Sat. 17th November 2012
I hadn't intended on writing a post until the end of November, but I have forced myself in order to serve as a reminder of how catastrophically wrong I got it.
Well, maybe that's being a little dramatic...
Over night we had some heavy rain. It had been mild all week, fairly dry, but the heavens opened on Friday evening as I was watching some fishing on TV trying to decide whether to go in the morning. I couldn't fish the pond so it would have to be the river.
The first mistake. I decided against spending the day having a good plumb in order to get to know the stretch of river better, and talked myself into fishing proper.
The second mistake. I assumed that I would be able to catch some live-baits so took only a pint of maggots.
The third mistake. On the way to the tackle shop a speed camera flashed as I went through. I wasn't over the limit, but it made me paranoid the whole day. I can be neurotic at times, this put me in the wrong frame of mind. Silly I know!
I arrived and the weir pool was a swirling torrent of foam and debris. Well, that's a little dramatic. But it certainly wasn't giving me it's bleak or dace for bait. Neither was the rest of the stretch. It doesn't help that I'm not the best float angler.
I decided to feeder-fish with maggots. The bank-side foliage had died back and not knowing the bottom contours, I could have been miles from any fish for all I knew.
The river was rising.
I packed up after an hour or two, kicking myself for all of the above.
I did learn some lessons though.
1. Assume that I can't catch live's on the river and take worms etc. as a backup or even as the main approach.
2. Prioritise plumbing, a session spent searching the depths will surely pay dividends in future.
3. If the conditions look better for another species, have a break from my obsession and fish to the conditions.
4. If my instinct is telling me not to bother, don't bother, I'm in the wrong frame of mind from the start.
Trouble is, now I can't decide whether to go back to the pond next weekend, or refuse to let the river beat me and give it a go with worm and caster.
No, I'll stick with the pond until New Year, then fish the river back-end of the season, once I've had chance to plumb the stretch. Then back to the pond late March.
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