My fishing lifeline
ARE you all right?” my friend called from the riverbank as I stood waist deep in water. I smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
“I was getting worried because I haven’t heard a peep out of you for three hours,” she said, leaving “and that’s a bloody miracle!” hanging in the air.
We’ve been pals for 36 years so she’s all too familiar with my wittering, waffling and worrying.
She’s also answered the cries for help – getting me hospitalised when I had a mental breakdown and supporting me through recovery, relapses and medication nightmares.
But she had never seen me quite so tranquil as the day I stood in the River Tweed casting flies for salmon. And that confirmed my belief that fishing really is the best therapy in the world.
Since taking it up seriously three years ago I’ve discovered that my buzzy-brain and big gob only switch off properly when I’m on the river.
Staring at the water and concentrating on my technique is mindfulness and exercise combined, and I always go home feeling happy and relaxed.
Folk who’ve never held a rod in their lives have also come to appreciate the gentle power of angling thanks to TV hit Gone Fishing.
Comic pals Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse travel across the country in search of different species chatting about their health issues and sharing poignant life stories.
As the river meanders through a perfect landscape 1.5 million viewers cast off their own worries and get caught up in the joy of friendship.
So it’s great to hear that doctors, psychiatrists and therapists are now starting to prescribe fishing on the NHS. A trial scheme in Greater Manchester has seen patients hooking up with experienced anglers from the Tackling Minds charity, who provide the tackle and companionship.
Founder David Lyons battled alcohol addiction, anxiety disorder and had four spells in detox but says “fishing has been 100% more effective than medications or therapy”.
Antidepressants and anxiety drugs are right for many patients and they have helped me, too.
But last year in England they were prescribed 78 million times to 7.3 million people and little research has been done into how, or if, they are helped to come off them.
In one episode of Gone Fishing, Bob and Paul went after salmon at Bermersyde, near Melrose, in the Scottish Borders. I watched it with my friend and her husband and we were so inspired that last October we took a trip to the same estate.
Wading in the Tweed I felt as happy and content as I can ever remember. So I truly hope these trial prescriptions will help patients tackle their depression. And the NHS can cast the net nationwide.