Tribute

I couldn’t write this blog without taking the opportunity to pay tribute to someone who would have taken immense pleasure in reading it, my late father-in-law John. I suspect he’d have rather heard about it – preferably over that nostalgic Birmingham delicacy ‘a pint of mild’. Even better if he could have been out on the bank with me. Those opportunities were too few, and I wish I’d taken more of them; to have shared a river bank, a beer, an anything really. John was one of those rare individuals whose huge smile and infectious full-throated laugh could light up a room. He’d an enthusiasm for just about anything, especially when it involved family.


John Dennis Bateman

 John would fish with traditional tactics and seemingly to me artisan gear, always targeting a mixed bag - usually whilst I blanked trying to catch barbel on a clear sunny day. He had a calming influence on the bank. I’m fiercely competitive, and even when pleasure fishing can get a little bit lost in an eagerness to catch. Conversely, John was utterly content just to be out fishing, a generational thing perhaps. We millennial's have grown up with commercials and angling publications largely intent on promoting bagging up with your next 100lb. I’m trying to learn that calmness from John even now, to enjoy being immersed in the romance and nostalgia of angling rather than just the catching. It’s in part why I’ve started this blog.
 

John with his Personal Best fish - a 13 lb carp

I’ve a lot to thank you for John, not least your beautiful daughter – whose Teme barbel p.b. eclipses even our own. You’d be proud as punch, and I can just see you telling the gents down at the Landrover all about it with that great big bloody smile.

I wish I could tell you all about the next barbel capture, instead I’ll raise a glass. Whiskey’s a bit more portable than mild, and it’ll be a special occasion – a toast to the best father-in-law I could have wished for. Tight lines.