Friday, January 08, 2010

Slipping and sliding

The shack nasties are starting to kick in as the stillwaters, canals and drains round here are topped off with a layer of that cold solid stuff. I'd venture to the river but I really don't fancy sliding down the hills, or being stuck at in the valley unable to drive out at the end of the session. Not that it's looking too good - looky-linky. While the sun makes the days bearable it isn't high enough for long enough for my liking, and it soon gets really chilly once you are out of the sun.

So I've been amusing myself birdwatching from the comfort of my home. I'm fortunate that there's a field beyond my back fence which, before the snow fell, was a magnet for redwings, fieldfares and starlings. Other birds too. This week I've seen over 20 different species either in the field or the garden, the two 'best' spots being a pair of snipe and a couple of meadow pipits. It's enjoyable, but it's not the same as fishing.

Nonetheless there's a tiny sliver of what's to come each evening as the sun sets further to the west and the daylight hours lengthen. This has prompted me to scan some more slides from the past, slides of summer fishing. Maybe this year I really will get round to doing some serious eel fishing again. These photos are from the year I gave up carp fishing on an expensive syndicate lake and put the worm rods out. 1991 I think it was. I still use the same rods, reels, storm poles (now my barbel sticks) kettle and water bottle. Buy good quality gear and if it ain't broke, and all that!

The first brew of the evening

The first eel I managed to calm down for a self take.
 An earlier attempt at eel wrestling!