July 4th
For the last week or so I have been able to have a walk down by a local river first thing in the morning. I have been baiting up half a dozen swims with hemp and boilies in the hope of attracting some barbel. As usual, there is a strong expectation that fishing for barbel will prove very tough, but I am prepared to give it a few trips. So finally I can actually have a morning fishing.
I had intended to fish quite close to the car park (as I was loaded down with kit) but on the spur of the moment, decided to slog it down to the two swims I'd baited about a mile or so downstream - one of those moments when instinct takes over. So at just before 5:00 I was in place, and ready to fish till late morning at least.
The swim I eventually chose was one where I've had a few decent enough chub in the past. I had baited it three of the last four mornings with yesterday putting in about a gallon of hemp and 50 or 60 boilies. If there were any barbel about, surely they would find this morning's bait irresistible
So unusually for me, it was a "bait and wait" approach today. Another load of hemp went in when I arrived plus 30 boilies. Then two rods cast out, fishing perhaps 5 yards apart. And a comfortable chair to sit in - also unusual for me and the main reason which today's kit was so heavy. Both reels were set up as bait runners, so I could read a book or try and take photos of the two hares that seemed happy to approach quite near to me in the meadow behind
By 9:30 I had managed to read nearly half of Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, but was wholly undisturbed by fish. I'd also failed to get a good picture of the hares, which ran off faster than I could photo them. A group of young swans did come by, getting very close to my bait
Then around 9:30, the farmer appeared with a team of people to mow and collect the rest of the grass from the meadow. Five tractors and a combine harvester were involved. One cut the grass, another arranged it into strips, the combine collected the strips of grass and chopped them up, firing them into a trailer behind another tractor. Up and down they went for the next couple of hours. Not too noisy, but certainly breaking the peace and quiet.
Packed up around 11:30 and met fishing-friend Mark on the way back, who was fishing one of the pre-baited swims near the car park. He has had a few chub in the last couple of weeks but no barbel either. He thinks perhaps we need a bit of rain to bring the barbel on - he could well be right.
I can't fish now for a couple of weeks and may switch to evening fishing from mid-July onwards. That at least might help my hayfever, which was set off by the mowing this morning and lasted most of the rest of the day.
