stevetheangler

And so my scalds had healed enough, thanks to the twice weekly treatments and reviews at my GP’s surgery with Penny, assistant practioner, and Suzi, the surgery nurse,. My right calf has been the slowest to recover with a couple of patches that needed extra care. But on the Thursday preceding the planned holiday I was able to dispense with the required dressings and just use hydrocortisone cream on the two small scabby areas with moisturiser on the surrounding areas – and fishing was back on the cards!

So, Liz and myself drove down at midday on Monday 6th starting out at noon having been given an arrival time of 1600-1700. Its only a 2.5 hour drive really but we stop traditionally enroute at the Gordano Services on the M5 for a coffee break and as usual this we did… meaning we arrived at Haven around 1500 … and were pleasantly surprised with the good news that our van was already for us to invade! :) That was IDEAL as we were able to unload the car and then for Liz to sort out bedding and catering items whilst I prepared my tackle and baits for an early morning start on the pools on Tuesday without a major rush. And all went to plan – apart from the fact that I’d left my day coat at home on the back of the chair in the front room… resolved on Wednesday though, our Wetherspoon breakfast and town wander day, when I managed to get a decent fleecey jacket from a market-type shop at a reasonable price without even having to scour the charity shops (although as charity shop scouring tends to be a hobby they did also get a look-in later!). Good job no buses were needed on our stay though as my bus pass was back at home in the pocket of the forgotten coat – and Lord forbid having to pay!! LOL!

Our accommodation was again close to the both of the site’s pools – about 5-10 minutes pull of the garden truck I use on holiday to reach the causeway that separates the two on-site pools. My usual ‘carp’ barrow I find harder to use on the holiday sites with the ‘lift and push’ mode needed to be used and as the main tracks are tarmaced it is easier to pull a 4-wheel truck than push a barrow… plus the truck also holds, when necessary, most of Liz’s needs too – and both sets of rod holdalls sit on top too so Liz only need use a ‘porter type’ trolley to convey our butty/drinks bag and her tackle bag… easy peasy! Only problem with the truck is with slopes – try to go across a slope and with the load usually being top heavy (mainly due to rods on top) and it has a tendency to tip but if travelling up/down then not a problem at all … just need to manoeuvre correctly :)

Anyway, so on to Session 16, Tuesday 7th, …. a solo session while Liz had a lie-in and then a swimming session in the afternoon..

I left the van at 0630 with the skies just about to lighten and arrived shortly after at the causeway with no-one else there – other than a couple of bivvies set up on the far end of the ‘specimen’ pool and in fact both bivvies were there the whole week! Usually our accommodation has been over on the other end of the causeway and so we’ve usually fished at the corner of the specimen pool at that end… I had intended to fish that peg again and did, in fact, dump-the-truck and have a walk to look-see … and it looked ok but decided in the end to try the ‘pleasure’ pool especially as ‘the ticket man’ had told me some time ago the stocks of both pools were much the same … and the nearest peg to the the van looked quite nice… :)

OK then … that peg chosen, the usual setting up routine followed … spombed out feed, cast out sounder (water = 4’6”), etc and then set up the two leger rods with frame feeders…

I started with one rod baited with 2 dendro worms, the other with a bunch of maggots on a size 12 hook … feeders loaded with cereal crumb and particles (dead maggot, wheat, rice, etc) … first cast being around 0815 with both out at 0830.

Throughout I had minor tweaks on both baits but nothing to really strike at and at 1100 I decided to switch the maggots over to a cheesy bready paste (ie piece of bread coated with Primula cheese & prawn spread)… again getting knocks on both rods …

Then about 1155 a site worker in chest waders entered from the left hand bank to me and started out to what must have been a faulty aerator about 15-20 yards further our out than my baits lay … and when he was about 3/4 of the way to his target my bobbin took on a nice steady lift and a strike met solid resistance … a solid weight but little fight it immediately was obviously a bream :) A few minutes later my landing net was slipped under a 6lb 3oz bream – a new PB of 5oz!

I fished on after this until about 1430 but not one single knock or twitch resulted – could this be the sole fish that had been ‘playing’ with my baits all the time? LOL!

Anyway, a happy bunny went back to the van…. :)

Session 17 took place on Friday 10th October…. fishing with Liz.

This session saw us fishing our usual peg (it holds both of us :)) on the ‘specimen’ pool …. fish action was evident on arrival across the pool but there seemed to be pike action directly out in front of us in the gap between 2 sets of reed beds with fry leaping and scattering … but we had no pike tackle, perhaps drop a basic set up pike rod in the car next year (we are booked in again at the site in March but pike fishing out of season there then but today we rebooked for next October J).

So, 0800 cast outs, Liz elected to feeder fish with maggot, myself I was back to the worm rod plus a maggot rod which again got switched later in the day to bread/cheese&prawn spread.

A slow day for both of us – I had nothing at all, not even the slightest nudge by the time we packed up at 1530. Liz did do slightly better though with a bream of about 1lb at 0900 and a small perch at 1220….

I think next visit, in March, I/we will give the pleasure pool another go :)

PLANS

As I write this I am planning a trip out to Kingsbury Water Park at Sutton Coldfield/Tamworth to throw out some deadbaits in hope of catching a pike or two. Fingers crossed as this is to be most likely my last session of 2025 (unless I sneak in a session on the canals fishing a lure or wobbling a sprat) as a couple of days after my scalding I received a phone call from the hospital regarding the hernia operation I’d been on the waiting list for – ‘Would it be acceptable for you to have the operation on 11th September?’ – unfortunately with the blistering and open wounds from the scalding it ended up that it would not be possible due to infection worries but I was given the phone number to call when my injuries had healed enough so that I could be returned to the top of the waiting list, and now, after I see by the nurse on Tuesday next week and hopefully get given the all clear, I’ll be making that call. But that means 6 weeks of no driving and no heavy lifting etc … and as my operation is a bigger than a normal hernia one (consultant says ‘major and painful’ – had it 5 years now following my ileostomy reversal in 2020 and large (normal waist 1-2XL, hernia side 3-4XL … try buying pants/trousers to those specs!). So expecting a week in a ward but hoping for less… and might also miss out on seeing Arthur ‘I am the god of hellfire’ Brown on 9th November, my and Liz’s ‘anniversary’ of when we first met… :)

UPDATE….

JUST SEEN WEATHER!!!

WON’T BE FISHING TOMORROW!!!!!