Had the coarse fishing season ended a week ago, then I really wouldn’t have minded. Having book-ended the weekend with trips to a new stretch of canal, I found myself in such a contented state that the standard late season urge had all but gone.
Friday had been damp, especially in the morning, but we all caught plenty of fish and having spent a productive weekend working, I needed very little convincing to return with Chris on the Monday.
The day was almost faultless. An easy drive, lovely broken sunshine and the blackcap still singing away in the hedge behind ‘Matt’s swim’.
As is so typical of perch, we would catch two or three fish in quick succession before experiencing a lull in the action. This pace was perfect though, allowing plenty of time for kettle boiling and red kite counting.
A small jack pike got me momentarily excited, as did a bream, but perch were the mainstay and we both managed fish of over 2lb in weight.
That night I slept as well as I have for many months and woke to find my thoughts had left the world of water.
Perhaps the cast of the avian chorus had infiltrated my dreams, or maybe the blackcap had upset my internal clock, but my mind rolled off into the close season and all those lovely spring diversions.
A week on and I remain in the same state. Today is the penultimate day of the season and when I woke I knew that the only scales of interest would be reptilian.
It is a classic early spring day, with warm sunshine and high patchy cloud. I am due on the river tomorrow, though yet to make any definite plans and the final day of the season is usually a social occasion rather than a time for serious fishing.
Nevertheless, I was soon t-shirted and enjoying the colours and shapes on my local patch. Celandines and violets, glimpses of adder and common lizard. The first slow worm of the year and at least half a dozen chiffchaffs chiffchaffing after, what was presumably, a very recent arrival.
Tomorrow will be lovely, I’m certain, but this spring could be glorious…
Kevin Parr 