Christmas came with much over indulgence, Christmas went with more of the same. The days were grey with little sign of the sun, one blending into the next, what day is it now? Cabin fever looms... Even my teenage son was growing weary of his bedroom full of technology and eagerly agreed to a morning by the water to break the routine.
We didn't get up silly early but were still first to the water and afloat before it was fully daylight. By 0730 we were relaxed and fishing with deadbaits scattered about the boat and friendly insults scattered within it. Before long a convoy of cars arrived as expected, at least four anglers would be lining the banks today. I always give the bank anglers a wide berth and usually enjoy a chat with most of them, never any friction. I was surprised to see two anglers appear in the swim directly opposite us showing intentions of setting up. Both Isaac and I had a recast, an unsubtle signal which had the desired effect, after a bit of muttering the two anglers separated to other swims but given the choice available they were still too close for comfort.
Meanwhile I looked up to see one of my floats zipping along the surface, I quickly wound down but the fish dropped the bait. Still where there's one there is often more. Half an hour later the same rod, baited with Mackerel was moving again, this time I made contact with a spirited fish that I managed to unhook alongside the boat. That would do for me, I just wanted Isaac to catch now.
It must have taken an hour for our neighbours to get set up, I watched with a critical eye, they looked to me like once a year Pikers using their carp gear. A few more deadbaits splashed down into the area which made it a few too many. We decided that we'd have a move as soon as we'd eaten our breakfast toasted sandwhiches, the ridge monkey is a good bit of kit! With the stove cool and packed away we upped the weights and moved off, as I rowed away I noticed one of the anglers leave his swim with baits in the water and wander off to chat with his mate, my expression of dismay was ignored, as were the curses that followed... This water has a lot going for it but access to ignorant muppets isn't one of them, there have been signs of poor angling for as long as I've fished here. When Isaac caught his PB I removed his trace along with two others. The rules are printed plain as day but are obviously being ignored.
We recommenced fishing on a narrower, shallower stretch. This was a 'shit or bust' move, sometimes the Pike are here in numbers but other days it just seems dead. More than anything the choice had been made to avoid other anglers. By 1100, after a couple of moves it seemed we'd shit out as nothing had disturbed our baits. We decided to pack most of the gear up but leave one rod so Isaac could troll a deadbait, just one more Pike would round the morning off nicely. I rowed as far as possible upstream without a touch then turned and headed back towards the boat yard.
As we rowed through one of the spots we'd already fished Isaac's float stabbed and slid away but as he wound down the float popped back up, bugger! We circled round to cover the area again and were mid turn when the float once again plopped under but for a second time the bait was dropped. The joey Mackerel was looking chewed but still whole however I switched it for a small Smelt, if Isaac got lucky again then he'd be able to strike instantly. We were almost through the swim when the float slid away once more. This time Isaac set the hooks quickly and soon bullied the smallest Pike in the water into the boat. With honours even we were both happy to head for home.
2018.
Another year of the post truth age has flown by... The world went mad some time ago so I find it best to try and ignore all of the bollocks that makes the Ten o'clock news (I am mostly successful but not always) and concentrate on the things that make us happy, Adnams beer is high on this list. Family comes first and thankfully everything is fine in my world, mostly happy people doing well and also healing where necessary. Pray it continues...
I love to read, on average I go through a book a week and this year really enjoyed books by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ali Smith, Ian Rankin, Mick Herron and Haruki Murakami amongst many others. My favourites of the year were "How I killed Margaret Thatcher" by Anthony Cartwright - if only... "Fingers in the sparkle jar" by Chris Packham was surprisingly good and very moving and "Dead man's trousers" by Irvine Welsh a brilliant continuation of the 'Trainspotting saga'.
Then there's cricket which was anything but joyous early in the year; outplayed in Australia, embarrassing in New Zealand and woeful at Lords against Pakistan. Having leveled that series things got dramatically better with a good win against India including those emotional scenes at the Oval and a very good win in Sri Lanka. After a couple of turbulent years the test match team is starting to come together again. We also have the best ODI team in the world, next year they have to prove it.
I was spoiled with lots of live music experiences this year, the best were Eels at Brixton Academy which was almost perfect and the Killers at Latitude which was part of a mad, over indulgent festival evening. Other good shows through the year included The Charlatans, James, PIL, The Vaccines, The Wailers, Wolf Alice, The Levellers and Fucked up who I'm seeing again next month.
Then there's fishing which has been much the same as most years. Pike fishing started steadily in January but the horrible arctic weather ruined my grand plans for a spectacular seasons end. A bit of Roach fishing went okay but the BIG fish seem to be a thing of the past now. Apart from an early spring Carp my warm weather fishing would be described as an anti climax if it wasn't so predictable. The start of this Pike season has been a hard slog but ultimately rewarding.
My fishing highlight? This time last year I wrote about losing what would probably have been a lure caught PB. A few months later I had a rematch with another Pike on another water with a different lure and this time, despite getting my landing net snagged, I managed to somehow win the battle. I was delighted to add a few pounds to the 19.08 I caught on a Suick Thriller in 1999. But the fish in the photo below isn't either of them. Happy New Year.
We didn't get up silly early but were still first to the water and afloat before it was fully daylight. By 0730 we were relaxed and fishing with deadbaits scattered about the boat and friendly insults scattered within it. Before long a convoy of cars arrived as expected, at least four anglers would be lining the banks today. I always give the bank anglers a wide berth and usually enjoy a chat with most of them, never any friction. I was surprised to see two anglers appear in the swim directly opposite us showing intentions of setting up. Both Isaac and I had a recast, an unsubtle signal which had the desired effect, after a bit of muttering the two anglers separated to other swims but given the choice available they were still too close for comfort.
Meanwhile I looked up to see one of my floats zipping along the surface, I quickly wound down but the fish dropped the bait. Still where there's one there is often more. Half an hour later the same rod, baited with Mackerel was moving again, this time I made contact with a spirited fish that I managed to unhook alongside the boat. That would do for me, I just wanted Isaac to catch now.
It must have taken an hour for our neighbours to get set up, I watched with a critical eye, they looked to me like once a year Pikers using their carp gear. A few more deadbaits splashed down into the area which made it a few too many. We decided that we'd have a move as soon as we'd eaten our breakfast toasted sandwhiches, the ridge monkey is a good bit of kit! With the stove cool and packed away we upped the weights and moved off, as I rowed away I noticed one of the anglers leave his swim with baits in the water and wander off to chat with his mate, my expression of dismay was ignored, as were the curses that followed... This water has a lot going for it but access to ignorant muppets isn't one of them, there have been signs of poor angling for as long as I've fished here. When Isaac caught his PB I removed his trace along with two others. The rules are printed plain as day but are obviously being ignored.
We recommenced fishing on a narrower, shallower stretch. This was a 'shit or bust' move, sometimes the Pike are here in numbers but other days it just seems dead. More than anything the choice had been made to avoid other anglers. By 1100, after a couple of moves it seemed we'd shit out as nothing had disturbed our baits. We decided to pack most of the gear up but leave one rod so Isaac could troll a deadbait, just one more Pike would round the morning off nicely. I rowed as far as possible upstream without a touch then turned and headed back towards the boat yard.
As we rowed through one of the spots we'd already fished Isaac's float stabbed and slid away but as he wound down the float popped back up, bugger! We circled round to cover the area again and were mid turn when the float once again plopped under but for a second time the bait was dropped. The joey Mackerel was looking chewed but still whole however I switched it for a small Smelt, if Isaac got lucky again then he'd be able to strike instantly. We were almost through the swim when the float slid away once more. This time Isaac set the hooks quickly and soon bullied the smallest Pike in the water into the boat. With honours even we were both happy to head for home.
2018.
Another year of the post truth age has flown by... The world went mad some time ago so I find it best to try and ignore all of the bollocks that makes the Ten o'clock news (I am mostly successful but not always) and concentrate on the things that make us happy, Adnams beer is high on this list. Family comes first and thankfully everything is fine in my world, mostly happy people doing well and also healing where necessary. Pray it continues...
I love to read, on average I go through a book a week and this year really enjoyed books by Kazuo Ishiguro, Ali Smith, Ian Rankin, Mick Herron and Haruki Murakami amongst many others. My favourites of the year were "How I killed Margaret Thatcher" by Anthony Cartwright - if only... "Fingers in the sparkle jar" by Chris Packham was surprisingly good and very moving and "Dead man's trousers" by Irvine Welsh a brilliant continuation of the 'Trainspotting saga'.
Then there's cricket which was anything but joyous early in the year; outplayed in Australia, embarrassing in New Zealand and woeful at Lords against Pakistan. Having leveled that series things got dramatically better with a good win against India including those emotional scenes at the Oval and a very good win in Sri Lanka. After a couple of turbulent years the test match team is starting to come together again. We also have the best ODI team in the world, next year they have to prove it.
I was spoiled with lots of live music experiences this year, the best were Eels at Brixton Academy which was almost perfect and the Killers at Latitude which was part of a mad, over indulgent festival evening. Other good shows through the year included The Charlatans, James, PIL, The Vaccines, The Wailers, Wolf Alice, The Levellers and Fucked up who I'm seeing again next month.
Then there's fishing which has been much the same as most years. Pike fishing started steadily in January but the horrible arctic weather ruined my grand plans for a spectacular seasons end. A bit of Roach fishing went okay but the BIG fish seem to be a thing of the past now. Apart from an early spring Carp my warm weather fishing would be described as an anti climax if it wasn't so predictable. The start of this Pike season has been a hard slog but ultimately rewarding.
My fishing highlight? This time last year I wrote about losing what would probably have been a lure caught PB. A few months later I had a rematch with another Pike on another water with a different lure and this time, despite getting my landing net snagged, I managed to somehow win the battle. I was delighted to add a few pounds to the 19.08 I caught on a Suick Thriller in 1999. But the fish in the photo below isn't either of them. Happy New Year.
2 comments:
Top story telling old mate , theres a book in you sometime soon
Top story telling old mate , theres a book in you sometime soon , maybe one day we will dabble together, Deano the dangler chambers
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