I don’t like targets, when I was at work we had targets which were unachievable so short cuts were taken to meet them instead of doing a proper job. So I have ambitions, one of which is to fish all the club waters this year so I thought that I would give another new water a go this week.
The water in question is an old gravel pit with the reputation of holding big fish and being difficult to fish. When I got there there were a couple of cars in the car park but I couldn’t see anyone fishing as it is a big water they must have been around the corner. It was a mild but windy day and I chose a swim on the side of the lake with the wind blowing towards me and got my carp rod out followed by my feeder rod with a swing tip. Then I waited and nothing happened. I did the usual of changing baits, feeding the swim, magic incantations, nothing. I even got my flask and sandwiches out as a last resort at getting a bite but that didn’t work either!
The only thing that was interesting was seeing three buzzards gliding overhead calling to each other with a strange kind of mewing sound. It is times like that I wish I had brought my decent camera but I have enough kit with me anyway!
After a couple of hours I thought about moving, I don’t like just sitting there for hours blanking and although I don’t expect to catch a carp every five minutes I like to pull out some silvers to keep myself occupied and if I don’t I start getting grumpy! I really couldn’t make up my mind what to do, which my wife says is just like me, so I decided to toss a coin. I had found a battered old twenty pence when opening the gate so fished it out of my pocket and said to myself, heads to stay, tails to go. It came up tails. The next decision was where to go, back to the water nearby where I caught the other week or to the river to see how that was going. Once again the coin came out and it decided that I would be going back to the lake. It wasn’t far away but when I got there the car park was rammed so I turned around and went to the river after all.
It was a bit higher than last time but still shallow with slight colour and I stuck the feeder rod in while setting up my float rod. My hands were full and the rod was across my lap when the feeder rod started jumping about. I put everything down as quickly as possible and grabbed the rod to find a minnow on the hook! There was no way it had made the rod jump about like that and I can only think that something like a perch had grabbed it but not been hooked. The minnow itself didn’t look harmed and happily swam away when I released it.
Then it was trotting down the river with a float and straight away I was catching fish, unfortunately they were mostly minnows and they don’t count! I did start catching a few small dace then suddenly there was a stronger tug on the line and I landed a perch of a few ounces. This was followed by another perch, possibly the smallest one that I have ever seen! The session carried on like that but no more perch and my mood brightened. I like being beside a river and can only think that it reminds me of my childhood when that was where I fished. I was cheered up by a couple of birds, firstly a kestrel who landed in a tree a few yards away and stayed for a few seconds before noticing me and flying away. Next was the blue flash of a kingfisher flying up the river, before taking up fishing again I had only ever seen a couple of these and now I see one just about every time I go to the river.
Soon it was time to go home with the thought that I had fished one of my target waters, or should that be ambitions? I know that I had not done it justice so will have to go back to fulfil my other ambition which is to catch a fish from every water. The only water I have left to fish is a specialised carp lake and as the club is losing it I will have to be quick. The only thing that I am worried about is what to do while I am waiting for the carp to bite? It could be hours, perhaps I should take a book but then if I am going to read I might as well stay at home in the warm and dry. They say that you learn about yourself when you take up fishing, what I am learning is that I like catching rather than fishing, I am thinking of renaming this blog as The Impatient Angler!
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