Why do people do what they do ?.

So this blog started out with the intentions of being a record of my ups and many, many downs of my fishing exploits. That said I have not really updated it and I don't know why.
But this morning I feel I have to write something nothing fishing related but to raise some points and thoughts on the recent passing of Mr Mandela. I suffered from bullying at school and have suffered from bullying while at work until I learnt how to confront my bully's and moved on. Now don't get me wrong my suffering was nothing like the 27 years of suffering that Mr Mandela endured while in prison and as a prison officer I am ashamed to think that others doing the role I do today will have taken a hand in increasing the suffering that he endured but like me he stood up for what he felt was right and he even went as far as too say he was prepared to die for what he believed in.
Even today I have un-followed some people on twitter due to there crass comments regarding Mr Mandela I don't think that the fact that he or anyone to that matter should have to be ridiculed once they have passed on from this life and that as Mr Mandela did we should all take a stand and just ignore these insensitive people and remember what we were all doing on the day he was freed and in fact what we were all doing when he passed away.

So is oppression apparent today I think we all are aware of it in its many differing forms and we all deal with it in our own way but are any of us prepared to die for what we believe in?. Mr Mandela was and that in it's self is enough for me to say "Thank you for what you have done for many and may you rest in peace"

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela 1918-2013

Wildlife in action

I today for the first time in a long time took myself and my camera to the river.Not much to report in the way of fish because due to my injured back i can not sit down long enough to fish but still it was a pleasant way to spend some of the day.

I went with the view that i wanted to take some pictures of a nesting grebe who has set up her rather late i might add home in the safe area behind the weir pool and is sitting (i hope) on eggs but i got distracted by the swans.
I'm adding the picture in the hope that you can see what i saw and like me it may cheer up your day.

Return to the pool

Well as much as i tried not to i returned to the magical pool on the Thames yesterday to find someone sitting in the hot peg. So putting a brave face on it i went and said hi and broke my own rules and asked what he had caught to which he replied "nothing mate not even had a bite".
Now i became a bit happier at this news which is wrong but well hey what you gonna do? i then thought discretion was the better thing to do and wandered around the weir sill and set up thinking that i would pick a few off by a willow tree which was hanging over the bank. Well after a hour i still hadn't caught and the other guy came around to tell me he had packed up and did i want to go to the peg he was leaving.The words hadn't left his mouth before i was moving.I asked him what bait he was using and he told me maggots and that he had not caught a thing,so i pinged out a few boiles which is what i have been catching a few on from this peg and sat down and rested the swim for a bit and made my first cast.
true to form i then had a clonking great bite and after a good fight a 6lb barbel graced the net.I didn't enjoy catching this fish as i had foul hooked it in the pelvic fin which was not on purpose but i feel it suggests a few barbel competing for the freebies in the swim.
so the next cast didn't produce too much but then the last cast of the afternoon produced a fine bream which just about made my day.

Next trip to the river will see me there for a longer session going into night and will see what i can find few more of these size bream would be nice though this one went 8lb very fat dark fish which was the broadest bream i have seen for a while.

My Barbel Day and My Ways

Let me remind you of my earlier post which said this is my year.... well after yesterday it is. I arrived at a weir pool on the Thames and saw i was the only person on the stretch and after thanking various deity's (like to hedge my bets !!) i put all my tackle out ready but i followed Des Taylor's advice and before i had even set up my chair i put some bait out not a lot mind you but about 15 boiles and some pellets.
So i then set up all the tackle and tied a new rig and used a new brand of hooks to nylon which sort of confused me a bit because who ever had tied them had made them too small for boile stops,not to worry said my friend who had come and sat near me use some grass so i did.
I use a Shakespeare mach 2 barbel rod and a fox reel and the end tackle was a running ledger rig with a single 16mm boile and i managed to cast the bait to just in front of the weir pool gates.As many do i put the rod in a high rest to keep the line out of the water as the snags in front of me are quite bad and sat back to wait while chatting to my mate.
We watched the rod tip and after a couple of minutes the rod tip banged down twice and then hooped over with the clutch screaming "that's a barbel said my mate" "no kidding "was my reply. after a spirited fight 6lb of barbel was landed and i was a happy chappy. i didn't tell my mate until afterwards that this in fact was a first for me as i hadn't caught a barbel previously so happy was a understatement.
So after calming down two pictures later and a fish safely returned i re-baited and recast and it happened all again this time the fight went on a bit longer and a barbel of 81/4lb graced my net. The whole session after that was a blur but i finished of with two bream the biggest going  9lb and i got smashed up by something i just couldn't stop possibly one of the big carp that live in the river pool.
So is this my year i think so.................

Well it's time again

So the glorious 16th has been and gone again for another year. This year i realised a childhood ambition and fished opening day on the Kennett and although i didn't catch a thing i had a very pleasant morning followed by a evening on a stretch of the Thames.
I returned to the same stretch of the Thames today and got dropped off by my daughter who well done to her passed her test on Friday,we arrived at 830am and she left me too it and for the first time in a long time i took a stove and cooked food and boiled water for coffee.I don't know about you but flask coffee tastes completely different to fresh made coffee and sausage in a bun tasted well as only outdoor food could.All this made the day go with a swing and it mattered not one bit i didn't catch a thing but hey who cares.
So back to today's issue or what i saw as a issue but know realise was not really.I sat there today just upstream of a well known Berkshire town and saw the armada that's is known as pleasure boats come sailing past me good job i had some back leads and was able to pin the line to the deck. Big boats were just plain rude a number of times i thought that i was going to get swamped by the wash but just managed to move back in the nick of time. But the rivers there for all and i suppose i can fish into the evening/night and that will solve that issue.

Day Ticket woes

Yesterday i went fishing with a friend and his 9 year old daughter to a local and well known day ticket water where i assured them that they will catch fish and put a bend in there rods.Well first put in i caught a carp after a typical rod wrenching bite until i got it on the bank to see about 6lb of mirror carp which should have weighed judging by the fight at least 25lb and apart from some missed bites that was that for me.My friends daughter didn't to to well until the afternoon when after listening to her dad moan at the tangles etc i set up a 5mr whip for her to use thinking it would be easier for her. Now on went the float and the hook was a 18 to 6lb line straight through and sweetcorn on the hook finished the job off a treat. We put the float out where she thought it should go and baited around the hook with some corn and a scattering of hemp.
So following some advice like don't let go of the pole i went back to my swim and carried on,about 5mins later i heard zzzzzzizzzzzip and turned round to see the pole shoot across the lake being towed by a angry carp and looked down to a little face which just stared at the water. Well no harm done, after a walk around to the other side to regain the pole and to see the fish had got off with no damage done i went back to my swim and chatted while they packed up as it was home time.
I then fished on but moved onto another lake which is full of small carp and had about 30 fish in a hour which was great fun but after a while i was glad of the call to say time to come and get me please yes love was the reply and after the one last cast you just have to have i packed up and left.
not long to go until the rivers open i have booked the day off and then booked the weekend off as well and just cause i could i booked the next two days off as well so day one will be the Kennett in berks and perhaps the Thames in Windsor day two could be the Thames again and hen i just don't know i may try the fishers stretch of the lea as well as its on my ticket but hey lets wait and see........

The Meeting

This week i have attended  the first AGM of a fishing club that i have ever been to. To say i was a touch disappointed with the whole thing would be a understatement in fact it was a period of time out of my life i am unlikely to get back. To start with to have a agm and hardly any of the committee turn up to it is unheard off and secondly the acting president stated not once but several times that the club lack new blood but when i volunteered it seems that they were all more interested in going to the pub than sorting out what was going on with what is one of the oldest fishing society's in the country.
Ok rant over on a lighter note i have been waiting for the river season to open and while I'm waiting i have been to some commercial fisheries and the two i have been to have been very impressive to say the least but i do miss the running water roll on the 16th.