freeline-104 - Flipbook - Page 174
DAVE HYDE
b e fore I had finally had en o u gh .
With my throat stinging an d eye s s tre am i n g , I t h re w my g e a r
i n the car to head for the o th e r la ke . S uc h wa s my d e s ire to
g e t away quickly, I di dn’t eve n b o t he r to g e t d re s s ed . T h e c a r
was driven down to the ga te , a n d i t wa s t h e re t h a t i t b e c a me
o bvious that it was just n o t g o i n g to b e my d ay. J us t a s I wa s
u n locking the gate, one of t h e o th e r m em b er s a rrived w i t h h i s
w i fe. What a fool I felt stan d i n g t he re i n j us t my p a n t s a n d a
p a ir of size 10 waders. If eve r t he re wa s a t i m e I w i s h e d t h e
g round could have swallowe d me u p i t wa s t h e n .
Some short while later, I arrived at the other lake. There were
three or four cars in the car park, which was disappointing to say
the least . I feared the best swims would be taken, but fortunately
an angler was just vacating what I would have considered to be
the best swim in the conditions of that day, although no swim
really seemed that it would be very productive in the clear blue
sky and cool northwesterly wind. I had fished the lake on and
off for about a year, and one thing that I did know was that it
hardly ever fished well on such days.
Rather than move around f ro m sw i m to sw i m a s I o f te n d i d o n
t h is lake, I decided that if I wa s g o i n g to c atc h a t a l l , I wo u l d b e
b e st off staying put in one sp o t . At t h i s s t a ge , I k n e w t h e b e s t
I c ould ho pe for was only o n e o r two m o re f i s h , b u t d es p i te
t h e seemingly poor condi t i o n s , I fe lt t h e c h a n c e s of p i c k i n g
u p one of the better ones wa s q ui te g o o d , fo r I h a d fo u n d f ro m
p revious s essions that the b i g g er f i s h s ee m e d to fee d o n m o s t
d ays and could be caught p rov i di n g yo u f i s h e d t h e ri gh t are a .
B o th baits were cast to th e o p p o s i te b a n k , d ro p p i n g t h e m
a b out a fo ot short of the re ed s . I t h en sa t d ow n a n d g o rg e d
myself on a two-day supp ly o f fo o d a ll i n o n e g o – s i x b re a d
FREELINE 44
