stevetheangler

Thursday 11th June, I headed off at around 0620 to a club pool I’d not visited since the CV19 pandemic lockdown put an end to fishing for a couple of months or so … and once before in 2020 and that was a pike fishing session.

Anyway, let’s make this short and sweet and say that although the session actually was ‘short’, the ‘sweet’ may be a case of looking back on it through rose coloured glasses as they say .. not my idea of a great session anyway.

I set off to the pool at 0620 as supposedly the pool is available from 0700.

[I’m not sure how that actually works these days as it can be night fished by any member now.

In previous years the main club had within it an intra-club syndicate of max 30 members who paid an extra syndicate fee – that extra money actually being held/spent by them to purchase carp to stock one particular pool which is intended as the club’s ‘premiere’ carp fishery. This syndicate were the only ones allowed to night fish any of the club’s pools.

However, this year the system changed and now any member can night fish, without extra charge, all pools bar the carp pool subject to two conditions … (1) a maximum of 3 night anglers per water per night and (2) before doing so you must register your intention and venue with the ‘night fishing/syndicate secretary’.

The intra-club syndicate still exists and members of it still pay the extra fee but they are the only anglers allowed to night fish the carp water (all club members can freely fish the pool during the day by the way – holds good tench and perch too – and one bream of around 8-10lb).]

Anyway, arriving a little before 0700, I had to unlock the gate to gain entrance, and I knew I’d have choice of swim as I’d be the first there…. so all was looking good at that point…

So, drove down to the car park, unloaded and carried my gear to my swim – about 60 yards away if that. A corner swim that I find good for bream – at least at the start of the day – and as the wind usually blows into that corner later in the day it can be good for surface/floating baits for carp.

Setback 1 Unusually the wind was blowing in the completely wrong way to usual ie FROM the corner out into the main pool… so the surface baits for carp looked a bit of a dodgy scenario … although that was not a certainty but we’ll never know.

Setback 2 The wind was quite strong and blustery and as the peg was elevated some way above the water it would have been difficult to float fish as I’d planned to as it would have been difficult to sink the line to avoid drag…

Setbacks 3 to infinity I just could not get settled in happily with peace of mind … full stop. My side table wasn’t sitting correctly, the brolly was always in the wrong place (and I moved it 3 times!) and wobbled too much despite the 3 guy ropes attached to it pegged in at 120 degree spacings, I had to ledger when I wanted to float fish, Liz had bought me Sainsbury’s own brand bread for bait (in an orange wrapper I’d not looked when she gave it to me assuming it was a small Warburton’s Toastie) which is the WORST bread for bait I’ve ever come across – so dry it falls/washes off the hook at the first opportunity – and, in fact, if I’d have known what it was I’d have stopped at a shop enroute to get some better stuff!

So come 0930 – without a single nudge on my worm and, possibly but unlikely still on the hook, bread baits I was so unsettled that I decided to pack up the gear and head home…

One good thing came of it though – just as I’d finished moving my necessary baits into the fridge/freezer on my return it started to rain so at least my gear remained dry!

PLANS

Rest of today – tying hook lengths to replenish stocks.

Hopefully get out on Monday 15th back to the pool of tench and bream previously visited.

No ‘Glorious 16th’ for me this year though – have to have 2 sets of blood samples taken at a local clinic, hand over a urine sample at the doctor’s and then take one of our ferrets to the vet to have stitches removed from behind her ear from an operation she had to remove a lump/growth a couple of weeks ago plus to hear the results of the histology done on the removed tissue.