Grey brigade find their perfect old folks’ home

Mar 18 2008 by Moc Morgan, Western Mail

RECENTLY I was invited to join in the celebrations as Mountain Ash Angling Club reached its 50th birthday. What a milestone for an angling club – and what a wonderful occasion it turned out to be!

Mountain Ash is a bustling club and it was so good to see the older and younger generation celebrating in perfect harmony. With so many youngsters present, one’s hopes are high that they will be around organising the clubs’ centenary celebrations in 2058!

I was delighted to meet up again with one of the older members of the club – Glyn Jenkins – originally from Llangeitho in Ceredigion. Glyn was the club’s first secretary when it was set up in 1958. I knew Glyn well as in the early ’50s he and I had fished a lot together on the river Teifi at Pont Llanio near Tregaron. We were both keen dry-fly fishers and caught fish galore in those days of plenty.

Glyn is now in his mid-80s and he still enjoys fishing. His fishing hours now however are spent predominantly on small fisheries. How often have I maintained that fishing is a hobby for life – and when it comes to counting up the years, Old Father Time does not count the hours we anglers spend fishing!

Much is written today about providing fishing opportunities for youngsters. There is definitely a need for this – but it is equally important to provide fishing opportunities for the grey brigade.

I recall a colleague of mine, who had always enjoyed country sports, being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He was a popular member of the local shoot but realised he had to accept his condition when he could no longer handle a gun safely. He accidentally dropped a loaded shotgun just in front of us and, sad as it was, that heralded the end of his shooting days. However, he was still able to go fishing – a pastime he had always enjoyed and as his condition worsened he maintained that his quality of life depended entirely on his ability to go out to the poolside to fish. He lived for his weekly fishing trips to a local small fishery and felt that without them his life would not be worth living.

The small two-to-four acre fisheries that mushroomed in the countryside some 30 years ago are ideal locations for the elderly, as well as for young and disabled anglers. They are not too demanding on physical effort and the pools are always well stocked. Many of our rivers, these days, are often subjected to problems with pollution, abstraction, raging floods, drought and other disturbances that make fishing them extremely demanding both physically and mentally. This does not happen on small fisheries as they are full of fish and even the grey brigade can give the effort that is required to succeed.

The fisheries are usually situated in quiet, secluded places and the scenery is always appealing. Many have shrubs, trees and grasses that enhance the entire aquatic environment. Most have developed into environmental gems and nature seems to be attracted them. In this busy world of ours these are places that could give everyone the opportunity to escape from the hustle and bustle around us and take some time-out in order to appreciate all nature has to offer.

As most of the smaller fisheries usually draw customers from their own locality, they can be likened to family settings as the same fishers tend to visit them regularly. But having said that – should a stranger or two come along, you can guarantee that within minutes the regulars will have started chatting to them and when they depart some five to six hours later they have become firm angling friends for life. Friendship and companionship are important in all stages of life but even more so as the years roll by.

Another wonderful thing about small fisheries is that they offer interesting fishing and as the fish are stocked fish, there is no danger of feeling guilty about harming precious, depleting fish-stocks.

It can be difficult for non fishers to appreciate how even one fishing trip can spawn such a lot of follow-up activity which can be time consuming – but is vitally important. Each fishing trip is different and on his return from any trip the good, keen angler has to dress a few more flies, attend to the tackle – and clean the fish.

Yes there is far more to fishing than catching fish! It is an all-absorbing hobby and the spin-offs are really wonderful.

Some small fisheries hold friendly competitions on their waters that add to the fun. They can also add to the wellbeing of the older angler. What can be a better morale booster than to compete in an angling competition with someone half your age. Fish are no respecters of age!

There is no other hobby that has such brotherhood!