My lucky geography jumper & floppy hat!

As planned the alarm rang its god awful tune at 3.15am, clothes had been piled the night before so that was easy... June the 16th had finally arrived and with the new section fully in my mind, I scooted downstairs and flicked the kettle, my tea cup and flask had also been pre-baited the previous evening.

The journey to the Ouse from my house takes roughly half hour even with traffic so at 4am I should be able to fly?

Truck was loaded and off I set for my new challenge.

The plan was for me to angle from 4.30am till roughly 4pm and I'd be starting at the far end of the section and working my way back towards the car park by mid afternoon.

When we say 'this is the best time of day' there could be no truer statement, the fields are damp, the sun was making its way up and as I passed the herd of cows I thought to myself 'I wonder what they're thinking'?

From the car, the walk to the furthest swim is probably only ten minutes or so and as I neared I could not believe the amount of hares that were darting around in all directions.

My choice of  swim was where the river narrows between nearside foliage and far bank bull rushes it looks a classic and as this was the first time I had angled here for barbel this was to be my starting point.

I took my time before casting out into the new season and was making the most of this special day in the angling world.

As I was baiting my rod I just happened to look up as a kingfisher whizzed past, he was obviously looking for his breakfast and would undoubtedly catch something before I did!

Rod was cast into position and with that I grabbed the flask and poured myself a tea, lit a smoke and toasted the river. A cuckoo then decided to sing its tune, I thought to myself 'can there be a better way to spend your day'?

'I think not'

Apart from the odd tap and rattle on the rod top from the crayfish (of which there are an abundance of in this section) nothing else happened. The time was now 8.30am and a move was decided upon.

After ambling up the river about 100yds my next port of call was a sexy looking bend with a far bank tree with a canopy that comes a quarter of the way across the waters surface.

I decided to take a chance in my new swim and angle with two rods, as the potential and offering looked too much for just the one carbon stick.

Rods were poked through the reeds and baits were placed either side of the feature, again I settled back and chilled out, taking in the new scenery.

9.15 and the right hand rod jabbed round, I panicked (first bite an all that) and struck at thin air!!!

I sat back, slightly miffed at the recent 'going ons', lit a smoke to re-gather my thoughts before gently casting the rod back into it's position.

I had just sat back down and before I had time to say 'barbel', I was into something!!

After duelling with 'Mr Fish' for a couple of minutes she was soon being slid over the waiting net, my legs were trembling a little (the first of the season does that to most anglers). After laying the net back down in the margin to let the fish recover for a moment I lit another smoke while 'I' recovered for a moment!

The weight does not matter one jot, the Ouse barbel are often hard to come by so all fish no matter the size are very welcome. 6lb 8oz was recorded, a couple of shots were taken before lying her back in the margin to recover a little more.

I continued to fish the swim until around midday; nothing else happened apart from the odd chublet tap, the sun was now at its warmest and I decided upon my final move of the day.

I passed another member on my way, he'd not even had a knock and was just lying back on the grass enjoying the sunshine and after a brief conversation I left him to it.

Swim three was a typical choice, with faster water racing through the far bank and slower,slacker water in my margin next to an old raft.

Back to one rod I went and placed it just a flick out, where the two currents met, I then just sat back and chillaxed.

There were no more happenings apart from 'our little clawed friends' taking a chance of a free meal and at 4pm I packed the kit away for another day.

As the title states... during the closed season I purchased a new 'floppy hat' and a 'jumper' only for my close friends to take it outta me.

Well now my friends... 'they are my lucky hat and geography jumper' and I'll continue to wear em!

It might just be the luck that's required.

Have a good season and above all........Enjoy!!