What with one thing and another and having Covid I was unable to go fishing for a while so I grabbed the first opportunity that I had. Perhaps that was the problem, I went fishing because I thought I had to rather than because I wanted to. It was a bit chilly and windy so I thought I would visit my “go to” lake and see how it was getting on. You may remember that I didn’t fish it for nearly a year because of the water quality and when I went back I had a good session so I thought I would try again. I had a few jobs to do before leaving the house so I didn’t get to the water until about 10.30. I was the only one there and found a swim that I could park next to so I was quickly able to get my gear out and set up. As usual I put out a carp rod on a buzzer and instead of using the float rod, which I usually do, I got out the feeder rod and thought I would try that as well.
I put a pineapple boilie on the carp rod and some sweetcorn on the feeder. I had method feeders on both roads so mixed up a decent amount of method mix to last the day. Carp rod out and buzzer set and I was ready to set up the feeder rod. I cast out I was able to sit down and take in the surroundings. The wind was blowing towards me and despite the forecast of cloud it was quite sunny but I didn’t reap the benefit of that as I was sitting in the shade, fortunately I had brought plenty of layers to keep myself warm.
The water did not look as welcoming as the last time I went a few weeks ago, autumn has truly set in. The swans that used to live on this water don’t seem to be there at the moment so at least I didn’t get pestered by them. I do hope they haven’t been affected by the avian flu which has been recoded locally. There were a few ducks but even they stayed away from me, I could hear a robin but he didn’t come and visit, perhaps when it gets colder the birds will be hungry and more likely to come closer.
Time passed I kept refilling my method feeders and cast out using aiming points on the far bank to try and land the feeder in roughly the same place each time. I was fishing the feeder rod closer in and I was able to use my catapult to ping pellets, maggots and ground bait around the area. Time passed, more time passed, it was getting towards lunchtime and I hadn’t had a bite or a twitch. I was getting a bit fed up so I thought I would try the float rod. Leaving the carp rod out I put some maggots on the hook and fished fairly shallow because this is a shallow water. I thought I might get some sport with a few small Rudd or Roach. I leave the feeder rod and the float rod set up as this saves time and I’ve got some nifty little sleeves which fit on the ends of the rods and keep everything secure, however I must have lost a split shot as the float was riding too high in the water. I sorted this and soon had a bite but the fish slipped the hook as I was bringing him in.
I’ve managed to avoid tangles for quite a while now, there was a time when my home time would be decided by how bad the tangle was but as I was only a couple of hours in when I got my first one I couldn’t really go home yet. It is amazing how fishing line can get tangled! I was just bringing the hook are in to check the bait and somehow the float wrapped itself round and round the rod tip and was a complete muddle. I did have a look to see if I could do anything about it but decided the best thing to do was cut the line and sort it out at home. I was just in the middle of doing this when the buzzer sounded which took me by surprise, sometimes fish bite at the most awkward moments! Standing up I felt something fall off my lap and splash into the water in front of me but ignored it, put down the float rod, grabbed the carp rod and I was into a fish. I could tell at once it was not a carp as it came in quite calmly. You’ve guessed it, it was a bream, which is all I seem to catch on the carp rod these days! He was neatly hooked in the top lip, I unhooked him, took a photo and popped him back. It was a nice-looking fish, about pound and a half I didn’t bother weighing him as he wasn’t record breaker. Getting my carp rod back in I proceeded to re-rig the float rod and decided on a bigger float, wide bodied at the bottom to try and ride through the ripples which were coming across the water, of course that meant I had to set the shot pattern again so it took even longer but once sorted the float did stay more stationary in the water but I didn’t get any bites.
As it was lunchtime and things were quiet I decided to have lunch and got all the way through without a single bite, beep or any indication of the fish whatsoever. After failing to catch anything on the float rod for an hour or so got another tangle, once again the float went round and round the rod itself and was a complete bird’s nest so rather than sort it out on the bank I cut the line again, tidied that rod away and got the feeder rod out again. It was early afternoon by now and apart from the one bream I wasn’t catching anything, I was getting a bit cold and a bit fed up, nothing much was happening, nothing much to look at, wildlife was conspicuous by its absence so I decided to give it until 2 o’clock and then pack up. 2 o’clock came without a fish so I packed up went home a bit grumpy, I only had two bites and landed one fish. I wondered if my performance was because I thought I had to go fishing rather than because I wanted to. I don’t know, does your success on the bank have anything to do with how you feel when you go there? Can you catch fish if you’re in a bad mood? Can you have blank days when you arrive full of hope and happy and cheerful? My logical self says that how I’m feeling can’t affected whether the fish bite or not but my mood may affect the decisions that I make on the bank, where to fish, what bait to use etc etc. so it may have some effect. I decided that I’m not going to go back to this water again this winter, the club has plenty of other waters so if the fish have gone off again I think I’ll wait until the summer before returning. In the meantime I would like to get back to the river now that the water levels are up due to recent rains. I hope that the undergrowth will have died back a bit and I will be able to find some weed free spots with some fish. I think that I will wait until I am in a better mood though!
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