Warwickshire Trout - River Alne Pt.5

Now most fishermen trust each other. If your fishing friends say they have caught or lost such and such a fish you believe them, notwithstanding the old adage about fisherman exaggerating the size of the one that got away. 

The truth is that there is no point lying about an unusual fish or a huge specimen because the fact that you yourself know you haven't caught it is enough to ruin any pleasure you might gain from the astonished looks on the faces of your fellow anglers. Of course there are always exceptions to this rule.

One angler regularly broke all the rules and surprised his friends with a series of astonishing successes. It took years to catch him out. Whenever he caught a fish it always weighed a great deal more than any similar fish caught by anyone else. 

If it was a roach it was always over the magic two-pound mark; if it was tench it was always a superb six- or even seven-pounder. If it was a pike it never weighed less than twenty pounds. It seemed that this particular fisherman could do no wrong. 

Like most of his friends the fisherman used his own set of scales they were of the highest quality and a very good make and because his friends thought he would never lie to them it was simply assumed that he was a brilliant and lucky angler.

After a year in which he managed to land no fewer than seventeen pike over twenty pounds, not to mention numerous other specimens, he was given his fishing club's highest award at the annual dinner. Two days later the fisherman's best friend and neighbour became a father. 

The friend was also a keen fisherman and he decided on this particular morning that he would weigh his new son. Try as he might he could not find his scales so he popped round to his friend's to borrow a set. It was then that the explanation for all those heavy pike, perch, roach and tench became apparent for, according to his friend's scales, the two-day old baby weighed 22 pounds!

To be honest I've had the same problem myself, you see the PB Barbel I caught looked way bigger than the 12lb and 14 ounces it weighed on the Korum digital scales, but I went with it and it was duly noted. However it was bugging me so I weighed a cast iron weight I had and it was reading under, quite a bit under actually. 

The cause, well the battery was on the way out and that could have well been the culprit. I'd never know though and since then I've always used mechanical scales as don't want that dilemma again. 

Anyway to the fishing !! I didn't expect to wake up to a frost when I headed off in to the office, what is all that about, anyway when I got back after a hard days CAD bashing (ok, I elaborate 😀) I had a small window of opportunity to go fishing so to the local Alne it was. 

When I got through the locked gate though what I didn't expect to see what a load of trees had been cut down, not just a small amount either, a waiting bonfire that could probably be seen from space. It sort of put a dampener of things to be honest, the club secretary wasn't informed it was going on either, on one hand it has opened up a trotting potential, on the other hand the chub hide is now gone at 'Jack's Peg'.

I did manage a fish from the weir but the water was still pretty coloured even though it doesn't look like it in the pictures. I just wasn't feeling it so headed home early and would try again tomorrow. I fancy a lazy action lure this time, so I'm going to give the Salmo butcher a go I think.