I hadn't been fishing since early November last year, all work and no play had made Rob a dull boy indeed. There are embroidery blogs that have seen more action than this one so I thought darn it, lets go fishing.
En route I pondered what it was I had forgotten knowing there was likely to be something, I was in no rush after all as the pond was frozen only two days prior. I arrived late morning and saw an empty car park, the pond was all mine, a foul wind blew albeit in a favourable direction but it still felt mighty cold as I set up in what I optimistically call The Perch Swim.
A good perch would do nicely but so would anything else today, It was just a trip to wet a line as the old saying goes. There was no tackle omitted which was a result, I felt just warm enough tucked out of the worst of the wind behind the platform, I then lowered my little pole float down in the margins, it's tip barely visible through the chop, fishing once more, at last.
A couple of robins wasted no time joining me, landing on the platform edge where my rod was overhanging and also on the bush I was trying to fish under, naturally I gave them a good feed and almost missed a bite first cast. A bream was on which seemed surprising, more of a surprise was how it turned into an f1 on the surface, slowly drifting about all lackadaisical, a lovely looking fish though.
I then had my target perch if not the target size, a tiny one showing they were feeding but hinting the larger ones were elsewhere, then I failed to get a bite for the next hour.
Taking a break from action that was once again on a par with the embroidery blog (other blogs are available) I wandered over to the other bank, just to sit in the sun with my coffee. There was a tiny area where the wind was slightly less and the sun heated up a couple of slabs, I sat here and for a moment felt lazy like that carp as the sun reflected in my face, then I stared at my sheltered yet shady swim. I poured the coffee smug that I hadn't forgotten anything on this trip before almost spitting it out - No sugar! I had been moaning a bit lately about too much sugar in food and here I am missing it, I didn't feel bitter even if my drink did. That'll teach me.
After the break the fishing was still hard, changing depth and trying different areas, the bottom was sloping where I was fishing but bites were in the same spot, one so small I must have only had an inch either side to get it right, I've had this before here, everywhere else seems to yield nothing in this swim, no more sugar jokes are needed but it is a sweet spot for sure. Carp were the culprits and once again they just drifted about in a daze before netting, must have been the ice melt I thought, either that or they were forming a bream tribute band - Primal Bream is the best I can muster but you should see the puns on the embroidery blog, they'll have you in stitches.
I was just thinking how I could have landed these fish in on 1lb bottom when the float dashed under and everything went solid, five minutes elapsed where I couldn't even see the fish I was playing, this one wasn't messing about and now I was under gunned with my 3lb line and fine size 18, that's fishing for you. I managed to net it first time and a nice mirror lay before me, with a long barbel like snout it was no wonder it kept low so well.
The carp and perch that followed were hard earned and the last hour was dead, the wind was biting but the fish no longer were, which was a cue to pack up. With 6 carp and 2 perch for well over 20lb I couldn't grumble. The car which had been sitting in the sun showed 12c on the temperature gauge, I almost swore when I saw that as I wasn't feeling it. It does however indicate after this cold snap that spring is slowly on it's way and hopefully so too are more fishing trips.
A kingfisher flew by after signalling with it's familiar call whist a crow and a jay in the trees were more raucous in their conversation as I left, the heron which seemed to spend more time walking about approached on the low sunlit bank as I turned the motor around. Oh how I've missed this I thought, sometimes you don't realize you've lost something until you do it once more, the feeling then is one worth having, of that I have no doubt.
