Hello again, I hope you all had a nice Christmas and have
had a good start to the New Year. I don’t know about you but there won’t be any
resolutions made by me, for fishing or anything else. I tend to take life as it
comes and if you want or would like to do something you need to work towards it
to make happen in my opinion.
Any way, on to the fishing.
On a day off, I popped down to the river for a quick session
on a clearer day in between the rain fronts. Heading out in the afternoon, with
crazy thoughts about the state of the river and what weird things where going
to be left hanging from the trees, I made my way to a known pike swim with a
good friend of mine, Moxey. We where pretty sure no one was going to be in the
swim due to the harsh weather and the river being in the state it was. Guess
what… there wasn’t. So we set up and sat back to wait for some indication of
life in the swim. An hour or so past with no signs of any fish, so the baits
where repositioned into areas where the pike lay and we sat back with
expectation of a bite. The tip my rod started to move ever so slightly, with
constant little knocks. I cautiously picked up my rod, not wanting to cause any
resistance to the fish, and felt the vibration coming through the line. I knew
there was a fish on the other end. I tightened the drag, wound down to it and
struck. With a good bend in my rod I was confident the hooks had set. The fish
fought hard for a few minutes, with the usual tricks of tail walking and kiting
into the margins, trying to shake the hooks.
8lb 2oz
With the pictures and weighing complete, the Pike was safely
returned to fight another day.
So I was happy. We just needed Moxey to catch one before we
returned home, but unfortunately, he didn't. Eventually it got dark, and with
no more fish we willingly packed up, looking forward to the heat of the car.
A couple of days after I received a message from Moxey
saying he wanted to fish a local lake for Carp soon, as he had won a days
fishing there. The river was still carrying a lot of extra water therefore I
was glad he got in touch. We set out to the lake on an unusually warm winter’s
day at around 7:30am to arrive at 8am for first light. Upon a safe arrival we eagerly
strolled around the lake to see if anyone had caught through the night, and
more importantly to try and spot some feeding fish. Nothing had come out
through the night (well that’s what we were told) so we definitely needed to
see some signs of fish feeding before setting up. We found a good swim where
the inlet entered the lake that looked like it would hold some fish and then we
saw a cluster of bubbles rise, which was unquestionably a Carp feeding.
Within ten minuets we had been back to the car, collected
all of our gear and were in the swim setting up. Whilst we checked the rigs
were in good order there was a fizzing again in the same place, which gave us
high hopes of catching. I allowed a few minutes before casting out, so as not
to spook the fish, and with rigs and bait positioned perfectly, the wait began.
Hour by hour past, with signs of Carp in our swim, and the
surface was breaking with tiny fry bursting out, fleeing from the predators
attack. I repositioned the rig, accompanied by a small PVA stick of crumbed
boilies over the area where the fish had been spotted feeding. We found ourselves again sat watching fry burst
out of the murky water swimming for their lives. When, next thing I know my
alarm sounds, and I'm in. The fish instantly attempted a dive in to weed,
fortunately I stopped it. Then it tried again, this time succeeding. Luckily Moxey
was there and was already going in after it, otherwise I would have been taking
a dip!
A lovely Mirror had been tempted to feed by my bait, which
was not too lucky for the fish, but as always, made my day.
A few days of work quickly flew by leading up to my next day
off, which would see me back out on my search for a fish. With the river
virtually back to normal I thought the Carp might be in one of their regular
feeding areas and could be easily tempted by my bait. It was a miserable, grey,
overcast day and there was a possibility of light rain. My plan was to bait
accurately, then sit under the brolly, drinking tea, keeping dry. I was pleased
that there wasn't one drop of rain all day but there was another thing missing,
a bite. I had seen some indications of active fish in the area but could not determine the species, so the only thing I could do was hope for a Carp.
My alarm sounded with a screaming run from what I thought
was going to be a Carp, but when I picked up my rod, I knew it wasn't. With
little effort the fish’s head turned, which I didn't expect, and then it hit
the surface. It was a Bream, the first catch of the New Year for me and it certainly brightened
up my day.
8lb
