I Love Autumn Fishing

Autumn is always a great time on my local water, I had an eye on the weather and noticed cloud coming in on monday which meant warmer evenings. Sure enough after arriving in my warm gear ready for a chilly night the wind dropped complete and it was surprisingly warm. I agonised briefly whether to fish into the wind or on the back of it if it was going to be on the chilly side. I decided to fish on the back of the wind in my favourite corner but in the end it turned out to be a little acedemic as the wind dropped completely. With all 3 rods set up on simple semi fixed leads and S7 bottom baits I sat back to wait. Shortly after dark my left hand rod indicator dropped back and remained motionless, about 5 minutes later the indicator pulled up nearly back to its original position. I left it for a few more minutes then reeled in to check my rig, on picking up the rod a realised there was a fish on and I reeled a 10lb mirror into the net. The most uninspiring run I've ever had! A short time later the ame rod raced off and a second mirror almost the same size ended up in the net. I was due to pack up but decided to have a last cast because it felt like the kind of night where anything was possible. With a few minutes before I was due to pack up I was congratulating myself on 2 fish when the same rod went off again and it was clear that this was a better fish. Sure enough a lovely common slid into the net and pulled the scales down to 19lb 11oz. Theres every chance the fish could have gone to 20lb as I weighed the fish in my unhooking mat and slipped the old girl back in the same mat. I think the mat absorbed lots of water and so wieghed more than it did when I weighed the fish. Still a great fish and I'll settle for 19lb 11oz.