ROUGH JUSTICE FOR ERRANT BANKSIDE YOUTH

Our sport is one that takes us out into nature. We sit there for hours, even days, waiting for that one big fish we know lives in the water. We have the joy and excitement of watching your float disappear and feeling the fish fight or the sound of your bite alarm screaming as you watch the line peel off your reel. I used to fish a local water in Stockport. I was sat near a father with his two sons. He was teaching them how to fish and handle the fish properly. It was a nice day. The sun was shining, I was catching so all was right with the world. One of the young lads caught a small roach and the Dad was about to remove the hook when his other son cried: "Dad I have got one!" The Dad replied: " I will be there in a minute so just wait until I have done this okay?" Children being children the young lad landed the small perch and decided not to wait. "Dad I can see the hook!" he called as he yanked the hook out of the perch's mouth. The father ran over to his son after seeing what he had done and what happened next had me rolling on the bank in laughter. He picked up his son by his shorts and T-shirt and launched him into the water, shouting "Never do anything like that again! If you can't unhook a fish yourself ask another fisherman who is nearby, they will help you." His son looked like a drowned rat when he came out of the water. The father apologised to me and asked if he had ruined my days fishing with his actions. I assured him that he hadn't and offered to help the next time I saw him at the ponds. Sadly, I never saw him or his lads back at that water again.