I had to smile the other day when
someone mentioned what an easy and profitable job wedding photography
was. He seemed to think that I simply turned up on the day, shot a
few images then simply downloaded, burn to a disc before sending to
the couple. Well apart from two pre-wedding appointments, visiting
the venues and meeting both the vicar and wedding planner at the
venue, yes I do turn up and take a few photos, usually around a
thousand! These then have to be viewed one by one, which takes around
two days, before backing up and converting into greyscale which takes
another day. When I say a day, I mean around ten hours. So all in all
a digital wedding package takes up a week or so, if it’s an album
package, add another day. After all this hard, time consuming work I
make around the same as what I do when guiding an angler to the fish
of their dreams. It’s really a no-brainer why I don’t want more
than a dozen weddings each year, I just don’t have the time and
anyone that thinks it’s an easy, stress free job, well think again.
Time to put my prices up I think! The reason for mentioning this is
that September was a busy month for weddings and when I looked at my
fishing records I was shocked that I personally only had a bait in
the water for seventeen hours! Luckily these few hours were well used
and I caught a few good fish, but now the wedding work is all but out
of the way for this year and I have no more weeks away on the river
Wye I can finally start designating more time to what I love doing,
angling.
Back to this week now.
Most of the weekend was lost due to the
above reasons, which wasn’t as brain taxing as usual as the weather
was simply horrid, yet come Monday I found myself meeting two
regulars that travel down from Oxford each year for a couple of days
fishing. Last year I helped Craig catch a 12lb barbel and the year
before Dave a ten-pounder, yet this year we had decided to do
something different. Meeting outside the hotel in Four Marks in the
early hours we headed to Eastleigh, The Lower Itchen Fishery our
destination. Nether of the guys had ever caught a Grayling so as the
light illuminated the countryside we made our way up along side the
river to the first angling hut passing numerous Small Grebes that
seem to thrive on this waterway. Clayton the river keeper had pointed
us in this direction and after a brief explanation of how a centrepin
works, feeding and mending the line Dave was trotting a stick float
through a steady long run. Craig was using a close faced reel and
also trotting and within minutes both had caught a couple of personal
bests in the shape of Grayling and Salmon Par. Every swim produced
fish, mainly Grayling up to around a pound four, plus Salmon Par,
Brown and Sea Trout. At times the fishing was easy with Grayling
hitting the loosefeed like mini Sailfish and after a morning of
non-stop action we decided to head downstream in the hope of a big
roach.
We tried under the motorway bridge yet
with Grayling and trout intercepting the maggots instantly decided to
try below the main weir. Feeding a few maggots into the fast water we
watched as numerous different species readily accepted these, and
deep below saw a few dark shapes that turned out to be big bream and
possibly a barbel. Dave was soon trotting again, yet with small fish
intercepting the bait quickly headed downstream where after feeding
the swim took a couple of good Chub plus a few small Roach which
really was the icing on the cake for him. Craig tried the feeder and
again caught steadily with Chub, Perch and the pesky Minnow showing
as well as being broken by something slightly bigger and whilst he
took a pee, I cast out his feeder and dropped a Roach well over the
pound into the net.
Well need I say more, if you fancy a
day with a difference then The Lower Itchen Fishery is certainly the
place and if you need a guide, well you know where I am
(www.itchen-fishing.co.uk)?
The following day we were going to go
to the Kennet at Aldermaston, yet with its recent form somewhat light
on the ground and an influx of cold water overnight decided to head
back to the Loddon. I wish I could say that the river lived up to
expectations, yet after the two guys roved around more than twenty
swims, all they could show for their efforts were three modest Chub
and the same amount of Signal Crayfish as well as watching a Mink on
the far bank.
Wednesday dawned wet and although I had
made plans with my Dad to fish, we put this off till the following
afternoon which gave me enough time to complete the last of the
wedding images and deliver to the couple before they returned from
their honeymoon.
With the weather far more comfortable
come Thursday afternoon we headed to Enton with Crucians and Roach on
our mind, yet before leaving had forgotten to look at the conditions
in closer detail. It was obvious after an hour that the lake was
dead, well fish movement wise; however bankside it was busy as the
kids had an extra day on the bank due to the teachers strike. We
couldn’t reason why things were so quite yet as the afternoon
progressed something raised its ugly face, the moon! Yep it was full
and I remember the month before struggling to catch and coupled with
a variable wind as well as the influx of cold water earlier in the
week we all struggled. The standard crucian rig failed to catch yet
the maggot helicopter rig did at least produce a tench and around a
dozen rudd, yet with out target species not showing come 9pm we were
heading home.
Friday morning I was joining up with
young Jake who has just joined the Nash crew and having not seen him
for a while due to important exams and joining college we had plenty
to talk about, especially ideas for forthcoming articles. We were
hoping to fish for perch but on inspecting my lobworms before leaving
and finding them dead had to quickly reassess things and head to the
river in the hope of a barbel, however once again the river fished
hard and after covering seven of the best swims had to console
ourselves with another modest chub.
Having plenty of things to do before
the weekend and with Jake wanting to get through a pile of homework
we threw in the towel slightly earlier than expected.
Having everything of my mind I’m now
looking for a few good weeks, lets just hope my efforts are rewarded?
No comments:
Post a Comment