Freshwater Fission - Going semi commando !

Well that was a rather memorable trip but not only for the fishing & was under the circumstances, grateful to have the place to myself. When filling the water tank on the motorhome discovered it had developed a leak so became preoccupied trying to fix it but to no avail so had to load up various containers of water.

When packing for a trip am invariably unorganised therefore pack three times as much as needed so as not to forget anything & most returns unused.

On this occasion I put a heap of washing in the machine to take away but on hanging it on the line found a paper tissue or suchlike must have been included as everything was covered in tiny white spots. Decided to take it as is so stuffed everything into a 20 ltr. pail along with a brush to brush everything down once I got there, wearing shorts, tee shirt & a pair of crocs.

On arrival late afternoon decided to get ready to go for a fish so went to grab some socks to wear under the waders & after a fruitless search for the bucket of clothes realised I must have left them at home by the garage roller doors where they had been put ready to pack!

What to do ? Was nowhere nearby to buy a few things, returning home was not an option so decided in the meantime might as well go fishing & worry about what to do later. The fishing was full on right from the start so fished until near dark & fortunately the weather was reasonably warm, also had plenty to eat & drink.

That evening enjoyed a lamb steak meal, freshly dug ( that morning ) new season potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus etc. followed by a dessert of fresh pineapple, new season strawberries & horopito coated cashews.

Slept soundly that night & after a satisfying breakfast set about trying to decide how to deal with the clothes dilemma even attempting a dry ( completely wrong description ) run to see if after showering, going commando under the waders was an option, until such time my entire wardrobe of freshly washed clothes were dry. Did not take long to realise that putting on damp waders without any clothes under, was far from a pleasurable experience, plus even going topless resulted in the wader buckles functioning as very effective nipple pinchers that were totally intolerable unless you happened to be a masochist & they could have been put to good use in a medieval torture chamber.

Necessity being the mother of invention in true Tom Hanks style in the movie "Castaway" set about improvising & for the benefit of anyone that should find themselves in a similar predicament can :-

Pillow slips can be fashioned into a passable pair of undies.

A decent size towel with a hole cut in the centre can provide a poncho of sorts or if a hooded rainproof model preferred then black rubbish sacks with the assistance of duct tape fits the bill nicely but never managed to make any substitute socks.

The downside of such innovation of course is that you risk looking like a cross between something from the "Wearable Arts" & "The Rocky Horror Show" but fortunately on this occasion there was nobody about to notice.

Anyway it served the purpose of being able to continue fishing & the fish certainly did not seem to mind as lost count of the number of fish both browns & rainbows landed, not to mention those lost.

Dinner that evening was a huge whitebait fritter that as delicious as it was, I struggled to finish.

Apart from the fact these had been self caught, there is no way I could afford to eat such a heap in one meal short of robbing a bank !

Oops ... forgot the asparagus.

This feisty little critter caused a mishap that could have ended in disaster when precariously standing in the water with marginal footing when I had it close it swam between my legs then took off again at full speed to the comfort of the depths causing the rod tip to bend at an angle I was fully expecting to hear that unmistakeable sickening sound of a rod shattering into several pieces. Remarkably enough anaged to get hold of the line in front then hand line ( which is strictly speaking illegal ) back to land in order to release it wondering what sort of fate it might have suffered had my favourite rod shattered.

Slept well again that night & the river continued to fish well the next morning ... so well in fact decided had caught enough fish so set off back home stopping on the way to give away a trout or two, also a bit later to cook a slab of Angus steak with all the trimmings in order kill time & allow the rush hour traffic subside.

All in all a very enjoyable & productive trip despite the downsides ... however re the setbacks that was an experience I would prefer not to repeat.