Wow......................

I fished on the river last Wednesday evening with a friend neither of us managed a fish. I fished a little further down stream from my friend; fishing an area I love to fish.  I soon found a very large snag that has was not there the last time I had fished there, after loosing two lots of tackle to it I moved further on down the river. I felt that the fish would feed that evening as the conditions where good but other than the two wrap rounds that my friend had nothing else happened.

I fished a different part of the river last night, it is an area I have trickled a small amount of bait into over the past month or two. I have fished the area once or twice and had a couple of wrap rounds but never hooked a fish. I set up two rods and cast my baits into the area in front of me and sat back.

The moon being nearly full last night and a fairly low covering of cloud conditions felt right even if the slight wind felt cold. I had a positive ‘enquiry’ on my right hand rod soon after, if I had not had a cup of coffee in one had and a biscuit in the other I may well have struck at the bite but……………….

The rain started to fall around nine thirty, only gently at first but around ten o’clock it started to really fall heavily and that is when the left hand rod tip flew round and the fish was on. I played the fish for a while and when she started to power up stream I knew I had a decent fish on. Once she was in the net I rested her while I got the weighing bits ready and popped her onto the mat and into the sling.  She was a short fish and when my scales swung around to sixteen plus I was shocked, I really did not believe she was that big but she was.

16.02

The fish was well rested and weighed by two other anglers for me, we settled on a figure of 16lbs 2oz, a magical fish for me, one of the big girls from the river. A couple of quick pictures in the rain, my huge frame dwarfs the fish!. She was in excellent condition and when she swam away she swam away very strongly back to the depths of the river. A new personal best for me.

Packing up it was hard not to grin like a small child who had just been given the present of a life time, I was cold and soaked through as was most of my gear but I was happy, happy because the effort I put in has reaped a reward.

I am back out again this evening.