IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK...

[Janet]

I went fishing today for the first time for several weeks...just what I needed after a stressful week at work with redundancies in prospect....it's amazing how chilled out you can get just sitting on the bank and watching a little orange float bobbing up and down...or not, as it turned out!

 

My float was brilliant...it did exactly as it said on the tin...it floated! From nine o'clock this morning until four o'clock this afternoon it performed admirably! Still, no matter...I was in my favourite place with some of my favourite people and that was good enough for me.

 

I did actually manage to catch three fish, and beat my fishing buddy 3-1, but it really was an appallingly bad day on the lake, despite all my best efforts. My first cast produced a fabulous run from something big, but after taking me all over the lake it finally bettered me and shook the hook in the reed bed next to my peg. I was gutted! It was totally my fault, as I hadn't got the clutch set right on my reel...clutch? I haven't been fishing in so long that I'd forgotten it was there!

 

So, in between the very rare bites, I decided to make the best of it and take Oly for a walk to try and capture some of the atmosphere...

 

Lee arrived not long before we were packing up to leave and proceeded to whoop us soundly!

 

 

Somebody ought to tell him that it's not the done thing to smile when you've caught a fish...you never see a smiling angler in the fishing magazines....

 

 

How do you make pole fishing interesting?

 

 

I fished the peg on the far right of this picture and spent most of the day fending off falling elderberries and hawthorn berries...very disconcerting the first time it happened...then I got wise, put an elderberry on the hook and caught my first fish. Only a gudgeon, but as I haven't caught one since last summer, I was delighted with it. I'm easily pleased, can you tell?

 

 

Whilst heading back to our fishing cabin to make a fresh cuppa, I spotted these...why are they always past their best when I come across them?

 

 

Meanwhile, Lee was bagging up...

 

 

Ray was on the back pond...he did OK, with a couple of decent carp and some nice orfe..

 

 

Paul had brought his grandson with him...he had a go at fishing for a while but there was nothing doing so he headed off up to the nearby Leeds & Liverpool canal with Ashley to try a bit of spinning....they blanked there too! Although it stayed dry and calm all day, the fish simply weren't having it.

 

Ashley resorted to a bit of live baiting...

 

 

The last couple of hours were spectacularly quiet on the fishing front, so Jamie decided to skim pebbles across the lake...I must have taken about fifty shots, but not once would he look into the camera!

 

 

Such a shame, as he's a lovely looking lad...however, I'll get him one day!

 

Not the best of days for fishing, but the company and the craic has been excellent as always.

 

Janet

[fishermanste]

I went fishing today for the first time for several weeks...just what I needed after a stressful week at work with redundancies in prospect....it's amazing how chilled out you can get just sitting on the bank and watching a little orange float bobbing up and down...or not, as it turned out!

 

My float was brilliant...it did exactly as it said on the tin...it floated! From nine o'clock this morning until four o'clock this afternoon it performed admirably! Still, no matter...I was in my favourite place with some of my favourite people and that was good enough for me.

 

I did actually manage to catch three fish, and beat my fishing buddy 3-1, but it really was an appallingly bad day on the lake, despite all my best efforts. My first cast produced a fabulous run from something big, but after taking me all over the lake it finally bettered me and shook the hook in the reed bed next to my peg. I was gutted! It was totally my fault, as I hadn't got the clutch set right on my reel...clutch? I haven't been fishing in so long that I'd forgotten it was there!

 

So, in between the very rare bites, I decided to make the best of it and take Oly for a walk to try and capture some of the atmosphere...

 

Lee arrived not long before we were packing up to leave and proceeded to whoop us soundly!

 

 

Somebody ought to tell him that it's not the done thing to smile when you've caught a fish...you never see a smiling angler in the fishing magazines....

 

 

How do you make pole fishing interesting?

 

 

I fished the peg on the far right of this picture and spent most of the day fending off falling elderberries and hawthorn berries...very disconcerting the first time it happened...then I got wise, put an elderberry on the hook and caught my first fish. Only a gudgeon, but as I haven't caught one since last summer, I was delighted with it. I'm easily pleased, can you tell?

 

 

Whilst heading back to our fishing cabin to make a fresh cuppa, I spotted these...why are they always past their best when I come across them?

 

 

Meanwhile, Lee was bagging up...

 

 

Ray was on the back pond...he did OK, with a couple of decent carp and some nice orfe..

 

 

Paul had brought his grandson with him...he had a go at fishing for a while but there was nothing doing so he headed off up to the nearby Leeds & Liverpool canal with Ashley to try a bit of spinning....they blanked there too! Although it stayed dry and calm all day, the fish simply weren't having it.

 

Ashley resorted to a bit of live baiting...

 

 

The last couple of hours were spectacularly quiet on the fishing front, so Jamie decided to skim pebbles across the lake...I must have taken about fifty shots, but not once would he look into the camera!

 

 

Such a shame, as he's a lovely looking lad...however, I'll get him one day!

 

Not the best of days for fishing, but the company and the craic has been excellent as always.

 

Janet

So the Maggots i gave you didn't do their job then Janet! they should of been hugging those tiny perch we have in there at the very least! I must say it was fishing rather slow today but it was flipping cold last night.... I only managed a lovely mirror around 4lb, 3 roach and 2 perch! i must say janet you cant half take a good picture!!!!

[arbocop]

I went fishing today for the first time for several weeks...just what I needed after a stressful week at work with redundancies in prospect....it's amazing how chilled out you can get just sitting on the bank and watching a little orange float bobbing up and down...or not, as it turned out!

 

Whilst heading back to our fishing cabin to make a fresh cuppa, I spotted these...why are they always past their best when I come across them?

 

 

 

You would certainly be chilled out if you ate one of these - a fly agaric - you would be spaced out of your mind, after lots of vomiting!

 

Nice photos.

 

Mike

 

ps hawthorn berries are kown as 'haws'.

[Janet]

Cheers for the maggots Steve, but you hadn't trained them well enough! My swim died shortly after you left, despite my best efforts. Bites were very few and far between for the rest of the day for all of us, hence why I went wandering round with my camera.

 

I had two good and exciting runs from very decent fish during the day. The first, which felt absolutely massive, I lost because I hadn't got the clutch on my reel set correctly...a huge beginner's mistake, and one that I came to regret as I played it for about five minutes before it shook the hook in the reeds. I haven't been fishing much this year with one thing and another, and I turned the knob the wrong way, giving the fish the opportunity it needed to strip line off my reel and make me look like a total numpty! As you know, I'm pretty good at that!

 

The second I was managing OK...it went over to my right, under the overhanging elderberry and hawthorns and I thought I'd lost it, but I managed to tease it back out into the open water. It then skited off towards your peg, before coming back towards me and breaking the surface...looked like a pretty decent common! Woo hoo!

 

Then, just as I was playing it into the net it spooked and shot off like a chuffing steam train straight into the middle of the lake towards the island...I did get my hook/float back, but the hook didn't have quite the bend in it that it had when I started! It was a Cillit Bang moment...."Ping, and the hook is gone....." I was guttted...did it show? I tried to be brave and not cry like a wuss...

 

Oh well...that's fishing! It wouldn't be any fun without the story of the one that got away, would it?

 

Paul had a decent mirror...he's a tad p*ssed off that I still managed to beat him 3-1 though! OK, I only had three tiddlers, but our friendly (?) challenge is for quantity, not quality! I caught three, he caught one...WINNER!!!!

 

It was a good day, made even better by watching Paul in his balaclava looking like a terrorist/bank robber whilst we basked in the sunshine...!

 

Look forward to seeing you on the lake again soon.

 

Janet

[lutra]

Nice one Janet, its just nice to get out some times and great pic's.

[Rusty]

Some brilliant pics as usual Janet, even one of Pablo Picasso which is quite an achievement.

 

Did you mange to fend off the threat to your club water? If I remember there were some plans to fill it in and build a supermarket or something?

[Janet]

Rusty, so far as I know, my lake is still under threat from developers who want to build a racecourse/hotel/shopping complex in the area. However, given the recent financial downturn, it seems to have been put on hold and we haven't heard anything for months...let's hope that "silence is golden" with this one, and they decide to invest elsewhere...if not, I will be lying down in front of the diggers as I'm not about to see this rather special little place obliterated for the sake of commerce.

 

Luckily I work for the local Council, so I keep a close eye on planning applications.

 

My current worry is a huge Tesco superstore being built just a couple of hundred yards from my home, on the banks of my local River Calder, which is much overlooked, but stuffed full of wild brownies. Currently I have a rather nice walk to work for a few hundred yards along the riverbank...I can even get in a few hours fishing before I go to work, but now that they've appealed and being granted planning permission, I expect that will all change. They failed in their first planning application after a lot of objections from local residents and retailers, but hey, they're the big boys and they bully their way in....what Tesco wants, Tesco gets...

 

I will have cars thundering up and down the road outside my house as they discover the local "rabbit run" that bypasses the town and the traffic lights...the lovely old stone built mill walls and buildings that remain on the riverside walk will be replaced by the trolley bays and the car park...what remains of our heritage will be bulldozed and turned into yet another consumer delight....for whom? The local residents who vetoed the plan? We didn't want it...both local businesses and local residents gave it a definite no...they have a huge superstore just a few minutes drive away...it's pure avarice on their part.

 

However, they have the money and influence to ride roughshod over anyone that gets in their way...

 

It makes me feel sick to the stomach just to think about it...

 

Janet