TFF member bedside books

[Troydog]

Inspired by ‘BB’ reading his Fisherman’s Bedside Book last week, I have decided to create my own. You don’t need to have kept a fishing diary for forty years like me to do this.
First step is to simply recall all the great memories you have, then jot these down randomly as ‘one liners’ on your Smartphone notes page:

Next step is to arrange these in the order you prefer, chronologically, by species or whatever.
If you have kept a fishing diary you will be able to put more meat on the bones: my diary recorded date fished, peg (s) fished, time fished, bites, weather, water temperature, height of river whether rising or falling, baits used, method(s) used, fish caught, weights of best fish (if any).
Ive got about three thousand entries to go through, but obviously will only select the memorable ones for my Bedtime Book

[Paul F]

That is excellent Tim, will make very interesting reading

[Dave Burr]

I'd be very interested to read the details behind those great catches Tim. Keep at it mate, you aren't missing much at the moment but, I am assured that the temperature gauge will rise into double figures sometime in about May.

[JAA]

Start noting the details down as soon as. Memories fade and change, the earlier you record them, the more you'll have...by a stroke of luck I started noting old stuff in 2005 and if I hadn't, I reckon a lot of pre-2005 stuff would have faded significantly.

[Santiago]

This sort of reading would just be so over stimulating it would keep me up all night. What a terrible idea, I have trouble sleeping as it is! Best bedtime books are the likes of Winnie the Poo, etc, children's classics etc.

[Carl Hier]

Great stuff Tim. Titles such as “Three Stumps Roach” and places such as “Tinker’s Hole” surely can’t fail to grab an angler’s attention - you’ll have to share the book and it’s stories when the time is right..
I’m sure you’ll also very much enjoy the process of recalling the details of all those special days .
I wish I could have remembered all my school work as well as I can recall every detail of distant red-letter angling days .

[Catfish.017]

One big regret I have is not keeping my boyhood sketching/doodlings. From the age of ten onwards these were almost exclusively angling related. I remember drawing my first fish a half pound Eel several times. Sadly I never owned a proper sketch book, all these drawings were on odd scraps of paper and as such were lost/mislaid over time. Our elder Grandson went through a keen drawing phase and I urged him to keep his work safe for future enjoyment.

[Troydog]

Thank you all gentlemen. This project is a voyage of discovery for me. Born in 1950 I wrote the diary by hand until I was about sixty. Then my entries all went onto the computer for ten years. At seventy years of age I stopped writing and just kept photos on my phone. I was so active up to covid time. I would frequently prebait swims days before fishing; I’d often choose four swims, walk up river putting a handful of bait in each, then fish back down, concentrating on one or two swims into dusk or evening. I’d fish all weathers, all times for six, sometimes eight or ten hour sessions.
How things have changed! These days it’s just one swim at a time, maybe for a couple of hours, usually in the middle of the day. It’s not three rods anymore, just one, because I carry crampons, dog spike and rope.
I don’t mind being 75 years old next week, that’s why I’ll have about 250 entries in my Bedtime Book!!