I Got it Wrong.

Tues 13th April, 15:30 - 20:00. Brookfield fishery. 12C to 8C. NE wind.

Last Saturday it was 17C and sunny in the English midlands. I've never seen so much garden furniture pass through our garage door into the garden on a single day. They were using it as fast as I could throw it at them at one point. Tables, chairs, recliners, umbrellas. I drew the line at the paddling pool though.

If nothing else this glimpse of summer prompted the purchase of a cool new gadget - Bluetooth speakers! So far I've hooked-up and broadcast to them from every bluetooth enabled device we have e.g. phones and laptop. Perfect for streaming spotify on those long summer evenings. Drinking Belgian lager lying in the paddling pool whilst keeping valuable devices indoors and out of the dust and sun.

Saturdays weather soon came and went and the thin heat was replaced by a North Easterly which dragged us back to spring.

The Hawthorn has been in leaf for a week now and tree blossom abounds. It won't be long before the heady scent of the 'Darling buds of May' is upon us. The Chinese celebrate blossom in spring with the Hanami festival, picnicking under cherry blossom trees whilst the petals fall amongst them. We do something similar in our family inasmuch as it's my wife's fathers birthday in a couple of weeks. "To the Cocked Hat pub!", is the cry. There's definitely a tree in the garden there and if recollection serves it might even have blossom. We can see it out of the window if we squint .

To fishing.

I got the tactics wrong on my return to Brookfield. I made two primary errors and backed it up with a secondary third.

Primary error No.1: Two rods are better than one.
I fished a second rod this session. I used a pretty standard carp set up in the margin, only I used a centrepin reel as my bite alarm.

A lassoed broken boilie and what in my book amounts to fancy rig mechanics.

The administration of the second rod prevented me devoting all my attention the first. Also casting and retrieving of any sort spooked no end of fish in the edge.

Primary error No.2: A 10ft wand is the elixir to all fishing problems.
Having done pretty well when deploying my new shortened super-sensitive quiver rod in recent weeks, I hastily assumed that using it here would once again increase my catch rate. It didn't. In the well stocked pool the noise on the tip from liners and passing fish was like trying to find a good satellite TV channel amongst the overwhelming shite in the ether. I didn't catch a fish on this rod!

Secondary error No.3: Overconfidence. Even before I got out of the car I had the blog title ready, "Blue is the Colour", a nod towards the match man's fashion sense in anticipation of a huge bag of carp. Enough said.

4lbs 2oz carp.

I fed pellets steadily into the margin and after an hour or so an endless procession of fish and the whole spectrum of tail patterns were observed. From tail fully-out and feeding to a light ruffle on the surface caused when the fish moves it's tail fin like fingers impatiently tapping on a table, but in the perpendicular. I was being done left, right and centre on the rod in the margin. The line would twitch tight then fall slack, or draw steadily out then stop. Inevitably followed by a bow wave as a fish spooked out into the middle. I did catch on conventional carp tactics and the click of the back-winding reel signaled a self-hooked fish but to be honest it was a method devoid of art.

In retrospect I think the fish were moving very, very carefully over the pellets in the edge taking their time mouthing each mouth full and inching along the deck. Probably why a sensitive pole float scored last week over either of this weeks methods.

It clouded over around five and began to rain lightly shortly afterwards. The wind sharpened and the temperature dropped. Once again it turned cold.

I knew by six that I'd thrown my hand.

I wound in at seven and set up a pole float for the last hour. Carp were still in the margins and I had fun trying to make out a bite from a liner. I caught and lost two more carp but that was it.

Danny got amongst the points in this years 'Record Weight' fishing challenge on Sunday and so the scores on the doors are now:


I look forward to the prevailing Westerlies returning.

Cheers.