Farewell to all that ....

Soon the lake known to regular readers of this blog as "The Estate Lake" will be no more. It's not quite disappearing into total oblivion, but, with its venerable old trees cut down it will begin a new, characterless and tamed incarnation as the "focal feature" in an estate of soul-less new build homes. Greedy property developers and a spineless council who kept meekly acquiescing to every new demand the avaricious developers proposed are to blame for the lake's impending demise.

 

Anyway, enough spleen venting, this evening my son and I joined up with Roger and his two sons for one "last hurrah" on the Estate Lake. To be truthful, the lake has been somewhat "out of sorts" all this season, and hasn't been as beneficent as it once was in its serving up of crucians (the lake's main attraction) to anglers in recent weeks. Perhaps, well aware of its fate, the lake itself has been sulking.

 

My son opted to fish with a waggler (his favourite method), while I and Roger's two sons fished with poles. Initially, Roger nobly just acted as chief untangler, disgorger of hooks and "general gopher" for his lads, although as the session wore on he set up a pole and joined the fray with the rather reluctant fish.

 

 

The fishing was slow, the weather inclement, with several fierce showers, and the catching of fish proved to be challenging. We all caught, although not prolifically. I managed 15 fish (all roach and rudd), Roger had half a dozen, including one reasonable perch, and the boys really struggled, with just 5 fish between them, although, thankfully, none of them blanked.

 

 

And so another lake is consigned to the "memories" corner of my mind, a pleasant "field of dreams" for two seasons, in which both I and my son several times came close to our hoped-for two pound crucian without ever realising the ambition.
 ..... and so, as Summer turns to Autumn, my thoughts turn from poles, whips, wagglers and crucians to plugs, spinners and deadbaits ..... soon it'll be October, and the predators are calling ....