So, with my "busy time" approaching, yesterday's session was my last of 2014, a fishing year bookended by blanks, and that contained a lot of fun and the usual combination of minor successes and failures, fish caught, fish lost and angling puzzles to continue to mull over. It was predominantly a story of two venues, The Grand Union Canal and a pond I'll refer to as "The Carp Lake", and both were responsible for good days and what we sometimes euphemistically refer to as "challenging days."
The canal was the scene of a number of short sessions lure fishing for perch and pike. Normally early morning affairs, occasionally solo affairs, but more usually in the company of Pete, or on a couple of occasions my son, these provided the opportunity to engage in one of the most enjoyable forms of angling: mobile lure fishing. Travelling light and targeting likely spots, the canal provided us with plenty of perch and the occasional pike, some good fish but no giants. As well as the old dependables, the Ondex and Aglia's, we also tentatively experimented with dropshotting and ultra light lures, experiments, no doubt, to be continued next year.
The Carp Lake was the scene of a month of (by my standards) intensive fishing, with five sessions, including an overnighter fitted in to four weeks. Fishing with my son, Pete or Roger, a steady stream of carp fell to a mixture of modern carp fishing techniques, my son and I tending to opt for PVA bagging while Pete's preferred option was the Method. As with the canal, fish were plentiful, and the carp here fight hard, but all were of a modest size, with most fish being high singles.
As well as the inevitable commons and mirrors, one late summer session also saw Pete's hair rigged pellets fool not only the intended carp, but also an unexpected brace of quality crucians. Although I suspect it'll take a fair bit to separate my son from his favoured PVA bags or Pete from his method feeders, my intention next year is to fish for the carp predominantly floatfishing the margins and using a centrepin.
The highlight of the season was being accompanied by my son on his first ever night fishing trip, and introducing him to the sounds and sights of a carp lake as dusk gives way to darkness.
In all, an enjoyable year's fishing, the pioneering excitement provided as new sections of the Canal were scouted out, explored and fished, and a return to carp angling after an absence of a couple of years. The one regret would be that I float-fished far less than I would have liked, an oversight to be corrected next year. With the last few sessions of the year seeing few fish caught, I suspect if one of my schoolteachers from back in the day were to write a report on my exploits it would probably read "Jon has tried hard, but failed to maintain his early promise."
Never mind ...... there's always next year.
The highlight of the season was being accompanied by my son on his first ever night fishing trip, and introducing him to the sounds and sights of a carp lake as dusk gives way to darkness.
In all, an enjoyable year's fishing, the pioneering excitement provided as new sections of the Canal were scouted out, explored and fished, and a return to carp angling after an absence of a couple of years. The one regret would be that I float-fished far less than I would have liked, an oversight to be corrected next year. With the last few sessions of the year seeing few fish caught, I suspect if one of my schoolteachers from back in the day were to write a report on my exploits it would probably read "Jon has tried hard, but failed to maintain his early promise."
Never mind ...... there's always next year.
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