Eels for supper

 

This match was one we all looked forward to going on as the reports were that a large shoal of Bream had moved into the area. The journey to the river, The Forty Foot Drain, was very good and we arrived at 8am. It was immediately clear that whoever had reported that the Bream were there was very wrong, as hard as we tried the only fish being caught were Eels.

Now Eels were once classed as a delicacy and as I had sampled this delicacy at York races, I thought this could be my chance to cook some at home. At the end of the match, during the weigh-in, most of the Eels were dead and, at my request, the other anglers put their Eels in my plastic bag.

It had been a long, tiring day with very few fish being caught and most of the bus was very soon fast asleep. This is when the trouble started! Jack was the last person to be picked up earlier that morning and he had been at work the previous afternoon, so he was one of the first to fall asleep. The noise was unbearable; it was like a herd of elephants being followed by a raging bull snorting. Jack slept on, no one else could! As Jack snored his mouth kept opening and shutting in time with his breathing and the whole bus wanted Jack to be quiet but nobody had the heart to wake him up.

I was talking to Cliff Hodgetts, showing him the Eels and explaining how I was going to cook them when Bernard asked if he could borrow one and taking an Eel out of the bag he went over to where Jack was asleep. As Jack’s mouth continued to open and close to the rhythm of his snoring, Bernard held the Eel over Jack’s head, gently lowering it down towards the opening and closing mouth. This cheered things up on the bus until this happened. As Bernard lowered the Eel towards the open mouth, the Eel, unknown to us all, was still alive and began to wriggle. It fell out of Bernard’s grip and vanished down Jack’s throat. Jack woke up from his deep slumber gurgling and spluttering trying to spit out the object, he thought was part of a nightmare he was having, but it was too late, the Eel had gone.

No one told Jack what had happened but it stopped him from going back to sleep. It wasn’t until the following week at work that he was told what had actually happened and he spent the rest of the day trying to catch Bernard.

But that’s another story!