After months of writing blogs that have been a bit moany, I thought I’d better enlist the help of some friends to try and turn things around. I wrote in my little journal/note book at the end of October, “go fishing for what you fancy, rather than what you should“. By that I meant, yes, there’s defnitely a time of year that’s better for this species, or that venue or, whatever and in years gone by it’s worked well. Last year, the calendar script went beautifully. I was in the right place at the right time all year which was great fun. But this year I just haven’t been able to make it work. So instead, to inject some fun back in the fishing I needed to drop the solo act and call in some friends to get a smile back on the bank.
First call was to an old mate, who like many others, I stay in touch with through texts and good old fashioned phone calls, but despite living within a couple of hours of each other, we realised we hadn’t actually seen each other for a couple of years! Time to catch up, brain dump on each other, put the world to rights and celebrate a couple of fish.
A very convenient pin in the map was Milemead Fishery just outside Tavistock, over the border and back in the homelands of Devon. After negotiating the back lane diversions around in a few circles we arrived within minutes of each other to a very quiet lake. One chap was packing up but reported a very quiet day’s fishing. Not to worry, this really wasn’t going to be about catching anyway. After a chat with Paul in the tackle shop about how we might go about finding a Roach and avoiding the Carp we found a nice sociable spot with open water in front of us. Paul’s advice was, to avoid the carp, avoid the features. Never ignore the advice of the fishery owner!
The recent weather had been mild so I opted for method feeders coupled with a tiny boilie to try and pick out the better Roach. I’d normally fish with maggots in the winter for Roach but I felt we’d be plagued by small fish hence the bigger harder bait.
First cast found a carp of around two pounds. I did worry we were going to get bothered by Carp and the second cast found a sluggish Bream of a similar size. I figured we’d just fish through these and just on dusk we’d find our beautiful big Roach. Well, after that it all went very very quiet, barely a touch. Ok, we weren’t fishing hard as we chatted away but I thought we’d get something. Eventually though Matt’s rod tip bounced and an almighty Skimmer Bream slid it’s way into the net. We celebrated the great fish with a silly “selfie” and quickly decided that the east wind and ridiculously high pressure weren’t going to be kind so we packed away and headed for the bright lights of Tavistock and a fine night out.
On a normal day I would have enjoyed my time on the bank but perhaps been a little disapointed by the results. But in the company of an old friend, catching up on the bank was perfect and those little fish were welcomed with cheers and smiles, love it!
A couple of weeks later, whilst sat on the toilet for an impossibly long time like only dads can do, I recieved a message from another mate. It was a screen shot of a weather forecast for the following day. This is a mate that spends his late summer and autumn fishing arguably the best Blue Fin Tuna fishery in the world as crew on board a sport fishing boat that until recently would be laughed at around here. This season, he and his skipper have landed a mind boggling 369 blue fins. Three hundred and sixty nine! He plays the village idiot but he’s no fool and there’s no one I’d rather go to sea with.
I knew exactly what the screen shot weather forecast meant. I simply replied, “let me see what I can do…”
I was on top of things at work (as you ever can be) and there wasn’t anything planned in the diary. I had no idea when the next weather window might be so, sod it, we’re going!
I still had to do the school run so it was a late start but by 10am we were charging out of Falmouth Bay. With so much rough around the previous few days, there was a bit of swell still rolling around but without any wind to create a sea on top of it, his Warrior 165 punched through the waves with a much more comfortable ride than my own boat that really likes a calm sea.
We stopped and dropped feathers just to get into the swing of things and see if we could rustle up any live baits. We popped a couple in the tank and as we did I spotted a splash just 50 yards away. Was that a Gannet going in, of a Tuna coming out? A couple more tuna popped out and so it was all systems go. Now I should mention, not anyone can go out and fish for Tuna but, Mike has a license for recreational Blue Fin Tuna fishing and has as much experience as anyone. Lucky me!
In truth we then got completely distracted, maybe we went the wrong way but, to cut a long story short, we spent two hours looking and found nothing. With limited light at this time of year we changed plan (we do that a lot) and opted for lures on then reefs for a bass or pollack. First stop was dead. It’s an all or nothing spot and today it was nothing, not a touch. Then onto a spot we’d fished in very similar conditions and a similar time of year before. Sure enough, with the drift sorted the lures and pirks were soon being hit and pollack were stripping line off our little spinning rods and reels. Brilliant sport that was topped by a couple of fish nudging double figures (not the ones in the photo I should add!).
A cracking few hours on the water was had but the weather window was closing and as we raced home, Strom Connor chased us home. Back on the slip it was pi##ing down and getting windy. Job done! Two happy friends and a couple of fish for tea.
I ended the month with a couple of hours on a lake fishing for Carp. Unusual for me at this time of year but with just a couple of hours free it was a convenient stop. Not long after casting a lovely Mirror Carp came my way. I’d forgotten my tripod so have a carpy cuddle and a selfie. Again the weather came in and it was time to head for home.
All of this catching up with friends wasn’t an accident. Yes, I wanted to get out and have some fun on the bank but sometimes things happen in life that make you stop and remember how damn lucky we are to have such great friends. Never take that for granted.
At the end of October I learnt the desperately sad news that a good friend of mine had passed away. A young man. He was the most brilliantly creative person I have ever met. He took risks that I was envious of and came up with results that always left me awestruck.
He had a passion for the ocean and an incredible ability to capture it on film. I encourage you to watch this little, but mindblowing snippet of his work featuring Orca in Scotland. He filmed this whilst he lived in his classic Landy.
After learning the news I scrolled back to read what proved to be our last exchanges. He lived the last few years on a boat on the Thames. He was asking about catching Perch and so I shared some photos of the wonderful Mr Crabtree which I knew he’d enjoy. His reply was his usual enthusiatic approach and I wished him good luck. A couple of days later he let me know he’d been having ago but it wasn’t the fishing he’d enjoyed the most. He said,
“First time Rod and reel fishing in over 25 years. Loving my morning, just waiting for this evening. Can’t believe I’ve lived on the river for 3 years and it’s taken me this long! Your whole mental health aspect is bang on. I’m so much more focussed and headed and just one session! Cheers dude”
Sam, it was my pleasure. I hope there are perfect waves, fishy seas and someone to have a proper good debate with up there.
RIP my friend.
