Being a strong believer and observer of the Close Season I look forward to the Glorious 16th with all of the anticipation of a youngster on Christmas Eve’
I have typically spent the Close Season fishing only for Trout on my local lakes and rivers such as the Itchen and the Test but when the late days of May roll around I find myself back in the garage sorting out rods, reels and tackle bags for the beginning of the new Coarse Season.
I have just got back from a week’s vacation on Crete so my preparations this season are somewhat later than usual, nonetheless I will be more than ready for Sunday the 16th.
Thankfully this year the opening day falls on a weekend, and despite that I can almost guarantee that I’ll see very few people on the river
Unlike many, or is that most other anglers, I do not fish stillwaters or canals during the Close Season; I simply believe that it says a lot about us as anglers and conservationists to give the fish and the banks a break.
It is a topic that I have argued many times in the past, but now I simply, and privately, observe the Close Season in relative silence not wishing to argue that particular toss any more.
This year, like many of the preceding years it will be back onto the Hampshire Avon, more for the atmosphere rather than the best chances of catching to be honest. There are still a good few large roach and a growing number of Dace as well to be taken providing you know where to start looking, so those are my early targets.
That said I still love to be out on the late afternoon of the 15th on a lake getting ready for a midnight start for the Tench, Carp and Bream and getting the bivvy set-up in the hopes of experiencing that wonderful ‘Tench-fisher’s Dawn’
