Post lockdown fishing

[mikench]

It was obvious that there was going to be a pent up desire to return to fishing and this is borne out by the number of people found on the bank. There were at least 5 cars on the car park yesterday at 5.30am , the previous venue was packed and one guy said a bailiff at another water counted over 100 cars and at least 150 anglers. All the bivvies resembled a UN refugee camp. I heard of a number of waters I might have tried which were full.

When the close season applied to stillwaters was it like this after june 15th or not.

I visited a water which is also day ticket and which was a favourite a year or so ago , Just to see what it was like. It was packed but nobody was there I recognised or from my club and those that were there all looked like it was a first time out having bought some Tackle from Lidl. The pool now devoid of all silver fish had dozens of anglers fishing for them unaware that after the pollution incident of last spring 2019 there had been no restocking despite anecdotal affirmation to the contrary. I think some waters are just best avoided at the moment until the pent up desperation, the hot sunny weather and the absence of working days have changed and some semblance of normality has resumed.

 

[steve2]

I'll wait for the rivers to open. Hopefully I should get some social distancing.

 

[103841]

Some of the still waters I fished as a kid did get busy for the opening days of the new season, especially places like Bury Hill. It will improve after June 16th, certainly in my neck of the woods as we have several lakes still closed until the 16th. Also the silver anglers will return to the river.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I'm with Steve2 on this as in my area typically the still waters are not so attractive at this time of the year even if I fished in the CS.

I will be on the river myself but probably not until early July although I am tempted to try out my new fly lines and have been busily tying flies for some weeks now

 

[barbelboi]

Fishing the many miles of local rivers during the five years since I moved I have only ever seen one other angler (apart from my fishing buddy). As I rarely fish stills during the close anyway it's no big deal waiting for the new season - I have just carried on doing what I always do, keeping an eye on the fish movement and the topography whilst the rivers/streams are 'gin' clear.

 

[rayner]

That comment Mike with folk fishing for silvers when there were none made me chuckle.
I heard that local ticket waters were stuffed with anglers, I can understand why but a little self restraint should be used.

 

[108831]

Im afraid my post lockdown fishing has been grim,fished a lake i'd never seen before,had one mirror 11-12 and lost another,due to unseen snags underneath the bank seven yards down(which the carp obviously knew all about),then I went to a tench lake where I'd been before the lockdown and blanked, I returned five days later and caught five small rudd,then a change of bait bought a 5-4 tench,yesterday I went to a deep water and fished the margins in 7/8ft of water and never had a sniff....I found out the bream and tench had finished spawning the night before....

 

[markcw]

My mate Fished Fir Tree Fisheries near Wrightington yesterday, was told the rules over the phone when he checked to see if open. Usual social distance rules and every other peg.
People were fishing on pegs next to each other, chatting away on car park, he said it was like a normal day on there.

 

[mikench]

That was my impression yesterday Mark; a normal day but busier and no work. Gordon and I stuck to the rules fastidiously. Anyone would have thought we were complete strangers.

 

[nottskev]

Last time I fished the woodland pond, a car stopped on the track a few hundred yards away. I looked around to see a bloke striding my way purposefully. I threw my license - big and bright yellow in a plastic pouch - a few yards behind me, directly in his flightpath. No need to come near to check me. The bloke marched past it and up to me. Had any? Whoah, I said with my palms out; I'm nervous close to people these days. Can't fault you mate,. 6 feet, isn't it?, he said, and stepped back exactly two paces. I said, you can stand back a bit further for me, if you don't mind, and pointed to the license 5 yards away he'd walked past. Do you ever feel like you're the only person trying not to get infected or give it to someone else?

 

[mikench]

I often think I'm the only person who has heard of social distancing. I still despair about the human race or at least the British sub species.

 

[S-Kippy]

I've been out a couple of times now. On both occasions social distancing was, broadly speaking, observed....by which I mean nobody came closer to me than I was happy with though I did see one or two small " groups" . What somebody chooses to do 50 yards away is up to them so long as they stay away from me.

Bankside I'm reasonably content so far. I am much less happy about shops even though I have only been to a couple with Mrs S who wont let me go near a supermarket. Wickes was pretty well organised and sd observed. Homebase was a bloody nightmare.....I cannot see the point of making you queue up 2 m apart and then allow a free for all inside the shop and by the tills. The way some people were behaving you'd think this virus had never happened....I could not get out of there quick enough despite being gloved and masked and smothered in hand sanitizer as soon as I got out. Some people clearly just do not get this. They are either completely indifferent or too thick to understand....either way they are selfish and downright dangerous.

 

[Keith M]

Went in the local Tesco’s superstore today which has each isle signposted with arrows telling you which way you should be travelling and the worst offenders are the people who work there, they all go the wrong way through the isles and ignore their own signs. I only met two customers who were not obeying the arrows and they both turned around as soon as the arrows were pointed out to them, but nearly every person who worked there (and should have known better) were totally ignoring their own signs.

Distancing? most of them obviously don’t know what that means, Total planks.

Keith

 

[sylvanillo]

We were in Shipton-under-Wychwood today, and I have to say everyone showed a careful respect of SD. Then, we stopped at Bourton.... this was a beach! Ok, the car park was closed but it only made visitors gathering around the city centre, where it's difficult to stick to SD. I won't be back for a while.

The worst honestly is in Oxford. The usual sunbathing and swimming locations are the current concentration of social no-distancing, cannabis, bikinis, barbecues. There was a police van with a few cops trying to talk to a group of young people who were making fun of them

Anyway, back on the fishing subject, I think the EA could have suspended the close season. I'll wait for the 16th.

Then, I'll go fishing at around midnight, during new moon, at a minimum of 2 miles from the city, with a wild boar decoy, and thoroughly cough and sneeze at the least suspiscion of human presence.

 

[bleak]

Went in the local Tesco’s superstore today which has each isle signposted with arrows telling you which way you should be travelling and the worst offenders are the people who work there, they all go the wrong way through the isles and ignore their own signs. I only met two customers who were not obeying the arrows and they both turned around as soon as the arrows were pointed out to them, but nearly every person who worked there (and should have known better) were totally ignoring their own signs.

Distancing? most of them obviously don’t know what that means, Total planks.

Keith

The staff would do a hundred mile a day if they were not exempt... "excuse me can you show me where the marmite is please ?" reply "wait there sir and I'll come up behind you in five minutes" ...

 

[108831]

On a slightly off topic comment,yesterday afternoon,I had six different households,young kids,teenagers,adults and elderly sitting out on the path,now to explain my front door goes straight onto the path,like an alley at the bottom of my Close,my back garden opens onto a small carpark for residents,then our garages opposite,anyway kids were playing on my doorstep kicking balls against my door,kitchen and downstairs loo windows,my wife went out and asked the kids in a nice way to please not kick or throw stuff at them as it 'could' damage them,also stating that they were welcome to play and sit on the step,the parents now think we are worse than sh1t....thennnnn,when evening came around thirty people appeared at the carpark side of the house and had a party for my neighbours 25 year olx son, using wheely bins as tables for their bottles,the 'event' finished at 12.30am with at least two hours of drunken yawping,social distancing Mike,what the hell is that eh?

 

[steve2]

I better get out fishing soon I see lockdown coming back thanks to the way people are now acting.
Virus, what virus?

 

[mikench]

Alan you should have gone out coughing, sputtering holding a thermometer and with your wife shouting " you shouldn't be out Alan you have all the symptoms of Coronavirus " . To get rid of stragglers you could say your temperature was off the scale. An alternative would be a Gatling gun.

A last resort would be to move. By the way I'm no longer the "expert" on the current situation and am doing my very best to resist making any comments that could even be construed as political. Believe me it is not easy.

 

[markcw]

I would have attached a rotating sprinkler to the garden hose,place in close proximity to fence but far enough away to go over the fence,switch on and go in .

 

[mikench]

It's only a matter of time.