Document 783
Dipper: 55 - The Angling Club Minutes
Author(s): John Reid
Copyright holder(s):
John Reid
Audio transcription
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The Angling Club minutes - unofficial.
The angling club committee meeting was over,
but the fire was still good and the bus to be caught by our outlying members was not due for half an hour,
so Hughie began to describe a recent experience.
'I had a permit for a nicht on the Bargairlie watter,' he began,
'an I went ower aboot a fortnicht ago wi a guid box o docken grubs,
for the keeper had tellt me ae day
that there were some grand seatroot rinnin.
I tuik twa or three brushers in my basket tae,
an that wis my mistake.'
'Brushers, Hughie?' queried the Purist.
'Aye, brushers,' Hughie replied
testily
'or screwtaps, if ye like.
Mind ye,' he added, 'I'm no in the habit o takkin drink whan I'm fishin,
but I believe in seein tae it that a keeper gets whit he likes.
'There wisna much daein that nicht tae begin wi,
an whan the keeper cam alang we got talkin, the crack wis guid,
an whan he left me the bottles were tume!
Things were still gey quate,
an no a fish movin,
an I had juist sat doun an lichtit a ceegarette whan a guid fish splashed in the daurk
ower by the faur bank.
'I drappit the grub a yaird or twa abune the rise an let it come doun tae him.
He tuik it quate an canny,
but whan I hit him
I sune kenned whit I wis intae.
Man, he went up oot o the watter like a shot fae a gun,
an frae the glint I got o him in the risin mune,
I'd say he wis five pun if he wis an unce!
Up an doun he went,
an back an forrit,
an I'll guarantee ye I wis sweitin by the time he wis tirin.
But I brocht him in at last,
drew the rod back ower my shouther
an pit the net intae the watter ready for him,
whan, withoot ony warnin,
the rod strauchened oot,
an he wis awa!
'I couldna believe it!
I kent he wis weel heukit,
and I felt to see if the heuk had broken.
There was nae heuk!
There wis nae cast!
I felt alang the rod,
an there wis nae line!
Then it dawned on me.
If my heid had been as clear as it should hae been,
I'd hae drappit the ceegarette whan that fish tuik me.
But I had it in my left haun aa the time I wis playin that seatroot,
an at the last meenit
it had burned through the line!'
Hughie joined in the laughter,
an Duncan smilingly remarked,
'That's juist about enough to make you sign the pledge, Hughie.'
'Na, na, Duncan,
hardly that,' was the reply,
'but man, I'm seriously thinkin o giein up the smokin.'
'You'd do much better to give up grub fishing,' said the Purist.
'What's wrong with the fly for seatrout?'
'I've tellt ye before,' replied Hughie,
with a long-suffering sigh,
'that I can, an will, fish the flee whan I think it's daein,
but it's only a haufwut that wad keep lashin awa wi the flee whan it's no daein.'
'But did you try the fly at all that night at Bargairlie?' persisted the Purist,
'or did you just begin with your poacher's method?'
'Speakin o poachin,' broke in Tam,
to forestall the development of one of our periodic good-humoured,
but lengthy Purist versus Hughie wrangles,
'did I ever tell ye aboot the nicht Badger Tamson went tae blaw the Bylie's Puil?'
Our negative replies gave him the signal to proceed.
'Ah weel,' he continued,
'the Badger's deid an awa,
sae there's nae herm in telling it nou.
He wis an uncle o Jock Tamson's,
an it wis Jock that tellt me aboot it, for he wis there.
He wis only a laddie at the time,
an Badger wid whiles tak him oot for a nicht at the rabbits.
He had a guid wee mongrel terrier
that could nip a rabbit in the breckens the natest ever ye saw,
an mony a dizzen Badger tuik wi the wee dug
aff the Marquis's grun.
'Badger wis a gran auld fisher tae,
an he could tie a cast o speeders that would kill troot onywhere.
'But the poachin bit wis aye there,
an this nicht I'm tellin ye aboot,
Badger kent there were twa or three guid saumon lyin in the bylie's.
He'd brocht twa sticks o gelignite frae Nummer Seeven Pit,
whaur he wis workin at the time,
an he an Jock got doun tae the watter juist afore the daurkenin.
They tuik a turn up an doun the watterside wi the wee dug,
tae mak shair there wis naebody else aboot,
but there wisna a sowl tae be seen, sae the Badger stertit gettin things ready.
He had the twa sticks in a wee tin,
an he sune fitted them up wi keps an strum.
He wis aye a canny yin, the Badger,
an he cut enough strum tae gie them aboot a meenit afore the shot wid gae aff.
Then he tellt Jock tae get awa up the bank an intae the field,
lichtit the strum,
threw the tin intae the deepest bit o the puil,
an followed Jock up the bank.
'Nou, juist hou it happened Badger never could tell.
It micht hae been that a floatin branch kept the tin frae sinkin,
or maybe Badger hadna wechtit the tin wi enough wee stanes.
Onywey,
whan he got intae the field an luikit back,
there wis enough licht for him tae see the wee dug comin up frae the watter
cairryin the tin in its mooth!
Badger roared at him tae drap it.
He drapped it on the gress,
shook the watter frae himsel,
then picked up the tin again an cam trottin up the field wi it!
'Badger saw there wis only ae thing for it.
He yelled at Jock tae rin,
an the pair o them tore across the field wi the wee dug trottin efter them.
Jock had a bit o a stert,
an he could rin like a hare,
but Badger reached the gate alangside him
an they had juist flung themsels ower it whan the shot gaed aff,
no faur ahint them!
There's nae sayin hou faur awa it must hae been heard,
but gie Badger his due,
he went back tae see whit had happened tae his dug.
Puir wee beast!
Aa he fund wis its collar,
an he tuik that hame wi him,
an buried it at the fuit o his gairden.
'An dae ye ken,'
concluded Tam,
frae that nicht till the day he de’ed,
he never blew anither puil.
An whit's mair,
he never kept anither dug.'
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Dipper: 55 - The Angling Club Minutes
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