Bumbling

Late July and finally summer has turned up with a bang and the dramatic rise in temperature coincided with a day off.  I fancied spending a couple of hours exploring the ‘other river’ and this time resolved to do what I know best which is to wander around having a cast here and there with a lure rod.  I didn’t get up too early and just caught the tail end of the morning rush hour and by the time I’d got to the river it felt really bloody hot.  Today I used an eight foot, fixed spool set up and had a box of Chub/Perch sized lures in my pocket but it dawned on me I’d have been better off chucking out some bread and following it down river, oh well.

I worked my way upstream having a cast or two here and there.  I started off with a classic ‘Little S’ which was a top Chub lure back in the last century but it didn’t inspire much confidence.  I rummaged in the box and brought out an even smaller crankbait that was shaped and coloured like a bumblebee (google revealed it’s actually a ‘Rebel Bumble Bug’ but I can’t recall how I acquired it).  I can’t remember ever catching anything on this lure or even if I’d ever cast the thing before but somehow it felt right today.  I continued upstream and having reached a winding stretch with a bit more pace I finally found some fish.  I was barely concentrating when I made my first cast but something swirled and yes there were a couple of Chub drifting around.  The next couple of casts either hit the far bank or snagged in weed and I’d pretty much killed the swim before I knew it.  I could still see a couple of decent Chub but they didn’t want to know, would a lump of bread have sorted them out?  Reckon so.

I carried on upstream and reached a narrow, snaggy section and on my first cast here I was surprised and pleased when a nice Perch appeared from nowhere and nailed the little lure at my feet.  As it splashed around a second Perch followed it and I wondered if I’d find two in the net when I lifted it but no.  This was a lovely fish, vividly marked and big enough to require the net although maybe not so big it would avoid a winter bucket.  I’d pretty much resigned myself to a hot blank so was pleased with this fish which seemed to soften the nettle stings from where I’d had to push through to reach the swim.  With this I began to retrace my steps back downstream, there was nothing showing on the bend where I’d seen Chub but the location was stored away for the future.  After that nothing much happened until I was almost back to the car where another smaller Perch shot out of nowhere and nailed the bumblebee, this one didn’t need the net. 

After that I walked back to the car as quick as the heat would allow and when I was on the road I was glad of the air con.  It was a couple of hours well spent, I’m still learning about this river but I now know a couple of spots that hold the fish I’m after and I’ve identified a couple of others which look good for another day.  But for this day it was time to get home and tune into the cricket.  England had done okay on first innings but surely left a few runs out there, now after a dodgy start West Indies were showing some fight.

A day or so later, England’s batsmen had gone past West Indies first innings total and the lead was building meanwhile Giles and I were heading towards the coast on another roasting afternoon.  We had a cunning plan; extensive perusal of google earth had revealed a space to leave a car close to a bridleway that lead to the shore.  A shortish walk of 400 metres or so would bring us to a stretch of beach that few people would have fished?  We loaded up and hiked eastward on solid ground, there wasn’t a breath of wind and the heat was debilitating.  We reached the shore in no time but there was a snag, our google perusal hadn’t taken crumbling cliffs into account.  We figured we could probably make our way down if we were careful but getting back up in the dark didn’t seem a sensible course of action, so we turned and trudged back to the car.

A short while later we parked up at a more familiar destination then hiked through the gorse to find a beach busy with people enjoying the weather.  This is a favourite spot where this time last year we had a big catch of Rays, probably the best catch we’ve ever had?  Tonight everything looked good and we were confident, the rising tide was just how we like it, the sea was pretty flat, this was a beach where we’d never failed and we had tried and tested methods.  What could possibly go wrong?  To cut a long story short thought we were doing all the right things in the right places but failed to get a even a bite.  Loads of drifting weed made things tricky and I wondered if this was affecting the fish.  Out to sea the moon rose but disappeared behind dense cloud, after a while we could see what was definitely lightning flashing within the clouds and there was a lot of it going off.  It seemed to be heading towards us albeit very slowly, as spectacular as it may have been we decided, under the circumstances we might as well call it a night a bit early this time. 

There have been brief periods where I’ve felt I might be starting to get a bit of a handle on this sea fishing lark but thankfully as soon as this threatens to happen I head off to the beach full of confidence and absolutely nothing goes to plan.  What we have managed to learn is a handful of spots where it’s possible to catch some interesting fish but we get it wrong as often as we get it right which is okay with me. 

Sunday was spent in the garden, an extended shed rummage getting some river tackle sorted whilst listening to TMS.  England ended up winning easily but for three days it had been a decent Test match.