Cardiologist yesterday, eye clinic this morning, GP tomorrow... when am I supposed to go fishing? This afternoon looked like the best chance, so I went. Last time out, everything bar carp had mysteriously disappeared from the Old Lake, so today - weather more or less identical - I thought sod it, I'll fish for them. I took nothing but my new Shakespeare Agility (that's my middle name) Pellet Waggler rod, a re-purposed front-drag Shimano which I don't like but which toned well with the rod and a tub of 8mm pellets.
I set up in a swim with an island and commenced to fish just like they do in the innumerable youtube pellet waggler videos. Keep feeding 2 or 3 pellets, keep casting, feed then cast or cast, feed and draw your bait back blah blah. Not a bite. Not a carp in sight. You couldn't see the water for carp last time. I assumed it was karma for my dissing the market-leading brand amongst the fish of today.
I was about to sneak off - I hadn't paid yet - when the bailiff's car appeared in the car park. I bemoaned the lack of fish - I was hoping he'd waive the ticket - and asked where all the carp were. Down the other end, he told me. So to save the day, since I now had £5 invested in it, I drove round to the other end, chucked in, and there they were.
From the bunch I caught, here's the prettiest
And the.... well, even its mother etc. It was a handful in the water and on the bank, and at least proved that
the rod and set-up - .20 Supplex/.16 Silstar - was up to scratch.
I'd not tried fishing like this before. I found it similar to method feeder: an odd mixture of nothing happening followed by the sudden excitement of a big fish steaming off. It certainly keeps you busy feeding and casting.
