JANET v PAUL (continued)

[Janet]

Well, what can I say except WINNNNNERRRRR!!!

 

Another good day, but the results could have been a lot better - 16 to me, 13 to that sad loooooooser on the next peg!!!!! I'd like to say that I'm only joking here..I'd like to, but I can't, after the begrudging way he handed over MY trophy. I won't tell you where he told me to stick it. Suffice to say that it would have made sitting down slightly interesting, but a tad uncomfortable. I think it's fair to say that he threw his dummy out of the pram, and I came very close to having a long walk home.

 

Joking aside, we've had another good day, but a bit disappointing results wise. We fished from about five am this morning until eight pm tonight, a total of 15 hours. I averaged just about one fish per hour over the day! Although we've enjoyed it, and had a great laugh as always, the fishing was appallingly slow, with both of us sitting biteless for hours before a mad flurry of activity and then nothing for hours. It really was very, very strange. Still, that’s fishing for you!

 

It was very different when compared with last weekend, although the weather conditions should have made for better fishing. It's about time someone educated these fish about their responsibilities to us poor dumb anglers and made them read the rule book! For much of the time, it didn't matter what we tried, we remained fishless, although the lake was positively bubbling with fish activity. Steve and Mark joined us for the morning, but they too were struggling, despite obvious signs of feeding fish. This lake can be like this at times - no matter what you try, they ain't having it! Today was one of those days.

 

We had another couple of anglers (father and son?) on the back pond early this morning, and they reported the same poor results, although one of them gave us a great laugh (one of those occasions when you are splitting your sides, but daren't show it!) The elder of the two stopped on his way round for a chat, and was telling us a story (the subject of which now escapes me.) when his dentures suddenly flew out of his mouth and landed in the grass above my peg. "You'll be needing those..", said the younger angler as the owner casually retrieved and replaced them from whence they came. I'll bet he was spitting out bits of grass all day!

 

And bites? We had a few, but then again, too few to mention... that really ought to be set to music. It may help to increase Paul's repertoire! Yet again I I had to endure the constant cacophony from the neighbouring peg. OK, so it was tuneful, but a bit erratic..It ranged from "Thank heavens for little girls", sung in a most delightful French accent, through to the theme from Mr Ed, Lily the Pink, the Twelve Days of Christmas, finally culminating in his piece de resistance, a rather subdued (and actually quite pleasant) version of Pie Jesu and a segment of Nessun Dorma.

 

The afternoon was a bit different, as I had a couple of most welcome visitors to break the monotony of negligible angling activity. Amanda, one of my colleagues at work texted (is that really a word?) me to see if it was OK for her to bring her young son along for a couple of hours. You bet it was. A chance for a chat outside work, and a youngster to try and encourage? I'm all for that.

 

They arrived around two, and sat with me as I carried on fishing. Alex is only five, and as I discovered, he has the attention span of a memory deficient gnat, so although I really wanted to give him a chance to fish rather than just watch, I didn't really want to let him loose with my new Shimano rod. What to do? Luckily I remembered that I had my new whip in my rod bag. Bought several weeks ago, but never used. Paul was kind enough to set it all up, as I really didn't know how to use it, and got the top two sections all fettled for me. I'd bought a ready tied Browning rig, which proved to be a mistake, as when Paul started to attach it, he noticed that the rubbers holding the float on were far too big, and weren't actually holding onto anything. Luckily he had some spares, and soon had it sorted properly for me. Cheers Paul, I owe you one!

 

I vacated my chair, and soon Alex was in position, his little legs dangling whilst I sat cross-legged on the peg at the side of him and mother sat behind, praying that he didn't fall in and trying desperately to avoid looking at my maggots. Apparently she doesn't like smelly, wriggly things! What sort of a woman is she?

 

Alex, being a typical five year old, was full of questions, but he's a bright little thing, and actually listened to the answers. I was willing him to catch something, but it wasn't to be. He had several really good sail-away bites, (many more than I'd had in the preceding hour!) but each time his attention was distracted, and he didn't manage to hook into anything. He wasn't too bothered about it, but I was gutted. I tried to reach the whip each time to set the hook for him, so he could feel what it was like to hook a fish, but just couldn't quite manage it.

 

Soon it was obvious that boredom was setting in, so he went up onto the bank behind us to play with his newly purchased Action Man complete with grapplng iron, which proved to be much better at keeping his attention. Mother!!! Get yourself on this seat - it's your turn! Before she knew it, Amanda was sat, whip in hand, startled expression on her face, and she was fishing. Fair play to her, although she didn't land anything, she certainly tried. Unfortunately she was plagued as I had been with those lightning fast, unhittable bites from the tidgy carp and roach. She managed to hook into fish several times - the float went under and the whip bent, but there was nothing on the end of the hook but a maggot missing a bit.I managed to land a couple of small mirrors and a skimmer whilst they were with me, so at least Alex got the chance to see and handle a fish close up, which was good. How lovely to see those big wide eyes as I pointed out the scales along the sides of the carp, and felt his little hands covering mine to feel the fish as we put the fish back safely.

 

Instead of the fleeting visit that I'd expected, they stayed for a good couple of hours, and I really enjoyed having them there for a change. I'm pleased to say that Amanda thought as I do, that this is a lovely place to just relax and chill out. She made a good comment, after she’d been sat watching her float for an hour or so – “It’s a bit like meditation, isn’t it?” She also seemed to approve of my fishing companion, which leads me to doubt her sanity, but hey, what can you do?

 

Neither of us had any major catches today, but I did have a couple of very large bream, one of which I thought was going to break the handle on my landing net, as it was bent at a most unnecessary angle as I tried to bring it in. Yet again, I have a tale to report of "the one that got away" - twice! I hooked into something, I have no idea what, that powered off towards the lilies. With the sheer burst of power, I'm guessing it was one of our large tench, but I'll never know. I managed to keep it clear of the lilies, and guided it back out into open water. It then dived headfirst into the reed mace at the side of me, before being coaxed out again, with my rod bent double and straining, and me shouting "Ow! Oooch!" etc, as my frozen shoulder was put under considerable pressure. Suddenly it was all over. With a distinct "ping", my Kamasan hook to nylon had come undone at the knot, and all I was left with was a curly bit of line and a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

 

The second occasion was later on in the day, when my rod suddenly hooped round in that heart-thumping manner which makes us all keep doing this and doubt our sanity afterwards. I played whatever it was for several minutes, successfully managing to keep the beast in open water and away from the snags. By the way it felt, I guessed it was a large carp. It certainly didn't feel to fight like a tench, and it was just too strong and powerful to be one of our small barbel. It was a solid lump with a mind of its own, firstly just powering away, then plodding slowly with absolute determination and strength before shooting off again. I know our bream are fighting like nobody's business at the moment, but it most certainly wasn't one of them unless it had had six Weetabix this morning! Just as I thought I was winning the battle, (even Paul was willing me to land it!), and it began to come towards me and my waiting net, it suddenly summoned up a final burst of energy and powered off across the lake. There was absolutely no stopping it, and as it made one final lunge to the safety of the lilies, my line simply snapped. This time it wasn't a poor hooklink, but the line, which just snapped above the float for no apparent reason. We got the float back later in the day. This is the second time that this has happened to me, with this line breaking for no reason. I can’t understand what happened, as my clutch was set OK, and it was giving line at the time. Is it just me?

 

Still, there's always next time, isn't there?

 

Janet

[terry t shirt]

Hi Janet

Out of interest when you plumb the depth do you start deep and work shallower to get the correct deep or start shallow? Normally if the line breaks above the float its been pinched by the shot at some time. which causes the weekness.

[merlino bill]

OI OI,

Janet brilliant report as always shame about the lost fish, I tie my own hooks & put a dab of superglue on the knot's.

As you say some of the places i fish are quiet & peacfull & sometimes when the sun is out birds singing i always say if i catch a fish it's a bonus.

 

[Janet]

Hi Terry,

 

I always start off shallow and then go deeper when plumbing up. I was using a loaded crystal waggler, with a float adapter, and all the shot was bunched below the float. The line should have been ok, as before I start, I always discard several feet of line so I shouldn't have any weak spots.

 

It was 5.3lb BS line, by the way, which should be strong enough, shouldn't it?

 

Janet

[terry t shirt]

5.3BSis fine i rarely go above 4lb when float fishing. Even for chub etc on the rivers. As Bill said though like him i tie all my own hooks normally on the bank (i like extra long hook links up to 4 ft ) i feel it has more of a shock absorbing characteristeric as oppposed to short lenths that will break below there stated breaking strain.

Edited August 5, 2008 by terry t shirt

[WickerDave]

Nice report as always, Janet, although I think it's about time it was total weight not numbers that decided the winner. I'm sure Paul would win every time then .

 

Did Amanda have an EA license ? Alex was young enough not to need one.

[BoldBear]

Great report Janet as normal, you have a great sense of humour, congrats on winning the trophy.

Edited August 5, 2008 by BoldBear

[Janet]

I think it's about time it was total weight not numbers that decided the winner. I'm sure Paul would win every time then

 

Did he bribe you to say that? He wouldn't have beaten me on Sunday! My two bonus bream would've slaughtered him! Saying that though, he does usually consistently catch bigger fish than me. When he feels that there's a danger of me beating him, he switches to his pole and fishes really tight in to the reeds, where he always catches much better fish than me. It's amazing to watch the reeds parting as the big fish muscle their way through on their patrols along the margins.

 

He usually alternates between his rod and pole - he uses his rod for preference, but the pole when he's feeling threatened! Although he says he doesn't really like using the pole, he's somehow managed to acquire three in the past few weeks.....and he has the nerve to call ME a tackle tart!

 

However, he's quite a nice guy really and he's offered to elasticate my whip for me so I can use the same tactics as he does, giving us a level playing field!

 

Although we always have fun when we’re out fishing, we’re getting a bit fed up with our usual friendly challenge to see who can catch the most fish. The trophy has so far only been won on numbers, without taking into account the quality of the catch. I regularly catch large bream, (the horrible slimy buggers just seem to like me…) whilst Paul catches tiddlers (and also several very decent carp, tench and barbel) but at the moment each fish is just one point in our challenge, no matter what the size. Paul caught a large carp last week, and I caught possibly the smallest tench in the lake, (all of about two inches long!) but we each got a point in our little battle.

 

Fishing for anything that swims is fine by us, and always enjoyable, but next time, we’re going to go on a species hunt. Each week we’ll set ourselves a target fish, and any others landed won’t count. Hopefully that will make us both raise our game and learn a bit more about targeting specific species rather than just sitting back, being lazy and enjoying what comes along.

 

Unless, of course, any of you can think of another angling challenge for us….? We will consider all suggestions, providing they are legal, decent and most of all, fun!

 

Janet

[Paulfisher]

Isn't it funny how quickly you post your stories when you win. And that's what they are, STORIES. Your line is not 5.3 lb breaking strength. It is however 5.3 lb KNOT STRENGTH. I am not going to sing to you any more. The game is now afoot. It starts here. We will see just whom is the looooooooser. Just you wait. I will show you madam.

[Newt]

How about a double chance on each species.

 

Largest counts as 1 point.

Nearest to a specific weight counts as 1 point.

Fish caught on the pole only count for half value.

Highest point total wins.

 

You just have to figure out what weight is roughly average for each species and use that so maybe carp closest to 4 lbs or perch closest to 15oz.