After being housebound with my ankle damage except for a few
strolls about the house, I had to get out and go fishing.
Even though I prefer river fishing, the need to fish made me
go out in the close season to an old estate lake holding rudd, tench wild carp,
but sadly a few bigger carp too.
I set up at the shallow end where I could see the carp
swimming and loose fed the area and started fishing with a small lead.
After a short while, I had a bite, but just as in mullet
fishing, once the fish felt and tightening it dropped the bait. This happened a couple of times, so I held
the rod and struck as the loop in the line tightened, but this proved too soon
and the hook pulled out of a couple of fish. I then switched to a float and was
rewarded with this attractive carp taken on corn followed by an eel on luncheon
meat.
But then the trouble started. A herd of bullocks gathered
behind me in a semicircle watching me fish; it was a bit like a fan club. Then
they started nudging me, and getting a slap in return to scoot them off which
worked for a while, but then they nosed around in my shoulder bag, and ran off
with the rod bag. I spent more time dealing with them than fishing.
Then they decided to walk around my swim. I don’t mind this
too much as you can see it initially attracts the fish, but they kept walking
backwards and forwards, and I had to keep lifting the tackle out to prevent
hooking a bullock. It became a real challenge, and it reached the point where
frustration got the better of me and I
gave in. As I walked off, the entourage followed me, all 27 of them.
I told them I looked forward to meeting again on my plate on
a Sunday!!!