A nightmare session amongst other stuff

I was due to visit my Brother who is fresh back from Afghanistan this weekend but even so i managed to sneak a fishing trip in first thing Saturday morning. The river Derwent and its Barbel were to be my targets and i arrived at first light to find the river looking good.
As i approached my first swim things started to go somewhat downhill for me . As i negotiated a nearby barbed wire fence i caught my sundridge trousers on it and ripped a 6 inch gash in them, nice. Nevertheless i had some fishing to do and i was soon setup with a big lump of meat in position down the margin to my left.
After a few minutes i had a typical bouncy Chub bite and connected with a nice fish. As i got the fish ready for netting it became caught around a sunken branch just under the surface about a rodlength out. Fortunately my net has a long pole and at a good stretch i was able to reach the fish. At this point things really went tits up!
My net pole decided to part at the spigot holding the two halves together and the business end dropped in the river and began to sink out of sight. I quickly grabbed my rod rest and attempted to hook it around the last visible part of the handle. All i succeeded in doing was pushing it further away and it disappeared so i put the rod rest down and concentrated on landing the fish. After some firm pulling, the braid saw the snag off leaving me to hand-land the Chub which looked a good 4. As i returned it i accidentally knocked my rod-rest into the river losing that aswell!
As i forlornly packed up what was left of my gear my mood was lifted as i noticed my lost net pole sticking up out of the water a few yards downstream at the bottom of a high bank . I walked down to it i was gutted to see that the only way of retrieving it meant having a paddle . I bit the bullet and was soon waist deep in Derwent but relieved to have got the net back. Obviously i wasnt hanging around after that lot so i skulked off home with my tail between my legs!

The highlight of my weekend wasnt actually fishing related for a change . An impromptu visit to RAF Waddington on remembrance Sunday courtesy of my brother allowed me to indulge in my nerdish fascination with military hardware . The Vulcan bomber they have there was of particular interest as i recently read a book about it and its famous role in the Falklands war . Its such a shame that a piece of British history like that is now nothing more than a rusting hulk tucked away in a quiet corner of the base hidden from the public and all-but forgotten about.