Page 53 - Studio International - May 1974

seven spinners is in a straight line one above You then lift the next part of the main line (Top left) Crummock Water. Rods in position
the other. hand over hand, coiling it on the seat or into the (Top centre) Tackle box. Home-made spinners of
The time has now come to light a cigarette, box, until you come to another ring. Place it fused silver, gold, brass and copper standing in the
niches of the rack
have a drink or look around the fells. The bells over the nail taking hold of the secondary line (Top right) J. M. W. Turner. Buttermere Lake with
may ring at any moment, but on the other hand very carefully. The fish may be on this line and Part of Cromack 1797. Oil on canvas, 35 x 47 in
you may be waiting for them to ring for several ready to fight. If there is no pull or weight of Coll: Tate Gallery, London
hours. The fishing now depends on the weather, the fish on the line bring it in quickly, but also (Bottom left) Two copper rings with vertical copper
wire and free-moving strut
the man on the oars, and whether the fish are very neatly, coiling it into the box or on to the (Bottom centre) Bell clipped to rod end
in the right mood. The oarsman must keep the seat. Set the spinners in the special niche in the (Bottom right) Lake Buttermere; Highstile,
lines at an angle of between 3o and 45 degrees box, or in a row on the seat, continue to do this Red Pike and Melbreak prominent
so that the boat is at the correct speed for char until you find a line with a fish on, play it
fishing. All he needs to do is to paddle; if the carefully and bring it towards the boat. Have perhaps catch an odd fish. Let the sun shine,
weather gets rough then he has to work quite someone ready with the net which is placed and there must almost certainly be char for
hard. under the water, draw the fish over the net, and supper. My strangest char day was when we had
Fish can sometimes be found all over the have it lifted at the right moment. Fish in my fished all morning in cloudy weather without
lake by keeping the boat on a straight course. experience are usually taken on the lower success. For two hours in the afternoon the sun
One of the few skills of char fishing however is spinners and so there is a fair amount of weight shone through gaps in the clouds and the bell
to find a shoal, pinpoint where it is on the lake, lifting to be done. Although most fish come rang twenty times in two hours. It looked as
and return again and again to the same place. from deep down in the lake there are times though 'a Windermere' was possible, and then
If two shoals are found about 40o yards apart when char can be caught by someone fly the sun hid behind a cloud.
then you make your way from one to the other. fishing for trout. It has been known for salmon or large trout
This distance is necessary because with two Fish can be caught on both lines at the same to take a spinner. If this happens one hopes
weights and two sets of seven spinners it is very time, even so each line must be dealt with in that only one spinner will be lost. There is a
easy for the lines to tangle together in a way to turn, or there will certainly be a tangle. story — perhaps apocryphal — of a salmon
bring dismay into the heart of most Instead of being twenty feet or more apart taking the bottom spinner, swimming to the
enthusiastic fishermen. If the lines twist there is only the width of the boat between them. surface, flinging itself out of the water, followed
together the weights are not able to do their I have had two fish on one line and three on the by the weight, doing a perfect arc.
work. On one memorable occasion the whole other at the same time, and the most I have Char is regarded as a delicacy. Records show
squalid mess of lines and spinners had to be caught in one day is eighteen. Some of the char that for two hundred years they have been
taken ashore in order to undo the tangle. This experts from Windermere catch as many as potted, or made into char pie and sent to
took two and a half hours, and it has never seventy in one day. London. To me there is only one way they
happened again. I hope it never will! As I am able to fish the Derwent, the finest should be eaten. Cleaned, sprinkled with pepper
As a fish strikes so the bell rings, and the salmon river in the British Isles, it is possible and salt, fried for two minutes on each side in
resting period is over. A quick look at the end to have the best of two worlds. On dark days butter. My memory is not as good as it should
of the rod confirms that a fish is still pulling fish for salmon, and when the sun shines fish be, I forget who first used these words about
on the line and so work starts. Taking hold of for char. Bright weather is needed so that light trout, but they fit a char perfectly: 'A char
the lazy line you draw the main line to the side is reflected on to the spinner deep down in the should swim three times in its life, in water, in
of the boat, letting the lazy line fall on the floor- water. butter, and in wine.'q
boards, and place the first ring over the nail. You can row all day when it is cloudy and GEOFFREY WHITE
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