Ready....steady.....where'd it go?

Well it's finally here, one more sleep (or no sleep if you're that keen) to go and we're back on the rivers. I've been looking forward to it and counting down the days but to be honest, now it's actually here I'm not as fussed. Don't get me wrong, I'll be on there as soon as possible and as often as possible, but now it's actually here I feel more relaxed and less anxious about it. I guess because now I know I can go whenever I want to. Thursday evening I had a quick look and the river looked perfect and apart from my spot being overgrown it looked good. I could have done it earlier, I'd planned to, but I still hadn't got around to sorting the peg properly. I wanted to level off the bank to make it easier for fishing and unhooking and add to the fact now I needed to cut down the three feet high weeds, thistles and stinging nettles.




Working afternoons it gave me time to do just that on Friday morning and this is the scene that greeted me. Nice and over grown with plenty to do, but I was confident it would be done and dusted in an hour or two at most. I first set about getting everything cut down so I could see where to level off. I found a couple of lengthy logs and placed them so I had a decent fishing peg and then a little back up the bank a nice level spot for unhooking the fish. Digging away and then backfilling as I went, the soft soil was easy to work with and I had it done in no time. I also hammered in as many stakes as I could to try and hold the logs in place. I could do with a better way of securing the logs for now and I'll get around to that soon, and eventually when the grass grows around them the roots will also help hold everything in place.

Not a bad effort and it should do just nicely. I trampled down as much of the soil and tried to compact it as much as possible. The soil is really soft, in fact it would be spot on for my back garden, it's cracking garden soil and my geraniums and the rest would love it. Hopefully a few sessions on the bank, me walking up and down and it would be fine. I do however need to get some more soil on the logs with maybe some rubble to help compact and maybe even get some decent stakes knocked in and nailed to the logs to secure them. Rome wasn't built in a day though and I needed to hack away at more nettles to make a way to a couple other pegs, and sort out the bank side where I get down to my peg, maybe dig in some steps or something. I managed to get all that done and it's time to go grab a quick shower and a pot of tea before work, all happy with what I've achieved. However, having kept one eye on the river all the time I was working, I noticed that it was on it's way up.

Fishing Gods, what have I done to anger you? By the time I'd finished, roughly an hour and a half, I noticed that the river level had risen by around twelve inches. That's a real twelve inches by the way, not the twelve inches our lass sees. While I'm talking about our lass, I'm wondering if she's been praying to the decorating Gods. I have loads to do at home, recently installing a partition wall so there's a new corridor upstairs and so that corridor, the staircase and bedroom needs lots of man time on it. Well by the looks of things that's exactly what I will be doing this weekend. With more rain forecast it's not looking good and even worse, the river level kept on rising. I kept swinging the security camera around to my peg to see what was happening every hour or so and each time I did the water was higher and higher until finally at 7pm and me finishing, I went for a look to see for myself. 

Yes, that rather large log in the top centre of the picture is one of the two I'd dug in today. Who knows if the other one is stuck solid to the river bank or if it's already been washed down stream. The river is up at least five feet I'd guess and any plans I had of being up at the crack of dawn are now shelved. Luckily I've taken it all with a bit of humour and not let it get to me. It's a shame possibly all that work I did has gone to waste and it's a shame I won't be out at first light on my favourite spot but not to worry as finally that date we've all been waiting for is upon us.Good luck to anyone who gets out and I hope you have an enjoyable day with a few fish thrown in for good measure.

Friggin' decorating, I hate it.

2012 pike tally

 Doubles 12

Total 63

Largest 22.5lb
Bonus Perch 2