WET, WILD & WINDY....

[Janet]

Thanks to an unexpected couple of days off work, Paul and I were able to have a midweek session yesterday, to carry on our friendly (!) challenge.

 

We had a slightly later start than usual, due to one of us oversleeping. I can’t say who it was, but it wasn’t me! I was up with the proverbial lark as normal, washing my worms and sorting out my tackle. Although the weather was quite pleasant early on, by the time Paul came to collect me and the kitchen sink, the rain had started and the wind was getting up a bit. Once again comments were made about the amount of stuff I was taking to the bank, although I thought it was quite reasonable. Rod in sleeve, (which has to be kept separate, as it’s a 12 foot two piece, and won’t fit in my rod bag with the rest of my stuff), rod bag containing umbrella, spare rods, whip, bank sticks, chair accessories etc, ruckbag (containing food, extra jacket, tackle box and essential bits and pieces), my chair and finally my bait bag. I don’t think that’s excessive for a long day, do you?

 

On arriving at the lake, we realised that we had forgotten to stop for fresh water on our way down through the farmyard, so we unloaded the car and I foolishly volunteered to take all our gear round to our respective pegs whilst Paul drove back up to collect the water, essential for our nice fresh brews throughout the day. We’ve recently had a new cabin installed, with seating and an area for a cooker where we could boil a kettle and have nice fresh cuppas instead of the usual rather unpleasant stewed stuff from a flask.

 

Oh calamity! Someone was already in residence on peg 5, Paul’s favourite! It was Ernie, who was taking an eternity to get set up, after having forgotten some vital piece of equipment (I’m not sure if he said wheels or handle) so was having to make several trips backwards and forwards to his car. He’s obviously a very neat and tidy person, as when he’d finished, his peg looked like something from the pages of a “how to do it properly” angling magazine photo shoot. All very organised and far removed from my slightly chaotic set-up! The final thing I saw him do was unpack his keep net, and set it up carefully. Hold that thought…..there’s more to come about that later!

 

We’d decided to leave our comfort zone, and fish pegs nine and ten instead. I could have picked my usual, favourite peg, the one I’m familiar with, but this was a challenge, so I needed to be close to Paul to keep an eye out for any cheating or underhand tactics. Also, if he got out of hand, I wanted to be close enough to be able to wallop him and keep him in order! There’s nothing like a good slap to keep a man in under control, and he’s seriously in need of one!

 

Did I say I’d volunteered to carry all our gear round? Bad error of judgement there Janet! These two pegs were about as far from the car as you can get, and I now know how a pack horse feels! Paul managed to delay his return until I’d just carried the last item round…..He talks about me having too much luggage? His tackle box is bigger than my house! His bag with bait etc is twice the size of mine, his chair weighs a ton and God only knows what he keeps in his rod bag! No Janet…..don’t go there…..you don’t really want to know!

 

It didn’t take me long to get my chair set up with my side tray and rod rest etc, but the wind was getting up a bit (although the rain had thankfully stopped), so I thought it would be a good idea to put up my new brolly to act as a windshield. I’ve been using a dirt cheap Zebco brolly since I started, but it really isn’t adequate when I’m out for a long session in the wind and rain, so I’d treated myself to a new 50” Korum brolly. I may come to love it, but I was soon cursing it yesterday. I wanted the straight sticky-uppy bit behind me, so that involved unscrewing the centre pole and screwing it into the other position. Not easy, and it’s not recommended to try this at the side of a lake facing into the wind. As I put the brolly up, the wind caught it and I very nearly did a passable impersonation of Mary Poppins! Eventually I had it under control, and managed to get it into the brolly arm on my chair. Oh no! Because of the position of the locking screw, I couldn’t get it far enough down to allow me to peg it down on the ground at the back. Paul came to my rescue, and with the use of a couple of bank sticks, we managed to get it sort of semi-stable, and I was ready to start fishing.

 

 

I’d left my rod set up in its bag, so it didn’t take long. I hooked on a tame white maggot and cast in to make sure my float was shotted correctly before plumbing the depth, only to find that my float didn’t settle properly, and was jiggling about a bit….possibly because it was firmly attached to a delightful little rudd! I do love it when that happens, although a fish on the first cast usually means that the rest of the day can only go downhill! It was only about six inches long, but it made me smile!

 

Paul was soon set up and into his first fish too….the challenge was on! Although like me, he had a good start, with a nice golden tench and a very large common, he would have been well advised to have stayed in bed, as he didn’t catch another for hours and hours and hours, whilst I continued to pull in fish after fish. No tiddlers though! I had some cracking fish, including what I think was the best of the day for me – a lovely large crucian of about two pounds. And I caught tench!!! I usually struggle to catch tench, but I ended up with five decent ones, including this beauty, which took off like a rocket and then proceeded to try and dive into the lilies. It then decided that it didn’t like the lilies, so went into the reeds instead, before changing its mind and heading for the lilies again. Eventually, after a wonderful sounding screaming reel, it came to the net, fighting every inch of the way.

 

 

As my largest tench to date, even Paul thought it warranted coming round to take a photo for me. Cheers Paul!

 

 

Paul says he likes the sounds that I make when I hook a big fish….it’s usually something along the lines of “Oh sh……ugar”, or “Ohhh, here we go……..” Occasionally it’s “What the f**k is this…..help”, as my rod hoops round and I start my usual insane giggling. All good fun, isn’t it?

 

Wahaaaay! By mid-afternoon I had an unassailable lead…..or possibly not….

 

Paul had the advantage of being able to use both rod and pole. He switched between them throughout the day and by the end he had caught up and totally outfished me. Apart from my small rudd and a few skimmers at the start, and Paul’s final lovely golden rudd at the end of the day, all of our catches were once again well above the average for a day on this lake. He had a few good commons (one very good one!), and a very, very nice barbel, all caught on the pole from the side of a lovely pad of lilies. We really must invest in some scales, as one of the commons was the largest I’ve seen out of here.

 

Although I love my new rod, I can see the advantages of using a pole when it comes to presentation, as Paul was winkling big fish out of places I couldn’t even think of trying with my rod. He was able to use very precise positioning, so next time we go, he’s going to show me how to use the whip that I bought and haven’t used, and see if that improves things. To be honest though, when it comes down to fun, it seems a lot better on the rod than it does on the pole. Although Paul caught loads, he said that he enjoyed it more on his rod more than the pole.

 

I had various problems with my new brolly throughout the day, which Paul eventually managed to sort for me. At one point I had to leave him holding it down while I went to answer a call of nature, as I was sure it was going to blow over, taking my chair with it! Although securely clamped in position, it was swinging from side to side and I didn’t feel at all comfortable with it, although it did keep me nice and dry and sheltered from the wind. He ended up getting two guy ropes from the depths of his bag, and securing them to the top to try and lash it down, which was an immense improvement. I’m sure it’s a good brolly, but some more fixing points would have been good. Even my cheap and cheerful Zebco brolly allowed you to attach a guy rope to every spoke as and when needed. This one doesn’t. It only has two pegging points at the back. Although it’s provided with two very strong screw in pegs, they don’t have any rope attached! Obviously designed by a man….I can forsee a bit of DIY fettling coming on! In fairness, if I’d been on softer ground, I wouldn’t have attached it to my chair, and I would have been able to peg it down properly.

 

 

We didn’t start to pack up until well after after eight in the evening, and even then I was reluctant to leave, although the bites had started to dry up for me a couple of hours earlier. Paul was still catching consistently though. You may remember I mentioned Ernie and his keep net earlier? He packed up a couple of hours before us, and I know he’d had some good fish throughout the day. I watched him lifting out his keep net, poised with the camera to get a few shots of his catch being released. He pulled the net up, section by section….the anticipation was almost unbearable. Then he pulled in the last section. Where were the fish? Not a sign of one! Turns out he’d pegged his keep net out, then just released all his catches instead of putting them in the net….must be a man thing!!

 

Once again I had a few problems with my reel, so Paul has kindly taken it home to give it a service. I just hope that when he puts it all back together, he doesn’t have a piece left over as most men do….I received a text message from him last night about the reel. “Your reel has a fault…..it’s the nut behind the winder……” I must stamp on this sort of humour forthwith…he’s starting to think he’s funny now!!

 

All in all, despite the wind and the rain, we both had a good day. We packed up, employed a couple of out of work Sherpas to take our tackle back from the bank, then loaded up the car and went back to the cabin to sit down and relax with a fresh brew and a cigarette before we left the lake to the coots, the cootlings and the night. The lake was just settling down for the evening, and looking as inviting as ever.

 

The final result? Paul 20 – Janet 16. Yes Paul. I did write that last one down. Every time he catches a fish, it’s the same….”Janet, did you get that?”, “Janet, that was a common….”, “Janet, have you jotted it down in your jotter?”. Pah! What am I? His secretary?

 

All in all, despite the weather, it was a good day. A very good day, despite all the problems and the rather ill-advised choice of fishing companion….Thanks Paul, both for the serenading and the help with the brolly. As usual, I had a belter of a day. Don’t relax too much though, as I will whoop you next time! For the record, the overall match score is now 5-2 to Paul…..

 

I really don’t know what it is about fishing, that entices me out of bed in the small hours, and makes me sit out all day in the wind and rain handling slimy, wriggling, ungrateful and difficult wet critters, but whatever it is, I like it!

 

Janet

[Newt]

I really don’t know what it is about fishing, that entices me out of bed in the small hours, and makes me sit out all day in the wind and rain handling slimy, wriggling, ungrateful and difficult wet critters, but whatever it is, I like it!

 

I'm not sure any of us who are fishing fanatics really know what gets us out there but something does and I like too - probably more now than I did 40 years ago so the addiction really never leaves.

 

Well done to you both for having so much fun with your fishing.

[Peter Waller]

Great venue snaps, terrific lighting.

[Janet]

Peter, I can't claim any credit at all for the lighting, nor any camera technique. I'm strictly point and shoot and hope something decent comes of it.

 

The lighting was all down to a higher being....it was just that fabulous, special light that you only get before a storm. We seem to get a lot of it on this lake! I'm very pleased that I managed to capture some of it, although a proper photographer would have made much more of it, I'm sure.

 

Janet

[Neil G]

That looks like a nice little venue

[Anderoo]

Bottom left corner of the last photo - carp or cloud?

[Dan Dan]

looks like a reed poking up from the water to me Anderoo

[merlino bill]

OI OI,

Fantastic looking lake, & report glad you enjoyed it, i still get a buzz after 30yrs small, BIG, doesn't matter, loverly tench.

crack on there may be BIGGER tench in there, as long as you enjoy yourself. I sometimes with them surroundings think it's a bounus if you catch a fish.

 

[Janet]

Bottom left corner of the last photo - carp or cloud?

 

Anderoo, I think perhaps it may be a shadow from my brolly. If that had been a carp I'd have had my bait out of the water faster than the speed of light! Although one day I'd like to report that I've caught something really big, with this frozen shoulder I have at the moment, I couldn't have handled a fish that size!

 

The tench I caught meant that I had to use two hands on my rod at one point, as my shoulder was screaming in agony! Perhaps I shouldn't be fishing really, and ought to rest it, but I think I'd go stir crazy if I couldn't get out on the bank.

 

I'm pleased that some of you like my little lake (little being the operative word!) It doesn't contain any monsters, so there are no records to be broken and with less than forty members in the club, many of whom I've not come across yet, it's always quiet. Many's the time when we've gone up to find we've been the only two on there all day.

 

It perhaps wouldn't suit everyone, but for me it's just perfect, and has given me a nice, peaceful place to sit and relax whilst I try and learn how to float fish properly. When conditions are right, the fishing is amazing, but a bit of a drop in temperature and you really have to work for every bite.

 

We're off for another session on Sunday, and I'm really looking forward to it, even if I have to put up with Paul's singing.....

 

Janet

[nursejudy]

Excellent write up Janet