Fishing Diary March 2012

Thought I'd give you a quick update as tomorrow is the final day of the traditional fishing season.

Wed 7th March  Partney Brick Pit

A quick trip down to the pit with my new box of lures and jigs from America proved unsuccessful. I only stopped for an hour. A biting wind made for uncomfortable fishing plus I never even had so much as a follow.

Thurs 8th March  The Secret River, Lincs

I'm in the process of renovating my house so I planned a well deserved afternoon off to go down to the river. A quick call to Ernie and we arranged to meet at 12.30. By the time I had reached the river Ernie was already set up. He wasn't alone either. Scot had come along and two other local anglers were there too. This left little room for me but thankfully Ernie and Scot had left the bridge swim free. The river was up and coloured, lapping over the small walkway under the bridge. I walked carefully along and quietly placed my gear down. Setting up my seat and keepnet I settled into my chair with Ernie and Scot in view further downstream.

First job was to pot in some groundbait and chopped worm down the side. The river was pulling well so I made up 4 hard balls and cupped them in. Leaving these to settle I set up my tip rod. Garbolino Maxim Carp. Brilliant rod this. Ridiculously cheap and very forgiving. I light link was tied and a size 12 wide gape specialist hook was baited with a worm. 20 years ago I converted to barbless hooks for most of my fishing but when ledgering worms I use barbed just so I know my bait is still on. I cast it over to the far bank and put the rod on the rest. I wasn't too hopeful to be honest as I could see the others were struggling for a bite. The sun came out briefly as I set up my pole and had a few runs down over my groundbait. Nothing. Not even a knock.

The old git across the river was mooching up and down, his Geese making a right old racket and spoiling the peace. Tap, tap. Was that a bite? The tip went again and I struck into something substantial. "Here he goes" Ernie shouted. After a short battle a bristling Perch surfaced. "Fucking Hell!" I said involuntarily. It was a biggie. Ernie and Scot came over for a look. Their reaction was much the same. I quickly weighed it. 3lb exactly. I cast out again and had another bite almost straight away. I stuck again and another Perch came in stubbornly. A bit smaller this one. 2lb 8oz. I suggested to Scot that he move upstream to just below the bridge and he went back to get his gear. Ernie stopped with me for a while but no more bites were forthcoming. "What line are you on?" Asked Scott. "Don't know, been on my reel ages" I replied. Must change that I thought as I waited for my next bite. It didn't come. Ernie was catching a few tiny roach and dace on his feeder bomb but Scot remained biteless. They stopped for a couple of hours before they packed up and left me to it.

I had planned to stop till dark so I moved down to the end of the stretch, a spot I've always had high hopes for. It always looks great and as the bridge swim had died I thought it was worth a go. First put in and a little roach came to the net. Promising. Now this stretch is only a couple of miles from the sea and it's flow is controlled somewhere lower down. Whatever they did it made the river flow upstream shortly after my second put in. I couldn't believe it and it signalled the end of the action for the day. Looks the part though-

The 13th March  The Secret River,  Lincs

Another afternoon session I was really looking forward to it. The river was in poor condition on the last trip and after virtually no rain I was confident it would be better this time. I loaded up the van and stopped off at the garage for some supplies. A diversion delayed me for a while but I eventually found my way to the river. As it came in to view my heart sank. Not as high as the previous time but just as coloured and lots of flotsam floating down.

I set up and a few fish moving about spiked my confidence for a while but after only one small roach in three hours I decided to head back towards home for the last couple of daylight hours at Woodlands. I headed to Ash and settled down to see if I could finally nail one of the big resident perch. Two Carp and a few Rudd later I did land a Perch but it was only about a pound and a quarter. Check out the state of the river-

Future plans

My work is changing quite a bit this year so I am going to have to go out whenever I can, even if it is only for a couple of hours. I've got my eye on a couple of Lakes about ten miles away with some big Bream and Tench in. Its bloody hard going by all accounts but I hope to have a couple of sessions there before the end of the month. Watch this space. In the meantime it's back to sanding my lounge beams, oh joy.