Perfect Conditions

The only problem that I seem to encounter when fishing in 'perfect' conditions is that I don't really have an excuse for not catching! A bit like the matchman who has drawn a bum peg, he's not expected to catch so the pressure's off. When you faced with a high river, coloured water and rubbish weather, you know that you've got to fish hard in order to catch. This keeps you on your toes and makes any catch a result to be proud of.

When you are greeted with a river that's fining down, with a slight green tinge and overcast skies however, you know that the only reason you won't catch today is if you fish like a complete wally. As you can probably tell from this string of excuses - I didn't do very well on this trip.

Mick, on the other hand, did do ok on this trip. He wasted no time at all in putting the first fish on the bank. A very lively 7lb fish taken on a sprat on size 8 trebles.

Tom had joined us on this trip and after trying his luck on the other side of the bridge for an hour or so, he decided to fish to the left of where we were. The swim had gone quiet so the three of us had engaged in a little idle banter. As we did this my float began to move, i lifted into a fish only for it to come off after a few seconds. We got a good look at it, just a small jack. That doesn't mean i wasn't as sick as a dog. I recast to the same spot and almost instantly got straight into a fish again - only for it to fall off again!

Now i'm climbing the walls, metaphorically of course, much to Mick and Tom's amusement. I bet you can't guess what happened next - Yep, Tom went and caught a pike that looked suspiciously like the one that had been teasing me. It turned out to be the 6lb8oz fish that Mick and myself have encountered 4 times now. If this fish is caught anymore i fear it may become the Nene's first vegetarian pike.

We all continued to have aborted runs and nudges on our floats as the water bubbled like a cauldron. The river, very noticeably today, has started to come to life as the temperatures start to creep up. Spring is definitely in the air now.

It was time for Tom to go and after he had, Mick and I both commented on how professionally he had chinned his fish out of the water and unhooked it. His handling of the fish was very confident and the fish was back in the water in no time at all.

Soon it was time for us to leave to, but not before i had hooked another fish just for it to fall off again. That made it a hat-trick for me. Its times like this you have to draw on other captures and hold the memory of them firmly in your mind. Either that or snap your rod over your knee and take up golf.