Assoc. of Barbel Fishers - Meet the Experts - 30th May

http://www.barbelfishers.com/meet-the-experts/
This is down in Basingstoke, Wednesday 30th May, 7:00pm
Our chairman is giving a brief talk about the TAC alongside some top speakers:

• Len Arbery: All round angling legend
  
• Ray Walton: Unrivaled rolling meat supremo and keen conservation campaigner
  
• Keith Speer: King of the stick and pin
  

I'm a member of the ABF so I suppose I'd better go.

Got my ticket for this so will see anyone who's going there on the night, who's the TAC representative by the way?

Our chairman Dave Harvey is getting really good at these, he should be able to start charging soon.
I believe Tony Blair is reputed to make £2000/minute as a speaker, something to aim for there, would boost TAC funds no end

Just bought my ticket so see you there.

Looking forward to seeing Dave and a few of you there. I appreciate the support and hope that it gives the TAC a little more (albeit limited) exposure. Don't forget that the Action for the River Kennet will also be there. I'm hoping it will be a very enjoyable and informative evening.

Cheers Nathan, thanks for inviting us along, looking forward to it

If your going tomorrow, look forward to meeting up

See you there.

As will I

Just returned from talk , entertaining evening , mind you the some what tight dress the barmaid was wearing was also quite a draw - caused one or two to cough in their cider , nothing wrong with your eye sight dc

Ha ha yes was very distracting, was that why it took so long to get a drink

Very enjoyable night and great to meet you Simon and good see you Neil/ Rob.

I was delighted with the way the evening panned out. The venue suited our needs but it's a shame the bar was not in a separate room to the talk.

My thanks go to Paul Whiteing for all of his assistance and encouragement, to Geoff for his brilliant job as MC and to Kevin for being the Admin along with Paul and for his overall help. My thanks also go to Conrad for making the effort to come down and say a few words, despite numerous hurdles and I do hope you are feeling better mate.

Thanks to all those that attended. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. A very big thank you to our guests:

Charlotte from the ARK gave us a superb presentation. I will be getting back in touch with Charlotte to see what we as individuals and the Kennet angling clubs can do to help. She mentioned that they need feedback from us anglers on the state of the river lower down, so I'll be getting some more info to publish on that.

Dave from the TAC, once again provided a brilliant, professional and passionate presentation. I'll also get a little more info from Dave so we can publish on not just our ABF forum but on the other forums that allowed us to publicize and promote this event. (Many thanks to the TAC for your great support)

Len Arbery who I consider to be an angling legend. I found myself hanging on his every word and enjoyed his company and sharing stories from his angling photo album. To hear about his own successes and about the anglers that he not only fished with but learned from, was amazing. What an absolute gentleman. Len is the Tom Jones of angling. He's not a wannabe legend, he's the real deal.

Ray Walton. What a great guy. He’s very passionate, not only about fishing but conservation too. Great to hear him and again share an insight into what makes him tick. The guy is a phenomenal angler and is not frightened to speak out about controversial conservation issues and to hell with the consequences. It’s very refreshing in this day and age.

Keith Speer. Keith is a great speaker, with some wonderful tales to tell. Keith is such a good angler, just brilliant at what he does. Keith's knowledge and passion for angling and the river environment is second to none.



So a tremendous line up of 'experts' but more importantly genuinely nice people that were happy to spare their time and share their incredible passion for what they do.

Sorry a few of you couldn't make it due to travel difficulties. Let's hope next time things are a little easier.



Thank you.

Ray Walton a absolute legend,looks a bit like Willy Nelson in the photo,can you get him to sing
'Always on my Mind'

A very enjoyable evening. I didn't realise how small Ray W was so short.

ere , thats a bit shortist ! mind you how big does that make his captures

Rays talk about the mystery of rolling meat was fascinating, and his use of braid against mono. Do you remember what the hooks were he was talking about?

I think it was the Drennan Black something or other but I googled DB and got nothing. Maybe he meant that are Drennan hooks and black in colour? He said it was a lighter wire that the specialist hook and therefore he could straighten it if he hooked a snag.

Thoroughly enjoyed the panel Q and A, some interesting stuff discussed. Keith`s thoughts on big fish trotting were thought provoking and more than a little motivating to break out the Drennan tench float rod again this year.

Dave`s Thames talk was inspirational in as much as it highlighted the amount of work that goes into trying to protect our great river from all the influences that seek to return it to the dark days.

Even more inspirational though was, as Mr Garrard quite rightly pointed out the silhouette of the barmaid lacey draws through her very tight summer dress. I have to go lie down now!!

Mic

Ray`s not short, we`re all very tall actually.

Mic

Guys not often I am lost for words.

I heard from Nathan of the ABF to say that they are kindly donating some of the proceeds from the night to the TAC and ARK. It is incredibly generous and never happened before.

Great bunch guys, thanks to them all

Link to the ABF is here http://www.barbelfishers.com/