Month: <span>December 2022</span>

About a year ago my club lost one of its still waters when the landowner decided to sell. This upset the carp fishermen as it was our only specialized carp lake, all the other waters being mixed fisheries.

During the summer we lost another water as the carp had a disease probably brought in by some koi which were released there. The Environment Agency was involved and lots of decent size carp were found dead and removed. The upshot was that we lost that lake as well through no fault of our own. 

Things looked up with the acquisition of a large lake near to two of our existing waters and it was fished successfully through the summer. This week came the news that the landowner is not renewing the lease for it or the other two nearby lakes. This was a bit of a bombshell as it was unexpected, especially as the guys had arranged a work party a couple of weeks ago to clear swims, prune overgrown trees etc. They were not happy and the club’s Facebook page had some well-expressed views on the subject. 

The upshot is that the club has lost half its waters in the space of a year and there is no sign of any vacant still waters to replace them. I imagine that the AGM in a few week’s time will be lively! The trouble is that the overcrowded south east of the country has a demand for waters from syndicates who are prepared to pay more for the rights to fish. For the landowner it is a win win, more income and fewer people traipsing over his land. For angling clubs it is becoming a problem, they are being priced out of the market. Is this the thin edge of the wedge for them? Are we going to end up with having to fish commercials or join a syndicate? Only time will tell. One of the things that I liked about the club was that I had a good choice of places to go and as this has been restricted I thought that I would Google other fishing clubs in the county. I was not surprised to read on a club website that they too had lost a water, one which they had been fishing for fifty years! No doubt it will soon be on the market at a price local club’s can’t afford.

So, what do I do? A couple of the lakes we have just lost are within five minute’s drive of me and with easy access when you get there. I used to fish there more than anywhere else. Of the others, I like one of the waters but it is a drive away and a long walk when you get there, another one I have visited but not managed to catch, another is a specialist fish pit and I need to improve my angling before trying it, which leaves three mixed fisheries of various kinds and the rivers. Other local clubs have waters which are at least a half hour’s drive from me and so far in my re-born angling career I have been spoilt in having waters on my doorstep. I will have to have a think and see what I can come up with.

Today’s question is, “How do you write a fishing blog when you don’t go fishing?” The answer is, “With difficulty.” 2022 is turning out to be one of those years that you would rather forget and I haven’t got to the bank very often at all. I won’t bore you with the details, but health problems in the family have kept me otherwise occupied culminating with two funerals in five days! Not an experience I want to repeat

Anyway, I finally got the chance to go fishing this week, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining for a change and so it looked like a good day to be outside. I chose to go to a water that I have only been to once before and I only caught a small perch then so I thought that I would try and do better. Stuff at home kept me occupied in the morning so I didn’t arrive until about eleven. One of the good things about this venue is that you can park next to the lake as I am still not happy about lugging my gear any distance until I get my heart medication properly sorted out. However, before I got there along the farm track there was a puddle right across and I thought that it could only be a few inches deep but as I got into it I felt like one of those cars that you see on YouTube which misjudges the depth of a puddle and gets stuck. Fortunately my car is an SUV and therefore quite tall and we made it through but it did give me a fright!  The swim was completely covered in bird poo and so I had to go around the corner, not far. I had plenty of room on the bank to lay out my gear and so was able to set up without any problems. I soon had the carp rod in with a method feeder and boilie and decided to go with my feeder rod as this water is quite deep. Soon both rods were in the water and I was gazing expectantly at the quiver tip waiting for a bite. I waited and waited, only the regular refilling of the feeders giving me something to do.

Time passed, the sun went behind a tree, I got a bit chilly, more time passed. I have heard it said that fishing can be boring when you don’t catch anything and I would always prefer to catch something than not, but when I am not catching I am thinking about what to change in order to catch fish. There is that saying about doing the same thing and expecting different results and I think that definitely applies to fishing. So, time to make changes, the first thing I did was to change the area where I was casting the carp rod to in the hope of finding fish. Next was to put groundbait, maggots and pellets in closer to the bank in the hope of attracting some fish, then I moved my feeder rod there and sat back. Hopes raised I looked eagerly at my tip but there was no movement.

It was after one by now so I decided to use the most deadly tactic known to fishermen, and women of course, one that has never been known to fail, that of having lunch while your rods are in the water. Except that this time I was able to eat my lunch in peace without being bothered by fish! How I wished that I could have knocked my flask over and spill my tea in the excitement of getting a bite but it was not to be.

I have to admit that I was getting a bit bored by now, I continued to ring the changes, changing bait, casting to different areas and eventually, in desperation, setting my float rod up so that I had something different to look at! After a while my eyes started to wander and I began taking in my surroundings. All through the session I had been listening to ducks which were over the far side of the lake, there were quite a few and I did a rough count and came to seventy approximately. Although we have bird flu in the locality it does not seem to bothering these ducks or the swans sitting on the far bank. After a while the swans left the bank and swam over to the car park swim followed by the rest of the ducks. They all got out and disappeared from sight and peace descended on the water, no more quacking and splashing! Without them in the background I was able to hear other noises, the “tit, tit” of a robin, the alarm call of a blackbird, the sound of a Tyrannosaurus on heat or was it some farm machinery in the distance? The voices of dog walkers as they passed by. God only knows where they come from, I was sat in the middle of farm fields miles from the nearest village and yet there were dog walkers! No wonder it is always them that discover the dead bodies! 

I was contemplating the scenery when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a bird land in the top of a tree. Nothing unusual about that you might say and you would be right, except that this bird was quite large and white and had landed on the very top of the tree. The only bird I could think it to be was an egret but I have never seen one in a tree before! 

But I digress, back to the fishing, or at least I would if there was anything to report but I was still blanking. As if on some secret but silent signal the ducks came streaming back onto the lake and as the sun was now getting towards the horizon I decided to give it a few more minutes before packing up. A few minutes passed, I packed up and went home. As I walked back to the car I noticed the swans, actually geese, looking at me with curiosity. I made several trips to and fro with my gear and each time I left the car the geese approached it for a look and then backed off on my return!

What did I learn? Well, I already knew that you don’t always catch fish so that was a lesson reinforced. I had spent some hours in nature so was happy with that and not too grumpy when I got home. This seems to be a difficult water to fish and I am torn between wanting to go back and conquer it or giving it a miss and fishing somewhere else. When I got home I looked up where I had been fishing this time last year and it was mostly in the river so maybe I will give that a go. It may be some time though as the missus has been looking at paint colour charts and talking about decorating and I know who that means!