Angling Limbo.

 It's been a while now since I keyboard bashed another post out, with a combination of steady flowing work and changeable weather putting most of my sessions on the back burner, this time of the year always seems to be slightly on the lean side in regards to fishing but when the time came I managed a couple of short sessions and a day back on the Marsh Farm in search of a Crucian Carp.

 First of all was the trip to Marsh Farm and the target was an early season Cru' to get me started on what maybe that I get to break my long standing PB for the species and what better to place to do it, I have found this fishery very tough as I suspect most anglers do these days, gone are the days here when you turn up and catch a "3", but to put myself in with a shout of banking a 3lb specimen I set myself in my usual peg on Harris lake and slowly built a swim up to try and attract the finicky blighters.

 Hours passed.....

 And a couple more passed with very little action, oh them baby Mallard's were cute......it really was like watching paint dry for most of the day and then the sun came out and the surface began to boil as a shoal of Rudd and Roach started to work the surface nabbing the flies that were hatching or laying, I couldn't resist as that be rude, 45 minutes later I had banked 11 Roach to around 12oz and 1 solitary Rudd of a couple of ounces but regardless of size these were a welcome distraction from the monotony of being focused on a lightly dotted down float that wasn't moving.

 Whilst this was happening a match of Richardson's had just concluded and plenty of fish were coming out, I thought that as it wasn't happening on Harris I would pack up the gear and pick a peg at random on the match lake and give it a go for the last hour, was never going to catch a PB but I had accepted defeat so it was just about catching some fish!.

 For April the gates close at 1930 so I knew I had to get myself packed up before finding myself imprisoned at one of the best Crucian lakes in the country, at roughly 720 it was all going pear shaped with not a bite to show for my change in lake or tactic and then all of a sudden my float moved about 3-4cm to the left and stopped, classic Cru' bite, time quickly became no object I had to catch this fish that was inching my float across the surface, for roughly 10 minutes this continued to happen before hearing my alarm sound 1930.....now or never I thought to myself and as I struck the float went on the move again outwards to the middle track, I hit and hoped for best, a light dogged fight resulted in a cracking Crucian Carp of 2lb 1oz, I didn't manage to get a selfie with her as I was already over my time and had the sling and scales ready as I usually do in case of a last minute rush.

 I packed up in a mad rush after slipping my target which took 9 hours to catch and made a mad dash for the gate for it to close of my arse as I left, lucky eh?, One or two photos would have been the difference in making the open gate and being locked in for the night. Happy journey home and it just goes to show that sometimes you must squeeze every last sinew out a session when thing's are tough because that could be the difference as was proven today.

Stunning little creature, season best of 2lb 1oz.

 So away from the Farm I targeted a different type of Carp, this was King and I have quite a few fisheries that I dabble in and although they are only just starting to really move about I hadn't seen much but as the sun was shining for long period's the Carp switched on big time and I managed to catch a porky Common of 13lb 4oz which looked as if she was carrying a bit of spawn, a little early me thinks but I'm probably wrong there, nothing else on that occasion but the trip after I did find myself amongst a shoal of 10 Carp and every single one was over 20lb ! mind blowing I know but very true and boy they were very very clever and even more shrewd as they singled out my bait amongst loads of mixers and ate every one bar mine, too clever for me but I will be back to extract some, no doubt I will succeed.......I hope.

First Carp of the season, first of a few I hope.

 Lastly was yesterday, I hadn't been out for a week nearly before then and after working up until 3 I decided to pack a fly rod and went out to catch me a Brown Trout, after the morning's rain the river was slightly coloured but it dropping out all the time, I walked for a good 2 mile before I managed to see a Trout but it was in a position that was impossible to cast to, up or down, so I had to move on. Things were looking a bit slow so I decided to put the rod down and cleaned up a 50m section of river that I love fishing,(Beer cans/bottles to the dozen or even hundred, VHS tapes and all the ribbons tailing off 20m downstream, around a tonne of logs and branches that had been cut upstream and just tossed into the river to float down at no thought to where they may end up, a 2 seater sofa-leather- which was covered in Kingfisher shit, about 200kgs of iron and cages disgarded, some of which had been on the river bed for 20,30 maybe even 40 years, who know's, along with plenty of other rubbish my section looked immaculate but for how long??. A shame that such an amazing river is treated with such disregard, people and businesses caught using it as a rubbish tip should have the book thrown at them and more, punishments should be an unlimited fine, community service but only to clean the river or watercourse they were caught damaging as this would hopefully deter them from doing it again and spread the word and repeat offenders should face a certain jail term, what more of a deterrent could you set. Or chop their bastard hands OFF!, they will never do again and that won't be through choice.

 That's my small rant over. As I proceeded to fish again after nearly 3 hours back breaking and sweat inducing labour I was rewarded with the sight of some Chub spawning on a gravel bed amongst a few runs of Ranunculus some of which were 4lb plus, nice size but not my target, I soon found it though as a large frame lay motionless on the river bed, I started to position myself so I could cast upstream to it when it moved up to just under the surface watching stuff floating down or flies hatching, I wasted no time to get my fluffy white fly ( I believe a Cat's Whisker ) and on the first cast my fly was slaughtered and my little 3/4 weight 7ft rod nearly powdered as the take was explosive as you could imagine, absolutely atomic!, what turned out to be a cock Trout was very impressive as he powered through the river which at this point is very pacy and difficult to stand in, you have to give credit as to how strong they are, a few minutes past and he was on the bank for a photo and weighing but was equally as boisterous on the bank as in the water, complete with a bleeding thumb for the pleasure I released him back strong and swam away which always gives you a sense of satisfaction in itself.

Season best of 4.10.

Nearly ready....

 Now back to a slightly earlier trip out which was very short and again in search of Trout on the fly but this time I didn't manage to locate a willful spotty but I had to make do with a stunning Rudd of 12-14oz which was in beautiful condition and in the sunlight it glistened gold and sun highlighting the deep red of it's fins, what a stunning creature for sure and after catching that I wasn't bothered about not catching a Trout, this Rudd was taken on a 3lb tippet with a small dry fly presented on a size 16.

Stunning.