Fishing Diary: March 2013

Tuesday March 5th

River Bain

I had planned to crack the Secret River in my week off. As it panned out it took me a day and a half to do some pressing jobs around the house. With only a couple of hours to spare on my second day off I thought the Bain would be a better bet than the Secret River. After finding a new place to park I wandered downstream with my trusty telescopic rod. My plan was to trot breadflake down a few likely looking glides for the elusive Bain Roach. I was pleased to find the river looking lovely on the sunniest day of the year-

First off I tried the weir pool at the top of the stretch. No joy there. For my regular readers you'll remember I had a few Roach bites from the glide below the tree and after trying a couple more spots along the way I ended up there, full of confidence. A biteless hour later soon numbed that! In desperation I got rid of the float and tied a quick link leger. I tied the same hook on from my float rig and cast slightly downstream. Two minutes later I had a real whack around bite. Culprit? A Chub of two pounds. My old tele rod really isn't suited to showing bites on it's stiffish tip and I was ruing the fact that I had been lazy and left my holdall at home. I then missed a couple of bites which really had me kicking myself.

Despite the unsuitability of my equipment I carried on, basking in the unseasonal sunny conditions. I soon snared another one. At 3lb 10oz it was a cracker and lifted my mood no end. Imagine how I felt then when an hour later I was wondering whether I had caught my first Bain five pounder. At 4lb 11oz I was agonisingly close again. One day......one day.........

Wednesday March 6th

The Secret River

I finished off my last diary saying I was going to catch something from the river. After seven or eight blank visits I had declared war on it. In fact I'd not had so much as a bite all winter on it. "Did you catch anything?" Mrs P would ask on my many fruitless returns. "Nope.". "Why do you bother going?" She would enquire. She had a point (don't tell her). Anyway I didn't want to go either. It was a drab day and had been raining in total contrast to the beautiful day before. I had to employ a certain amount of willpower to direct my car towards the river valley instead of heading to the Bain again.

As the river came into view my heart sank. It was high. As I drove around the waterworks I parked up on the bank and wandered down to the waters edge. It may have been high but for once it had that beautiful greeny/blue tinge of a winter chalk stream. Then something caught my eye in the distance. It was a comorant in flight, tracking down the river. It reminded me what a local had told me a few weeks before- "There are loads of comorants nesting in an old tree upstream, cleared the place out they have.". Despite this I still felt relatively optimistic. The target was just to get a bite. Just for all my non-fishing readers. A two pound perch is a great fish.......a three pound Perch from a river is super rare and any angler would be made up to catch one in a lifetime.

Why do I bother going there? I'll let the pictures explain.......