Since they did away with the statutory close season on most stillwaters and canals May has become one of my favorite fishing months of the year. Over the years it has thrown up some big fish for me and my expectations for the month were running high as I had some exciting fishing plans lined up, but unfortunately the month started disastrously.
Right at the back end of the previous month I’d managed to jar my right leg, making the knee area ache a little but, as I suffer from extensive arthritis anyway, the added discomfort pretty much blended in with everything else and I was able to ignore it for a while. However, a couple of days later I was due to set off on my first fishing session of the month and as I went to get out of bed a sudden burst of intense pain indicated that there was something serious going on.
A quick inspection showed that my knee had swollen up massively overnight and the pain had gone from insignificant to virtually unbearable. I was hoping that it was something that might last just a couple of days then calm down again but it was soon obvious that I’d done some proper damage and I was off to see my GP.
It didn’t take long for the doctor to declare that I needed an emergency MRI scan as my injury clearly fell into the ‘very bad’ category. He also added that I’d be virtually off my feet for around two months or so. Needless to say I was devastated as I could see all of my carefully made fishing plans for the month being torn to pieces.
After nearly two weeks of trying to rest, and with only a slight improvement in terms of pain and discomfort, I was starting to go crazy due to the inactivity, especially because I couldn’t get out on the bank. With a Nash Roadshow event at Linear Fisheries coming up I knew that I’d need some assistance, but I decided to try and see how I could cope with some sort of angling situation. As it happened all the lads were really great, and on the day I had some major help getting the demo kit to the allocated swim and assistance throughout the day with landing fish, unhooking, photographs and all sorts of other tasks that would otherwise have proved a real struggle. Thanks guys!
I was really glad that I’d made the effort to attend as it turned out to be a real success. I even managed to catch a few modest bream to help demo some of the new kit and was able to pass on a few hints and tips to the visitors who were keen to add a bit of knowledge about different methods or techniques. It also gave me some added confidence to plan a proper fishing session for the following week, though I knew that I’d be doing so very much against doctor’s orders and that I’d have to be very careful not to overstretch myself.
So with my knee injury continuing to show slight improvements on a day-to-day basis, the following week I headed south for a potential 48 hour session to try and bag some big crucians.
On arrival at the lake and while hobbling up the bank on an initial inspection, I was soon informed that the crucians had spawned the previous week, which meant that the chances of catching a monstrous 4lb fish were pretty much impossible, but it still meant that I could be in with a shout of catching a PB if the right fish slid over the landing net.
A couple of swims that I really fancied were already occupied, but with some slow, careful trips back and forth from the car park with my kit I was eventually set up in a nice little swim not far from the area that I’d originally had my eye on. By mid-afternoon I’d had several tench to 6lb 8oz and a solitary 2lb plus crucian, but when the chance to move into one of the swims that I liked the look of came up when someone packed up, I swapped swims. Fortunately the effort of moving swims soon paid off, as that afternoon and evening I had several more crucians, including one of 3lb, along with a load more tench.
I was fishing two rods, both with short hook links carrying barbless size 10 hooks, fished helicopter/silt rig style, with 1.5oz flat pear leads on the end of the line. Hook bait was a hair-rigged single ‘grain’ of artificial sweetcorn on one rod and a 6mm Dynamite soft marine halibut pellet topped with the rounded end piece cut from a yellow plastic 6mm diameter dumbbell shaped artificial bait on the other.
A generous handful of ‘method’ was squeezed around the lead on each cast and three or four small spods of a mix of hemp and pellet with a sprinkling of scopex flavoured sweetcorn were flicked out in the vicinity of each hookbait every couple of hours or so. Fishing in this manner I was able to continue catching reasonably consistently over the full 48 hours, despite some torrential rain slowing things down a bit in the middle of the session.
Considering it was only my second ever visit to the lake and the trouble I’d had with my painful knee, I was very pleased with the overall results as I ended up catching a total of 60 fish, consisting of 44 tench to 7lb 7oz, 15 crucians (with 6 of them weighing 3lb or more) and a solitary carp of 15lb 5oz. The icing on the cake came on the final morning, while I was packing up, but with the rods still out, as the last but one bite resulted in a PB crucian of 3lb 6oz.
The final fishing related event of the month was the Osprey Specimen Group book launch/signing event. The venue meant travelling down to the Land’s End Inn at Twyford, Berkshire, but it was all for a good cause, with the book dedicated to the memory of Simon King and the proceeds donated to Cancer Research UK. There was also the added bonus of a great opportunity to catch up with a bunch of mates that I hadn’t seen for a while.
The launch itself was a great success; with the 50 limited edition cloth bound copies and all of the hardbacks that the publishers had taken over for the launch all sold out within an hour of sales opening to the public. As predicted, the social side of the event was also really good and I was especially pleased to have the opportunity to chat with Simon’s mum and very honoured to be asked to sign a copy of the book for her.
If the knee continues to improve I’m hoping to get plenty of fishing done in June, including my first ever trip to France to do a week’s fishing for cats and carp.
However things pan out I’ll give you an update next month.
Until then… happy fishing!
