Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
BOB ROBERTS
IHOPE that when you gaze upon these pages the pandemic that is Covid- 19 has subsided and some kind of normality has resumed.
It takes me back to when foot and mouth disease closed the countryside in 2001. I remember driving through Devon and witnessing the funeral pyres of animals piled high on giant bonfires.
It was awful, but this time the price is being paid in human lives. If we are still prevented from angling then it’s an inconvenience I’m willing to put up with for the greater good.
With the river season over it was time for me to turn my attention to stillwaters. As I arrived at Messingham Sands, spring was most definitely in the air. I can’t remember the last time I heard so much activity around me.
Birdsong filled the air, a sure sign spring was here. Buds on the bushes were starting to leaf and a bumble bee buzzed around me. By the time we reach week four my guess is everything will be green again. But not today. Today was most definitely grey.
The sun was there alright, not quite powerful enough to burn off the high cloud cover, but bright enough to make you squint when facing it. This was a lovely day to be fishing. Only a ripple and a couple of degrees extra warmth could have improved the conditions. For the first time this year I was not wearing thermals and I even took my coat off for a while until a chilly breeze sprang up to remind me the temperature was still in single figures.
I love this water in springtime, before the carp wake up properly. It holds a fabulous head of silver fish and, you know me, I do have a soft spot for my roach fishing. Today though, I had a problem. Rudd and skimmers kept getting in the way, but who’s complaining, eh?
I chose to fish the North Pond and set off at 11 metres in maybe 7ft of water. A day
Week one...
earlier I had cleared out the freezer and found a bag of liquidised bread so kicked off by cupping in three balls and then fed maggots over the top. I thought it might pull in a bream or two but it had no effect.
Float choice for the opening attack on a day with little wind and no discernible tow was a Daiwa TD5 4x18, carbon stem, pear- shaped body, with bulked shot two feet from the hook and a few small droppers. My hook was a size 18 Gamakatsu pellet and paste model which is fine, yet strong, to 2lb line. The first half hour or so proved to be slow going until I spotted a swirl caused by a fish intercepting loosefeed just under the surface.
My reaction was to dive straight in the box to search out a 4x10 TD5 float taking just a couple of tiny Stotz and set around 2ft deep. Slightly softer elastic in this top set as I wanted to avoid striking and have fish come splashing straight to the surface.
Bites came immediately and never really stopped, though I had quieter spells. The game was to try and feed them closer in, on top of the shelf, but they wouldn’t settle so
I found myself following the fish out again. Cat and mouse fishing.
Shallow rigs eventually end up in a tangled mess. At the four- hour point mine ended up in such a state I had a choice. Make up a new rig or go home. I chose the latter. The fishing on this day- ticket water had been superb. I’d enjoyed pretty spectacular sport for the time of year on a couple of pints of maggots. There will be other days, here especially.
Footnote: Had I known what would be announced by the Prime Minister a few days later, I would have stayed longer!
Despite some folk needing it spelling out, the message was perfectly clear. No fishing until further notice. My weekly newspaper columns were cancelled immediately and I feared the worst for this one. But a chat with our hard- working editor threw up a compromise. How about I continue the diary by looking at the same week in history? Instead of week two 2020 I could choose a memory from that particular
week from a different year.