The Christmas and New year madness has passed once again and the closest I've managed to get to water was a walk along the river on one of the less freezing days. To help with the withdrawal I've been picking fishing books off the shelf, re-reading favourite pieces and gazing at the photos. The last few weeks have been hectic to say the least and I haven't been able to find the time to get out but with three weeks of sub zero temperatures I don't feel I've missed out on any great fishing. However I'm definately missing fresh air and countryside. Stir crazy again.
2009 was certainly a very eventful year personally; disorganised and difficult at times but falling into place nicely at others. As the year has gone on things have got a bit easier and a lot happier. I suppose the fishing has been in a similar vein. Throughout the warmer months of 2009 it seemed that whatever I tried to catch things never went remotely to plan. During the spring as England's cricket team laboured in the West Indies, I tried to catch Tench. Now these are a fish that I almost always struggle to catch but this year I failed spectacularly. But I like Tench and this has made me more determined to put in a proper effort and catch a few this coming spring. I tried to catch some river Pike in the early summer but whenever I did so all I seemed to catch was Perch. Later in the year it was the same, try to catch Zander and I catch more Perch and a couple of Pike. However, If I actually try to catch Perch all I get is Jack Pike.
Despite these frustrations I thoroughly enjoyed the summer fishing, warm weather makes it all so much simpler. The soundtrack was great too, England regaining the ashes provided by TMS. The cricket never matched the vintage of 2005 but in reality it never could.
This year the Pike fishing has been really enjoyable with many more brilliant memories added. It's probably obvious that I love the place I choose to fish, for me it ticks all the boxes. I also really enjoy the style of fishing, active yet relaxing and rewarding. I'm sure there are people who catch far more than me and good luck to them. I do my own thing, I love what I do and every thing about it. With Pike (unlike just about any other species), I am able to kid myself that I actually know what I'm doing...most of the time. Whether I actually do or not is irrelevant, I think I do therefore I'm confident and I caught enough in 2009 to enable me to kid myself a while longer.
Here's some of my favourite photos from 2009.
Happy New Year.
My children enjoying the adventure
I love this place
Without doubt my favourite picture of 2009
A dodgy self timer shot that I kinda like
1 comment:
Always love your blog, Michael.
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