FUR & FEATHER

[Janet]

My fishing club held its annual Fur and Feather match yesterday - normally held in December, it had been postponed due to the lake being frozen throughout much of December and January.

 

 

The main trophy was donated by the local paper I write my angling column for, with the second place trophy being donated by Paul, my fishing buddy and Club Secretary.

 

As I'm sure most of you know, the idea is that everyone brings a prize, with the winner choosing first and then second place and so on...we had a pretty good selection of prizes (gift vouchers, chocolates, champagne, wine and more wine seemed to be the order of the day!) and it was good to see that the large jar of tiger nuts made yet another reappearance! It's becoming an annual fixture at this event as tiger nuts are a banned bait on the lake! I expect to see it again at the next match.

 

The last time I fished this match, I picked one of the worst possible pegs, sitting in a cold, biting wind all day. Guess what? Yes, I did it again!

 

Normally I'd love to have drawn peg 9 - you get the full benefit of the sun all day and I've always had good catches from here - not this time! Although the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was blowing an absolute hoolie straight towards me, and didn't let up for the whole day. It was so disappointing, as I thought I'd drawn my favourite peg 6, where I would have been out of the wind, but then someone pointed out the little line underneath the number...

 

 

Having recently sold my Korum chair as my fishing tackle and associated bits 'n' bobs were taking over the house, I was using a rather comfortable camping chair. Comfortable when it stayed upright that is! Every time I stood up to do something it blew over, at one point nearly ending up in the back pond! I even pegged it down using the screw in pegs from my brolly, but the wind whipped them out. I spent most of the match sitting cross-legged on my peg, hoping that the reeds at ground level would give some sort of shelter from the biting wind. It was a forlorn hope...

 

Just ten feet away from me on the back pond it was blissfully peaceful with scarcely a ripple.

 

 

The fishing was dire, at least at our end of the lake. I had (I think!) three bites, one of which resulted in a tiddler that managed to wriggle itself off the hook before it got to the net, one which snapped me in the reeds and one which I was just too slow to react to. Having only brought float fishing tackle with me, it didn't take me long to realise that it was a hopeless cause. I was getting positively seasick watching the waves!

 

 

I tried several different floats, all specifically designed to be "windbeaters" but they were about as much use as a chocolate teapot! Twice the wind gusted so badly that my float actually lifted OUT of the water and flew towards me...It really was just about impossible and I should have given up instead of sticking it out to the bitter end.

 

There wasn't as much banter round the lake as usual, mainly because it was so windy that you couldn't hear yourself think. It's a good job really, as if the lads had seen my attempts at loose feeding I would never have heard the end of it! I waited and waited for the gusts to die down, handful of maggots at the ready. Ooops! My timing was slightly off and I ended up with the wind blowing them straight back at me. I had maggots in my hair, my bag, my jacket and down my cleavage. I'll be picking them out for weeks!

 

The match was won in the end by Dave, with a couple of nice carp amongst his catch.

 

 

Les came a well deserved second...

 

 

...and here's the rest of the motley crew!

 

 

Apart from the top few, most of the catches were measured in ounces rather than pounds.

 

 

He may well look surprised...Paul snuck a brick into the weigh net!

 

Drying keep nets proved a bit problematical as they performed like wind socks...

 

 

As this was my first fishing trip since last October I was very much looking forward to it, but I ended up having the most miserable day. My face is sore and windburnt and my eyes are stinging, despite wearing sunglasses for most of the day.

 

Needless to say I caught nowt, so I ended up going home with the Lambrini! I think that's only the second time I've ever blanked on our lake.

 

Oh well. Such is fishing. Will it put me off? No...not a chance! I'll be back!

 

Janet

 

 

PS. Apologies for the image quality...it really was hard to avoid camera shake in that wind!

 

For the Kingfisher Angling Club members reading this, here's the link to the slideshow

 

Kingfisher Fur & Feather Match 1st May 2011

Edited May 2, 2011 by Janet

[Little Roachess]

Seemed like another great fishing day there! Great photo's of the event Janet, especially the flora. Weather like this you just have to get out and about even if you don't catch any fish.

[Janet]

Seemed like another great fishing day there!

 

Another great fishing day? Far from it...it was by far the worst day I've had since I started fishing! I can't begin to tell you how horrible and demoralising it was! For sure, the company was great as always, but as for the rest of it?

 

It was one of the very few times when I really, really wished I hadn't bothered to get out of bed to go fishing.

 

Despite copious amounts of moisturiser, my face is still stinging and I look like I've been gently toasted on one side!

 

Janet

[Rusty]

PS. Apologies for the image quality...it really was hard to avoid camera shake in that wind!

 

Errrrr what? The pictures are superb! It's been a while since we've had such an account from you Janet and we've missed them. Welcome back!

[Janet]

Thanks for the welcome back Rusty, but I've never really been away! I do look in every day, but seldom have anything to add.

 

Fishing has rather taken a back seat to my photography lately, but I hope to put that right during the summer.

 

I'm longing for some of those long, lazy summer days when I can bag up on my club lake and get bragging points!

 

I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I'm very definitely a fair weather angler. I've done fly fishing, river fishing and breaking ice...I know which I prefer!

 

My fishing time is limited, so I really need to make the most of it and get as much pleasure out of it as I can. Fishing in the sort of conditions we had yesterday is simply not pleasurable and I won't be doing it again!

 

Janet

[John S]

Good report there Janet, despite the lack of fish and the unwanted wind

[Dales]

Shame a few more fish were not biting and the conditions sounded a little testing , but a cracking report