End of Season Countdown - Day 4
River Itchen, LIF, Saturday 12th March 2011
Day three of the countdown was spent in preparation for the LIF fish-in so not much to report unless you want to read about polishing, lubing and loading Witchers and the domestic activities undertaken as a result of losing Saturday. No? I thought not.
Well what a day, I couldn’t have hoped for better weather and a better turnout. Last year’s event was pretty miserable and I was beginning to think that I was jinxing them (conditions have been hopeless at each fish-in that I’ve attended) but that ghost was laid to rest today.
With 20 AN’ers attending I did wonder whether it would be a bit crowded but access to the coarse syndicate stretch meant that I needn’t have worried, there was plenty of space for all to do whatever they wanted. Some pitched up and stayed there all day, some explored a limited stretch and some (me) wandered far and wide. Thinking back I fished most of the river which was probably my undoing in terms of final tally.
The day started early, too early for Steve who hadn’t had time for his morning ablutions by the time my headlights had lit up his driveway. Not a major issue for Matt or me but it did mean that we had to stop at a petrol Station en-route to use their facilities. When we arrived there was only one car in the car park, we thought we’d beaten Budgie to the fishery but we should’ve known better. As we drove to the top end a black pimpmobile loomed into view, we parked and walked further upstream whereupon we met with a familiar sight. Budgie trying to re-acquaint himself with the resident chub, I’m sure they’re on first name terms;
We said our farewells, continued up to the top and then gradually made our way down trotting as we went. I missed a couple of bites, Steve encountered some trout near the railway bridge and we met up with Matt back at the car a couple of hours later, breakfast time co-incidentally. Fortified we then drove down to the lower limit of the no-go zone where we parked up and went our separate ways. The carrier was un-fished I headed off upstream until I came to this delightful little pool;
It looked so inviting I took the picture before fishing it. I was totally confident that something lurked in the deep near bank slack water and most importantly there was a fallen log nearby which made a handy seat. Minnows justified my confidence, I was hoping for something more spectacular but it was a pleasant spot to spend a bit of time. Walking back downstream to the main river I bumped into Thamesoddity who’d had no more success tempting carrier chub, he looked like he knew what he was doing so I was heartened.
Another short drive to a spot with a little hut and seating, lunch was arranged for 1:00pm and off we went again. I sort of lost track of the others and went wandering, I caught a small grayling and a trout but not much more before sausages beckoned, time just seemed to disappear. Some people have an inbuilt instinct for freshly cooked food and so it proved that Arbocop and Thamesoddity are so possessed. No sooner had the cooker been fired up than they arrived for a ‘chat’, it would’ve been rude not to offer them sustenance so I determined how much blackness they preferred on their sausages and bunged a few more in the pan. Fresh brewed tea accompanied the food and we all agreed that my baps are most excellent.
After lunch we separated again, this time I decided to hoof it down to the weirpool (a long walk) to try for chub and roach. When I arrived there was some sort of contraption making an almighty racket but I was assured by Anderoo that it would stop. This mini session proved successful with a chublet and this roach, at least I think it’s a roach and not a hybrid;
Ok so it looked and felt a lot bigger in real life, if the fish bores you just focus on the reel which will always be a thing of beauty.
The contraption did stop eventually but what with the motorway noise and general commotion it wasn’t my ideal spot to fish so I walked back upstream to about 100yards above the motorway (not much quieter though). Simon Fell, Anderoo and Goosequill were all fishing downstream and my attention was suddenly drawn to Anderoo holding something huge glinting in the sun. It looked a really massive fish, from what I saw it was improbable that it could be a roach (in my mind I had 3 or 4 pounds, it really did look that big) so I had to walk back and check. It wasn’t an ‘impossible’ at 1lb 11oz nevertheless it was a fish which everybody would have been privileged to catch and one which most will be very lucky to see again. I was lucky enough to see it, albeit from a distance.
The rest of the day was spent quietly ambling back to the car and trotting the immediate vicinity. It was getting on a bit by then, a snag and pull for a break ended my day and by that time the others had just about fished themselves out. We loaded up the long suffering Fiesta and headed home having had a most memorable day.
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