At Last

I've been fishing now for somewhere around 32 years... maybe more. A few years ago I set out some targets and monumentally failed to hit any of them. Once again I ended up on my concrete hole in the ground and arrived to find a warm wind blowing into the east bank, I grabbed my holdall and dropped it in the middle of the bank and returned to fetch my rod holdall from the car. as I returned I saw at least a dozen fish packed into the corner I was passing. Now once I've set my mind on a swim I find it very hard to change but this was irresistable. I dropped a rod into the corner on a running lead and continued to set up, within minutes the swinger raised steadily up and the free spool raced off. After a steady dogged fight I had the fish under the rod tip and by the way it still hadnt come off the bottom I knew it was better than average. When she finally slipped into the net I knew it was the biggest fish in the place and turned out to be an easy PB at 23lb 8oz it was also my first 20.

And that would have been easily enough, just as it was getting dark the swinger of the centre rod rose steadily and I managed to hit it early. After a good fight a long lean mirror slipped into the net and pulled the scales down to 12lb 3oz.

Perfect evening session.

No Such Thing As A Bad Move

So the world cup is on and everyone seems to be staying indoors to watch the beautiful game, I on the other hand was out trying to catch some carp. I chose my favourite local concrete hole in the ground and set up in a corner with a warm wind blowing straight into it, baited up 2 margin spots and a spot at the bottom of the slope and sat back to wait. It didn't take long before the expected happened. Without warning a young lad set up on the next peg right over a margin bait, when I suggested that I had a bait right in front of him he replied 'its ok I'm casting out there!!'. The final straw came when a guy sat on top of the other margin rod. I wouldn't have minded but the rest of the place was empty. So with typical huffing and puffing and my bottom lip firmly out I stompped off the far side. The move, as it happened, turned out to be a winner with a 6lb common and a 14lb 2oz mirror falling to a Blue Oyster boilie on an inline lead. WINNER!