Here on an English spring Sunday the temperature is
-2 and we have several inches of snow on the ground with more falling, it’s
bloody horrible. I’m usually pretty
relaxed about the weather, we get what we get and it’s mostly shit but this
winter has gone on forever, it’s become oppressive. The Sunday newspapers report it is the
longest winter for fifty years. I can’t
wait for spring, even ten degrees will feel like a heat wave and people will be
smiling again.
It has snowed for the last 36 hours, the temperature
outside here at 10:26 is -2*C yet still I sit here with an urge to go
fishing. I’m not going to go, that would
be madness but still a snow fish photo is tempting and the landscape looks
lovely with this covering of white stuff.
However it’s just so bloody cold that it’s painful to exposed skin and
it just wouldn’t be fun. Instead I stayed
in the warm, listened to music, wrote stuff and got ready to go out gigging
tonight. Off to London with Giles and
meeting up with Rob, Piking friends in the smoke to see “Wire” at a club near
the river. Despite a few mishaps which
go with the territory we had a top night but by God it was cold crossing the
river.
Ian Chillcott is one of the better Carpy writers and
is another angler who isn’t afraid to speak his mind about things, Otters being
one example and he’s right! Although I
have little interest in Carpy politics I tend to support the reasons he founded
ECHO, it made sense to me. However I can’t
agree with his opinion in the latest issue of Carpology magazine, that ECHO is
the “most influential single species
group ever formed”. Sorry Ian but
that accolade has to go to the Pike Anglers Club of Great Britain which has
been in the trenches for over 35 years and despite the occasional hiccup along
the way, is now as active and relevant as ever.
In East Anglia John Currie, Mickey Cox and all
involved with the Norwich region have achieved what we all thought was
impossible in getting the Broads Authority to stop, listen, think and review
their dredging procedures on the Broads.
I’m happy to give the BA credit for this too, fair enough considering
the slagging I gave them a year ago. The
Cambridge branch has long been successful under a succession of RO’s, most
recently Wes & Jonno. I’ve been to
several packed, friendly rooms for a top speaker at Bottisham. In Suffolk Jason Skilton is reviving the
region and teaming up with Sean Ellis from Essex to help Pikers negotiate the
future of fishing at Abberton reservoir.
This kind of thing and much more goes on all over Great Britain as it
has since 1977.
More Information on these PAC regions here.
A day later the end of the cold weather is still not
in sight, who knows when I’ll get back out on the bank or what I’ll be fishing
for? Here’s a more cheerful photo
No comments:
Post a Comment