A frustrating afternoon-evening

More rain and the local rivers are actual up again - still, the urge to go fishing is overwhelming.  I did actual plan to go trout fishing for an evening at Bushyleaze but the local forecast was that it was going to rain hard again around 6:00pm which would wipe out about half my fishing time - not a good idea when the evening ticket costs nearly £20.

So it is back to the River Thames, this time the main river below Shifford Lock.  I figured I would have an afternoon float fishing for chub in a couple of my favourite swims down there, not with a high chance of catching anything, but more for the enjoyment of being out. 

What I hadn't reckon on was that the afternoon would be so hot.  I was expecting some rain and was dressed accordingly, but it was actually quite a nice afternoon with only a few scattered clouds.  By the time I reached Shifford Lock I was really overheated and made the mistake of drinking most of the liquid I had brought with me. 

What I had also forgotten about was the possibility of extensive boat traffic on this stretch, something that didn't occur back in February-March when I was fishing this area a lot.  I had just baited up two swims when two barges came through.  I am sure the fish are used to boat traffic overall but that it does spook them for a while and especially early season.  So I left the two swims and settled in a swim at the downstream end of Duxford Loop.  No boats here and also no fish in the hour of sweltering sunshine that I fished here.

Back to below Shifford Lock and less than five minutes in the first swim when one barge and four pleasure cruisers came through the swims more or less one after the other.  So much so that they had to queue at Shifford Lock to get through.  One or two boats might be ok, five might be too much.

So a change of plan.  I would switch to ledgering and a "bait and wait" approach in one of my favourite chub swims on Duxford Loop.  The sun kept shining and no rain appeared.  I became more and more thirsty and was reduced to pouring water from the river over my head.  Around 7:30 I was surprised to see Mark from Witney, who I had seen lots at the end of last season.  I didn't recognise him at the start as he didn't have his thermal hat on and I've never seen him with hair!  I complained about the poor start to the season I'd had and he complained about the excessive vegetation growth by the river compared to March - some of the swims we fished last season are too overgrown to get to now.  He was kind enough to let me have a few mouthfuls of his rather-nice lime drink.  I would have happily drunk it all.

I stayed until just after 9:00.  It was actually a really nice evening and clearly I should have gone to Bushyleaze.  I will start fishing into the dark soon I expect. 

So no chub again and no fishing till the middle of next week as I am off to the Lake District for a few days with Daughter - the weather forecast is for up to 10cms of rain to fall this weekend!

Still I did take a rather nice photo of a spider