Saturday 14 February 2015

A Glitch In The Matrix


I could tell as soon as I arrived the gudgeon wouldn't want to play today, the water was high and grey - but I still gave it 2 hours spread over three swims for one missed bite. I did bring the rolling gear and hoped a barbel would save the morning.

I tried half a dozen swims without a touch, it's difficult if you can't see them. But first cast in a fast run was nailed. Great fight in the fast water and a 4lb 7oz barbel was in the net. Where there is one there are often more so I returned the fish a few yards downstream and let the swim settle for 15-20 minutes before lobbing out another bit of meat...

Nailed straight away, another great fight and a second 4lb 7oz barbel was in the net. Or was it? Both exactly the same weight, both had a bump on their dorsal fin. I've caught the same pike twice in one session several times, and on one occasion in consecutive casts - but I thought barbel were smarter than that.

Camera phone photos on the bank were inconclusive, but I was pretty sure it was the same fish - I even text James. Photos side-by-side on the computer revealed they were different fish, it was just a glitch in the Matrix.


With horrible water conditions and a couple bonus of barbel on the scorecard I headed for home, working it out on the train - the total for the season is 297lb 2oz, I need a 2lb 14oz barbel to hit my target - just under a month to go...

Oh yeah, and I need about 100lb of pike...

4 comments:

  1. Sooooo... close but easily achievable. Interesting obs re the conditions needed for the gudgeon to feed - clean but not too clear? Or do you find they prefer all the colour to have dropped out?

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    1. Prefer gin-clear for gudgeon (and barbel). Just one more barbel required, so fingers crossed for some good conditions for the next 27 days! Really don't know where I'm going to ring these pike though.

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    2. *find. Bloody autocorrect!

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  2. Thanks for the advice - in which case I might try my usual stretch tomorrow for a few hours and see if can get my first gobio from the river before the next bout of rain.

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