Now that the river season is open I wanted to go back to a spot I fish with the aim of breaking my recent duck and actually catching some fish! As it has been so hot I decided to go one evening once it had cooled a bit. It is only five minutes drive from me and I was soon walking along the footpath to the swim. It was rather overgrown but didn’t prepare me for the shock when I went under the bridge and was confronted with a jungle! There used to be several trees with very little plant growth under them but the trees were felled a couple of years ago and the plants have taken full advantage! I pushed my way though and found a space to fish from and put my gear down. I had brought my chair as I had always been able to sit and fish comfortably here but I had to push over some of the vegetation in order to set it up. In the event I didn’t use it as I had to stand up to cast and see the float.

I didn’t expect to see this! Somewhere there is a river and a swim!

The next task was to clear a small space on the bank so that I could see the river, throw in some groundbait and maggots, assemble my float rod and cast out. The water was clear and only a couple of feet deep so I could see the bait drifting in the current. A couple of casts and I was into my first fish, a small roach. I always take a photo of my first fish as it may also be my last so a quick snap and he was away. The next cast and the float dipped again, this time it was a minnow, the plague of that particular swim. Another cast and another roach, this time of a better size, then a minnow or two then another roach. This pattern continued along with the odd tangle with the undergrowth in the bank until I had caught about eight roach when they stopped biting. 

The best roach of the evening.

I decided that it was time that I moved on as well and thought that I would walk up the bank to find another swim, this proved harder than I thought as all the vegetation, which was cut down last year, had regrown and it was difficult to get to the bank and see the river. I did find a couple of swims where the river has been dredged but they were very shallow and I couldn’t see any fish. I decided that I had enough and made my way back to the car knowing that I had at least caught some fish. No dace or chub though, who usually can be found, but they must have moved somewhere else today.

My wife was surprised to see me home so early but at least it gave me time to put my gear away in the shed before it got dark. Having struggled to fish in this stretch during the summer because of all the plant growth I have decided that I have had enough and will look for easier places to fish this season and return to this river in the winter when access is easier.

I checked to see the last time I had been fishing as I hadn’t been during the winter and it turned out to be the beginning of November, that’s nearly as long as I have been waiting for a Basal Cell Carcinoma operation on the NHS. For those of you who don’t know, BCC is a mild form of skin cancer caused by exposure to sunlight. This is my fourth one and I remember on the first one the consultant asked me if I had ever got sunburnt when I was a child. Did I ever? We all did in those days and took great delight in peeling the skin off afterwards! Little did I, or anyone else, know that I was storing up trouble for my Third Age. So, do yourself a favour and use sunscreen, especially if, like me, you are fair skinned and have fair hair. It is probably a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted if you are older but try to make sure that your kids and grandkids protect themselves, they will thank you later.

Anyway, enough of the health advice, it is time to go fishing. I found a Sunday afternoon when it wasn’t raining, the sun wasn’t baking and I was free. I took the maggots out of the fridge where they had been for some time and looked inside the jar, they were very still but I know that they start to move as they warm up so I wasn’t too worried although I had had them quite a while. Car loaded I drove to the venue to find the car park full of cars with people standing around chatting then driving off. I wondered what was going on then realised that they must have just finished a match. I didn’t know if this was a good or a bad thing, will the fish have got used to people fishing and carry on feeding or will they be fed up and lying low? I briefly thought about going somewhere else but I hadn’t fished this water for some time and I had never blanked here so decided to give it a go.

Having plenty of time I walked round the water, I could see fish rising in the middle but not much activity elsewhere. I decided to fish in swim where I have caught before which is open and has a good view of the lake. I got a carp rod out and was using a mesh bag and boilie and cast out as far as I could. For my other rod I used a float rod set to about four feet deep and thought that I would try for some rudd. I used a couple of maggots for bait and cast out. It was quiet and the wind dropped then the church bells started to ring. To be honest I hadn’t realised that a church was so close and it must have been their rehearsal time as they went on and on playing different sets for quite a while. I must have got used to it as I only realised that it had stopped some time after it had, then things went quiet again.

Nothing much happened, I re-cast the carp rod at regular intervals and checked the maggots on the float rod but there was no sign of a bite. I adjusted the depth of the float as this water is deep but it made no difference, I still wasn’t getting any bites. I was thinking of giving up the float rod and trying on the bottom with my feeder rod when the decision was made for me. I was reeling the float in when the hook got caught in the weed, I tried pulling in different directions to no avail and ended up pulling the line as hard as I could until it broke. Fortunately the hook length broke as it was supposed to  and I didn’t lose my float. 

Out with the feeder rod, a small boilie and a method feeder, not far out, just where I had been feeding for the float rod. I had just settled down in my chair when there was flash of a kingfisher over my shoulder and into some bushes on the far side of the lake. I saw him several times after that, always going to the same spot so he must have a nest there.

Then into the pattern of filling up mesh bags and re-filling the method feeder for the next hour or so but no bites. I decided to change the boilie on the carp rod and found that it was really hard, I was able to scrape some off the surface but no further. It was as hard as nails, no wonder the fish weren’t eating it!

Time passed and the evening drew on, I kept scraping the boilie, taking off a layer at a time. I had my sandwiches and a drink, still no action. As it began to get dark I decided that enough was enough and packed my gear away. I hadn’t caught anything but had enjoyed my time on the bank so I wasn’t too unhappy. A lesson learnt perhaps? Not to fish in a lake straight after a match. I checked the match report when I got home and everyone had weighed in but they did say that the fishing had tailed off towards the end so perhaps I just went at the wrong time. Still, not long until the river season opens and I can get back to my boyhood style of fishing.

It looks the sort of place where you could catch a fish!