Spring sprung??

13/04/09

After a winter fishing my favourite place in the world, the enforced (but welcome) break had temporarily taken away my motivation for fishing. In a cool early spring the barren bank sides and crowded fisheries just aren't enough to tempt me out of a warm bed, into cold weather gear and onto the water. In years passed I would have immediately started lure fishing when the traditional season ended but my experience is that type of fishing is painfully slow at this time of year, either that or I'm crap at it. However after a month I'm going a bit stir crazy and with a bit of comfortable mild weather over the weekend I was tempted out. What's more, despite everything I said I was lure fishing for Pike!

Technically I suppose I was lure fishing. I mean I had a rod and tackle, I was casting a spinnerbait around. I even had a couple of jacks follow it in but my main motivation (honest) was to suss the pit out for future Tench/Bream fishing. I also had my two youngest children and my dad following me round and while the latter is no problem, the former were in a mischievous mood. This meant they were climbing trees, diving in sand piles and jumping off steep banks. Not really conducive to a stealthy fishing approach. Thankfully there were few other anglers about for them to disturb, those that were around were fishing for carp and wrapped up in their strange little world. There were also other kids about behaving far worse than mine.

The pit itself bore the scars of a busy bank holiday weekend with lots of litter including used bog roll and broken beer bottles. It's probably always there but covered when the bank side vegetation has grown a bit higher. Looking away from the banks the pit itself looked nice with the lilly pads visible in the clear water, uncurling and pushing towards the surface. Spring is definately well on the way now and I'm getting the urge to have a fish again. The question is, can I take my brains out and enjoy fishing a day ticket gravel pit for Tench, Bream and dare I say it Carp????

Talking of taking my brains out, I read an old copy of “Carp & Coarse” magazine today. There were some very interesting and informative articles in it but others that were utter crap. There were also a couple that were written by “anglers” that only speak 'carp'. One of whom claimed to have been “woken up” by a Bream that “must have been at least 14 pounds”. So he didn't weigh it? What a twat.... or a liar. The other also left me scratching my head. The angler in question was describing a weekends fishing and began by raving about a large pit he was intending to fish because he could 'find some space', yes I can relate to that. However when he arrived at this fantastic water he didn't fancy it, so went elsewhere. (????) At his second choice venue his approach was to paddle around in a boat looking for fish or likely spots. He would then drop his baited rigs and groundbait over the side of the boat before paddling back to the bank to “get his head down”. Is this fishing? What is wrong with actually casting? Maybe I'm old fashioned?

Tonight I needed inspiration so took Chris Turnull's excellent “A time for Tench” off the shelf and re-read a few pieces. This is a far superior read so suitably entertained, informed and inspired I think I will have a crack at the pit in the near future.