stevetheangler

So here we are on the 30th January 2021 and not yet kicked off the start of my 2021 fishing … and as the Wii is not set up I’ve not even been able to play my ‘Rapala Tournament Fishing’ or any of my other fishing games… 

Yep, the ‘national lockdown’ ably assisted by the weather and my current state of health (not that its bad but I need to attune my body functions with the days I possibly could go fishing and I’m a bit out of sync at the mo) and medical appointments (had a colonoscopy and my diabetic eye screening, both with good results – and a CT scan for which results are still awaited) have put to any chances to make it out to the waters.

Also, the car, which had been earmarked for replacement anyway, started to play up and was refusing to start which led to a search for a replacement … terminating in a train trip to Preston on the Monday preceding start of lockdown on the Wednesday … and we returned home in our new car…. another Ford Galaxy, this time a 2013 Titanium model. Since then, with the help of a battery charger, we’ve coaxed the old 2005 Galaxy (now named ‘Epsom’ as we bought it in Derby – ‘Epsom Derby’?) :) back into life and its now sitting on the drive alongside ‘Duncan’ (Duncan Preston) awaiting the weather to improve so it can be Karchered and Hoovered and a ‘For Sale’ sign stuck on it.

Anyway, possible fishing locations are a bit scarce too at the mo….

One of my club’s has opened all its waters BUT fishing is allowed only if you have to travel 5 miles or less to reach them – and that’s 5 actual road miles NOT 5 miles as the crow flies. As the closest waters of that club are at least 15 miles distant from my home those are all a no-go. And you also have to present your driving licence along with your membership cards to the bailiffs in order to ascertain if you are complying with the 5-mile rule.

Another club has closed all its waters completely until further notice….

My third club has its waters open – but that’s only 2 pools. One is local and is only about 10 minutes from my home but the other is 20-25 miles away and is not a favourite of mine – small and so stuffed with carp that the chances of catching anything else is minimal – went there once, won’t be going again!

And then there’s my Birmingham Anglers Association card which I get mainly for the local canal stretches but they also have river/pool/canal waters further afield including a short stretch of the Worcester Stour … and their waters are all open. In fact, Liz and I discussed going out on Monday to the local canal for an hour’s walk with the light lure rods but today the weather is awful – light snow/rain and extremely cold! – so maybe not – will have to see what happens over tomorrow.

Will be going out the the local Halford’s AutoCentre on Tuesday – booked an appointment there to have Duncan wired for the dashcam that we used for Epsom – and whilst waiting for that to be done, and if the main Halford shop over the road from the AutoCentre is open, then I’ll pop over there to maybe get Duncan some rear seat covers with the £20 voucher which we received from Confused.com when we used them for the purchasing of our car insurance last year.