The River Kennet to the left was full of winter flow and the high water table had formed a natural moat round the hill. The last of the dirty stop out Barn Owls were off home to roost, to be replace by the first shift of Crows who were filling the valley with their "arghh , arghh" morning chorus. Just need the day to be warm and cloudless but I think the sun is losing the battle with his brother the cloud master. It was beginning to feel like I was stuck inside a Tupperware container, the skys opaqueness was depressingly confining.
Wasn't really up for it today. Perhaps should have stayed home and had a break, but lifes too short to miss an opportunity to fishing. Just wish my stomach would settle. Reflux and rumbling like a sleepy volcano. I drove on to the draw at Bengers Weir.
Fancied it it looked good. One problem the peg I wanted - the weir. Wasn't in the draw. Never mind paid my money and tried to ignore the rising discomfort in the bowel area.
One last look at the wonderful weir swim and then it was a troop of down stream to our pegs.
I wonder what the rules are on drawing your peg and then not fishing it. Just stay next to the weir and run a float through. It doesn't show on the pic, but there was a massive shoal of fish which made the water look like one of those places where fish gather to be hand fed.
It was around 12 feet square and a couple of feet deep. It must have had around 2 thousand fish. The worrying thing was I flicked the bronze maggot in and expected the water to erupt. However the bit drifted past a thousand possible takers and away. It was almost as if the fish were catatonic.
Surely, its too early to shoal up for spawning? I have known it before, where fish switch off the feed, because they have sex on their mind.
On arrival at my swim I am informed its a good summer swim but is carrying too much water at the moment. In addition it was a bit of a washing machine swim. You know the so called perfect crabtree swim where there will be huge fish in the backwash. In fact as Dave George once said "rubbish" that type of swim is where all the snags swirl and tag your kit.
The river boiled as angrily as my increasingly temperamental stomach. Finding an area that didn't have a tree, dead sheep, weed bed, or some other snag blocking progress; was interesting. The match begins with me losing my bait dropper to snag one. Followed this with the realisation that any ground bait no matter how heavy came back toward my feet and swirled and vortexed back up stream to my left before starting on the spin cycle in front of me again.
I did try, but to be honest my heart was not in it. Especially when the guy below me lobbed his feeder to the reeds on the far bank. Within three minutes of the start he had two large Perch. Probably 3 lb in the bag 5 minutes gone. It was one and a half hours before my first bite. The river had come up a few inches around my feet I had put away the pole and was fishing a 15 foot rod and a 8 bb Drake stick over depth, and holding back hard. In 15 minutes I caught a 9 ounce Chubb, and three 6 oz Roach, followed by a 6 ounce Perch. Then a Bleak
Does a bear shit in the woods, well this one had too. And quick. A hot sweat ensued as nature called on me and I searched frantically for some toilet paper in the bag. None there, but did find some Dettol anti bacterial wipes that I normally clean the pole at the end of the match.
A quickly scratch a hole behind a log and panicking at the impending movement. I got my kit off. Thank god for winter days and the lack of spectators but oh the relief. That is until I applied the Dettol wipes, Oh my lord, not funny. Sting, well you get the picture.
Covered up and buried the evidence and went back to the fishing. One more bleak. But looking down stream the guy below me was filling in with a bucket load of mashed bread like an episode of Matt Hayes Total fishing. Below him the guy was swinging in 6 ounce fish after six ounce fish.
The bread attack was working for the guy below me as quality Roach after Roach was hooked. Thank fully not all landed.
However the bell for round two of gastro enteritis vs Williams, was rung. I decided enough was enough. I wasn't going to win, there's no points up for grabs so time to be prudent and head home. I told Spanners I had about 1 lb 10 ounces but it may have been 2 lb. And although ok not enough to win. In fact after a few hurried goodbyes and see you next weeks. I went home. I have no idea who won, but the guy below me must have been in with a shout. See you all on the next blog.
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