After not being able to get out for a couple of weeks, largely due to a First Aid refresher and one or two other work based distractions, it was a case of either sort a day out or be the next patient after Prince Harry and, I doubt any violence on my part would be swept under the carpet with quite the same understanding his would, so I had to get out.
I'm not sure if it was this mindset or, I dunno, a lack of oxygen to the brain or something, but twice in the past ten days or so, I have seen two separate Caligulan type orgies in carp ponds so I formed the hope the carp might have other things on their mind and went looking for some light match type tackle to take with me but retaining enough sense to pack some regular carp kit in case my cunning plan went awry.
I went back through history to find some C20th kit that didn't see daylight very often and arrived at the pit of choice to unwrap a Conoflex 12ft Match, Browning 810 reel with some C21st 2.4lb Bayer Perlon, an ancient Drennan stillwater blue taking 4 no. 6 down to a Drennan silverfish 18 to 2lb trace. Two red maggots for bait.
Fishing at the end of an island, after pulting in two good helpings of hemp, a very few wetted 2mm feed pellets and a tiny helping of sweetcorn and 4mm meat cubes, I cast past the island and, dipping the rod tip, brought the float back till I was happy.
First bite after a couple of minutes brought a roach around 3oz. Back out and battered, obviously a carp it kept going....and going...ad infinitum as far as I'm concerned as it's probably still going now.
Set up again and wouldn't you know it? A repeat performance only this time, I pulled out and didn't get completely trashed.
God loves a trier (so they tell me) but Einstein's logic of repeating the same experiment and expecting different results was, perhaps, the superior brand as the next take resulted in a short and violent confrontation which, happily, ended in a moral victory as a tench around 1 1/2lb was netted.
Back out and, again, a lump and smashed. This was turning into a horror story. Absolute confirmation soon arrived. Every self respecting modern day horror movie finds a place for a scruffy old guy who arrives to deliver a single line "You're all doomed" or something similar. My one appeared from nowhere, I didn't see him on arrival, and he was actually laughing as he opened with "You keep getting smashed up."
Although I like to think I'm tactful and diplomatic, I thought "If I bring your nose into the pattern, will you get the picture then?" but heard myself saying "Yep, they're feeding well today" and popped the rod away before reaching for the pole.
The newly found bankside expert observed "Oh, that's a nice pole" which sent my frayed nerves into overdrive. I wanted to answer "Yeah, I was so hoping it was cr3p having spent a fortune on it" but settled for a diplomatic "Yeah, it's a nice piece of kit".
I unwrapped a 6lb mainline rig, to a .5g Image Carp float and 4.6lb bottom to a Middy 16 carp hook.
A 6mm cube of coconut flavoured meat went out and, looking round, I found the old guy had just vanished, I don't know where to but had to admit he'd done it quite effectively. I put my ipod on and some quality Benny Goodman jazz soon had me feeling a lot better about the world.
The meat took well from the start and some nice roach, rudd (one over the pound), a load more carp (including one lump around 9lbs), a sprinkling of skimmers and the very odd tench amounted to a nice day which would shortly get even better. At a guess, a bag around the 35 - 40lb mark.
I felt a lot, lot better about life afterwards and got home to find er indoors exercising a rare charitable frame of mind. This time next week, we'll be leaving for a cheap and cheerful week in Crete and, that in mind, she suggested I sneak in another session Friday before we go.
I really pushed the hopeful boat out and hoped for a nice steak and chips. One out of two wasn't bad, I got two mediocre lamb burgers and chips but it didn't matter. A week of cold beer and warm sun awaits and, even before that, there's still, as the late great Frank Zappa put it, "Friday on my mind...."
Have a great rest of the week, all and take the greatest of care.
