Tel-Boy Trotter...

[Wordbender]

This week, I have mainly been trotting a brace of maggots down chalk streams in Berkshire, a bit of the Kennet, and the Colne. Much has been learned, and every moment savoured.

 

My Berkshire excursion produced exciting tussles with grayling and dace, plus some certifiable fights with rainbows and brownies. Yes, the trout were off-topic, but their mad rushes and aerobatics would force a grin from the most granite-faced of traditional gits.

 

Today's mooch along the Colne produced eight chub (only three 'proper' ones, the rest below three pounds) but in the process I had a toe-to-hoof brawl with a herd of bullocks - with me flailing at them with a reed mace plant in a baseball bat stylie, plus dishing out the occasional left jab - but I lost that encounter and had to retreat before my tackle got trampled. I was a coward, bullied, beasted and bested, by a herd of cows.

 

I winkled out the biggest fish of the day, at 4.5lbs, from a tiny stream, five feet wide and less than two feet deep, and I was picking up chub and chublets on a regular basis, until I found the barbel...or carp...or freshwater marlin for all I know. Four runs alongside a giant snag resulted in three lightning strikes and no chance whatsoever of even playing these fish, let alone landing them. My 4lb mainline was easily 6lb shy of the required breaking strain, so after the third attempt to engage failed within a few seconds, I fed the snag and left the fish to scoff themselves into a false sense of security. As a chap once grunted - I'll be back.

 

The only downer of the day was watching squadrons of cormorants heading for local waters; wave after wave of the pointy buggers, bound for an inland feast of our coarse fish stocks. Something really does need to be done, chaps.

 

My ESP bait pouch was a Godsend, allowing me to flick in a constant spatter of grubs with minimal effort, and this 'very little, but very often' baiting approach seemed to flick the switch in most of the productive swims. I used maggots exclusively, but I'll be blagging some paste mix secrets from my angling chums, and trying a whole range of baiting options before season's end.

 

I finished the morning in a glorious state of knackerdom, with so many lessons learned and my fishing batteries fully-charged. I've got myself an angling pursuit that I can weave around my job, and one which holds unlimited promise for me. I'm a happy man today.

[Steve Burke]

I'm a happy man today.

 

That says it all. Nice one, Terry!

[Tigger]

I only saw one cormorant today on the river ...good luck to it it needs it's couple of fish a day more than I do

What a fantastic bird they are, admittedly not colourfull but they can fly in the air and unerwater aswell....amazing !

[watatoad]

Well done and keep it up. Cows, Bulls and bullocks can have days when they get the devil in them, you are not the first to suffer from them and I am certain you wont be the last.

[jaypeegolf]

Beautiful words Terry, felt like I was there with you, and perhaps you wish I had been when going into battle with the bullocks!

 

Looking forward to reading more of your prose on future trips!

 

Happy New Year

JP