NASTY AND WINDY...

[Janet]

Well, am I glad to be home!

 

I’m just back from a day fishing my club lake, and what a day it’s been. It started off badly and gradually went downhill from there!

 

Paul, a kind and generous man, who is without doubt one of the finest anglers in Lancashire, had graciously agreed to let me accompany him on a fishing trip. I humbly accepted this kind invitation, knowing I would be sitting at the feet of a true master of all things piscatorial….(can you detect a bit of subtle grovelling here? I have to be nice to him, he’s repairing a broken rod for me!)

 

Piscatorial? Well, at least I knew he’d be taking the p*ss all day, as he usually does!

 

The day didn’t begin well. I’d had a late night, pretending it was Christmas (well, it should have been Christmas as I was watching Steve McQueen in The Great Escape….) The sound of the alarm at 5.30 wasn’t particularly welcome, especially when I discovered that it wasn’t actually 5.30, it was 6.30 and nor was it my alarm. It was Paul ringing me to tell me he was sitting in the car outside my house! Oh flip! (or words to that effect….) I flew round the bedroom like a veritable whirlwind, piling on layers to keep out the cold after almost expiring from frostbite after our trip last weekend. No time to make sure that everything matched (one does like to keep up ones standards….) I just piled it all on and only stopped when I realised that I’d lost any semblance of flexibility in my joints! I nearly caused further delay when I realised that I’d forgotten to put on my lucky knickers and my favourite ring….I really should have taken a bit more care and perhaps the day would have turned out better!

 

Luckily I’d made some bacon toasties and packed all my gear the night before, so all that was left for me to do once I was dressed was to make a brew (I just can’t function without a cuppa in the morning!) and load my tackle in the car, praying that in my confused and rushed state that I didn’t forget anything important – like my rod! (I’ve been known to do that on occasion…)

 

Things were looking good on our arrival at the lake. Normally there are two, or occasionally three gates to open and close to get down the track to the lake (as Paul has told me on numerous occasions, the only reason he takes me fishing with him is so that I can open the gates and act as his own personal Sherpa!) Not today though, they were both open for us. This was a good start!

 

The good start didn’t last long though. Paul had taken a phone call earlier in the week telling him that there had been an attempt to break into the fishing cabin, and the door handle was damaged. Damaged? It had been totally sheared off so there was no way to unlock the door and gain access to the essential equipment – the cooker, kettle and tea bags! Luckily it appears to have been more of an accident by a club member being a bit too vigorous with a temperamental lock than an attempted theft, as there were no signs of any other damage, so Paul set to work with his bag of tools whilst I carried all our gear round to our chosen pegs. Unfortunately it wasn’t as simple a job as he’d anticipated, and he ended up having to take the door off altogether and do a bit of technical work with a hammer, but bless his little cotton socks, he managed to fettle it and attach a new handle.

 

As by now the wind was getting up a bit, we had decided to leave our usual comfort zone as it certainly wouldn’t have been comfortable today with the chill wind blowing straight at us. Instead we opted to fish on the opposite side of the lake so that the wind would be at our backs. I’ve only fished this peg once before during the summer, but I had a good day then, so I was quite looking forward to the change.

 

It certainly looked a lot different today. That was then….

 

 

This was now….

 

 

It didn’t take me long to get everything set up as I’ve finally sussed out where all the attachments fit on my chair, and I’ve got myself into a bit of a routine. By this time the wind was gusting much more strongly than the 5mph that was forecast, so I decided to put my brolly up as a windshield. Pah! That didn’t last long! It soon began to blow an absolute hoolie with the gusts coming from all directions and the brollie was threatening to lift me and all my tackle off the peg and carry me into the next county. The brolly was duly consigned to my holdall and I resorted to zipping my jackets (yes, I was wearing two!) right up to the chin and donning a fetching woolly hat….Vogue it certainly wasn’t!

 

As you can see from the picture, I decided to fish the margins…nothing new there then! I really don’t know why I have a twelve foot rod when I only ever fish a maximum of six feet from the bank! I was intending to fish a lot further out towards the island for a change, but with the wind and the waves, the only way I could detect any bites was to position my float next to the reeds, which provided a nice little sheltered area. Feeding was easy – just get hold of a few maggots and let the wind take ‘em! Thankfully today it was blowing towards the water and not straight at me, as I really didn’t enjoy the last occasion when I was fishing a match and ended up with maggots in my hair and down my cleavage!

 

It was painfully slow to start with, but then my float started dancing a bit…it was impossible to hit any of the bites, although I did try! Eventually though, the float stopped bobbing up and down and sailed away with some decisiveness....the fish had decided that it was going into the reeds, so in it went….bugger! After a few moments when it seemed that it had managed to snag me, I finally managed to get it out of the reeds and into open water. Still, it was putting up a real fight, but I finally tamed it….a new PB? Yeah right! It was a feisty little mirror, not much more than 1lb, but my goodness, that fish had attitude! Although I do adore this new float rod, it does seem to be a bit bendy, and makes even tiddlers look like monsters!

 

 

It was to be a good few hours before I got another sail-away bite, but it was well worth the frustration of all the missed bites, phantom bites caused by the wind, little nibbles and fish barging against the line. I’d decided that my highly trained ninja maggots were obviously on a work to rule, so I decided to switch to worms instead. I picked the longest, fattest, cutest and wriggliest one I could find and sent him off with instructions not to come back until he’d done what a worm has to do.

 

He didn’t let me down. I cast in and waited for my float to bob up. Sure enough, it bobbed up….then it bobbed down again! Wooo hooo! Fish on! The result, after yet another titanic struggle to keep it from reaching the sanctuary of the reeds? A huge, massive, humungous common…..it must have been all of at least two pounds! Yet again I’d been deceived into thinking that I had something rather larger but I’m not complaining. It was a beautiful little fish, absolutely scale perfect, and I was delighted with it as I watched it swim away strongly with a flick of the tail and a look that said “don’t mess with me….!”

 

Paul however, wasn’t faring so well. He’d tried using his pole, but was having trouble handling it with the wind. I did tell him he shouldn’t eat beans before a day fishing, but will he listen? Thank goodness he was upwind of me….He decided to switch to his feeder rod, but apart from one pull round, he lucked out. Personally I blame it on his singing….He’s been through his full repertoire today…Fair do’s though – it took him a long time to fix the lock on the cabin, so I had an extra hour or two to build my swim. He also packed up before me, to make sure that we had a way of securing the cabin again. He also made me a brew whilst I packed up and carried our tackle back to the car. Yes, I DID say that HE made me a brew! Please treasure that moment – it’s highly unlikely to happen again!

 

Gary was fishing with his young son on the next peg to me for a few hours – they were sharing a peg, both fishing the pole. Hanging on desperately to their brolly and trying not to knock each other in. I don’t think Gary caught anything all day, apart from a possible case of pneumonia, but his lad landed by far the best fish of the day – a lovely carp of about five or six pounds. I love seeing dads and kids fishing, especially when the kids show the adults how to do it. Well done that lad! Gary gave up and packed in well before his son….that kid has some bottle to carry on fishing in the sort of conditions we’ve experienced today.

 

 

Most of the regulars were (quite sensibly, given the conditions!) conspicuous by their absence apart from Roy, who came up later in the day and opted to fish the back pond instead of the main lake. Personally I think he was just trying to avoid Paul’s singing. We had to shout over to him occasionally to make sure he was still alive (don’t laugh at me for carrying a mirror in my tackle bag - he sits so still and quietly that there are times when we wonder if he’s still with us!) He managed one fish, which was much better than yesterday when he had his first ever blank on this lake.

 

During the summer this place is just amazing, but in the winter it really is very unpredictable, so I’m pleased to have at least caught something. Many thanks to Paul for the lift, the brew, the ciggies when I left my baccy in the cabin, and all the insults…I’ll treasure the memory of them forever!

 

We’re back there again next Sunday, for a special match that’s been organised for all the members who have been on the Work Parties. This time I won’t be tricked into releasing my catch before the weigh-in!

 

Janet

[WickerDave]

That was worth the wait .

[1superken]

Nice write up & nice pics & well done Janet on catching a few

[Andy Macfarlane]

You're nearly as disorganised as me these days Janet. Nice story by the way.

 

 

....Andy....

[Janet]

Andy, I'm not disorganised, I'm just scatty!

 

Apart from forgetting to set my alarm properly, (oh, and forgetting my rods on occasion...) I'm one of the most organised people I know when it comes to fishing!

 

I always get everything ready the night before - all I have to do in the morning is pack my sandwiches and maggots in my tackle bag and then I'm away. Honestly, I'm so organised that I'm beginning to worry. How many anglers do you know who empty their tackle box after each trip, wash it and then repack it all nice and tidy? I also empty my rod bags and wipe down all my bank sticks, umbrella, rods etc, and let them dry before I put them away. For goodness' sake - I even wash my worms!

 

Bordering on obsessive-compulsive behaviour?

 

Janet

 

PS. Paul will kill me when he reads that report! He's of the firm opinion that I only write about our fishing trips when I've managed to beat him!

[Dick Dastardly]

Nice one Janet! I like reading your write ups they are far more interesting and enjoyable than anything in the mags.

[Janet]

Thanks for that Budgie. I'm glad you liked it.

 

I do like writing my stories about my fishing trips, although I haven't written any for AN for a while. I thought they were getting a bit boring...after all, I tend to fish the same place with the same people all the time, and there's only so much you can say without repeating yourself....

 

Janet

[Steve Burke]

Great to have another story, Janet. Please keep 'em coming.