Five Years Have Passed

 Sunday 27th August 2023

When I started this blog it was meant to be a tool to release some of the frustrations and anxiety I face in my battle with depression and I was always going to maintain the blog and update it regularly, but a lot has changed since I last wrote anything and I haven't been fishing for nearly 18 months.

We welcomed a new member to the family when my granddaughter Daisy was born almost 4 four years ago, Charlie was given the best news ever that he did not have to have anymore MRI scans and that his consultant said that there is 0% chance of the tumour making a return.  The magnitude of this news was, and is, immense and even writing it here has got me worried that it will in some way tempt fate.

Anyway, back to this.  I have toyed with the idea of scrapping the blog and starting again and not focus so much on fishing, maybe write about West Bromwich Albion or life in general, who knows.

Bank Holiday Meltdown, Ejaculating Carp and Somersaulting Ducks

Monday 7th May 2018

Friezland Pools, Bosworth Water Park, Leicestershire

Temperature – 27 degrees

My latest adventures on the bankside saw me heading over to the fishery where it all began for me three years ago, following a quick chat at work between Luke and myself when we decided to head over to Friezland Pools on Bank Holiday Monday.  For years I had no interest in fishing and often berated Luke and Damian for participating in what I then considered a barbaric sport, but look at me now.  I am a piscatorial monster and I lay the blame squarely at the feet of Luke Smith.

With the promise of fine weather I figured that I would be better off heading over to the fishery for when it opened, but as usual I dillied and dallied at home and it was about 07:30 when I set off on the 30 mile trip from Birmingham and headed up the M42.  The drive was uneventful and I had planned on leaving the venue and driving straight to my hotel that had been booked for me at Sedgefield, Co. Durham, for the night so I could get an early start on a job at Bishop Auckland on Tuesday.  It was then that I realised that as usual I had forgotten something at home and this time it was my Citolopram anxiety medication.  I considered turning around but I’d missed a few days anyway so another one wouldn’t make much difference.  I know that the medication is to help me, I know that I should take it and I know it’s something I should remember to do every day but some days I just forget.

By the time I arrived at 08.45, there was one peg next to Luke left and the place was heaving with anglers.  They have four pools at the venue, one has only ever been used for match fishing whenever I’d been there, one is for night fishing only and the other two, the Main Pool and Pam’s Pool are for day ticket fishing, but today it seemed that all of them were in use.  I parked up and got my seat box onto the peg so no-one could steal it from under my nose and began to set up.  Luke told me the fish were spawning and the margins were full of randy Carp, both Mirror’s and Common’s, so that kind of determined that today was going to be a loaded waggler sort of day and so I set up my 12’ Maver Match rod with my trusty Daiwa Harrier reel, the float was a 6” loaded crystal insert waggler.  I’d bought a set of pole rollers and a really good selection of pole rigs (14 rigs for £12) on amazon recently and was hoping to use those but the circumstances dictated otherwise.

Luke's peg (left) and mine (centre)

The Carp were busy splashing around in the reeds or feeding on the surface so I guessed fishing the bottom might not get me too many bites so after plumbing the depth I set up so I would be a few inches off dead depth.  The plan was to keep the fish interested in the swim with small but regular feeding of three or four maggots every minute or so, nothing too much, just enough to keep them there and also give them a chance to deed with confidence.  I then fixed a SSG shot to the hook and cast out about five or six metres in front and to the left and got the depth there sorted.  I now had my guides for the areas I was going to target and was ready to start fishing.  It was now that it struck me just how much I’d improved since my first time and that all the magazine articles I’ve been reading have sunk in.  When I first started I never knew about plumbing the depth of the water, what signs to look for in a swim or which tactics I was going to adopt, so I kind of surprised myself.

The first few hours were very quiet with the odd nudge of the float or line bite but I wasn’t alone as no-one around me seemed to be getting anywhere but there was the odd fish caught and I landed a few Commons and Mirrors weighing around 1 1/2lbs or so and a couple of young Commons that sat comfortably in the palm of my hand, youngsters from early in the year I’m guessing.  There were a few times when I’d lost the fish right on the edge of the landing net but I wasn’t upset or frustrated by it, I was just glad to be fishing and enjoying the company of Luke and his lad Rhys.  We sat on the bankside just chilling out, discussing the issues at work and just relaxing.

Luke had started off with his feeder rod and had his second rod set up with his control float rig for surface fishing with breadflake.  Throughout the day there had been a flurry of activity with a raft of Mallard ducks over by the island and one poor female becoming the focus of attention of about five or six randy males who seemed hell bent on mating with her.  The female was having none of it and was very vocal in her protestations at this unwelcome attention and kept trying to make her escape but they just did not seem to understand she wasn’t interested and pursued her around the pool.  By now Luke had switched to the control float and was about to provide the first comedy moment of the day.  The female had decided that enough was enough and made good her escape via the peg next to Luke’s, and she went with a real attitude as well as she waddled up the bank and looking over her shoulder.  It looked like she was really pee’d off and in a right mardy mood.  Anyway, this now meant Luke had four or five males right in front of him, just where he was casting.  One of these males decided that he’d grab some of the bread on offer and after scoffing the nearest bit of bread he was off.  However, he’d taken Luke’s bait and he took off, presumably after the hook dug in, and began to fly away from Luke.  The line ran out and the duck had reached about eight or nine feet from the water when his head jerked back and his backside overtook it as he somersaulted from the sky and hit the water like a Japanese kamikaze pilot that had missed his target.

I sat there giggling like a lunatic as Luke tried several times to reel his catch in but the duck would come so far and then flap furiously and get away or would tangle itself up in the line and panic a little more.  Throughout it all there was a calmness coming from Luke’s peg but on the odd occasion there was a swear word or two that passed his lips.  Eventually he managed to get the duck on the bankside and had to sit with the body clamped between his legs and both hands around the neck as Rhys unhooked and untangled the beast.  Of course a proper mate would have rushed over to assist but I was too busy laughing and it looked like he had everything under control.  Luke then washed the ducks bill and held onto the bird until he was satisfied there was no lasting damage done and then helped it on its way skywards with a gentle toss into the air.  Funnily enough we didn’t see any other ducks come near us after this little episode.

Typical shot patterns

By now the sun was getting really hot and the big lake on the water park which is across the road was getting busy.  The noise suggested there were quite a few making the most of the fine weather and cars were being parked up around the entrance to the fishing pools as the crowds arrived to enjoy the Bank Holiday sunshine.  The fishing seemed to have died off a little, something I have noticed about this fishery in the past though so I wasn’t too surprised.  Things quieten down for a few hours but then suddenly pick up again when the fish begin feeding again and it was during this lull in the activity that I decided to enter the dark and murky world of shotting patterns and see if minor adjustments would improve the presentation.  I moved the little Preston Innovations No.8 Shotz around the line to different configurations that I had been reading about in the magazines too see which worked best and I was astounded when I started to pick up bites.  I have considered shotting to be something of a dark art, but a few tweaks really can make a difference.

The sun was getting so hot that we began to start taking regular breaks in the shade by Luke’s car and knocking the fluids back to keep us rehydrated and poor Rhys looked to be wilting in the sun.  We made sure he was regularly applying suncream, as we all were, but it did get uncomfortable around lunchtime and any breeze was welcome.  Around mid-afternoon I decided it was time to hit the margins, which I had been feeding regularly throughout the day with a few maggots every so often.  It was like the fish were lining up to be caught and I was pulling out some nice Carp.  I mentioned to Luke that I’d had no Roach or Perch which was unusual for the fishery and he said he’d had none either and we decided that they must be hiding away from the spawning Carp who had been splashing around in the reeds all day.

It was around this time that I had an experience that I never want to go through again.  I had a decent Common in my landing net and bought the net to my lap so I could unhook it.  I held the fish firmly with my left hand as I used the disgorger with the right.  I was aware of something running down my leg but just assumed it was lake water, so imagine my surprise when I looked down to see the milky whiteness of the Carp’s passion porridge running down my leg.  I now had some idea of what those naughty girls from my area went through after they had been diddled in the local brook after the Thursday night disco at the Hurst Road Community Centre.  I felt slightly sick, but then a feeling of guilt washed over me when I thought that this poor fish might only get one chance to deposit his stuff and because of me he would have to wait another year.  I quickly cleaned myself up and released the fish back into the lake and decided to keep quiet about it, but then a voice from the peg next to me on my left said “The dirty b*****d has dumped his load all over me” and so I didn’t feel quite so violated.

Right then it’s time to head off now and prepare for the joys that tomorrow will bring, but before I do I would like to ask that people leave a comment or two below.  I’d like to know what everyone thinks of these ramblings but sometimes I feel like I’m the only one reading them….

See you on the bankside…..

Match Fishing Is Scary !!!!

Saturday 14^th April 2018

Alvechurch Fisheries, Bittel Lane, Alvechurch

Weather – Warm(ish)

I started this post a few weeks ago but work and other things have got in the way a little so now I’m trying to catch up a bit.  I’ve been thinking of entering an open match at one of the many fisheries dotted around Birmingham but after what I saw when I went down to Alvechurch Fisheries a few weeks ago (14th April) to watch a friend of mine who had entered one I’ve had second thoughts.  You need ALL of the gear to compete with some of the blokes who regularly enter these contests, all bedecked in their sponsored kit.  One bloke was like a walking advertisement for Guru and he had everything, the works, everything was black and orange, from his hat right down to his hook-length boxes.  I don’t think there wasn’t anything not stamped with the Guru logo, and he was not the only one.  Everywhere you looked there was an angler wearing the colours of some well-known tackle manufacturer and this got me thinking about how fishing has changed from what I remember when my Dad used to fish in contests.

Back in the 1970’s when the old man was a member of the Barleycorn Angling Club, he would set off early doors on a Sunday to get the coach and all he would have with him was his trusty old wicker creel, his rod bag with his float rod and what he called a “quiver tip”. I’m guessing he would mean feeder rod now but this thing was just the top section of a rod which fitted onto his normal float rod.  He didn’t have some carbon fibre pole that cost thousands, he didn’t have a huge selection of baits, just 2 pints of bronze maggots in his green plastic container, a bag of groundbait and his little mixing bowl and that was it.  No flavourings or anything that people have today, just the basics.

Back then the older members would chip up on the bankside with a shirt and tie on but the old man had his fishing clothes, a thick chunky Arran sweater, old work trousers, Wellington boots and thick woollen fisherman’s socks rolled over his boots.  I’m pretty sure he had a coat of some sort but I can’t remember seeing one.  He’d then bowl off up the road with his no name rod holdall, and wicker creel slung over his shoulder with his sandwiches and tartan flask full of tea and meet his mate for a lift to the pub car park before they boarded the coach that would take them to whichever stretch of river they were fishing that day.  Sometimes it would be the Severn at Hampton Loade, the Avon at Stratford or Tewkesbury, the Anker at Tamworth or one of the many other waters that were held by the Birmingham Anglers Association, but I don’t remember him ever fishing a stillwater venue.

One thing that does stick in my mind is the night before a contest though.  He always got his maggots and tackle from Allmarks Sports on Waterloo Road, Smethwick and he had a green “EFGEECO” bait tub with a white lid.  Strange that I remember that name after all these years.  If he bought a new float he would fill the bath with water after tea and work out his shotting patterns beforehand.  To me it was, and still is, a dark art, and I had no idea what he was supposed to be doing, but he would take some off, put some on and move the shot up and down until he got the float where he wanted it and he was happy.  Now when I go to Angling Direct in Halesowen or Fisherman’s Friend in Smethwick, I can pick up a pole rig pre-shotted and ready to go or I can just take out a loaded waggler and add whatever little Shotz I need for the presentation.  There seems to be something of an art to river fishing though and maybe the commercial lakes and fisheries have made anglers a little bit more lazy.

Anyway, this match fishing malarkey is not for me and I think it will be a long time before I think about entering one but saying that I am due to fish in a two headed match for my mate Dawn Shuttlewood’s scratch team against some war veterans from the Derby area who she is connected with.  Dawn goes along and gives these blokes a hand with the landing of fish or whatever they need any help with.  I’ve been told that these blokes are good anglers and we’re really up against it, but it’s for a good cause and we’re sure to have some banter with them.  Dawn has organised it for a friend of hers who is living out his days in a hospice and he is hoping to come down and watch the fishing.  I hope he can.

This opens up a new can of worms for me to rant about now regarding the sponsorship of anglers on the match circuit.  Maybe if the tackle manufacturers were to donate equipment to groups like the Derby veterans or a hospice so anglers who unfortunately need the hospice could enjoy a day’s fishing.  I know how fishing has helped me with my depression and how it allows me to sit on the bankside and just let life wash over me, allows me to forget all those little niggling issues that life throws at me and lets me find some peace and solace within myself.  I don’t worry about the mundane, everyday issues of work or life in general and maybe it would bring a little peace to someone who is coming to terms with a terminal illness or has disabilities, both mental and physical, from serving their country.

Come on tackle manufacturers, get involved…..

Right I’ve had my rant….See you on the bankside

2018 Easter Bank Holiday Madness

Monday 2^nd April 2018 (Bank Holiday)

Springwood Fisheries, Melbourne, Derbyshire, DE73 8BJ

Cost - £6 day ticket

Weather – Raining

In the summer, the company I work for held a contest organised as part of the 40^th Anniversary of the firm at this fishery.  There are a few anglers at work and it was decided to hold a contest where the winner would be the person who could get as close to 40lbs of fish as they could.  Higher or lower, as long as you had the closest bag full to the magical 40lb weight you were the winner.  It was organised by Dawn Shuttlewood who is an avid angler and a well-known face around the bankside at the fishery and it was decided that family members could also enter, so we all knew we had some stiff competition from Dawn’s hubby Mike, who is also well known at Springwood.  Dawn’s Dad was going to officiate and he would weigh the carp (if any were caught) so they could be released back into the lake and not kept in the landing net with whatever silvers were caught.

The weather on the day was red hot and a great time was had by all with money being raised for the chosen charity, and far be it from me to cast aspersions, but the top three were Mike, Dawn and Matt Peace.  Dawn and Matt were / are members of the 40^th Anniversary Committee, but as I said it isn’t my place to cast aspersions or question the results…. All joking aside, I have been desperate to get back there and fish the bottom lake again.  Unfortunately for Luke he was on a family holiday when we had the contest and I had been raving about the place for ages so we decided to make it our first outing of the year.

The not so waterproof boots

As usual I arrived late after reaching the M6 – M42 junction, about 15 miles from home, and realising I had left my maggots in the fridge.  I promptly called myself a few choice names and turned around to retrieve the missing bait.  The weather was, to put it mildly, pants but I was armed with my newly purchased ex-British Army desert boots, that had seen service in Afghanistan according to the bloke at Ryder’s where I got them, and my also newly purchased olive green waterproof trousers so I wasn’t bothered by a little water.  I raced around the motorway and was soon heading along the flooded country lanes that led to my destination.  I arrived and saw that Luke and John were already set up, huddled beneath their umbrellas on the opposite bank with the rain at their backs.  I made my way over suitably attired and realised that my new boots were far from water-proof.  I heard “Well they are for the desert you tit” coming from the direction of Luke in reaction to my moaning.

Luke and John had decided that the feeder approach was the order of the day but for me it was always going to be a loaded waggler day.  I don’t know how to describe the feeling you get when your float dips below the surface on your first session of the year, it’s like something washes away all of those niggles and frustrations you’ve endured through the winter and you’re released from the trials and tribulations of work for a few hours at least.  I set up with the trusty Maver 12’ Match rod and Garbolino reel, loaded with 4lb line with a 4” float shotted down with my equally trusty Preston Innovations No. 10 Shotz and finished off with a 6” Size 16 hooklength.  After plumbing the depth I selected two red maggots who were about to give their souls for my enjoyment and I launched my first cast.  The sense of relief washed over me as my season started in earnest.  Saying ’washed over’ doesn’t really do it justice to be honest, it was more like physically feeling the stress lift from me, an almost spiritual sensation if you’re one of those tree hugger hippy types.

The Bottom Pool

Anyway, between periods of rain and a watery sort of sunshine, the ground became more and more waterlogged and soon it was beginning to resemble the photographs of the Western Front.  The water was running down small, shallow ditches into the lake right beside us, the cold started to bite as the day wore on but no-one complained, no-one seemed bothered by the weather and I think all three of us were just enjoying being out on the bankside, The fish were biting and I had a personal best Tench as well as a lot of nice Roach who looked to be in perfect condition, a few Chub and the odd Carp when I decided to get my Shimano 8m Pole out. Luke and John had targeted an area between the two islands and were having some nice Mirror and Common Carp of there, though Luke did manage to hit the overhanging tree branches more than once and the air turned blue at times.  Had the sun been out like on my first visit to the fishery it would have been an almost perfect day, but despite the weather I came away from the fishery on a high and planning my next visit.  I was tired, not so much physically but mentally, that lovely sort of tired that you know will guarantee a really good night’s sleep.

Springwood has now become my favourite fishery and I am hoping to get back there many more times over the summer.  The staff are friendly and offer advice willingly, the hot food available is of a high standard and the toilet facilities are very well looked after.  You can hire pods out for the night right next to the top lake or take a tent or caravan along and pitch up if you fancied making a weekend of it.  Have a look at their website by following the link and make your own mind up, but it is well worth a visit.

http://www.springwoodfisheries.com/

I can’t say enough about this place and they’ve got top marks from me...

See you on the bankside…..

Good Riddance 2017

A friend messaged me a while back asking if I had done anymore on this blog or had she missed my posts and I told her that I hadn't done anything on here for ages.  She said she enjoyed reading them and I was a little surprised because I honestly thought that no one really took any notice of my ramblings and rants, but apparently people do so I thought it was about time I did some more.  I started this blog as a way to release my creativity and avoid the frustration I experience with other aspects of my life and as a way to deal with and manage my bouts of depression but just lately I seem to have slipped back into a very dark place and I'm struggling to find a way out.

Charlie

The last few months of 2017, will go down as the darkest and worst that I have ever encountered in my life and they certainly haven't helped with my depression or anxiety and fishing has been a long way down on my list of priorities.  The reason for this is that my 3 year old grandson, Charlie, was diagnosed with cancer in his bladder at the end of October, and he became the Number One priority in my life.  Life's little annoyances and issues pale into insignificance when faced with this sort of news and you adopt a much more balanced view on what is important and what isn't.  You have questions, everyone does when the 'C' word is mentioned, but once things are explained to you and you start to understand the condition then you kind of slip into auto-pilot and take each day as it comes.

I have found that a lot of the positive energy you need to deal with devastating circumstances like those we faced as a family come from those involved in the fight against this vile disease at the coalface.  My main source of positivity has been Charlie himself, and also my daughter-in-law Sophie and my son Jake.  They have dealt with the news that their little boy has this condition and they have just got on with it, remained positive for Charlie and kind of carried the rest of us along with them.  I have yet to meet two braver and stronger people than those two and they have been so inspirational to everyone with their attitude.  Yes, they have had moments when it's all seemed too much for them, but they have refocused and regrouped and came back stronger each time.

We are now at a point in Charlie's treatment where there is light at the end of the tunnel and in a few weeks time we are looking forward to him being free of this most disgusting and vile disease.  He's still got a long fight ahead of him, we must not lose sight of that, but Charlie has proved he's a fighter, a real little whirlwind battler who has kept us all positive with the smiles like the one in the photo.  I am so proud of the three of them and probably don't tell them often enough really.

I have lots of fishing trips planned with this little bundle of energy and hopefully will have lots more positive posts of our adventures on the bankside.....

First Bonus Day of 2017....

Thursday 23rd March 2017
Poppleton Lakes, A59, Boroughbridge Road, Poppleton, York, North Yorkshire, YO26 8JU
Railway PoolWeather - Sunny with strong breezes
Temperature - Cold

This last week I've been working up around Leeds and so I have been able to stay with my Daughter, Emma, Son-in-Law, Jim and Grand-daughter, Edith at York.  I see them all quite regularly but not as much as I would like to, so any time with them is a real joy and Edith is growing so fast so I really treasure these visits.  One thing they don't prepare you for when you have children is how quickly time seems to pass you by and it seems that one minute you have your own little blonde three year old running around being whichever Disney Princess is the current favourite, and in the blink of an eye she has her own doing exactly the same thing.  I love the time I get to spend with Edith, though having to watch Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig and a whole host of other cartoons is a little trying at times and I long for the days when 24 hour cartoon channels were a thing of the future and Children's TV was only aired between 3.30 and 6pm weekdays.

I had jobs at Leeds Railway station for a very well known and very well established newsagent. bookseller and stationer who has featured heavily on both train stations and the High Streets of the UK for over 200 years, so I turned up for my first job only to find that another one of my sites scheduled for a few days later, was right next door to my first site.  Now it seemed silly to me that I should come back later in the week when I was already there, plus if I were to get this job done early it would free me up on Thursday and I would have just one site on the morning and this in turn meant I would have a free period on the afternoon.  Add to this mix the fact that I had all of my fishing gear on the van and it doesn't take a genius to work out how my mind was working and I could grab a few cheeky hours on the bankside.

With the job done I made my way from The White Rose Centre back to York to collect Jim and we were off for a few hours fishing at the complex just off the busy outer ring road.  First we had to find Mitre Angling for the bait and I was sure I knew where it was but it turned out I had my roads mixed up and instead of being on the Poppleton Road, the shop was on Shipton Road.  We bought a pint of yellow maggots and a pint of reds after asking the owner what was the best bait for the venue and she also advised us to fish the Railway Pool.  We set off and pulled up on the car park within 10 minutes of leaving the shop.

There are 6 lakes on the complex which are the House Lake No 1 which has 25 pegs and is of the snake design.  There are plenty of features to fish to all pegs are of hard standing and are with in easy reach of the car park.  House lake No2 is a mirror image of lake No1 also with 25 pegs.  The Doughnut is next just past the owners bungalow, this also has 25 pegs and is accessed by crossing a man made bridge.  The Railway Lake is the furthest away from the car parks this also has 25 pegs, with one long central island approx 13 metres away from all pegs and is considered to be a pole anglers dream.  The Horse Shoe Lake has 31 pegs in total and the middle section is 16 metres from one bank and 22 metres from the other, there are pegs down the middle section, this lake holds some of the venues biggest residents.  The final lake on the complex is The Specimen Pond where day and night fishing is allowed (though nights to be booked in advance) and you have to use your heavier gear in this lake and use your common sense when deciding on how to approach fishing it.

The Poppleton Lakes Complex

We decided that we would have a crack at the Railway Lake at the far end of the venue, situated adjacent the line that runs from York to Harrogate.  There were some seriously long poles being used on a few of the first lakes we passed so I wasn't sure whether there was a contest going on and thought it would be better for us and them to fish elsewhere.

We made our way down past the cafe and owners bungalow and could have gone onto one of the two islands in the lake which are accessed by bridges, but we opted for the bank closest to the railway lines which gave us a stretch of water about 50 yards long and 12 metres wide in which to fish.  The wind was picking up a little and coming onto us from the north-east making the temperature drop a few degrees.  There was little in the way of cover to act as a windbreak coming down the stretch of water we were on and accurate casting with the loaded wagglers was difficult at first due to the conditions.  I had decided to set Jim up with the Maver Abyss X 12' Float rod and he was soon into his very first fish, a small Roach.  He said he'd been fishing before on the River Ouse, but had never caught anything and so I figured he'd benefit from the slightly heavier gear rather than the old Isis 10' float rod with the Silstar reel which was very light in comparison., so I set him up with the loaded waggler and plumbed to depth for him and he was off.  It wasn't long before he was getting bites and I advised him to keep throwing out a few freebies to get the fish interested.  Within minutes his float disappeared beneath the surface and he struck his first fish, a small Roach.

I was using my older lighter gear which is ideal for the canals but not so good when it comes to stillwaters because there would be no way of landing anything bigger than about 5lbs and there were supposed to be some heavy lumps in this water.  I needn't have worried about these bigger fish because after 90 minutes of trying, of moving pegs and general frustration I was biteless.  Jim on the other hand had caught 2 or 3 more but he was a bit squeamish about touching the fish and I had to unhook them for him.  I had started to worry that my 2 year record of not blanking was about to go west and I would have to suffer the shame of getting water whacked on this session.

I decided to try one last swim just on a corner where the lake came round an island and the wind wasn't blowing so hard across the surface.  The wind had made it feel very cold and this had not helped my mood as I faced the prospect of a 'blank' and so I cast out to a point halfway between the peg and the bend.  Straight away the float started bobbing up and down as I got a few line bites and my excitement started to grow.  The float dibbed below the surface but returned straight away, down it went again and straight back up it came.  I was going to have to time this right but I have never managed to time the strike correctly when there is activity like this on the float.  Down again but this time it was a slower descent and it stayed down longer, I struck and felt that tug you always get when you've got a good contact.  The line started vibrating as the fish tried to dive but a few turns of the reel handle and a little silver Skimmer rose to the surface and rolled onto it's side.  I wasn't going to blank today.....

Jim had been getting himself in a tangle and I spent some time pulling line from under the spool for him and after getting his sorted I wandered off to have a look at the adjacent pool.  The wind was hardly noticeable here as the trees that lined the end of the pool we were on stopped it and there was a very noticeable increase in temperature.  I went back to Jim and told him and we decided to give this pool a try.

We moved everything wholesale down to the new pegs and while we were getting settled a nice looking Carp broke the surface as if he (or she) were checking out the interlopers making all the noise.  Jim had been getting a few bites on his line but he hadn't caught anything for a while and so I was able to see what was going on.  It turned out that he would cast out fine, feed the swim with little amounts of maggots but he wasn't knocking his bale arm over so any strike he made was just pulling line from the reel and he was getting tangled up.  Once we sorted that little problem out he was off again but unfortunately he wasn't destined to land another fish, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Jim will be back for another session.

We had to pick up Edith from the childminders and so with the clock running down we began to pack everything away but I did manage to land a 4lb Mirror Carp before we did so and this ended a very enjoyable, but cold session.  No more fishing for me for a few weeks as I have a busy period coming up with work, my rod licence expires on the 31st March and I will be going to the Northern Angling Show in Manchester on the 1st April.  The licence will be renewed soon and I may buy myself a Waterways Wanderers pass at the same time, but for now until these two very important things are bought its time to go through my gear and replace what needs replacing and give it all a good clean...

See you on the bankside.....