I was back for a last gasp chub blog readers, where from finishing work (wfh today) I had two hours door to door maximum which I was hoping would be enough time to try and winkle out a chub, before having to get back for the Wife to get off to his physio appointment at the Nuffield.
So to the stretch of convenience forthwith !! Now the swim I chose to fish I only had half an hour past official dusk curfew for the club, but also that of the diary makers anyway, however I was hoping enough time to winkle out a chub.
I had deposited some cheesepaste in this swim last time I was here to I was hoping it would whet their appetite. No night fishing to be seen here for the finger pointers.
Now night fishing can be an experience so eerie that even the hardest of men have been known to give up after a couple of sessions. Many moons ago Mick of this parish came back from his last all-night angle his hair had turned completely white. He had tried to slosh a cow with a bag of groundbait and it had burst all over him. The groundbait, not the cow. Now, well after hundreds of sessions fishing in to dark now, it's water off a duck's back.
Seriously, though, the noises of night creatures can be highly unnerving. And to be touched by an unseen thing in the dark is the finest training in the world for the 200 metres. But it's all in the mind. Once you know what the creatures are, the terror is gone.
A rat, though still light on its feet, is a bit heavier and not quite so cuddlesome. Once you have identified it, you go 'Eek, eek!'.
If a hedgehog walks over you as you squat on the bank, you get a pleasant tickling sensation and a free gift of fleas. If a hedgehog walks under you, you tend to rise a bit smartish.
A cow makes a noise like 'Moo', has big pointy feet and is very heavy. Cows which walk on people are not very popular.
A cold, clammy sensation creeping up your leg could mean that a snail has mistaken your superbly muscled calf for a stick of hairy rhubarb.
Remove the snail before it gets too far up: it has a set of rasp-like teeth which can do naughties to the toughest of vegetables. There has so far been no recorded instance of a man-eating snail, but there's always a first time.
You see Sound magnifies at night, so even quite loud rustlings in the grass may be nothing more than mice, voles, rats or snails. Don't worry about the rapid thudding sound you can hear: that's your heart. Only worry when it stops.
Identification of sounds is very important. As we have heard, mice go, 'Eek, eek'. Cows go 'Moo', occasionally, 'Burrrp', and have a tendency towards heavy breathing. Owls 'owl. The big ones, that is. The Little Owl sounds like a flying tomcat, and this can be a bit disorientating. Hedgehogs particularly make a lot of noise, grunting, snuffling and-when they back into each other-shouting, 'Gerroff!'
A nightjar goes, 'Urrrp!' and sounds quite revolting. A nightjar which goes, 'Urrrp! Pardon', is one which has remembered its manners. At dawn or dusk you may hear the cuckoo, with whose cry you are no doubt familiar. You may be puzzled by the occasional 'Oocuck'. This is a cuckoo flying backwards if you didn't know.
Elephants tread silently and you don't hear them until they are right on top of you. You will recognise an elephant on top of you by feeling first squashy and then dead. Take comfort from the fact that thanks to our temperate climate, elephants are very rare !!!
Anyway better get fishing hadn't I !!!
I arrived at the carpark and a van pulled in with a wave just as I was heading off and it was the fellow angler and bailiff with his well behaved dogs. He thought I was just heading off but nope, 'I'm heading off for a quick smash and grab session', so after walking down to the area to fish, "good luck, I'll see you on the return"
I prebaited another swim with some coarse liquidised bread and got fishing in the main swim. 15 minutes went by and then as the light level started to reduce despite the clear skies, a couple of sharp pulls then a positive pull round, where I struck in to nothing, bugger !!!. The cheesepaste was gone so another piece went back out and then I missed an UNMISSABLE bite less than 10 minutes later 🙈.
Not usual when you're chub fishing mind you, these missed bites are not uncommon. I was using my newly purchased rod with a 2oz glass tip, I'm sure my 3/4oz tip would have been the better option. Anyway that swim went dead and with curfew on the countdown I went downstream to the prebaited swim which sadly produced nothing for 10 minutes. So back to the swim where I missed the bites where my underarm cast went straight in to the tree 😂, I pulled for a break but that didn't go well either !!! I lost the bleeding lot.
I walked back to the car with ones tails between my legs !!
0 comments:
Post a Comment