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Writer and Broadcaster |
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Black food dye and pork luncheon meat may not sound
like the most promising bait, but they’re angler Nick Rowe’s magic
ingredients in catching carp. We’re
sitting on the banks of a lake near Bideford in Nick is passionate about fishing – what angler isn’t
– but also describes himself as an ‘adrenaline junky’. In a former life he was a film and TV
stuntman, riding horses and crashing cars, but now, at the age of 56, things
are dramatically different. In the
last seven years he has become disabled by degenerative osteoarthritis, and
also has a crumbling spine, which means he now has to use a wheelchair. Nick is fortunate because his local water, where
we’re fishing, is fully accessible to disabled anglers. It has twenty six
platforms which are all suitable for wheelchair users. Crucially, he also has a wife, Rosie, who
loves fishing, and is happy to accompany him and carry the kit – as well as
doing her own angling. Not everyone in
his position has someone to do that though, and this is why Nick has set up a
new organisation he’s calling ‘Reels on Wheels’. He explains how it came about. “A friend of mine was telling me how,
although he can walk, he can no longer carry his gear to the bank any
more. I told him he needed a fishing
buddy. And then I wondered how many more people like that are out there?” This led to the setting up of a national fishing
buddy system, via a website Nick has created.
It puts able-bodied and disabled anglers together, and in the few
months it has been going over a two hundred people have registered, and one
hundred and fifty partnerships have been set up all over the country. None of this might have happened though, if Nick’s
initial reaction to his disability had been given free rein. “When I first
went into a wheelchair I went into a deep depression. I didn’t want to fish at all, even though
it had always been my passion, and my wife and a friend literally had to drag
me out of the house to get me to go.
Thank goodness they did though, because I realised my disability
needn’t stop me fishing – and now I want others to realise that too.” Nick has made connections with anglers – and
potential buddies - all over the country, as a result of Reels on
Wheels. But he says it’s not about
finding ‘carers’ for disabled fishermen. “We’re not asking able-bodied
anglers to make special trips. It’s
more a case of if you’re going fishing anyway, and there’s someone in your
area that needs a lift or a helping hand, maybe you can be of use.” It’s also, says volunteer buddy Ian Chick, 44, about
assisting now, in the hope that someone will be there for you in the future. Ian is mobile at the moment, but has a
spinal condition which means he’s likely to use a wheelchair eventually. He’s arranged to take two disabled
fishermen in his local area out on trips.
“I want to put the effort in now, because I hope to benefit later on,”
he says. There is a natural sense of camaraderie in the
fishing world, and Reels on Wheels has had a positive reception so far. It has been the talk of angling websites
for weeks; an internet auction has even started on the Angling Times forum,
in which people are selling tackle in aid of the organisation. The scheme has the backing of the British Disabled
Angling Association, and is in the process of applying to become an official
charity. Nick has converted a motor home
into what he’s nick-named his ‘Buddy Bus’, emblazoned with the Reels on
Wheels Logo. He’s travelling around
the country in it, visiting fisheries and raising awareness of the scheme,
and says his aim is to have a Reels on Wheels car in every county. There has
also been interest in setting a similar scheme up in the In the meantime though, there are fish to
catch. About twenty minutes after
casting, we are rewarded with a bite.
The tip of the rod bends, and there’s something feisty on the end of
the line. Nick plays the fish gently,
and after a few minutes, slightly breathless, he lands a handsome 5 pound
carp. That black luncheon meat was obviously just the job. |
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