Diary of an average angler

After a week of very hot weather I had been deliberating whether to go fishing, but as the forecast was for a slightly cooler day I finally set off. I planned to fish the Top Stream at Offord with maggots and worms, after the good perch that I know can be caught there. Unusually for me I took no other bait, so when I got to the tackle shop to buy my maggots it wasn't good news to find out that they had none! A supplier problem also affecting other shops in the area.

They also didn't have any small tubs of worms, only a couple of bulk packs. After some deliberation as to whether to just abandon the trip I bought one of these and set off to Offord. When I got there the car park was empty, which was on the one hand good news in terms of swim choice, but on the other perhaps a reflection of how the fishing was going. I made my way to my chosen swim on the Top Stream.

I had fished the spot before but in autumn. Since then the situation had changed as a tree branch had fallen across the stream creating a large raft. I saw this as good rather than bad news. In fact the swim looked very inviting. But I was soon to be disappointed as my legered worm was completely ignored, despite one cast putting it almost under the raft. To be fair the bright conditions were not ideal for perch fishing.

As well as being very sunny there was no cooling wind and I started to get very hot, deciding in the absence of any bites to move over to the Car Park Pool, to the spot I had fished the previous week as it would be shaded.

While I was now out of the sun the fishing was no better. My legered worm produced not a hint of interest.

In trying to clear a loop in my line that was affecting casting I pulled off line from the reel spool and then managed to create a knot as I rewound it. In trying to unpick that I managed to tangle the pulled off line around my feet and, all in all, the whole thing was a bit of a disaster, taking over ten minutes to sort out.

I carried on fishing, trying different areas of the swim, but it was just dead.

I walked up to the small weir, which was actually dry after the protracted dry spell, dropping a worm down by the wall at the edge of the weir. It was in the shade and I hoped a perch may oblige, but again nothing. Also at this point my head cam failed.

So I wasn't getting any bites and I could no longer record what I was doing. It seemed that the day was destined to be a failure, starting at the tackle shop with no bait. It was time to call it a day, or a few hours as that's how long I had been there.

It was a beautiful spot and I sat there for a while just absorbing nature before packing up and making my way home.

My first blank since last September.