Warm March Day by the Water

A very dry and warm March was upon us with temperatures in the low 20’s plus a drought declared. I had the day off and wanted to get back to some fresh water fishing and decided on a day session at Alverstone Ponds. When I got there the new larger car park with disabled access was being installed, that will be great news for anglers with special needs.

It being early Spring, the bushes and trees were just starting to respond to the increasing day lengths and buds and catkins were on display.

I decided to ledger with sweetcorn close in then have a float out to see what was biting. The Roach and Rudd gave great entertainment although the larger Rudd didn’t show. This small one is a new 2012 species for me:

Going deeper on the float produced some Common Bream between about 8 and 12oz (or "skimmers" as they are commonly called). Another new 2012 species:

The one and only Dace was another welcome new 2012 species:

I had some really annoying moments losing a Mirror Carp of around 5lb which I had stalked but I’d ventured too far away from my landing net meaning a hook throwing episode by the Carp was inevitable. This was followed by the pulse generating sound of a reel spool spinning as a strong take rapidly stripped line. The strike briefly found a pleasantly heavy weight on the end of the line before the hook was thrown again. A 3rd nice Carp also managed the "Great Escape" by throwing the hook after turning right over in the water. So it ended Carp 3 Mike 0.

I managed to find some delight in landing a worm hungry Perch which weighed in at 1lb 7oz to set a new personal best.

Considering its nickname this fish wasn’t very stripey in fact it was quite pale:

I stayed until the dusk and the pesky midges saw me off, I really must remember to buy some insect repellant! But what a day! Three new species for the year, a personal best, the ones which got away, patience, joy, frustration, fun and insect bites; you couldn’t really ask for anything more..…..that’s what I call a days fishing!