Well, a lot has happened to me since my last update! I’ve been on holiday, been in hospital, had my A level results, got a job and found a lake with 5lb perch in it! But let’s start at the beginning and hopefully things will be a bit clearer….
I started this manic month with a week’s holiday in Tenerife with my best pal James. It was a superb holiday of drinking, clubbing etc, and let’s just say I made sure I didn’t catch anything while I was out there! Enough said, I think!
Back in Blighty, the dreaded August 17th came round and I collected my A-level results. I got an A in Biology, a B in Art and a C in Physics, so I’ll be studying Architecture at my first choice: Nottingham University. But I’ve got a year before then, so what will I be doing in the meantime? Well my main priority was to get a full time job which I did, and I’m now working as a T.V. and Video engineer 5 days a week! For a while, I did this in conjunction with my part time bar job, but I was working 55 hours a week and it made fishing impossible, so the bar job had to go.
Once I had a bit of a routine working full time, I actually managed a few trips fishing, but without much success. I spent a few after work sessions visiting local rivers and stillwaters to find waters to concentrate on this winter. The most interesting is a carp-bagging pool of about 2 acres, which is rumoured to contain 51b perch. There’s hard evidence of 4lbers, but whether there are 5lbers is something I intend to find out this winter! It’ll have to be winter though, as there are so many pastie carp in there that I’ll need some really cold weather to stop the little blighters feeding! During my first visit, I put together nearly a ton of carp, which although being good fun, isn’t what I go fishing for. So, come October or November when Jack Frost comes out to play, I might be in with the chance of a big stripey!
Then things took a turn for the worse when my right knee packed in and made it impossible for me to walk. When I was 12 years old, I injured my knee on a skiing trip and have had the odd problem since, but the joint suddenly locked up and meant a trip to A E was in order. I was booked in for an emergency operation the next day, when they hacked up my knee and took out some cartilage! I’m back at home recovering now, but I think I’ll be hobbling off to do some fishing pretty soon!
So not really much fishing-wise this month, but it’s been eventful all the same! Now I’m looking forward to a few trips to the Hampshire Avon, including a special late night Bisteme barbel match, and maybe a carp session or two. Speak to you soon….
Tight Lines,
Fred – 2000
