Fishing has a habit of reminding you that when you think you've cracked it .... you haven't. Following the success of my guiding/coaching session (see previous post), and with only two full days elapsed since then, I was- if not complacent- certainly confident as I returned to the Estate Lake for a short, early evening session with my son. We tackled up in decent swims, and were soon joined by Roger, a friend from church, and his two boys aged 9 and 12. Roger elected not to fish himself, but rather to act as chief untangler, loose-feeder and helper to his sons. With the four of us strung out along the same bank on a glorious summer's evening the scene looked set for a "bagging session" on what is usually a remarkably compliant lake. The target, as ever, were the lake's handsome, deep bodied crucians. But, unusually, the crucians decided not to co-operate and the lake decided to have one of its rare moody days.
My son and one of Roger's boys elected to pole-fish, while Roger's other son and I set up on running line and waggler. My decision to opt for waggler over the pole was for no better reason than I fancied a change, as I usually go with a pole fishing approach at the Estate Lake, but thought it would be fun to reacquaint myself with my favourite float rod which rarely gets an outing these days.
The lake was at its lovliest, the weather balmy, the boys excitable and expectant, the occasional carp cruised languidly just below the surface, loose feed was trickled in, but the anticipated fish frenzy never materialised. Only one crucian of about half a pound was landed all evening, my first fish of the session, and although we all caught an assortment of roach, rudd and perch none of us had many fish (I caught nine, two of the boys caught seven, the other banked two) and, inexplicably, we all struggled. Bites were sporadic, and changing depth, shotting pattern, amount of feed going in all failed to effect any change on the fish's response. Not the "sign-off" from English angling I'd hoped for, but a massive relief that the lake had been at its beneavolent best a couple of days earlier on my "guiding" session. A timely reminder that fishing, fish and lakes have the capacity to be capricious and to leave even seasoned anglers tearing out whatever remaining hair they have!
However, despite the disappointment in terms of fish caught, the evening had its compensations, and the lack of fish was more than made up for by the pleasantness of the surroundings and the heron who was visiting the pond, my first sighting of one at the Estate Lake.
My rods, poles, holdalls and seatbox are now packed away in the "rod room", as it's only three weeks till I depart for my American adventure, and packing and planning will be consuming all non-work time over the coming days. Let's hope I have better luck in the States - the next time I wield a rod it'll be from a kayak in South Carolina ........ bring it on!
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