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12.3.22 - Dobsons/Alders/Willows - The Dilemma

Bayleaf the Gardener

Entry posted by Bayleaf the Gardener in Alders/Willows

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Well, today summed up quite nicely the dilemma I'm at with my fishing.

Regular readers will see that I generally choose to fish at Willows. Well, it's easy to park, sheltered from most winds, otter-proofed and there are no crays. It's also pretty easy to catch good fish. Since re-finding fishing in June 2020, the vast majority of the 149 Commons and 101 Mirrors (between 1lb and 18lb) I've caught have come from Willows (not including the many tench, bream and crucians)

I have 12 written rules of fishing borrowed from such angling heroes as Jeremy Wade and Chris Plumb. One, painfully learned after many largely self-inflicted blanks, is 'always fish where you have the best chance of catching fish'. So why wouldn't I fish Willows? 

One reason is that though it's great fun, it doesn't really develop my angling skills. So today I started at Dobsons, to pit my wits at a much larger lake where the water depth is more variable. After 2 hours I'd not had a touch. So OK, one cant be an angler without patience, but another of my rules is 'be decisive', and with many previous blanks there, I headed the 5 minutes to Alders. Here I sat for another 2 hours, again getting no bites, so with Willows just a cast away, I crossed the bank to my spiritual home.

It was a quiet few hours, but with a Common of 8lb 2 and decent bream of 7lb 8*, maybe I did the right thing.

Hmm. So do I carry on favouring Willows, or probably catch less, but potentially learn more?

Without the distraction of rivers and canals for the next 3 months, and the netting and moving of 50 carp from Willows next week undoubtedly freaking up all remaining fish, I pledge to give the lake a miss for at least 2 weeks and spend the time between Dixons, Dobsons and Alders. Wish me luck and watch this space...

* Ha. Big as it was, the bream rose to the surface as soon as it was hooked and insisted I dragged it across the surface like I was hauling in a soggy focaccia. This caught the attention of a number of terns who flew in and circled the floppy excuse for fish as it gave no resistance beyond it's not inconsiderable weight. I honestly thought they were going to dive at it, maybe even hitching a ride on it back to shore, and I'm sure the bream was even more relieved than me to be landed safely in my net.

 

 

Edited by Bayleaf the Gardener

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newbury imp

Loved your humour with the humble F1 and share your problem with the "dilemma". Unfortunately the sparkling carpark ,manicured swims ,dug out puddle ,tame fish ,artificial baits (boilies) are  just a bit much for me.

Perhaps fishing seems to have moved on and I haven't lol. Great read btw

 

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Bayleaf the Gardener

Hi Imp (Nimp?)

Ah, thank you for your kind words. I'm also  pretty anti your list of fishing faux pas,  (though I'll confess to sometimes using wafters on the method feeder. Sorry). I'm just back from a 3-hour late pm sesh on Warwicks, where it was lovely to sit in the sunshine and watch the inactivity of my float, whether weighed down by caster, worm or prawn. So another blank, not even a bite to make it worth having its own blog post. Ah well, it makes those occasional floppy bream and masquerading F1's even more delightful when they come.

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