dog or drown?

FISHING MEMORIES

The River Incident

Although this little story is not really relevant to actually fishing, I thought it was worth telling to highlight the real danger that exists at times when we frequent fishing areas. It actually happened in the Autumn of 2013.

For you to be able to understand exactly what happened I need to fill you in about the layout of the rivers around Newton Abbot in the County of Devon. The rivers that run around the town are the Lemon and the Teign. Also there is a Culvert which carries any excess flood water away from the town centre shopping area.

 The town centre has flooded in the past and due to this the Culvert was built and because of this we have not had any bad flooding for many years. The Culvert and the River Lemon flow into the River Teign about half a mile from the town centre at what is called the Town Quay. I live just around the corner from the quay alongside the local brewery called Tuckers Maltings. The brewery provides the malt for many small brewery’s in Devon.

The rivers around town are all affected by the tide as we are less than five miles from the seaside town of Teignmouth as the crow or seagull flies.

The Town Quay is a deep water berth for all types including trawlers from as far away as Norway to land their fish and others to unload their many types of cargoes. The tide can bring up the depths of the river by up to six feet or more so where I live we have to keep an eye on levels at times of high tide and it often comes to within a couple of feet of flooding. We are not covered by the walls on each side of the culvert which protects the main town. Having set the scene I will get back to my main story.

The culvert is as I have said, banked by ten feet high walls in the main part of town. When we have exceptionally high tides coupled with heavy rain draining off the moorland the culvert can go from a few inches in depth, rising to almost eight feet. It can go from just a trickle to a raging torrent which flows so fast; you cannot run fast enough to match the current.

Just outside the ASDA Supermarket the culvert enters a tunnel which goes under the main part of town for several hundred yards and then it flows under a few road bridges, before joining the Lemon and Teign at the Town Quay.

The incident which happened relates to a man walking his dog just outside ASDA and next to the culvert. At that point there is a small slip entry to allow workmen to access the culvert to carry out any necessary repairs. It seems that the dog slipped its lead and jumped into the culvert. The dog was quickly swept away by the current.  Without thinking, the man jumped into the culvert in a bid to save his dog and was, himself swept away.

They were quickly dragged along with the current into the tunnel and under the town centre. The tunnel was absolutely full of water with hardly any air between the surface and the top of the tunnel.

No-one could get anywhere near the man while in the tunnel and it was impossible for anyone to run fast enough to get to the end of the tunnel before the man was swept out or not. By some sort of miracle, the dog survived and got out of the culvert. The man, however, was swept the half mile downstream by the current, until he came to a stop just upstream of the Town Quay. He was stopped by the bushes and branches growing on the side of the bank.

From what I have since learned, he was still alive at this point, but his body was all battered and bruised by the many obstacles he had encountered along the way. By the time his rescuers got to him he was unconscious and although they fought to keep him alive and used the Devon Air Ambulance Helicopter to get him to hospital, he subsequently died from his injuries.

Rivers can be a source of beauty and tranquillity at times. They can be enjoyed by everyone at those times. They can also be a high source of danger at other times, especially when tidal. I think back to the many times I have heard of dog owners jumping into water attempting to save their pets and subsequently dying themselves, while their dog manages to get out and save itself.

This was indeed one of those sad occasions.

Gordon Rowland

19^th March 2015

2nd postscript

SECOND POSTSCRIPT TO FISHING MEMORIES

I truly thought all good things came to an end for me in fishing terms but it seems that I was indeed wrong. Exactly a year after packing up my gear and almost taking the action of selling all my fishing equipment, the medical world did me a huge favour and discovered that my Fibro-myalgia, which has no cure, was indeed a form of the disease called Poly-myalgia.

The medics informed me after a series of blood tests that this was so and that they could keep it at bay with Steroids. They prescribed a product called Prednisolone.  They informed me that I would know within a month if the product did the job or not and so I agreed to give it a go. They also informed me that it had side effects which would have to be dealt with to enable me to go on functioning as normal.

The main problem was that steroids tend to soften the bones which support the joints and so I would have to ensure that I took a fairly high dose of Calcium in the form of tablets on a daily basis to help counteract the steroids. This was to be supported by a tablet of Alendronic Acid once a week.

They started me on a fairly high dosage of steroids and the idea was to arrest the chronic muscle and joint pain and subsequent wastage due to the low usage of these over time. The specialist was of the opinion that I should drop the dosages down slowly over a period of about nine months until I got to the point of taking just enough to keep the disease at bay. With a bit of luck the disease might burn itself out over time.

 Within three weeks I was indeed free from most of the pain and I considered it to be a bit of a miracle as I was able to sleep for the first time in many months. Over the following year 2014, I tried dropping the dosage lower and lower until I was on about a half of the original dose. I attempted to drop it a couple of milligrams more and then it started to come back again, so I had to go back up again to keep it at bay.

That is the dosage I am on at present and it seems to do the job for now. Although the muscles have built up again, they are only about two thirds of the strength they were before I fell foul to the disease. I am not sure whether I could play and land a big double carp but I feel sure that I can land smaller ones. I just don’t know whether or not I could fish the river holding a float rod for a long time or not. The only way for me to find out I suppose, is to give it a try.

With regard to the stroke I had a couple of years ago, I seems to me that I have recovered from it, but I have to take an Aspirin every day to ensure I do not get any more blood clots.

It is now March 2015 and I have renewed my fishing licence for the year, but I have not joined the local angling club in Newton Abbot as I don’t yet know what my capabilities are when it comes to getting my gear to the bank side. There is not much in the way of river fishing down here in Devon but there are a fair few lakes about. I miss having a fishing mate to share my time with. I really enjoyed fishing with my brother Gary and miss those times very much.

 I know that he is not too well himself these days. It feels that us old boys of the eighties and nineties are simply fading away one by one, so I just cannot give in and I am determined to get back onto the bank one way or another.

I know that I will never be the angler I was in the old days and that the world of angling has moved on these days to loads of lakes filled to the brim with ever hungry carp to massive weights. I cannot really handle long poles and I will have to rely on the good old fishing rod and reel to realise my dreams in the future.

 The wonderful rivers that we enjoyed as young and middle aged anglers have declined and seem to have gone forever except for a few fortunate places in the South. As I have said, I am determined to carry on and perhaps there are still a few more angling adventures in store for me yet. I hope that the first might be in this fishing season of 2015. Watch this space.

Gordon Rowland

18^th March 2015