Met Office.....Grrrrrrrr !

Down at Bury Hill today fishing for crucians on the pin. I wanted a nice,leisurely trip so planned to get there around midday. Weather forecast last night...cloudy start,brightening later,chance of a shower.18 C. Cock on.

Blowing a bit on The Chilterns this morning & nearer 8 than 18. Checked Met office forecast for Dorking at 1100. Sunny periods developing....chance of a light shower later.Arrived at 1230....spits of rain, walked to the lake,proper rain now.

It then proceeded to rain steadily until around 4-30. I had no brolly [because of the forecast] and only had a rain jacket as it was in the car and I thought I might need it to keep the wind off. "Chance of a Shower " my [wet] ar$e

I got bloody soaked....I mean proper bloody soaked. I have fallen in and been dryer ! I kept looking for Windy Evans because it was the sort of rain that follows him around.

Moral : DONT trust the Met Office. Always take a proper coat.

I will now spend most of the weekend drying my kit and incurring the wrath of the long suffering & increasingly scary Mrs S.

Did you catch any crucians?

peter crabtree said:

Did you catch any crucians?

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I did....and a few tench too.

Skippy, you should be taking more care of yourself at your age!

Ah yes, I think a case of taking more notice of 'brightening later' than 'a chance of a shower'......but no, it is a waste of time putting one's trust in Met office forecasts.

How many times do I watch the regional forecast on television at 6.30pm and then the country forecast which follows it and find they differ considerably. I will then look at the online Met site only to find discrepancies as well. Personally I don't think forecasting has improved that much with 'technology'...
Answer? Well, only one in my book and that is to take an umbrella EVERY time I go out, UNLESS we are in a 'fixed' heatwave such as those of '76 and '77. Probably a bit of an exaggeration that, but when the weather is so variable I cannot see am alternative....

......but Skippy, No umbrella OR rainwear - what were you thinking? Perhaps one got over excited at the thought of several 3lb crucians gracing the landing net and that is quite understandable, but to take neither is dressing more for the beach rather than fishing!!

Still, I think a good soaking is character building in some ways and although time spent landing a fish, unhooking it, rebaiting (particularly with bread!) and recasting (once one has separated line between rod top and float from the rod itself) seems to take forever one is always grateful when the end rig finally hits water!
Many times I sit with water running down my hands (now white and shrivelled) with hand clothes useless and I say to myself, sometimes out loud, " I will not be beaten " and I continue with renewed vigour (as happened last Thursday).

So Skippy, overall perhaps one has to take on board words like 'fault' and 'unprepared' to end up arriving at the only synopsis of the whole matter; A 'step too far'................At the end of the day it was a case of 'win some and lose some'; You caught fish but got a soaking in the bargain, although in your case probably more the latter if the wife was upset as well!

ps In drying out my umbrella I only had to make sure the damn thing did NOT fall over in the greenhouse and damage the wife's new tomato plants which would've led to my Ultralight again being suggested as sticks to support said plants...

Anyway. well done for sitting it out and landing a few although a picture of said Skippy (taken by a fellow (soaked) passing angler ) would've ben nice, if not for us then for the wife who may well've uttered the word 'proud' albeit under her breath..................!!

pps Come next week I shall again trudge to the 'Farm Ponds' as I've heard it's likely to be wet!!


pps Final thought; Had you managed to schedule you fishing properly and not worried about 'relaxed outings' one would have risen, and fished the early hours when it was dry....but then you know Gerry Barbelboi so I'm not surprised everything went to pot with timings..Ho hum...

I have been putting off my first trip to a local commercial fishery precisely because the Met Office has been indicating impending torrential rain for the last three days. We haven't had a drop since Tuesday...

S kippy, Your oversight by not taking adequate weather protection brings to mind my shortcomings re preparations.
I have..
Forgotten reels/leads/bait/wallet/watch/landing net and the list goes on.
I have taken unexpected swims with my mobile and car keys on a few occasions.

Now however I am lucky enough to have a little banger solely for my life's work of fishing. Secreted in the boot are spares of the above for when I get my next senior moment of forgetfulness and also a set of clothes and spare waterproofs.
The spare clothes will save me the indignity of appearing at the front door with just a towel wrapped round the dangly bits the next time I go for a dipmg:

Now just a rain-sodden still not having it minute !

I rarely carry an umbrella or wet weather gear for a very good reason. If rain of any consequence is forecast I dont go fishing. I hate setting up in the rain,I hate fishing in the rain, I hate packing up in the rain and I hate unloading,storing & drying off all my gear in the rain. I have also never really done any good in the rain and I defy anybody to fish properly under an umbrella.

So I don't consider this an oversight at all.I got done like a kipper by a combination of an incompetent Met office & a malevolent Weather Fairy. Forecasting is a hell of a lot better than it was and normally pretty trustworthy so how did they get this so epically wrong ? I do not accept that "chance of a shower later" can turn to "biblical torrent" in the 50 odd minutes it takes me to drive to Dorking while nobody at the Met Office noticed.

A pox on them....and a pox on the alleged character building qualities of a proper drenching and a pox on the fact that the merest drop of water turns even the most moribund of maggots into a spider monkey. I dont think Mrs S has noticed yet but every now and then a red maggot speeds across her kitchen floor. Where they are coming from God alone knows...I have had everything out,stripped & dried this morning [ the gear...not Mrs S] but STILL they appear.

I agree, bloody Met Office, I was going to go to the same place as Skippy on Tuesday but put it off due to the forecast of rain and it turned out fine. Its not that I don't ever fish when it's wet but you have to fish from wooden platforms there and sitting it out without an umbrella for the day in the rain isn't my idea of fun. Last time I was there I fixed the brolly to the chair with bungey straps, I thought I was going to end up like Mary Poppins.

Don't exactly put the rain in brains, do they?

I find accuweather to be much better, although still far from perfect

benh said:

I find accuweather to be much better, although still far from perfect

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But don't all of these forecasts stem from Met Office predictions.

I use BBC weather and it is as good as anything in my opinion, but not infallible of course.

As far as weather goes try this lot ..


Weather forecast for Birmingham, England (United Kingdom) – yr.no

I have found them to be closer to correct every time , obviously change the location to suit .

Enjoy .

PG

I believe, but I'm not sure, that 'terry m' is basically correct in his premise that ALL forecasts come, initially, from the Met office forecasts.

OR

Do various forecasters have access to the satellites as well and just 'read' them in a different way?

Answers on a postcard.......


ps Either way, I just hope it doesn't pee down today 'cos the wife has gone north to see her mum so I'm sorting the washing of bedding etc etc plus other (fishing) items and it's blowing nicely on the line at present...............I have to say the clouds look threatening though!

This is the one that I use..........

Fishing Weather forecast - Netweather.tv

I wouldn't go fishing anywhere in the UK without a waterproof coat, learned the hard way. Give XC weather a go. Not perfect but a darn site more accurate than the Met Office. Think you'll find the beeb use the Met Office info.

Just a thought as it's something I am thinking of buying for roving if I can identify something suitable... How about a pack away poncho?

Total coverage, light and compact in the bag... I'm sure there was a thread about them here on FM somewhere in the past?

Maybe not ideal for all circumstances but a good get out of jail card if things go pear shaped with the weather forecast?

binka said:

Just a thought as it's something I am thinking of buying for roving if I can identify something suitable... How about a pack away poncho?

Total coverage, light and compact in the bag... I'm sure there was a thread about them here on FM somewhere in the past?

Maybe not ideal for all circumstances but a good get out of jail card if things go pear shaped with the weather forecast?

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I've been using a 50's pattern ex-army issue for more years than I care to remember for my river stalking (45ish years) - if you can get hold of one they are IMO the dogs...............

PS I see Fishtec have started listing their own brand poncho, not a clue if it's any good though.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-B...Collectables_Militaria_LE&hash=item258e8283ba

barbelboi said:

I've been using a 50's pattern ex-army issue for more years than I care to remember for my river stalking (45ish years) - if you can get hold of one they are IMO the dogs...............

PS I see Fishtec have started listing their own brand poncho, not a clue if it's any good though.

Genuine British Army 58pattern waterproof poncho cadets,kids,shooting,fishing . | eBay

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Thanks Jerry, appreciate that.

It actually looks ok and probably worth a punt at the price, if I get one i'll let you know how I get on with it

binka said:

Thanks Jerry, appreciate that.

It actually looks ok and probably worth a punt at the price, if I get one i'll let you know how I get on with it

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If these are the pukka items, and it seems so, I'm still using my army issue from the 60's that I 'took home with me' when i left in '72...........