Barbel Society Conference 2009

I've just returned home from the 2009 Barbel Society Conference at Hinckley Island Hotel, Hinckley, Leicestershire on Sunday 3rd May at the Hinckley Island Hotel, Hinckley, Leicestershire.

I thought entertainment from Hugh Miles with his excerpts from Catching the Impossible starring Martin Bowler was quite thrilling, sadly I arrived far too late for Bob Roberts who premiered his Barbel Days and Ways volume 2. I now have a copy which I will watch in the next couple of weeks. I also got an interesting interview with Bob for my At The Waters Edge programme on BBC Radio Lancashire along with other stalwarts such as Peter Wheat, Len Arbery and Gary Newman of Anglers Mail. Without doubt this young angler is setting the angling world alight with his catches not only the UK but from around the world. Gary is such a nice unassuming guy who is more than willing to pass on his knowledge to others.

In fact Gary was the last guest speaker of the day his subject being Mahseer fishing, which certainly got people talking and wanting more information. I gave a talk simply titled A Mixed Bag along with a demonstration of making cheese paste At the end of my talk I told the members present how I allowed servicemen also those servicemen who have returned injured to have free fishing on my water. Several members approached me after my talk, saying they would be approaching their angling clubs to get them to follow my example. I was followed by Len Arbery and Bob Buteux on Fishing in the Sixties. Pete Reading presented a report on the research and conservation work carried out over the past 12 months. I though 1-30p for a cup of tea was a bit steep then it was a 4 star hotel.

The stand that really caught my attention was Stuart Arnold's Kingpin www.kingpinreels.com His collection of quality centre pins was certainly mouth watering. It was nice to see many old friends and nice to chat with Tony Miles and Trevor West who are still out there catching big fish. As usual I got plenty of stick from my two apprentices Brendan Ince and Will Carter, All those involved in putting on the show deserve a pat on the back and a big thank you. If you didn't attend you missed a great day with fellow anglers.