sam vimes
Well-known member
The last week or so has been a bit of a struggle for enthusiasm. I keep threatening to go for my first overnight carping session of the year, but never quite get round to it. A walk round the venue or a short session on the waggler not giving me enough reason to think it would be worthwhile.
Having ended up with a pint of maggots steadily going "off" in the fridge, I finally got round to going to the river. I'm not overly keen on this time of year on the river. That inbetween summer and winter period where the dace thin out and disappear but the grayling aren't quite worth chasing yet.
Things started rather strangely as I parked up at the bridge lay-by. I noticed a little ball of brown fur cowering in the middle of the road. From a distance, I first thought it might be an otter pup. The lack of movement and distress calls also suggested that all was not well. Upon getting close, I found it was actually a dark coloured kitten. No sign of mum or other kittens. I picked it up fearing the worst or a damned good clawing. It turned out that it was just petrified into immobility. After a short while of petting it and keeping it away from the road it found its voice and proved that it wasn't paralysed by clawing me with all four paws. I put it down and it trotted off, only to vere into the road again. Retrieved it, got clawed again, put it back in the undergrowth on the verge again. This time it stayed put and called for mum. I didn't really want to leave it to wander into the road again, but I didn't have much choice. Gathered up my gear fearing that I'd probably return to a sad little furry smear on the road.
The fishing was fairly uneventful yet still quite strange. A trout, three grayling, a few tiny dace, a chublet or two and hordes of minnows. However, I did have something small snaffled on the retrieve. It wasn't especially violent, just a sudden feeling of a fish getting more weighty. It hung on for a very short while then pinged off, leaving me with a full rig complete with maggot. On another river, or another part of this river, that wouldn't be anything unusual. However, there a virtually no pike and very few perch up here. Was it a pike? I doubt it. Was it a perch or trout? Possibly, I doubt I'll find out in a hurry. Towards the end of the session I noticed a few slightly bigger fish amongst the minnows at my feet. Shallowing up to less than a foot and trying for them resulted in me plundering another fifteen or so chublets along with a load more minnows.
Not a bad way to save a pint of maggots from being wasted. On returning to the car I was relieved to see that there was no sad, flat furry patch on the road. Hopefully, mother turned up and I haven't left a dumped kitten to starve in the undergrowth.
On another forum there's a fellow that usually notes a bird of the day in his reports. Here's why I don't, though it might not be appreciated by some urbanites. I had the pleasure of seeing multiple kingfishers, buzzard, kestrel, sparrowhawk, little egret, long tailed tits, greater spotted woodpecker and heron. A cacophony of bird alarm calls on the far bank made me suspicious of what was likely to appear at one point. The culprit, an otter, duly obliged to give me yet another of my regular sightings Admittedly, today saw a fairly full set, but this isn't entirely unusual.
Having ended up with a pint of maggots steadily going "off" in the fridge, I finally got round to going to the river. I'm not overly keen on this time of year on the river. That inbetween summer and winter period where the dace thin out and disappear but the grayling aren't quite worth chasing yet.
Things started rather strangely as I parked up at the bridge lay-by. I noticed a little ball of brown fur cowering in the middle of the road. From a distance, I first thought it might be an otter pup. The lack of movement and distress calls also suggested that all was not well. Upon getting close, I found it was actually a dark coloured kitten. No sign of mum or other kittens. I picked it up fearing the worst or a damned good clawing. It turned out that it was just petrified into immobility. After a short while of petting it and keeping it away from the road it found its voice and proved that it wasn't paralysed by clawing me with all four paws. I put it down and it trotted off, only to vere into the road again. Retrieved it, got clawed again, put it back in the undergrowth on the verge again. This time it stayed put and called for mum. I didn't really want to leave it to wander into the road again, but I didn't have much choice. Gathered up my gear fearing that I'd probably return to a sad little furry smear on the road.
The fishing was fairly uneventful yet still quite strange. A trout, three grayling, a few tiny dace, a chublet or two and hordes of minnows. However, I did have something small snaffled on the retrieve. It wasn't especially violent, just a sudden feeling of a fish getting more weighty. It hung on for a very short while then pinged off, leaving me with a full rig complete with maggot. On another river, or another part of this river, that wouldn't be anything unusual. However, there a virtually no pike and very few perch up here. Was it a pike? I doubt it. Was it a perch or trout? Possibly, I doubt I'll find out in a hurry. Towards the end of the session I noticed a few slightly bigger fish amongst the minnows at my feet. Shallowing up to less than a foot and trying for them resulted in me plundering another fifteen or so chublets along with a load more minnows.
Not a bad way to save a pint of maggots from being wasted. On returning to the car I was relieved to see that there was no sad, flat furry patch on the road. Hopefully, mother turned up and I haven't left a dumped kitten to starve in the undergrowth.
On another forum there's a fellow that usually notes a bird of the day in his reports. Here's why I don't, though it might not be appreciated by some urbanites. I had the pleasure of seeing multiple kingfishers, buzzard, kestrel, sparrowhawk, little egret, long tailed tits, greater spotted woodpecker and heron. A cacophony of bird alarm calls on the far bank made me suspicious of what was likely to appear at one point. The culprit, an otter, duly obliged to give me yet another of my regular sightings Admittedly, today saw a fairly full set, but this isn't entirely unusual.
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