The Third Age Angler Posts

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!

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!

Most of my club’s waters are on farms, either old gravel pits or reservoirs and some of them are closed during the autumn so I had to take my chance before it was too late. The water in question is a series of three lakes fed by a stream which runs through and connects them. The lake I wanted to fish is the furthest from the car park so I took my barrow as it is quite a long walk. Of course, if you take your barrow then you have to take all your gear as it would be a shame not to and so I staggered up the field taking frequent rests when my stamina gave way!

On arrival at the swim I noticed that the water level was well down, leaving a three feet drop from the bank onto a stony beach. This was quite convenient as the bank and undergrowth sheltered me from the wind which was forecast to build during the day. It was a sunny morning and sheltered from the wind I got hot so it was down to my T shirt and jeans. I mixed up some method mix and soon had the carp rod out with a pineapple boilie and plenty of pellets and sweetcorn thrown in for good measure. I was fishing just along the bank next to where a bush had grown over the water and where I had a good take last year but lost the fish. Carp rod set up and buzzer on and it was time to get out the float rod. I had to tie a new hooklength on and decided to plumb the depth as I couldn’t remember how deep it was and in any case the water level was well down. I gently cast the plumb bob out and “Splash” in it went along with the hooklength but not the line, I must have not looped it on properly, it wouldn’t be the last bit of cack handedness of the day!

I always like looking at a float but only seem to catch small fish and soon got fed up with pulling out rudd and roach when, just for a change, I got a perch, beautiful but small. The wind was causing ripples on the water making it difficult to see the float, which was blowing about so I decided to use the feeder rod with a quiver tip to fish on the bottom and try and catch something bigger. Once the switch was made I was able to sit back and relax a bit while keeping my eye on the tip and my ears open for the buzzer. I had a few line bites, which was encouraging as it showed that fish were about but no proper bites. I had been keeping my eye on the water to see if there were any carp on the surface and one or two began to show so I tossed some pellets in and they began to drift towards them. I was getting nothing on either rod so was beginning to take notice of my environment, no road noise, just the sound of the wind in the leaves, then I heard a tractor the other side of the lake which was soon followed by the sound of a buzz saw and falling trees, so much for peace and quiet!

Anyway, back to the fishing, I was idly glancing around when my feeder rod started chattering away and I quickly grabbed it and struck to find nothing there! The line had broken above the feeder and I had lost it, the hook and possibly a nice fish as well! My cack handedness returned when I tried to attach a new feeder and hook length, I won’t bore you with the details but it took four attempts to get the rig correct! I cast out and this time the tip bent round and I was into a fish of some size. It wasn’t putting up much of a fight so I wasn’t surprised when I saw that it was a bream. I then realized that I had left my smaller landing net at home so had to land it with the big carp net which worked OK it was just a bit of overkill! The fish looked in nice condition and weighed in at just under 2lb. 

Moving on to the carp rod I decided to change bait to a smaller hemp boilie and cast out again. Sitting quietly I noticed a reddish brown bird fly past and land in some bushes, just before it landed it flared its wings which were iridescent blue, it was a kingfisher.

The next bite was on the carp rod, the buzzer sounded and I was in, I wasn’t getting much of a fight as it was another bream, that makes three bream and no carp on that rod on my last two outings! It was slightly smaller than the first one but still in lovely condition.

A few carp were still on the surface so I decided to have a go with my stalker rod. As bait it had a white pop up boilie already on so I thought that I would give it a go, a carp came and looked at it but they then left it alone so I gave up on that and went back to the feeder rod. It was lunchtime and mercifully the chain saw had stopped and I heard the sound of an approaching plane. I thought the engine note was a bit different, more like a Merlin from WW2 so I was expecting a Spitfire or Hurricane bit it was neither of these but a stubby looking aircraft with wheels. I followed it with my eyes and it started doing acrobatics, looping, stall turns etc. then after about five minutes it flew away leaving me in peace again.

I have mentioned before that lunchtime can be bite time, not just for me but the fish as well and on this occasion it was, with another small bream, or was it a skimmer? He came to the net quite easily bit then got lively and flipped himself into the water before I could take his photo! After this, things went quiet although I could hear the slurping of a carp at the end of the lake and then one appeared around the bush where I was fishing. I floated some pellets down towards him but couldn’t get him to come any closer so I decided to have a look the other side of the bush. Pulling my rods out I tiptoed along the bank to the next swim which was accessed by a path about three feet wide though the nettles. Creeping closer I saw that I was at the end of the lake and the wind was blowing food and debris into it. I could clearly see half a dozen carp hovering just under the water and occasionally rising to take a mouthful from the surface. All fired up I went back for my rod, landing net pellets and the crusts from my sandwiches which I had kept just in case. I crept forward again and threw in some pellets then lowered my bread into the water. The lake was only about twenty yards across at this point and I could see carp under the far bank but my bait was drifting slowly away from them and nearer to me. They were very shy and feeding slowly and I began to wonder if they were at all interested in my bait. I knew that if I lifted my bread it would come off the hook and I didn’t have much more so decided to leave it. Then the fish disappeared and I gave it a few moments then decided to go. I stood up and immediately saw several fish so I crouched down again. They were still on the other side of the bay so I wasn’t very hopeful but as I was looking there my bread disappeared and the rod began to shake. I grabbed the rod and slid down the bank onto the beach and I could feel that I was into a fish and yes, it was a carp! I played him gently and he didn’t put up much of a fight and within a few minutes he was in the net. I then had to scramble up the bank and back to my swim to unhook him and take his photo. As it was the hook had freed itself, saving me a job and he behaved himself to be photographed and weighed and was soon returned. He came in at nine and a half pounds, a nice looking common!

I took a look back in the swim but there were now no fish to be seen and so it was back to the carp rod and feeder. I changed bait on the carp rod to sweet corn which got a few buzzes but no takes and the quiver tip didn’t move either. I sat and relaxed for a while, putting on my fleece as the sun had now gone in and the wind had got up. I was feeling pleased that stalking a carp on the surface had worked and I am really getting into this type of fishing where you can actually see your quarry. Soon it was time to pack up and stagger back to the car feeling that even if I had not caught many fish I had caught some decent ones and had a successful session.

After a busy spring and summer I seem to have time to go fishing again and spent a couple of hours on the canal catching rudd and an eel and went back to a water that I haven’t fished for about a year. I used to call it my “go to” water as I could always be sure of catching something then I began to blank. I can’t have been the only one as there was some discussion on the club’s Facebook page, apparently the ammonia levels in the water were too high and it was suggested that we leave the fish be for a while. This lake is next to a farm yard and the surrounding fields drain into it so it was not going to be a quick fix to sort the problem out

Anyway, I got to thinking about the lake and wondering how it was doing and so I took the Missus out for a walk one evening and we had a look round. I took some floating pellets to see if we could attract any carp to the surface. The first swim we looked in there were several carp lurking and they made short work of the pellets. We walked around the lake and I saw several signs of fish, bubbles, swirls and a couple more carp and so I decided to come back the next day.

It was later than I had wanted the next morning due to having to run several errands so it was nearly ten by the time I arrived. I parked the car next to the lake and quietly made my way to the first swim and saw a couple of fish just under the surface next to the bank. I fetched my stalking rod which at eight foot just fits into my car already made up along with a landing net and mat and put a piece of bread crust on the hook and I was off! I threw out some pellets to get the fish feeding and then lowered the hook onto the water. After a few seconds a fish took the bread and left the hook so I re-baited and tried again. This time he took the bait and the hook and I was in! The fish didn’t put up much of a fight and was soon in the net. I had left my scales in the car but it seemed a good high single / low doubles fish and seemed in good condition. I carefully put him back and decided to take a walk around the lake and see if I can could catch some more. This time I used a pop up boilie as bait but couldn’t get the fish interested so went back to the car and got out the gear I needed to set up in the swim next to it.

I put the carp rod out with a method feeder and white pop – up boilie and then set up my float rod. I mixed up some groundbait and sat down in my new chair ready to fish. On my first cast the float went under and I was into a little rudd which fought more than the carp size for size! I went on catching rudd and roach for a while but nothing on the carp rod, the buzzer stayed obstinately silent. After an hour of fun I decided to change over to my ledger rod which has still got a swing tip attached to see if I could get a bigger fish off the bottom. I continued using red and white maggots and although the tip was shaking a bit it never developed into a bite. I tried elsewhere in the lake but still with no luck. By now it was lunchtime and as it was quiet I thought that I would get my sandwiches out. This tactic sometimes catches a fish and I was halfway through my lunch when the buzzer went off and I was into a fish. It didn’t feel like a carp though and that is because it wasn’t, it was a bream! He came to the net quite easily on my carp tackle and I soon had him on the mat where I could see from the mark on his back that he had had an encounter with a cormorant or something sometime in his life! A quick photo and I weighed him in at 3lb exactly before putting him back. The rod went back out and I was able to finish my lunch in peace.

After lunch I decided that I was bored and got the float rod out again! I soon started catching rudd and roach until the float dipped and a fish jumped a few feet away! I reeled in and there was another bream, slightly smaller than the first one but just as lively, in fact while I was attempting to take his photo he flipped himself off the mat and back into the water!

Then it was quiet for a while, I changed the boilie on the carp rod to no avail and was just thinking about packing up when the float disappeared. I struck and there was something bigger than a small rudd as it was pulling hard. I gently applied pressure and brought it to the surface where my worst fears were confirmed, It was an eel! Now I know that eels are amazing fish that travel across the Atlantic and are now an endangered species (not around here though!) but I don’t like catching them. They twist and turn so that you can’t get hold of them and invariably in their greed they swallow the bait and the hook and you have no chance of getting it out. This eel had done exactly that and so I cut the line and let him go free. That was it, time to go home.

So, a decent session where I proved that fish were still alive in the lake and seemed to be thriving. What about the chair? Well that was OK, it didn’t collapse on me and was comfortable enough, not too comfortable that I would fall asleep but OK to sit on for a day’s session. To be honest once I was fishing I forgot about the chair and concentrated on what I was doing so in some respects it wouldn’t have mattered what chair I had bought!

Anyway, I got to thinking about the lake and wondering how it was doing and so I took the Missus out for a walk one evening and we had a look round. I took some floating pellets to see if we could attract any carp to the surface. The first swim we looked in there were several carp lurking and they made short work of the pellets. We walked around the lake and I saw several signs of fish, bubbles, swirls and a couple more carp and so I decided to come back the next day.

It was later than I had wanted the next morning due to having to run several errands so it was nearly ten by the time I arrived. I parked the car next to the lake and quietly made my way to the first swim and saw a couple of fish just under the surface next to the bank. I fetched my stalking rod which at eight foot just fits into my car already made up along with a landing net and mat and put a piece of bread crust on the hook and I was off! I threw out some pellets to get the fish feeding and then lowered the hook onto the water. After a few seconds a fish took the bread and left the hook so I re-baited and tried again. This time he took the bait and the hook and I was in! The fish didn’t put up much of a fight and was soon in the net. I had left my scales in the car but it seemed a good high single / low doubles fish and seemed in good condition. I carefully put him back and decided to take a walk around the lake and see if I can could catch some more. This time I used a pop up boilie as bait but couldn’t get the fish interested so went back to the car and got out the gear I needed to set up in the swim next to it.

I put the carp rod out with a method feeder and white pop – up boilie and then set up my float rod. I mixed up some groundbait and sat down in my new chair ready to fish. On my first cast the float went under and I was into a little rudd which fought more than the carp size for size! I went on catching rudd and roach for a while but nothing on the carp rod, the buzzer stayed obstinately silent. After an hour of fun I decided to change over to my ledger rod which has still got a swing tip attached to see if I could get a bigger fish off the bottom. I continued using red and white maggots and although the tip was shaking a bit it never developed into a bite. I tried elsewhere in the lake but still with no luck. By now it was lunchtime and as it was quiet I thought that I would get my sandwiches out. This tactic sometimes catches a fish and I was halfway through my lunch when the buzzer went off and I was into a fish. It didn’t feel like a carp though and that is because it wasn’t, it was a bream! He came to the net quite easily on my carp tackle and I soon had him on the mat where I could see from the mark on his back that he had had an encounter with a cormorant or something sometime in his life! A quick photo and I weighed him in at 3lb exactly before putting him back. The rod went back out and I was able to finish my lunch in peace.

After lunch I decided that I was bored and got the float rod out again! I soon started catching rudd and roach until the float dipped and a fish jumped a few feet away! I reeled in and there was another bream, slightly smaller than the first one but just as lively, in fact while I was attempting to take his photo he flipped himself off the mat and back into the water!

Then it was quiet for a while, I changed the boilie on the carp rod to no avail and was just thinking about packing up when the float disappeared. I struck and there was something bigger than a small rudd as it was pulling hard. I gently applied pressure and brought it to the surface where my worst fears were confirmed, It was an eel! Now I know that eels are amazing fish that travel across the Atlantic and are now an endangered species (not around here though!) but I don’t like catching them. They twist and turn so that you can’t get hold of them and invariably in their greed they swallow the bait and the hook and you have no chance of getting it out. This eel had done exactly that and so I cut the line and let him go free. That was it, time to go home.

So, a decent session where I proved that fish were still alive in the lake and seemed to be thriving. What about the chair? Well that was OK, it didn’t collapse on me and was comfortable enough, not too comfortable that I would fall asleep but OK to sit on for a day’s session. To be honest once I was fishing I forgot about the chair and concentrated on what I was doing so in some respects it wouldn’t have mattered what chair I had bought!

Not long after I ordered my new chair I had a message saying that it would be delivered between eight and six that day. Not as good as some couriers who give a tighter time slot but never mind. As it happened it came just after lunch which gave me time to unbox it the same day.

It was delivered in a stout cardboard box although there was no packing inside. In spite of this it was undamaged and I soon had it out of its plastic bag. The first thing I noticed were the large mud feet, although it has hardly rained at all in my neck of the woods it will one day and they will be very useful!

Setting the chair up it looked sturdy and the fabric looks tough. I thought that it was a bit low down for me but that it would be OK when I pulled the legs out. In fact it was still a bit low but I tried it out and I can manage. 

OK, so it doesn’t look anything special, it is just a chair which is what I want. Here is a front view where you can see the badge, if you can’t read it then how about a close up? Got it? I have to say that it is not bad for £45! I will have to see how it is when I take it fishing.

As I wrote in my blog last week my chair broke last time I was out and since then have been searching for a replacement. I bought the chair secondhand just after I started fishing again and it was a Fox model about twenty years old. I got it dirt cheap as the pull out stops had broken and I had to replace one of them with bolt and wingnut so that I could stop the legs folding up underneath me and it was this bit that failed, probably because the bolt was thin for the hole and there was a bit of play which led to fatigue and the bracket breaking. OK so I could have put a plate on it and made the legs rigid but it wouldn’t help having the back legs sticking out when I wanted to shove it in the car with all my other stuff or carry it to the bank and in any case it would still leave me with a twenty year old chair with sticking feet and non-matching mud feet where I had to replace one so I thought that I would treat myself to a new one but what to get?

You may remember that I am always looking for a bargain and I started looking on the Internet to see what I could find and there were hundreds of different kinds at all price points. I was confused, I knew that I didn’t want a low chair because I am old and tall and the knees don’t work as well as they used to and I need to be able to stand up easily. Apart from that I didn’t know so I thought that I would ask on Facebook. I got lots of replies ranging from “Why don’t you mend it?” to “This one with non-adjustable legs suits me and it is cheap.” Cheap appeals but I am often fishing on sloping banks and I have to have a chair that can be levelled. Then there were the suggestions, Korum, Fox, Matrix etc. etc. but one of the most useful comments was that I shouldn’t buy a chair without sitting in it. Obvious really when someone points it out to you! 

So, off I went to my local tackle shop. It is said that you should support your local shop as it is a case of use it or lose it but when I got there they had the grand total of three chairs on display. Two low ones and one ultra expensive one. Well, that was no good so it was back home to the Internet followed by a trip to the nearest store of a national chain. I had never been there before and to say that I was underwhelmed was about right. I never would have found it if it hadn’t been signposted as it was in the back of a scruffy industrial unit. It didn’t get much better inside, cramped, dull, no natural light and only a few chairs to try, none of which I liked.

Back home it was time to have a think so I looked on eBay and Facebook marketplace and found loads of chairs. The only snag was that most of them were miles away and restricting my search found only a few and when I enquired they had gone. Anyway I had a secondhand chair and barrow and they had both needed fixing so I thought that I would have a new one. So back to Facebook and more recommendations, Decathlon, Go Outdoors, feeder chairs, Korum Accessory chairs, the advice went on. Sitting down to think about what I really needed I began to wonder if I needed a feeder chair and there were several at reasonable prices with arms, trays and all the gubbins. I usually have a carp rod out with a buzzer and either a float rod or quiver tip so that might suit and it would be a good idea to have a tray for all my bits and pieces as well. Decathlon did a couple for either side of £100 but in searching for it I found that my nearest branch had just closed down and I now had an hour’s drive to a famous shopping centre to find one. So, how about Go Outdoors? Would you believe it, my nearest store had shut too and again it was the shopping centre if I wanted to go to one. It began to look as if a road trip was in order and I could call in at a different branch of the national angling chain on the way so that is what I decided to do.

Following my Satnav I parked up where directed and looked around for the store but couldn’t see it. Looking on my phone I found a picture of it and it looked like the building across the road but it wasn’t there. I began to wonder whether that was closed down too when I had an idea, was it around the back too? A short walk took me round the back and there it was. No signposts and in all fairness there was a car park and I would have seen it if the satnav had brought me there. I walked in and this store gave a much better impression. There were plenty of chairs for sale and I tried a few but none grabbed me so I carried on with my quest. Half an hour later after fighting through the traffic and I was there. Well, sort of, I could see the store sign but the satnav wanted me to turn into a road that was the entrance to a factory with a barrier and security guard so I turned it off and drove towards the sign and found the shop. I might as well not have bothered, only two chairs on display and both low ones so I didn’t spend much time in that shop. Fortunately, Decathlon was only a couple of minutes away and they had their feeder chairs on display so I had a sit on both of them. I really wanted one of these chairs to be alright but they weren’t. One was too upright and couldn’t be adjusted and the other didn’t support my back. I did try, honest! I swapped between each one several times but wasn’t comfortable then I sat in the carp chair next to them and it was a completely different feeling, comfort at last! Except….. it was well over £100, heavy and bulky. I didn’t fancy trudging along the bank with it and I wasn’t sure that there would be room on my trolley for it either so I reluctantly left it and drove home

While I was driving I was thinking which was why I missed the turn off the motorway and had to drive on to the next exit and turn around (well that is my story and I am sticking to it!) Did I need two different chairs?  A comfortable carp chair for fishing the lakes and a lighter one for river fishing, probably yes but there was no way I was going to splash out on two chairs! I then thought about my old Fox chair, I suppose that I had got used to it but I never thought about it as uncomfortable, maybe if I am on the bank I am too busy fishing to notice what the seat is like and if that is the case any old seat will do and I might as well get a cheap one. Determined to do no more driving I went home and ordered one off the Internet. It had been recommended by at least one person on Facebook and I had some of the brand’s tackle and liked it so I thought that it was worth a punt. I won’t tell you what I bought until the next blog when I unbox it and do a review but I ordered it directly from the manufacturer at a sale price of £45 including postage. At that price I haven’t got much to lose if it is no good and I can always sell it on and get a better one.

So, that is it. Except that it isn’t really as it has got me thinking about my setup. My carp rod goes into a bank stick with a buzzer on it on my left hand side, my float rod is mostly in my hands and my feeder rod goes in a bank stick to my right hand side. The problem is that although I have a number of bank sticks of all shapes and sizes I can’t use them. I can usually get one in at the edge of the water but find that where I need to put one in to support the butt of the rod I can’t. Either the bank is hard gravel or in the prolonged dry spell we are having here the ground is just baked hard and I end up balancing the reel on a bait box or just laying the end of the rod down on the ground. What I need is a small stand, something like a tripod which I can balance the end of the rod on. I have looked and there are such things for cameras and phones but they have a different thread to bank sticks and so aren’t suitable. So I am a bit stuck at the moment and could do with some suggestions. Perhaps a fitting for the chair would be the answer but I do like to have the rod just a bit further away from me. I can’t be the only angler who has come across this problem, can I? Any answers would be appreciated otherwise I will have to show my ignorance on Facebook again!  

I always seem to be starting each blog entry by saying that it has been a little while since I went fishing and this one is no exception. Hot weather, sailing, being away, visiting my old mum etc. etc. have all got in the way of going fishing so when I suddenly had a free day I took the opportunity. I was going to fish a lake close to home as they have got roadworks everywhere and getting through the town to other waters is a nightmare. It may be OK going but coming back at the end of the day in the rush hour would mean queueing up for ages and I wasn’t going to do it. I hoped to fish the new lake but as it was going to be another hot day and it would mean facing the sun all day I had the alternative of going to a more sheltered lake next to it. When I arrived there was no one fishing my first choice and as I drove past I realized why. The water level was about ten feet lower than usual and the banks were steep like the side of a gravel pit, there was no way you could get safely down to the water to net a fish so I did what everyone else had done and left it. It has been very dry this summer with the recent thunderstorms missing us and as this lake is used for irrigating the fields the farmer had been using as much as he could on his crops.

Driving on I was soon at the alternative lake. This one is fed by a small stream and the water levels were normal. I walked round to where I usually fish which is sheltered from the sun only to find that someone was in my favourite swim. He said that he had a twenty pound carp but nothing else. I went back to the car to get my gear and took it back to another swim which had a few more snags in it but was also sheltered from the sun. Setting up took a few minutes, I put out a carp rod with a method feeder and pineapple boilie and also got my float rod out to try and catch some silvers. Ground bait mixed up and in the water and I was fishing. I hadn’t long to wait before the float went sideways with a typical rudd bite and I had my first fish, a little roach! This continued for a while alternating between roach and rudd and a single perch. I was using some maggots which had been in the fridge for a long time and decided to change to sweetcorn to try and get something bigger without any luck. The float remained still and I had time to look around and look what other anglers were catching. Not much was the answer, the water was still and oily and the heat was building and the larger fish seemed to be asleep. Then I had a visitor, a young robin came and perched on my rod near the butt and eyed my maggots. I daren’t move to get my phone and take a picture for fear of frightening him but after a few moments he flew into a nearby bush so I took some maggots and threw them on the ground for him, which he appreciated!

Then the guy in my first choice of swim came by on his way home, he had caught nothing further and was calling it a day. I decided to move into that swim and spent several minutes moving my stuff 20 yards along the bank. I quickly settled into the routine again and was pulling small roach and rudd out on the float rod. Wanting to catch something a bit bigger I decided to change rods and put out a feeder to try and get something on the bottom. It was lunchtime and time for a bite to eat and a drink and even this didn’t get me a bite. It is usually at the most awkward times that the float dips or the buzzer sounds but not this time. In fact the buzzer had been exceptionally quiet with just one beep for a line bite so I decided to change bait and put a white pop up boilie on. I found my baiting needles and chose the thickest one which is a plain needle to make a hole in the boilie then suddenly my hand slipped and the other baiting needle was sticking out of the end of my middle finger on my right hand. This needle has a kind of hook on it to pull though the line when threading your bait and it had taken quite a grip on my finger and wouldn’t come out when I pulled it. I tried twisting and wriggling it with no result. I wondered what to do as here I was a fair way from civilization with all my fishing gear spread around and a baiting needle sticking out of my finger and decided that I would just have to grit my teeth and pull until it came out. So that it what I did and it came free, pulling a bit of my flesh with it. It wasn’t bleeding too badly so I rummaged around in my rucksack and found some antiseptic cream and a plaster and patched myself up. It didn’t feel too bad so I decided to carry on fishing and was rewarded by the sight of my tip going round and landed a skimmer bream. I cast out again but the fishing was slow which gave me time to look around. I thought that I saw fish just under the surface some way out in the middle of the lake so got out my catapult and fired some dog biscuits out to encourage them and sat back to see what happened. Not a lot for quite a while but I did catch another skimmer then noticed that carp were rising for the biscuits and other food that they found on the surface. I decided to feed them a bit more for encouragement with the idea of trying with my stalker rod if they got enthusiastic. I sat down after catapulting some more food out and my chair slowly subsided beneath me and I was sitting on the ground! Closer examination showed that the metal brackets at the back had broken and were beyond repair. It was a cheap secondhand  chairthat I had already bodged up once but it is now time for a new chair. So, carrying on fishing standing up I could see that the carp were still feeding on the surface so it was a short walk back to the car to get my stalker rod. The great thing about this rod is that at 8ft long I can get it in the car already set up and usually bring it just in case.

I have had some luck with bread as a hookbait and had a few crusts left over from lunch so I carefully threaded one on, taking care not to stick myself with the needle and cast out. Nothing happened and my bread eventually drifted away from where the fish were so I pulled it in. I find that with bread you only get one cast as it usually comes off during retrieval so decided to have a go with the dog biscuits. They are a bit big for a fish to swallow until they soften up and tend to break if you stick a needle in but I managed to get half a biscuit on and cast out. I shot some biscuits out around it as I have noticed that carp are more likely to take your bait if there is other food around it. It gets them going or lulls them into a false sense of security or something. I waited for a few minutes and could see the fish coming up to the surface and then one took my bait and I was in. The fish swam towards the bank and I had to do some fast winding but played him for several minutes without getting a sight of him but it was definitely a carp as it was shaking its head the way they do, not enormous, perhaps high single figures. I was making headway keeping the fish out of the snags and drawing it towards me when suddenly the line went slack and the fish was gone. What a frustrating moment that is, you go from excitement to anticlimax in a split second. It was more frustrating as my tactics had worked and also I had lost some fish like this the last time I was fishing. Maybe I am doing something wrong.

I thought that I would give it another go but my heart wasn’t in it and the fish weren’t co- operating either and as I was getting fed up with standing up and it was nearly time to pack up I called it a day. My mood was not helped by walking past several fish basking on the surface as I took my gear back to the car. It was almost like they were mocking me! I left with mixed feelings, I hadn’t blanked, caught four different species, tempted a carp with my tactics, broke my chair and stabbed my finger, quite an eventful session really! Writing this a few days later I am pleased to say that my finger seems to be healing well but I still haven’t been able to get to my local tackle shop to buy a new chair as I can’t face the traffic. It would be easier to drive to a national chain in the neighbouring town but I really would like to support my local shop. Perhaps next week when the roadworks have finished I will get there!

During the winter my club lost the use of one lake, which was mainly a carp lake, and obtained the use of another. This was handy for me as the new lake is about a mile from where I live, just a few minutes by car, or at least it is at the moment! They are going to close the road for six weeks soon and I will have to drive about five miles to get to it passing several of the club’s other waters to get there so I don’t think that I will bother!

I wanted to fish that lake before the road closure and had a free evening so took the opportunity. The Club’s Facebook page was reporting good catches during the day so I was looking forward to a full net. It was cloudy and much, much cooler than recent days, I even needed a sweatshirt! I drove the length of the lake peering out to find a swim. I turned the car around and this time the driver’s door was on the side of the lake and in one swim I could see three carp nuzzling up to the very edge of the water. I couldn’t resist that so quietly got my stalking rod out which has the advantage of fitting into my car already rigged up, and crept down to the water. The carp had spotted me and drifted away but a few bits of white bread had them coming up to the surface and sucking them down. I put a piece of bread on the hook and cast out and within a minute or two a fish had taken the bait and was off! I pulled on the rod and there was a sudden “twang” and the line whipped back and caught the float in some bushes. I carefully retrieved it then saw that my hook length had parted so I had to tackle up again. This gave the fish time to settle down and a few more pieces of bread had them coming up again. I noticed that the fish were much shyer than other places where I have surface fished and would quickly rise, take the bread and be gone, none of the lovely slurping noised when carp are sucking in off the surface.

A new piece of bread and I cast out again. This time I had to wait, the fish were not coming to my single piece of bread and so I threw a few more pieces in which seemed to get them going and I was soon into what felt like a decent fish. Indeed it was a hard fighter and took line easily even when I tightened the clutch a bit more. He shot off in all directions trying to get away but eventually began to tire and I got a glimpse of him. A nice common, probably into double figures and a personal best. I was gradually getting him close to the net when suddenly the line went slack and he was away. This time the hook was still there, he had slipped it and really spoilt my evening, I have to admit that the air was blue!

I baited up again but the fish had gone really shy and I got no more surface bites so decided to change tactics and put a method feeder out and also my quiver tip with maggots to see if there were any silver fish out there. I had been baiting an area fairly close in with sweetcorn and pellets and hoped that I would attract some fish which had been on the surface. As soon as I changed rods I could see carp cruising just below the surface again!

I had just settled down when the buzzer sounded and I was in again. This time I managed to land it, a nice looking common of about five pounds, I didn’t think it was worth weighing and after a quick photo I slipped him back. At least I had caught a fish and felt in a much happier frame of mind. Then the tip on the other rod went and I was into something small, a beautiful looking perch, which made a change. Then it went a bit quiet and so I decided to move the method feeder to where I was fishing the quiver tip and to give my float rod a go. This wasn’t the best idea as the light was fading and I had a small float on which was dotted down. In fact it was dotted down so far that it sank at times! How is it that a float can sit nicely in one water then sink in another? Anyway, it was getting late so I decided to persevere as I didn’t really have time to change it and managed to catch another perch. This one had another much larger fish follow it into the bank, possibly another perch.

I had another fish on the method feeder and you’ve guessed it, it came off near the net making the final score Carp 3 – Angler 1. By now it was time to go so I loaded up and drove home with mixed feelings. I hadn’t blanked and I had seen a lot of fish but losing three was not great. I will have to have a think about that, was it the hook type, hook size or just bad luck? I am sure that I will be back to that lake as it feels like I have unfinished business there. It is also conveniently close when there is not a road diversion and the great thing is that the farm track runs alongside the lake so you can unload and set up without trekking miles with all your gear.

To finish on a different note, my blog about the little lake near me has really taken off and for some reason is getting hundreds of hits a day as well as several comments from readers. It used to be that my readership shot up for a few days when I promoted a new blog entry on Facebook etc. but wouldn’t reach a hundred then it would settle down to around ten visits a day until the next blog. Recently I haven’t fallen below a hundred a day for weeks at a time and I have no idea why. The internet moves in mysterious ways!

As for the pond, like all the local waters it is suffering from lack of water and the weed has taken over again. I will go over with my rake and see if I can make a clear spot and see what I can catch this time of year. As there is an interest I will keep you updated. 

Well, it has been some time since I last went fishing as life has been getting in the way but I finally found a free afternoon and evening so thought that I would try one of the other club waters as I had only been fishing the local pond recently. I did have a look the other day and the weed is taking over large areas of the water but there are still holes where you can fish. The club had a session for juniors recently and they all caught something, including the obligatory goldfish and it is great that the water is being put to good use.

During the winter the club has obtained another lake, quite big and a bit of an unknown quantity and I haven’t fished there so I thought that I would give it a go. That is until I arrived and found most of the swims taken with a stiff breeze straight into my face. Now I know that it is supposed to be good to fish facing the wind at times but I really hate it and it is not my idea of fun so I turned round and went to an adjacent lake where I have fished before. There was one guy fishing there so we had a chat for a bit before I found an ideal swim, not far from the car park and surrounded by trees and bushes where I could tuck myself away from the wind. I set out my carp rod with a method feeder and cast it across to the nearby island then set up the float rod and thought that I would have a go at catching silvers. The depth was set at only about a foot from the last time I fished the local pond so I thought that I would give it a go and see what happened. (It could have been that I was too lazy to change it after carrying all my gear and setting it up!)

Anyway, I cast out and the float was soon moving around, lifting, going sideways, ducking under but each time I struck I didn’t connect with anything. I was fishing double maggots so decided to take one off and was immediately successful with a small roach followed by a rudd and more rudd, none of them very big so I decided to fish a bit deeper to see if that helped. During all this I was regularly refilling the method feeder and casting it out and also catapulted some 8mm pellets that I had to try and attract the fish. I was getting the odd beep from the buzzer which sounded like line bites which was encouraging as it showed that fish were around.

I carried on pulling out the rudd at a fish a cast and for a change pulled out a tiny perch, they are beautiful looking fish, and was enjoying myself watching the float when the buzzer went for real and I was into a fish. I could tell that it was a carp by the way it was pulling and had to be careful as the swim had trees overhanging each side so I had to keep the fish directly in front of me. It is times like this that I find that I need more than two hands, and the arms to go with them! I had to take the float rod out of the water before I caught another rudd and get all tangled up, then I had to reach for the carp net, which was behind me on a flat piece of grass while all the time playing the fish and not letting it slip the hook. I managed to do all this and gradually brought the fish in closer and could see that it was a nice common. After a few minutes I got him close to the net when he did what carp always seem to do and got a new lease of life and was off again. However, he soon tired and I got him into the net and brought him close to the bank where I left him for a minute while I laid out the unhooking mat and got the scales ready. He weighed in at eleven and a half pounds and taking off the weight of the wet landing net was a good nine pounds. I soon slipped him back and he was away while I sat down for a well-deserved rest and a cuppa!

I put out the carp rod again and decided to have a change from float fishing and use my feeder rod to get the bait to the bottom and try to catch something bigger. Last season I changed from a cage feeder to a small method feeder as I was getting all sorts of tangles and it was still on the rod so I used that. I stuck with maggots on the hook and cast out into the swim I had been catching in and waited for the rod to bend around like it does in the YouTube videos. Unfortunately, all I got was some tentative nibbles which I wasn’t sure I should strike and even these died away as the afternoon wore on to evening time. In fact it all got a bit quiet, here I was expecting the fish to come on the feed but instead the opposite happened. I wasn’t even getting any line bites on the buzzer and noticed that the other angler had packed up and gone home so I was all alone. Not quite all alone as the sound of an aircraft grew nearer and louder until it passed overhead and I could see that it was the air ambulance. It made a couple of circuits and I could hear it landing nearer the town before shutting down. I love seeing aircraft but not the air ambulance as its arrival always means that someone has had a serious accident and can’t wait five hours for a road ambulance!

And that was about the last of the excitement for the evening. No more fish and when it got to eight o’ clock I thought that I would go home for my dinner. So, my first proper lake session of the year came to an end with a decent common and plenty of small fish to keep me busy! Nothing on the feeder rod though, I will really have to think about what I need to do to improve and now that I am back fishing think about what I want to achieve this year. I have had a couple of summers now and caught some nice fish. Time to ring the changes I think.