Jungle Warfare

I took a half day off work on Friday to fish late afternoon/evening and dawn on Saturday morning. I was in a hurry to get on the road and realised after arriving that I had left my paddle at home. I had to improvise and hoped my mirage drive didn’t decide to break. This was the first in a catalogue of errors. A combination of already being tired and also being in a hurry is never good; my plan to sleep in the car wasn’t really going to make it any better.

I opened the score line quickly with a two small Perch on a Daiwa D fin shad nose hooked on a drop shot rig. These came from a spot with a rocky bottom which generally has fish on it, they never seem to be very big but it was start. I then went on to struggle for a couple of hours. There was lots of baitfish around so the fish had plenty of choice for sure. The sun was well on the way down when I landed on an island. I’ve been around it a few times and marked some sort of fish but I’ve never had a touch.  My thinking was that I might be able to cover the ground from the shore at a different angle. As it happens, the side I wanted to try was heavily overgrown and I knew at this time of night the midges would be waiting for me. It was hellish but I was eventually on a run of fish. I used my buff to cover the back of my neck and the exposed area on the mesh at the back my of cap. When I got back afloat it was a relief.

Some nice  enough Perch in amongst the fish I was catching. It was a welcome change to be holding the rod at a natural angle. In the yak sitting down and holding the rod at the right angle whilst  keeping in touch when everything is moving puts a strain on my shoulder and forearm.

My alarm was set for 4.30am, it was still pretty dark and I awoke in the car far from refreshed. Ok, where are my car keys? An hour later I found them after emptying the entire contents of the car and checking down the edges of the seats by torchlight about ten times. I’ve no idea how they got inside the hood lining of my sleeping bag but somehow they did. On top of that I couldn’t find any fish when I got on the water. I had been working my way around some of the features I’ve plotted looking for them when I lost a rig. Ok, where’s my rig wallet? It was back to the car again. I was pretty well pissed off with myself by this point. I remembered I had it with me on the island after taking what I needed with me from the yak. I told myself I needed the exercise anyway so off I went on another tour of the loch. I found the rig wallet along with my little biting midgie friends waiting for me.  I covered up and prepared myself for some torment and maybe some fish.

                              In amongst fish like this I hooked what I thought was a Pike.

A peach, really pleased to find another big stripey like this. Also the best scrap I've had from a Perch, so far anyway. I would have weighed it but you might have guessed ,the scales were in the yak, at least I didn't think they were in the car.....

I planned to fish on for a bit longer than planned but the wind got up and it was blowing around 20mph. The way things had gone at times I might have forgotten my way home, thank goodness for sat nav.