Not quite what I expected
Entry posted by Rusty
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River Kennet, Barton Court, Monday 15th November 2010
I feel cheated, for the first time ever I’ve failed to catch a trout at this venue. Towards the end of the day I was trotting weirpools in a desperate attempt to justify my view that they’re a nuisance and easy to catch on anything but a fly, all to no avail. Trout blanking at Barton Court is unforgivable and I hang my head in shame.
The freezing foggy day which greeted me matched the forecast that had suddenly changed from a warm sunny day the night before. It was due to get better during the day so I was hopeful that freezing rod rings would be a temporary inconvenience. At 7 am I parked up, sorted out the rod, slung my bag over my shoulder and felt very naked…no landing net. I could either go home and get it (an hours round trip), choose swims carefully or see if anyone in the Lodge was up and ask if I could borrow one. I decided to have a look at the the Railway Slip to see if it was possible to fish it without a net. It wasn’t.
So I packed up again and prepared for the journey home. By this time lights were on in the Lodge so I thought I’d take a chance. Luckily a very pleasant woman answered the door (in her dressing gown) and agreed to lend me a net. I was very embarrassed and apologised profusely but I was back in business and heading back to the chosen swim.
The flow was very gentle and combined with icing rings it made trotting impossible. I could’ve dipped the rod but in this part of the river I didn’t want to disturb anything. Indeed I’d gone to great lengths to be as stealthy as possible getting to this swim, once there I patted myself on the back for being quiet just as a train went thundering past not 50 yards away.
So, static lobworm fishing it was. Just one stupid crayfish met his maker because he made advances on my lobworm, no trouble thereafter. First proper catch of the day was this chub, a species I’ve never caught here so I was really pleased;
Nothing else from that swim which is hardly surprising given how narrow it was. Any disturbance I’m sure would spook the others so I explored the entire stretch spending a bit of time in each likely looking spot. A perchy spot produced a perch;
Again just the one fish from there. I rebaited and dropped the float in the same spot but there were no takers, time for a cup of tea and a cheeseburger then. Fortified by lunch I decided to move and girded my loins for the assault on Gunters, a heart attack inducing slog through thick reeds to another narrow section, it’d better be worth it. Unfortunately I couldn’t get to where I really wanted to be, the water table was too high for my wellies and after the landing net fiasco I was bu****ed if I was walking back to the car to get my waders. The sun had come up and iced rings were no longer a problem, trotting lobs in my second choice swim produced nothing, trotting maggots produced a couple of small roach so not a complete waste of time.
It was mid-afternoon by then and I was very happy with the way things had gone. Having caught a couple of decent coarse fish I thought I’d entertain myself for the last couple of hours by trying to catch as big a trout as possible. How smug was I.
One last photo of Barton Court in the sunshine;
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