The Lesser Spotted Pointon

Had a walk up through Dovedale on Sunday to have a look what conditions were like...not too good as it turned out. The river was running pretty clear but well up and it was the wind that was causing the havoc on the LADFFA section of the lovely Dove.

As I walked back to the car park I noticed that an angler had sensibly sought a sheltered swim and was having some success with it too. As I neared the angler I was surprised to see that it was Stoke on Trent's very own 'vital spark'..none other than Glen Pointon..a rare sight indeed since summer last year. His identity was confirmed to me as I got a little closer and he glared at me in a broad potteries accent....."WWWwwoooddddyyyyy you ***t!".

Anyway, great to see Lord Rocher back in his natural environment...skiving as usual and pulling fish out left right and centre like he'd never been away from the river. Jammy git.

Woody

My Top 3 Festive Drams

I thought I'd post a wee note or two about my favourite whiskies that I was lucky enough to taste and imbibe over the festive period. These are 3 amazing whiskies each with their own individual characteristics. All are incredibly complex, all suite my palate perfectly, all were perfect for Xmas drinking, and 2 out of the 3 are incredibly rare.

Festive Whisky Number 1

Caol Ila Single Cask Bottling Feis Ile 2010
Islay Single Malt Whisky 
Filled to cask 19th August 1999 
Bottled 2010
Bottle Number 064 Cask Number 305646
61.9% abv

Nose:  Cinnamon, winter spice, honey marmalade, rich red fruit, raisins, sultanas, hint of bonfire smoke
Palate: Winter spice and marmalade right at the front of the tongue with an amazingly rich and oily mouthfeel
Finish: The red fruit and winter spice are huge with a fading waft of bonfire smoke

What a monster of a winter dram! This Caol Ila has been bottled from a single sherry cask and the overwhelming characteristics are of red fruit and sweetness rather than the usual, medicinal, peaty flavours of this Islay classic.What a Caol Ila to taste at Christmas. Bottled exclusively for the Islay Festival of Malt and Music 2010, I probably should have kept this beauty for another couple of years just to keep an eye on it's value as rarities like this can quickly sneak up to a price tag of £500 per bottle. I'm glad I opened it though and it is one that I shall enjoy sharing with friends over the next year or so....

Festive Whisky Number 2

Glen Grant Single Cask Bottling Feis 1987
Speyside Single Malt Whisky 
Distilled December 1987
Bottled March 2010
Bottle Number 104/272 Cask Number 44648
57% abv 

Nose: Olorosso sherry, raisins, vanilla, parkin, bled radiators.
Palate: Huge hit of Xmas cake and parkin then classic Spanish oak vanilla.
Finish: Very long, deeply rich finish, perfect accompaniment to rich festive deserts.

This was a gift from Leonie for Xmas and is just a classic, does what it says on the tin, sherry cask matured Speysider. If you don't like this, you don't like whisky. The type of sweet sherry monster that took us on trips to Speyside again and again to look for the odd special bottling forgotten about in a dark corner of a whisky shop or bar. Cigar anyone?

Festive Whisky Number 3

Benriach 'Importanticus Fumosus' Tawny Port Finish
Peated Speyside Single Malt Whisky 
Aged 12 years
46% abv 

Nose: Strawberry jam, cranberry, peated barley, a hint of peat reek
Palate: Strawberries, raspberries, giving way to increasing peat smoke, tar, and jeyes fluid
Finish: Drying, the peat smoke quickly takes over from the red fruits.

I'm a great fan of what the Benriach Distillery Company is doing with it's range of Speyside whiskies from both it's Benriach and Glendronach distilleries, the latter having been acquired by the company in the last two years or so. Although it does produce non-peated whiskies, of late, Benriach has become more renowned for it's peaty spirit. The company has also dabbled in 'finishing' some of it's peaty whiskies in particular in different pre-used casks. On the whole I'm not a great fan of these finishes, particularly when the spirit has been decanted into ex wine casks as I think that the whisky can become overpowered by the previous occupant of the casks very quickly. Benriach, however, always seem to manage to get the balance right where the second cask has added an interesting subtle twist of flavour to the whisky without detracting from the intended distillery character. In this case, the peat is predominant with an extra dimension of red fruit that hasn't overpowered the whisky. It makes a good introduction for those who haven't dabbled into the world of peaty whiskies, it being not too much of a monster. For those already used to a little waft of smoke, the addition of the fruity factor does make this a little too easy to drink! Unlike the previous two whiskies, this is not a limited edition bottling and you should be able to find this at any decent whisky shop, especially those found in Russell Street in Leek......

Slainte

David

My Last Trip on the Wye until April......

I had quite a pleasant surprise yesterday on speaking with Mr Pointon. I had been under the impression that fishing on the Haddon Estate Wye for Grayling finished on the 1st of January when in fact the last day is the 6th so I managed to sneak in an extra morning's fishing. I checked the weather and all looked quite well for this time of year. I was up bright and early only to find that it had been snowing so wondered whether my extra trip would go ahead after all. Nonetheless I packed up the car filled one jeans pocket with pork pies the other with Quality Street, and made my way up the Buxton Road. All was not well as I drove over the tops, the road was covered in snow and I was sliding everywhere. I'd texted Jan the keeper early in the morning to see if it had snowed over Bakewell way and he'd replied that it hadn't, so I plodded on hoping that the weather hadn't changed.

As I got closer to Bakewell the weather improved vastly and as I parked up near to Caudwell's Mill I noticed that the air temperature was a good couple of degrees warmer than at home in Leek too. I got tackled up and made sure I'd got a few extra layers of clothes on. I hadn't fished since the beginning of December probably the longest I've gone without fishing in the last three years so I was hoping that a dip in confidence wouldn't affect things too much.

The going was tough. I visited all my dead cert spots and for a good couple of hours I didn't have a bite. What made it worse was that on bumping into Jan on the river bank he assured me that the river was fishing it's head off just a couple of days ago.....

I eventually managed a few small grayling but thought it might be time to head back up towards town, near to the pumping station to try some faster, shallower waters. I was soon into one or two fish, the best of which being the one in the pic above that came to a tiny pink shrimp on my top dropper...a beauty...

Farewell wonderful Wye....I look forward to fishing for the troots with the dry later on in the spring...

Slainte

David

Looking Forward to Angling in 2011

At last it's the new year is here. The busy Christmas period means that this angler gets out on the river less than any other time of year but as soon as the festive period is out of the way, I look forward to where I'll be fishing and which pals will join me on the way. Tomorrow I'm hoping to embark on my first day's fishing in 2011, I'm hoping to pop over to the Wye for a couple of hours in search of some silvery ladies. I'm looking forward to fishing a wide variety of waters this coming season. I'll retain my Leek and Moorlands ticket so that I can fish the upper section at Eaton Dovedale and the Derby Railway ticket so that I can fish the lower section at Eaton Dovedale plus the excellent stretch of the Dove at Ellastone.

This year I'm looking forward to fishing the Wye quite regularly along with many of the lads I've fished with previously on the Leek and District ticket at Dovedale and on the Churnet in Alton. I've renewed with Leek and District too, I was reluctant to waste my joining fee and the proximity of the waters to where I live make the ideal short fishing outing....Pointon, Squire and I acquired the tag of 'pop along possy' a couple of seasons ago because of how easy we could get to our waters.

I'm hoping to take a few more anglers up to the Isle of Islay this year. I'm fully booked for the week of the Islay Festival of Malt and Music 12 of us are travelling to the magical isle to once again stay in Finlaggan House and to fish all the nearby lochs specifically Loch Gorm, Loch Ballygrant, Loch Inver on Jura and Loch Finlaggan itself. I'm hoping to arrange a trip in the early part of the season too so if you are interested in joining me on an angling adventure to the western isles with a few drams thrown in please get in touch ASAP.

Happy New Year to all....

Slainte

Woody

Pottermouth's Battle Cry (for Stoke City) - BBC Radio Stoke

Glen Pointon Dry fly Techniques: Part 1

On a lighter note...here's Pointon....




Woody

French Market Chaos In Leek

Sorry about this but...

In the current economic climate, you'd think that it would be the responsibility of local councils and of local organisations such as chambers of trade to think incredibly seriously about how its actions affect local trade. Over the past couple of years events within our town centre have seemed to be a popular route that the chamber of trade in particular seem to have chosen in a bid to improve the town's trade. Their thinking is that if you bring thousands of extra people into the town, they will automatically spend money in it. Put a funfair in the market place and families will pour into the local shops and spend extra dosh...have a living nativity in the town, and after singing a song or two, the choir will quickly make its way through every establishment in town, spending as it goes. Even better still, close the whole town off, bring traffic to a standstill, make parking almost impossible, bring a few stalls in under the banner of 'French Market', shut our streets and hey presto...all the happy shoppers that visit it will be the making of Leek's Christmas 2010, oh and don't forget to be grateful shop keepers, we've brought the extra footfall in, it's your responsibility to get them spending.

And so, we've just witnessed our worst Friday's trade ever since we took over The Wine Shop in Leek in 2002. Russell Street is closed to traffic because traders in Sheep Market and Stanley Street wanted the market...NIMBY but in busy thoroughfare Derby Street...necessitating the closure of Russell Street... are there are no important traders down there....?

This was Russell Street just after 12 noon today. Usually cars would line the street. People stopping for 15 minutes to run to the bank, or go to the butchers, stopping for a quick lunch or to visit our independent shops. Russell Street is about the only place the shopper can do this in the town centre. Close Russell Street and we lose our trade..no one is able to carry a case of wine through the streets of Leek to their far away car. This event is over 3 days so a closed street is what we are having to put up with on Friday 19th Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st November.

I thought I'd better have a look at the market and hoped that, given our sacrifice of trade in this incredibly tough time in retail, that at least there would be a bustle of many people in town.....it was empty and we're seriously p@ssed off about the fact that we should be grateful for the council's, and the chamber of trade's efforts to show us how business is done and improved....just leave us alone and let us do what we know how to do...let our customers get to our shops and leave us to get on with doing our business and endeavouring to survive. Christmas is the most important time for many retailers, it is when we take most of our yearly turnover. Start taking 3 days out of our Christmas trade and we're talking about the loss of thousands of pounds in turnover.

After making various enquiries, I've discovered that these stall traders, as well as obviously not paying rates, are not even required to pay rent for their pitch.

What concerns me is that most of the people who have endorsed the coming of the French market, are also the ones making terrified protests about Sainsburys building an edge of town complex that will be bringing many jobs, housing and let's face it, a much more enjoyable shopping experience than any of the supermarkets than Leek already has. Is it acceptable for a small market like this to choke our town in such an important trading period, and for the money that it does manage to take to be taken out of  Leek, and further afield as far as France?

I agree with the council and the Chamber of Trade that these events do bring lots of extra people into town, but......if I'm visiting Leek to attend a Leek 800 charter event, a living nativity, a french market, a St Georges Day celebration, a Club Day, all of which involve the mandatory closure of Russell Street, then I'm visiting Leek to visit that event, why should or why would I shop in the local establishments...I can do that any time. Why not hold these events at Brough Park or California car park so that they are a success in themselves and local traders benefit because our customers are able to get to us?

The most important point of all that I would like to make in this rare Angling and Dramming rant is this....this isn't a game, we're not sitting outside the front of our house selling rose petal perfume or knackered toys, we're trying to run our businesses in the way we know how to....we do know how to run our business.....don't ask traders to be grateful for any of the work you do for the town because if events continue in this vein you will kill Leek town centre...it's not Sainsburys we should be scared of...many more occasions of closed streets in Leek will mean closed shops...for good.

Windy, Wet yet Wonderful Wiver Wye with JC

I get to meet up a couple of times a year with Johnny Colemans, usually, I tend to get called away from the fishing session early, or it's raining cats and dogs...the latter was the order of the day last Tuesday, along with a good gust of wind too....not nearly enough bad weather to put these two eager anglers off so it was an early meet up at the car park and on to the river by 10am.

I hadn't fished this stretch for a couple of weeks and it is amazing how long it can take to get your eye back in after being away for a wee whiley. I was getting dozens of takes....pretty furious ones too...but struggled to hook in to many of these angry Grayling. I reckon I managed to land a fish for every 6 takes I missed.

It was good to catch up with Johnny..he clearly needed a fix of the river after such a busy time at work with new jobs and at home with new children. He said he'd be happy just to be near the river to chill out a little. I knew that was code for he'd like to land a few ladies though....

We moved around a few favourite swims and had a good few fish between us, nothing huge but fantastic sport just the same....

Cheers for a great day JC....

Woody