Yesterday I mentioned that I was disappointed to see there
was no frost on the cars when I got up. Today I was disappointed to see that
there was. Over brekkie I watched an episode of “Plebs”; I’ve seen them all now (for
the third time); I shall have to find something else to watch.
I got dressed (five
layers), got my defrosted prawns, scraped the ice off of the car and drove
round to collect the first fruit of my loin.
We agreed that as the temperature was minus two degrees it
might be as well to wait a little while before going fishing. So we went to the
Brookfield cafe even though "My Boy TM" is on some
sort of diet. As I scoffed my full English breakfast he just had beans on
toast. I think his diet is a new thing; he had a Big Mac Grande yesterday. We
crossed the road to the co-op for sandwiches, and seeing that the temperature
had gone up to only minus one degree we set off for a day’s perch fishing.
For
those of my loyal readers who are not of a piscatorial bent, perch are small
predatory fish which are relatively common in Britain. The average one weighs
in at a few ounces but they do get bigger. The heaviest one caught in Britain
weighed in at just over six pounds. Yesterday we had a recce at Sam’s Lakes. We
were told there were perch in there up to five pounds in weight, so a day’s
hunting perch was the plan.
I
am reliably informed that perch like prawns, I used my brain here. (Have I ever mentioned that I am a genius?)
My plan was to have one rod with a prawn on the lake’s bottom. With another rod
I would float-fish using maggots as bait just above the prawn. I would
periodically chuck in a handful of maggots to attract fish. So I would be
catching fish on my float-fishing rod which were being attracted to the
maggots, and the fish attracted to the maggots would in turn attract the
predatory large perch. We both agreed that it was a very good plan…
In
retrospect I should really have explained the plan to the fish.
After
four hours effort and only one tiddler caught I abandoned my genius idea and
went back to my standard way of fishing for carp with flavoured pellets. That
worked reasonably well.
When
we arrived at the lake at eight o’clock the mud was still frozen. By mid-day
the mud had melted and we found ourselves in something of a quagmire. Despite
five layers of clothing and my new fingerless fishing gloves I was shivering,
and "My Boy TM" wasn’t looking that warm either. We
gave up at half past two.
I
took a few photos of our fun. You can see them here. We had a good day. We
will most certainly go back to Sam’s lakes. But it was oh-so-cold. And I could
have probably coped with the cold if we hadn’t had the mud as well. I couldn’t
stand up without feeling that I was about to fall into ether deep mud, the
lake, or both.
As
we drove away we saw from the car’s thermometer that the temperature was a
balmy three degrees.
With only a brief stop for geo-reasons we were soon home. I
unpacked and took the dogs round the park. I’d warmed up on the drive home; it
was freezing as we walked round the park. I was glad to get home for a warming
cuppa.
As I unpacked I saw I’d not eaten the sandwich I’d bought
at the co-op. Bearing in mind that the temperature outside today was colder
than the inside of my fridge I popped the sandwich into the fridge. It will
keep.
"er indoors TM" went off out to her mate’s birthday party
(or something). Together with my dogs
I slept in front of the telly
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