Reg and I went to Barn Elms today, getting there at 9 when they opened. I fished here for a bit
but didn’t have much luck. I caught the trees behind several times, but no fish. Reg next to me caught 2 and we then changed spots. Of course he then caught another one! But I then caught one with a montana on my own rod (first fish caught with my own rod!), and another trying out Reg’s flashy 7 section Orvis Frequent Flyer rod. I’d forgotten how good it is to catch fish!
There were lots of little dragonflies with pale blue black-tipped bodies looking for all the world like tiny flying neon lights. And there were brown ones too. Later I found they were black tailed skimmers (Orthetrum cancellatum), the blue bodied ones being male, and the brown ones being the same species but female.
On the water there were a family of mute swan, moorhen, a great crested grebe and a couple of cute dabchicks. Saw a peacock butterfly. Flowering on the bank were
water mint
(mentha aquatica)
valerian
(valeriana officinalis)
purple loosestrife
(lythrum salicaria)
and many more (I was there primarily to fish but couldn’t help being distracted a bit)
Celebrated last day of school by going to Haywards Lake for an evening’s fishing.
Unbelievably hot when we started at 5.30, but full of wildlife. There were lots of blue damselflies darting about; some larger dragonflies apparently laying eggs, certainly dipping their tails in the water in a meaningful way; a family of coot with very noisy young; and a family of unspecified geese. I saw a great-crested grebe which swam quite close, and a heron flew over. There was ragwort(Scenecio jacobaea) and purple loosestrife(Lythrum salicara) by the water.
And there were fish there, some jumping out of the water and turning complete somersaults, but they were not interested in any of the goodies we tried to tempt them with. I tried a black buzzer, red buzzer, black Shipmans buzzer and a flashy olive damsel. There was a lot of weed , which was a challenge. I was pleased that my casting practice meant I could cast beyond the weed, but I was still retrieving through it. Later in the evening the promontary became free so we moved round and found a welcome relief from weed. But still no fish. We tried till 8:00 and then gave up.
Peter took me to Bourley after work today.
A lovely peaceful evening, but no-one had caught anything by the time we left at 8:00. But Peter noticed a marked improvement in my casting. Still plenty of room for improvement, but gratifying nevertheless.
When I got my own fishing rod I found the reel I had been using didn’t fit very well. So I tried a different reel which fits really neatly. But I then discovered that although you can have different lines on different spools which you can swap easily, the 2 reels had different and incompatible spools. So I’ve not been using the high visiblilty line I had use originally. The weighted line I have been casting recently is grey, and difficult to see on the grass. I’ve been judging my casting by how far the red wool goes. I thought I would try the light green line to see if I really was casting straight, so I put the ill-fitting reel on yesterday. Unfortunately it showed that although I am casting a lot further, there are still a lot of wiggles in the line. More practise needed…
My casting has definitely improved. I’m getting all the line out, and much further now. My main problem before was taking the rod too far back. My interpretation of 12 o’clock was way off! Now, instead of having an occasional good cast, I am having an occasional failure. Which meant I went to work in a very good mood this morning!
After observing the relative waterproofness of various jackets yesterday I have ordered an Orvis Clearwater jacket. Due to be delivered mid August.
Casting For Recovery were making a promotional DVD at Duncton Mill today, and I went along to help. A number of us who had previously been on retreats re-enacted various bits of a retreat, and then had an afternoon of fishing, with the film crew (of two) interviewing each of us as we fished. Hopefully they will have enough footage .
The weather in the morning was dreadful, and we all got soaked. Then, while we ate lunch, it cleared up, only to start again as we emerged! Wind gusted around randomly, and it rained on and off till mid afternoon when it cleared up (although it was still windy). There were not many insects in evidence, but I saw a few crane flies. I also saw a pair of what I think were yellow wagtails. In the weighing room there was a nest of swallows in the rafters, with 4 babies with their beaks permanently open.
I tried damsels, black buzzers, and some sort of fluffy fly, all to no avail, but I was casting much better. Black buzzers with red or orange cheeks seemed to be the only flies catching fish. I didn’t catch anything, but here is Carole-Anne landing a fish:
Going out each morning to try to cast in a straight line gives me at least 20 minutes outside each day. I have noticed that particularly birds will quickly ignore me. I suppose they can see I’m standing still and acting predictably.
The green woodpecker goes about his business around me, as do magpies and paraqueets. And just being out in the field is a very refreshing way to start the day.
