Month: <span>February 2024</span>

The weather forecast looked the same for this week as for last, one bright day followed by clouds and rain and as I don’t like getting wet I decided to go fishing today. I couldn’t go back to the river as it is seriously in flood so it would have to be one of the club’s still waters and I decided on one which I haven’t fished for a while but where I have always caught something. The only problem with it is that it is about a five hundred yard walk from the car to the swim I like to use in the end lake in a series of three. It had been a clear and chilly night so I wasn’t in any hurry as I wanted to let it warm up a bit. This allowed me to make a quick trip to the tackle shop for maggots and a visit to Tesco to fill up the car, not that I had far to go.

Back home and thinking about what gear to take, in the end I decided on everything as I didn’t know what conditions would be like at the lake. On arrival I quickly saw, wet and wetter! I loaded everything on the barrow and splashed my way across the field to the swim. I must be getting old as I had to take frequent stops to catch my breath. Either that or the muddy ground was making it extra hard work pushing the barrow! When I got to the swim I could see just how high the water was, usually there is a beach which slopes gently into the water but there was no sign of it and instead the water was halfway up the vertical bank behind it leaving me nowhere to go but in the field behind. The wind was chilly and blowing from behind and anticipating this I brought my umbrella which I tilted and pegged down to give me some shelter. I know that you are supposed to fish into the wind but on this water that is not possible as that bank is overgrown with trees and bushes and there is nowhere to reach the water so I just had to make do. My feeder rod was already set up with a lead and was soon out with a red maggot on the hook. I then had time to set up my float rod, throw in some groundbait, cast out and sit down in the shelter of my brolly. 

Time passed, I altered the depth of my float to try and find the fish with no result. It was nice enough sitting in the sun and admiring the view but I wanted to catch some fish! I usually fish in fairly out of the way places but wherever I am there are always sounds to be heard. Today there was some birdsong, but not a lot, a few aeroplanes, including a big dark painted passenger plane, maybe belonging to the military and a brightly painted biplane. A buzz saw was whining away in the distance and closer by the wind was sighing through the trees. When you are outside for any time you notice the wind, when I was putting the umbrella up it was quite strong and I had to stop it being blown away but it went up and down all day. Sometimes the float was bobbing through little wavelets while at other times the surface was still and quiet. After about an hour without any success I decided to change tactics and put a small method feeder on the feeder rod but as I was changing over one of the rings came loose and was rattling up and down the line so I decided to pack it away and get a carp rod out of the bag. There are three rods in the holder and I wanted the one set up with a method feeder, I couldn’t see which one was which until I undid them and took the tip protectors off, guess which one it was, you are correct, the last one I tried. I was keeping an eye on my float while setting up the rod and this time when I looked around I couldn’t see it so I put everything down and picked up the float rod and landed a nice looking roach of several ounces. I popped him back and put out the carp rod with a buzzer and cast out my float rod again.

O

The afternoon passed, there was no carp action, not a buzz, not even a line bite to give me false hope. A blue tit came and sat in the bush beside me for a while, the sun started to go down, I got chilly and as there was no action I decided to call it a day. As I was packing up I heard the unmistakeable sound of a carp slurping from the direction my crusts floated but try as I might I couldn’t see it. It confirmed what I already knew, that there are carp in this lake and that they feed on the downwind side, still no hope of fishing there though! I gathered all my gear together and struggled through the soggy field back to the car park, pausing to have a chat with another angler in the first lake who had only caught one small roach, I had lost count but must have landed around fifteen and felt smug about it! So, another session, I didn’t blank, didn’t break anything important, didn’t get tangled up and didn’t fall in! All in all a successful outing and I am hoping for another dry day so that I can go again soon.

I hadn’t consciously given up fishing, it was just that I didn’t go! It was thanks to a Christmas Present that I got the itch again and finally went! The present was a book, “How We Fish” by Paul Whitehouse and John Bailey. John who? I hear you ask. Well, he is the guy who does all the work behind the scenes for the TV series “Gone Fishing” and is a consummate angler. I don’t think much of the TV programme as a fishing show but the book is fascinating, giving lots of details of the guys fishing lives and how they set up for the programme and is full of anecdotes. It got me in the mood again and I was waiting for a milder and drier day so I could get back to the river that I fished last summer and see how it was.

Anyway, back to the swim to set up and I decided to trot maggots at a depth of about eighteen inches and see what happened. The river was quite clear and I could see the bottom in places but not in my swim, which had a bit of depth. First cast and the float bobbed and I had caught a little roach. I swung him to hand and quickly unhooked him and popped him back. Second cast and another roach, this continued for a while until I got something a bit bigger, as I reeled it in I could see a nice perch of a pound or so which put me in a bit of a dilemma, should I swing him to hand or use the net? The bank was quite steep and high and I was fishing with very light gear so thought that I had better play safe and use the net, the only problem was that I had left it behind me and it was out of reach. Putting the rod down I made a dash for the net and returned to the rod to find that the fish had slipped the hook and made off, so much for barbless hooks! That will learn me, get everything ready and to hand before I start fishing in future. Of course, I already knew that but didn’t do it on this occasion for some reason. I consoled myself with the thought that the fish had got away safely which was better than breaking the line as I swung it in and leaving the hook in its mouth.

Not surprisingly the swim went quiet after this and so I picked up my gear and walked upriver where I found a swim that I didn’t even know existed as it was so overgrown in the summer. Someone had been working on it quite recently as there were newly cut tree branches on the bank which proved very helpful in reaching my float when it got tangled in the vegetation! I was soon fishing again and some more small roach until I decided to change bait to a worm that I had found in the garden with the result that I caught some more small roach! I had brought my feeder rod and decided to give this a try with some bread crust but didn’t have any luck so decided to move again. As I walked upstream I came across a dam of trees, branches and debris which was keeping the water back and making a deeper swim upstream where I decided to give it a go. It was another swim that was inaccessible in the summer although it was only a few yards from where I was fishing last summer.

The swim was on a tight bend with some fast-flowing water and some slacks and I soon had another little roach on the bank. Then life began to get more interesting as I caught a couple of dace and chub instead. Time was getting on and the weather was getting duller and colder so when I caught the hook in a branch I decided to pack up and go home rather than tackle up again. This was when I found that the feeder rod wouldn’t come apart. It has been stiff before but I have always managed to do it but not this time. Fortunately, at ten feet long I know that I can fit it in my car and so it wasn’t a big problem.

So, what had I learnt? That the river is quite different in the winter and much more accessible. As long as it is not in flood it is easier to fish as I could get to swims that I didn’t even know were there and could trot a float down much more easily than in the summer as the weed wasn’t there. I had enjoyed being out in nature and had walked past a group of snowdrops in bloom and seen a kingfisher as it darted past and then came back for an encore a few minutes later. I really envy those anglers who get photos of them sitting still as all I get is the quickest of glimpses as the flash by. They are beautiful birds and I don’t mind sharing the fish with them. I had enjoyed myself even though I had only caught nippers and have promised myself that I will go again soon, all I need is a nice day and yes, I do know that I am a wimp!