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. | |||||
CARP, CARP, CARP! I’d got the day nicely sorted. Watch England beat Sweden in the morning in our opening World Cup game. And then, to finish the day in style, I was going to have a carp session on a Shropshire lake. When Sol Campbell powered in his header from David Beckham’s cross things looked very good indeed. However, the Swedes showed us that they were no turnips, and in the end we were fortunate to get a draw.
Faster than Kieron Dyer We didn’t have long to wait. The hair-rigged treble corn was taken by a fish that proceeded to take off for the centre of the lake, going faster than Kieron Dyer on the England wing. Playing the fish, I got it as far as the margins, ready to slip the net under it, when the hook pulled. But we didn’t have long to wait for our next fish, which was a small common. Followed by a larger ghost carp, plus another lost fish, we certainly had some action in the few hours we were there. The second lost fish was taken on the floater. Miriam particularly enjoyed floater fishing. I think it was the thrill of throwing the mixer pieces out and then waiting for the carp to slurp them in that did it. There was certainly some surface activity, but apart from the lost fish the carp seemed to take more interest in my controller float than the bait itself.
Our regular contact with fish certainly aroused the curiosity of the man in the next peg. He’d been there all day without a bite, and he wanted to know what we were doing that he wasn’t! But when I started to explain about hair-rigs, presentation and so on, he wasn’t interested! He came over as we had caught a small fish that I estimated to be 5lb. (I always go conservative when guessing fish weights). ‘It’s at least 9lb’ he declared. When I said what I thought it would be, he insisted even more emphatically, that it was a good double. When I weighed it at 6.5, he couldn’t believe it. ‘I’ve had them that size and they’ve been 12lb’. I don’t think he realised what he was saying! But it goes to show that we don’t believe everything that we hear. A little bit of scepticism as far as fish weights are concerned won’t do any harm. Otherwise we could be chasing after 4lb perch, 3lb roach or 14lb barbel that simply don’t exist in that venue. Barbies win the day for Miriam The next day I was back on the same lake, but this time without Miriam. She wanted to play with her Barbies instead. (Barbies are dolls, if you didn’t know!). As I set up shop a couple of pleasure anglers viewed my every movement with suspicion. Well that’s how it seemed anyway, from the look on their faces. As I lobbed out a good helping of bait I could sense what they were thinking. The fact they didn’t throw anything out at all, in the time I was there, said it all. But as I hooked into a fish within a minute or so of casting I certainly must have made them think!
By order of ‘The Committee’ By now I could see that my pleasure-angling friends just did not like it! It’s not fair is it! After all, here I am turning up with a pod, buzzers (but they weren’t switched on, so as I didn’t upset anyone!) and fishing hair-rigs. Not to mention the amount of bait I threw in. And three fish hooked within the first hour! I’m glad that I won’t be fishing the lake on a regular basis, in fact I probably won’t fish it again after this week, as it doesn’t feature in my campaign plans for the future. Because after the next AGM there will probably be signs appearing around the water. ‘No pods, buzzers, hair-rigs, boilies, particles, back leads, specialist rods, baitrunner reels, line over 4lb, hair-stops, baiting needles, PVA bags or large triangular nets allowed on this water. By order of the committee’.
The dreaded HPS But I digress! And no, I’m not attacking pleasure anglers or committee members. I’m just trying to bring out the other side of the argument. But how did the rest of the session go? Well, after the pleasure anglers left at 5.00 p.m. I was able to turn on the buzzers and enjoy more runs from carp. Then as the evening set in, out came the floater gear and I had a few good takes from surface fish, although I only landed one mirror carp, due to the dreaded HPS (hook pull syndrome) I am affected with at the moment! My attraction to the local wildlife also continued, as I had a female pheasant weaving in and out of my legs as she mopped up bits of groundbait that had fallen to the ground.
I rounded off the week with a final visit to the lake. A cold north-easterly wind saw a drop in temperature, and I sat for 4 motionless hours watching the bobbins. And then, in the next half an hour a small bream and two decent carp put in an appearance. But as the winds increased and the rain lashed down I was happy enough to end the session and get back to the warmth of the car. It just didn’t seem right having the heater on full in the middle of June. But there you go, that’s the British weather. And finally, as I started on a football note, I must end on one. As I write I’ve sat through 90 minutes of sheer passion. The sort of performance that makes you proud to be an Englishman. I’m talking about our victory over the Argy Bargies in the World Cup. I don’t know what the next few weeks hold in store, but let’s hope that it’s not just in fishing that England provides world champions! | |||||
Next week’s PP is an account of my last session of the ‘close season’. I decided to go ‘all or bust’ and target some big tench that inhabit a southern gravel pit. To find out how I got on, join me next Thursday, when together we go ‘On the Tinca trail in Hertfordshire’. I’ll also share my plans for the next nine months, as I have some specific river targets. The Reverend Stewart R Bloor Pilgrim’s Progress – read it every Thursday! |
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