Pilgrim’s Progress

He is also a very keen angler, having come back to the sport in 1995 following a break of several years. In this regular column he will tell us about his progress as an angler – his thoughts about the sport, what he learns, the fishing trips he makes, the anguish, the humour, in fact everything he experiences as his angling career develops.

Pilgrim’s Progress – read it everyThursday!

The Glorious 16th

If a week is a long time in politics, then four months seems likean eternity as far as fishing is concerned. That’s how long it’s beensince I last fished a river. Fishing the River Sow in Staffordshireon February 24 my diary entry includes ‘Had a few taps and onedecent bite…Having a very slow winter fishing for decent chub.Still, I’m enjoying it all the same’.

Little did I realise that trip would be the last until now due tothe Foot and Mouth disaster that was about to break that very day.

As F&M took it’s devastating hold upon the countryside, itlooked at one time as if June 16 would actually be a non-event thisyear. Fortunately, as a very keen river fisherman, I found it arelief that did not materialise. As the big day approached, however,there was still indecision on the part of those whose responsibilityit was to give the go-ahead as to what was open and what was closed.It was not until the evening of the 14th that I finally had a clearlist of waters that were open.

Flood warnings – again!

Here in the Midlands the weather had been great over the couple ofweeks prior to opening day. Certainly rain-wise I was expecting thelocal rivers to be in great condition. Then what happens two daysbefore the season starts? The evening weather report on TV has one ofthose dreaded red triangles with ‘Flood warnings’ written on it thatsuddenly appears on the screen. Worse still, the symbol seemed to beperched between the Severn and the Teme, my two choices for openday.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that a river in flood isnecessarily a bad thing. But my mind went back to last autumn andwinter and the Noah type conditions we experienced. I don’t mindfishing a river when it’s up to the top of the banks, it’s when itspills over 1 mile into the surrounding meadows that I have aproblem.

From the 14th and through the 15th it absolutely Teemed (sic) itdown. My plans to open my river campaign at the crack of midnight hadbeen thwarted by the continued closure of one particular stretch Iwanted to target. Lying in bed about 11.30 pm on the 15th the rainwas hammering down outside. What would the morning bring? Well, mymind was made up anyway. After four months away from my belovedrivers I just had to get out again. As the 16th was a Saturday myplan was to head across to the river Teme in the late afternoon andfish up to dark.

The Teme – up and coloured

Arriving at the Teme it wasn’t half as bad as I expected it to be.It was coloured and running along at a faster pace than normal summerlevel, but I’d seen it in a worse state. In fact I was quiteoptimistic. And so it seems were the other dozen or so anglers thathad decided to fish this particular stretch on opening day. A quickchat with someone who had just walked the bank left me with theknowledge that the only fish caught all day was a solitary eel. Somuch for the theory that four months without seeing an angler’s baitputs the angler in a position where all he has to do is turn up andcatch.

Hopes of repeating last seasons opening day barbel of 7.11 fromthis very stretch, soon became ambitious rather than a reality. Evenas the light faded, my hopes did not materialise. Still, driving backhome I was planning my next weeks attack in my mind. OK, Saturday wasfishless, but there was still Monday, Wednesday and Friday tocome….

Monday evening saw me back on the Teme. Grapevine reportssuggested that the Teme is not fishing well at all a few days intothe new season. Still, the river looked good, and once the sunstarted to drop over the trees the barbel would start to feed. SurelyI would catch tonight? Well, as I drove back home I thought to myselfthat there was still Wednesday and Friday to come. I did have onebite though. The rod tip bent over, the baitrunner started to whirlinto action and I struck – into thin air – or should that bewater?

True to my word, Wednesday evening and I’m back in Worcestershirefishing the River Teme once more. Surely a case of third time lucky?Well, there’s always Friday to come, say no more. But seriously,three blanks on the trot was unbelievable, even by my blankingstandards. In my defence, I will say that the river has been so clearover the last couple of trips that the bottom is clearly visible. Asthe stretches I’ve been on don’t allow night fishing, that has been ahandicap. It’s basically meant that on each session so far, therehave been only about two hours of fishing time that has beenpotentially productive.

A check back through my records revealed that in the corresponding three sessions last year I caught the previously mentioned barbel of 7.11 plus a 7.8 and a 5.3. I average slightly more than one fish persession on the Teme, but 50% of the fish I catch are above 7lb, which is good for the river. Faced with the choice of quality or quantity I go for the former every time. But driving back home on Wednesday thetemptation to buy some maggots and do some minnow bashing was very real . Only joking, it’s not quite THAT bad. Not yet anyway! Still, I can always buy some of that miracle bait that has been a discussionpoint on the FISHINGmagic Forum over the last week…..

A switch to the Severn

As Friday approached, with the continuing hot and dry weather, Idecided to switch my attentions to the lower Severn and have anovernighter. Again, I was targeting big barbel, but would I have towrite a whole article based on four fishless sessions, or would Ihave something to ‘write home about’?

The river looked good as I set up and my confidence was high. Asdarkness set in, the proliferation of eels that are in the lowerSevern at this time of the year, started to attack my bait. But, as Iwas using a big, hard, hair rigged bait, I wasn’t too concerned aboutthe bootlaces doing too much damage. Then, just before midnight, myright hand rod (I’m sounding like a carp angler here) suddenly cameto life and I struck into what I was convinced was a barbel. After ashort, but very spirited fight, I netted a fish that took the scalesround to 13. Okay, before you get too excited, let me say that whatwas in the weigh net was a 13 oz eel. Still, I’d broken my run ofblanks, so I shouldn’t be ungrateful.

Already the days are getting shorter

Driving home on Saturday morning, I realised that even though theriver season is just a few days old, we are already seeing the daysget shorter. Strange thought isn’t it? Mind, I’m not complaining, asI do enjoy fishing the hours of darkness, and the stretch that I hadjust visited, although it didn’t produce this time, will definitelybe back on the agenda in the near future. I intend to have a mid-weekcampaign on there in the next couple of months after the big barbelthat inhabit the lower Severn.

At last – loads of bites!

It’s now Saturday evening and as I put the finishing touches tothis article before I send it to Graham I’m nursing the insect bitesas a result of last night (I forgot my ‘Jungle formulae’ spray didn’tI). Big tip for this time of the year, particularly if you’re nightfishing for the first time, get some sort of insect repellent sprayor device. Otherwise, you’ll have bumps on top of lumps, and beconstantly scratching yourself for the next couple of days, just likeI am now, in between typing letters on the keyboard.

By the time you read this I willbe half way through a week long session on an East Anglian pittargeting bream. After my poor start on the Teme and the Severn, nextweeks article is a real step of faith. Still, join me next Thursdayand see how I got on in ‘Stewart’s Serious Suffolk SpecimenSession’. Certainly a bit of a tongue twister, but will it be arod bender? Join me next week and find out. Surely I couldn’t fishfor a whole week with 2 rods and blank…..Could I?…Well, tune innext Thursday and find out.