Areelroadtrip
BY LOUIS FEROX THE stormy weather last week had me stuck indoors for a change, so I was set on earning brownie points clearing the shed and sorting out fishing gear that has accumulated in the house rather than its approved storage spot.
It’s distracting when you are going through tackle discovering your flask is the source of “that smell”, digging through nostalgic old gear you should have chucked but might need one day.
I found a long-lost Flying C that has caught more than its share of salmon, so I abandoned the rest of my tidying, slid in a holiday at work and went searching for some fishing on Fishpal instead.
I found a river that was dropping rather than rising and rang about to see if anyone else fancied the run up north. If nothing else, a road trip with my pal would be a pleasure, so I crossed my fingers, packed my tackle and pitched up to take my chances on an enormous river that was hurtling past at a rate of knots.
In heavy water like this, if the fish are there, they will be creeping up the lee of the bank. Your best chance comes from finding a good spot to get a lure along at the edge or a worm worked through the groynes where fish are hiding from the main flow.
It turned out there were a couple of places where it was possible to fish from the bank. Not least because the bank from which we would be fishing was at least 10ft from where we would normal be standing. We did spot the top of the gauge poking up but it was not a promising beginning.
Nothing ventured nothing gained, though, and three casts in, my partner’s rod was bent under pressure and I was reaching for the net. After a brief struggle, I scooped up a well-mended kelt, which we returned in short order. Where there’s a kelt there’s often fresh fish, confidence for which I have no basis but seeing a fish come out fills any angler with hope.
A few minutes later, I was back on net duties as his line tightened and the reel began to sing. And keep singing it did as the clutch had gone, so he was frantically handing the spool to act as a brake and get his line under control.
It wasn’t a big fish. Just as well, really, because a big fish in big water would have been down to the backing and beyond in the flick of the tail.
Another fish, a bit of bankside reel repair and just reward for the trip. I’ll get round to tidying the shed properly in the winter.