I went into the tackle shop the other day. "What's happened to the blog?" Neil asked as I was perusing around. So I guess you could say it's back by popular demand!
We left off last time by me telling you I needed to win back a trophy I won in 2011. The annual charity was held in mid October, a little later than the previous year. Same venue though- the Woodlands complex in Spilsby. After a late Saturday shift at work I arrived at the draw having had only a couple of hours sleep. A quick coffee perked me up a bit and I was one of the first to delve into the drawbag. Peg 23. The same peg I won off the year before. Whenever pleasure fishing Hawthorne lake I invariably end up on this peg too.
The match itself was a bit of a nail biter. Fish were hard to come by and I could only see about a quarter of the field. I kept plodding on though, casting a small method feeder towards the far bank reeds. Two or three small Carp would oblige and then I had to hunt around for them again. When the match was over and the scales reached me there had been two twenty four pound weights. Nobody to my left had caught much so it was down to me. I thought it might be close until I lifted my net. I'd beaten them by nearly ten pounds. Undoubtedly one of the highlights of my fishing year and the Trophy is back again for another twelve months.
October
Back to the normal fishing for the rest of the month and it started off quite well. Woodlands was the venue again but this time I was after the Perch. I fished trusty peg 23 again and baited up with prawns in the morning before returning with my gear in afternoon. I added some predator liquid to the prawns, not so much for the flavour but it dyes the prawns dark red which I think gives a better silhouette in the murky waters of a commercial. Returning at around two o'clock I was soon into them catching nine in total up to 2lb 2oz. The biggest can be seen here.
A couple of carp also made an appearance including this 11 pounder which gave me the run around for a bit and also only just fitted in my landing net!
I had four more visits but couldn't better the first session. I was pretty determined to catch a big one from Ash lake but I just couldn't seem to crack it. I also tried Hawthorne right into darkness but the big Perch just don't seem to be there in the numbers they were last year. Maybe I'll try again in the spring. The mild weather didn't help as the carp kept robbing my prawns on a regular basis.
December
A ventured out to The Secret River a couple of times when I thought it would be fishable and while it was I didn't have a bite. Couple this with my lack of Perch success at Woodlands and my passion for angling was on the wane. Maybe I needed some company to perk me up I thought. Tony kindly agreed to take me over to Boy Grift, a drain near Sutton on Sea. As luck would have it we had arranged to go on the coldest day of the year! Minus three all day. Still we caught a few little Roach and we had a cracking time despite the cold. We even wandered over to The Great Eau later on but neither of us had a bite. Boy Grift,
The amount of rain we have had this year really has put the dampener on both the river fishing and my enthusiasm. It is more or less a fifty mile round trip to the Great Eau and every time I go they seem to have the sluice gates open to run it off at a hundred miles an hour. I'm sure the fish are still there they just aren't feeding when I am trying to catch them. I've even tried further downstream in the sea trout peg to no avail. Very demoralising.
The New Year
Mrs P bought me a new camera for xmas specifically for this blog so I can't wait to get out and try it. I've also just taken delivery of a new tip rod. Shakespeare Mach 2. It looks superb. Like a more refined Sigma Wand. I'll let you know how I get on.
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