Confession, they say, is good for the soul, so here's my confession: I last went fishing in December. Here we are, 7 or 8 weeks into the new year and I've yet to wet a line. In my defence, fishing has never been far from my mind, but I haven't yet been of a mind to go fishing, which is unusual for me; normally I'd have had at least a couple of cold weather sessions under my belt by now- even last year with all the iced up lakes I'd managed to fish in both January and February.
Anyway, this is the photo, sent to me by my brother, that shamed me into action:
It's my 10 year old nephew, braving the cold and getting among the fish. Admittedly he was hoping for carp, but when a couple of nice skimmers took his method fished plastic sweetcorn to christen his brand new carp rod he wasn't complaining. And suddenly, his satisfied smile, and the fact that he'd beaten me to the bank this year became the catalyst for action.
Today I've sorted my tackle, next week I visit the tackle shop, and the week after I'll be spending my day off fishing, whatever the elements throw at us. The bug has re-bitten!
To continue the theme, yesterday afternoon my son and I went bird watching for a couple of hours in some woods near our home, and although unrelated to matters piscatorial, just being out in the countryside and experiencing some of the tangential things that make fishing so pleasurable- trees, birdsong, fauna of various kinds, also tapped in to my growing need to get bankside.
So, a week Monday I'll be warming up for the season on a commercial that I've never previously fished, but which I hope will be good for a few carp.
Thanks kids- my angling mojo is returning.
