Joined: 23 Aug 2007 Posts: 7404 Location: In The Loft
Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 8:23 pm Post subject:
Thornton Social 2010
I thought I'd post some pictures.
Unfortunately the quality is rather shabby this year as a lot of my pictures were taken on an iPhone which, as everybody knows, has a crap camera. Other excuses include it being dark and me being drunk as usual.
I arrived late on Thursday afternoon still dressed in work clobber (suit and tie) to be met by Tony who was predictably there first and chatting to Ifor. I went to change into something more appropriate for the occasion and on my return saw that Jay had arrived with several litres of my nemesis, Black Rat. They gave me a hand to assemble my bivvy.
Here it is, my home from home with the frontage completely retracted to assist in the removal of smoked trout fumes later during the weekend. It also shows the groundsheet to good advantage, the same groundsheet that I inadvertantly kicked my keys under, causing a blind panic for almost an hour as I attempted to find them again :
And continuing the tent theme......
Accomodation varied from the sublime......Spider's portable mansion (as he states earlier, with complimentary nob mag)......
......to the ridiculous, to whit, what appears to be a bit of tatty old green rag thrown over some wire with downright dangerous, difficult to see, shoe-lace thin guy ropes. Let's see if we can all guess who the occupant was eh? I'll give you some pointers.....porridge, haggis and Chelsea.
Our tent city from the drinking area:
Now, another quiz.
The well known angler in this grainy picture is being disguised by the cunning use of some of my pike fly tying materials. Let's see if we can all guess who it is eh? I'll give you some pointers.....Chelsea, blobs, oh, and haggis.
How about a bit of fishing now?
I arrived with the intention of tubing all three days and more or less did except with my Saturday afternoon in a boat with Montanajoe. This is the first time I've ever shared a boat with him and he reproduced the performance he gave earlier in the year at Battle Trout showing everybody else how to do it! It was a real eye opener and that guy deserves total respect for his ability to spot a rising fish, even in a wave!
As I said, I'd intended to tube and so I did. Here's a line up of tubes:
Starsky's brand new Steve Parton jobbie featuring more straps and attachments than a good quality gimp-suit:
Waterwhipper's bright orange fish frightener - do something about the personalised plate on it though Gaz, nobody likes a show-off:
The Thornton Loan Tube - as used by The Cowboy and Flybysage:
And my two:
Yes, that's right, I now have two tubes. I arrived with my Fish Cat, the blue one on the right but aquired the White River one from a fellow forumite who could only manage 20 minutes afloat in it before calling for assistance from a boat to get back to the jetty. Let's see if we can all guess who it was eh? I'll give you some pointers.....Di7 Sweeps, Chelsea and haggis.
The smaller tube isn't as stable or as easy to handle as the Fish Cat but it does have the advantage of packing away really small. I'm thinking of taking it to Menorca next time for the mullet!
Here's Nigel in the Thornton Special with what I assume to be his first Tube caught trout:
I got a few pictures of boatmen. The first two are of Mick and Roy with the latter well into a bow:
And this rather dramatic shot of Paul horsing in yet another fish on his delicate tackle:
I've often wondered just how bad a picture I could possibly take of one of my own captures but I think this must come really close to being the winner. Hardly any of the Streamflex in the picture (bottom left) and a big splash where the fish is supposed to be just right of centre.....
I didn't do too bad this year, into double figures of fish for the duration, most of them caught on a floater with a gold head nymph the first day and a sinker with a white boobie the second.
Films
Well, one of them anyway. For posterity, here's the maiden voyage of Mick The Cowboy:
The BBQ area. This year, the oil drum was at low level to try and prevent a repeat of last year's near catastrophe when the wooden stand caught fire:
With Hans being unable to attend, there was also no repeat of last year's shower of sparks and ash that enveloped us all when he used his fire extinguisher whilst under the influence of whiskey!
And here's one of Mark and Mick being well fitted up for something...............
I had a right laugh (drunk again but still not smoking!! ) and it was great that everybody made the effort to attend despite the relatively short notice. It was good to meet up with some of the old faces and see a few new ones too.
It's already been mentioned but I'd like to add my thanks to all the people who helped out sorting the food, particularly Paul who managed to work miracles for £6 a head per night. Also, Ifor for allowing it all in the first place. Top geezer! Jay......best wishes. Hope she gets better soon.
Finally, I'd like to extend a special thanks to one particular person returning to CFF active service who, over the years I've known him, has never failed to bring a smile to my face. Let's see if we can all guess who that person is shall we? I'll give you some pointers.....oversleeping, onions in cider and, oh never mind here he is.........and if you wear headphones and turn the volume up really loudly, you can just about make it out.
Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 2667 Location: Mid Wales
Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 9:53 pm Post subject:
I didn't take that many photos despite having the camera with me on the boat was too busy trying to concentrate on not putting the Di7 in my or my boat partners head
A few I did take...
Roy into action:
Flybysage showing a competition angler how it's really done:
FFC into a fish:
Whistlekiller proudly showing off his collection of porn clips.
The obligatory group shot:
From left to right:
Zimfisherboy, TheCowboy, Grenadier (bj), Flybysage, Paul, Some drunk geezer, PitsfordPirate, Starsky, RogB, Beardy, WaterWhipper
Last edited by Paul on Sun Jul 30, 2017 9:48 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 23 Aug 2007 Posts: 7404 Location: In The Loft
Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 10:09 pm Post subject:
Paul wrote:
Some drunk geezer
I knew this was coming. **** me, what a slob . And let that be a lesson to you all..............I saw this on the camera at the time and thought "Jesus, that's gonna look bad" and to be brutally honest, getting caught with several litres of Black Rat in a container on camera is controversial, but seeing it on here brings it all home with a thud and makes me realise that given the same circumstances and opportunity I'd probably do it again regardless.
Joined: 09 Apr 2006 Posts: 1389 Location: Deep underground
Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:03 pm Post subject:
Chris,
That hat has been around for a few years now. As the seasons pass and I lose even more hair you will be seeing more of it no doubt.
It's not my picture you need to worry about but WK's, he looks like he is practising for the annual Gurning competion. I think it's an effect of drinking that cider. They all look like that in the West Country
Joined: 23 Aug 2007 Posts: 7404 Location: In The Loft
Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:21 pm Post subject:
I distinctly remember somebody shouting "everybody say "****er" as the auto-shutter counted down to this picture. What you can see here Mark is me attempting to mouth the initial "W" of that word ready for the big kick-off. Quite obviously, by that time I was fit only for the knackers yard. I must congratulate you on your hat. As an owner of several ridiculous titfers myself I appreciate your attention to detail.
Joined: 10 Apr 2008 Posts: 2371 Location: Staines upon Thames
Posted: Thu Sep 23, 2010 9:44 pm Post subject:
Whistlekiller wrote:
I distinctly remember somebody shouting "everybody say "****er" as the auto-shutter counted down to this picture. What you can see here Mark is me attempting to mouth the initial "W" of that word ready for the big kick-off. Quite obviously, by that time I was fit only for the knackers yard. I must congratulate you on your hat. As an owner of several ridiculous titfers myself I appreciate your attention to detail.
Joined: 14 Feb 2009 Posts: 437 Location: south birmingham
Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 8:07 pm Post subject:
well, for my first social i was fairly impressed, a good bunch of people and some good nightly activities around the barbee, unfortunately i didn't have a drink but i am saving myself for the next one, thanks to paul for reintroducing me to booby & blob fishing on a Di7, sorry paul, only caught you twice with my line ,must get a bigger battery for towing as i didn'y realise it was a requirement of social boat fishing it was nice not to have the pressure of having to travel home aftera good days slog, and actually catching on a Minky was a shock, infact i have picked up a few dirty habbits from those there over the 3days. cheers all and i hope to go to elinor next, cost me a lap top for this one with the wife, god knows what it's gonna cost me for the next one . bob _________________ when i was a course fisherman i had bag weights to remember, now i am a trout fisherman i have bag weights i can take home!!!
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Referral Center
Calendar
Register
Profile
Log in
Chat 
Fisheries
:
it was nice not to have the pressure of having to travel home aftera good days slog, and actually catching on a Minky was a shock, infact i have picked up a few dirty habbits from those there over the 3days. cheers all and i hope to go to elinor next, cost me a lap top for this one with the wife, god knows what it's gonna cost me for the next one