On tour

It’s been a strange few weeks fishing wise.  I decided to go on tour, fishing here there and everywhere, six different venues in late January and early February including waters I hadn’t fished for a very long time.  One was another fenland river which is probably one of the nicest waters I’ve ever fished but it really is a strange part of the world.  Change the accents and I could have walked into Royston Vasey, there is an odd vibe about this part of the fens.  But like I said the river is lovely and I managed to catch a Pike albeit a small one.  I’ve also been sneaking about on an overgrown pit which requires a bit of a drive and a good hike which can become elongated further if the quarry is manned.  Once I’m there I can almost relax, I’ve managed to catch a few Pike here and I’m learning all the time so this could be one for the future.

I recently had a strange day on a more familiar water.  Actually I hadn’t planned to go there at all, it was a handy second choice because I needed to be home for a delivery in the mid afternoon.  I’d barely got the rod rests in when a phone call informed me that I needed to be home a couple of hours earlier than I’d expected cutting my fishing time to about three hours…  The day started off bright and clear but the forecasters had warned of a band of heavy rain sweeping in.  The first hour while it was still dry, was all action, I think I had six takes including two rods going off at once on two occasions.  I managed to land four of them but all were small and one of those that dropped off had no weight to it, the other I didn’t feel at all.  Then the rain came and I didn’t get another sniff.  I dutifully packed up at 1100, loaded gear into the car followed by the waterproofs then slammed the door only to find I’d managed to lock the keys inside.  So there I stood, shivering in the rain, miles from civilisation, helpless.  After a couple of phone calls and a few hours the situation was resolved without me getting hypothermia or having to smash any windows.

And today plans that had been made well in advance ended up being cancelled after the weather changed from a nice day in the boat - to better off on the bank - then finally to fuck that not even I’m daft enough to go out in it.  The media does tend to over hype and exaggerate but today was as wild as anything I’ve ever known and I was thankful for my rare dose of common sense.

That’s been the theme of recent weeks, nothing has gone to plan but the float has gone under regularly although no Pike that has been in the net has required the camera or scales.  Now I’ve reached the point where I realise that the Pike season is running out fast and before long I’ll be putting the gear at the back of the shed and making plans to catch something completely different.  But until then I still have plenty of Pikey enthusiasm and will be fishing hard.