Well Robert and myself got out for a short session on the gentleman's river and it was a rather blustery session but beautiful nonetheless.The night before the river season starts I get so excited I cannot remain calm,almost akin to a child on Christmas Eve and over all the years of fishing this feeling has never deserted me.The buzz of anticipation filled my body with a vortex of emotions of seasons past.
Robert and I got out at and setup by 8am,both our swims looked in superb condition water level down by about 2 feet.Robert opted for Donkey choker pellets on both rods fished to some cabbage patches,myself opting for 20mm Shellfish B5 on both rods,fishing 3/4 of the way across to nearby features and opposite bank cut/drop off,all setups were basic running rigs with 12lb TFG gunsmoke mainline and 2.5oz flat pear weights coupled with 10lb and 12lb Drennan sink braid hooklinks and size 8 Gardner Talon Tip hooks,basic tidy rigs as usual (a good basic rig will out fish a complex messy one).
I was sat on the bank contemplating the beginning to another season,surrounded by a plethora of flora and fauna about 3 hours into the session the master of all fishers paid me a visit,I am of course talking about the Kingfisher,he perched on my rod for around five minutes whilst making sorties to catch fish,I managed to get a very very short video of him dropping from my rod,but managed to snap off some fantastic photos of him,an absolutely marvelous sight as always.
For such sights of wonder and beauty nature charges us nothing,but I feel in these days of technology and electronica some of the younger generation have been sucked into a hazy dreamland to which they lose sight of such gifts bestowed upon us by nature and that is truly a pity.
Evening drew in and at 7pm I heard Robert call "I'm in" and indeed he was with a strong battling fish that kited off downstream and tried to wedge itself in a sunken tree and then into a cabbage patch,but after some careful playing it finally was back upstream and resting in the net. "looks a nice fish for a season opening" I chirped to Robert and sure enough out on to the mat and weighed it went 9lb 5oz,the perfect starter to the season and very happy we were indeed.
As evening past into the first hours of darkness my swim was still silent,but I thought to myself what if the rod that the Kingfisher had been sat on might have been a sign of providence and had he blessed me with his magical fishing charm?
I was soon to be answered on that thought when the swinger flew up and the baitrunner went hyper and gave line like it was going out of fashion as the fish shot off upstream,I lifted in to feel a strong bottom hugging resistance that plodded away and ticked of line upstream,I shouted to Robert that I was in,as I was playing the fish I mentioned to Robert "this feels a solid fish",gradually I regained control and it was not long before she was nestling in the folds of the landing net,Robert commented "looks a dead chunky fish" and he was not wrong at all,she was slipped into the weigh sling and went 10lb7ozs,new start to the season and a double figure fish to get proceedings going,happy days indeed!
Along with a handful of Bream averaging 6 to 7lb this ended a lovely and fitting commencement to the start of the fishing season for us,two beautiful Barbel and two very happy anglers.Until next time on fishing for memories Tight lines to everybody and best fishes!
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