fishing bud'  A lost fish is always the biggest, the monster, the one that remains in the memory for ever.

I have a memory from my childhood. Fishing the River Dee at Eccleston Ferry, Chester near to where I grew up, I was fishing for pike with a little rudd bait I'd caught in a local farmer's pond the day before. I can see that big orange pike 'bung' to this day, sliding away into the bushes by a small eddy I was fishing. I struck, I hook it and I fought it, but the pike ran into the roots and the line snapped probably due to my inexperience at the time and I lost that fish. I was also devastated and in my mind, that pike was my monster. Thinking back now, it was probably about 14 pounds, but in my young mind, that fish was a world record breaker, massive and getting bigger the more I thought about it. But that day, that lost fish (if you can ever lose something that you didn't have anyway) changed my life. There's so much more to fishing than catching fish. And by losing that fish I became a life-long passionate, always wanting to return to catch the dream, the unattainable, the fish which is just out of reach. It's what keeps us fishing. If we caught every big fish and reached every goal, what's the point in carrying on?  Fishermen Mike and Graeme will have to come back, next time for a boat session but most importantly to try and catch that 'crocodile' that got away!
Thanks guys, see you soon.
And let's watch out for some Totally Awesome Rutland Fishing :)