First outings of the season

Well the new season is underway and i have had a couple of good outings so far.
First trip was to Pitsford with Steve Ellerbeck on Saturday 13th March. We arrived around 10.30 and drove to Stone Barn bay. there was already a few anglers on the banks and one boat anchored in the bay.
The boat cught 5 fish before we had managed to tackle up so it was clear there was plenty of fish. We started fishing to the left of the boat and it wasn't too long before I had a fish on. Pitsford Pea on a floating line. A few guys were catching further along the bank towards the causeway and as they moved away we filled the gap they left. It wasn't long again before i was into a fish. Peter Waterhouse joined us and was soon into a nice overwintered brownie that fell to a bloodworm. Out of season still it had to be returned. A steady afternoon resulted in me catching and releasing 8 fish while Steve had 3. A good start to the new season.

Second trip was Saturday 19th March at Grafham. I had arranged to fish with Craig Barr for the day and we set off on a boat around 8.30ish. A friendly competition had been arranged with a few GWFFA members (best number of fish caught in each boat share the kitty) so we were determined to do well. After a brief stop outside the harbour we headed for Hedge End on the North Shore. Craig soon had 8 fish in the boat and i hadn't had a pull. Di7 lines with boobies and lures was the order of the day. The fish were deep on the bottom so the flies had to get there quickly. Lunchtime and i was 9-2 down to Craig and another boat with Chris Bobby and Yusiry Smith were at 6-5 so honours even! Craig and I stopped catching for a while and after learing that Chris and Yusiry were creeping ahead and still catchingat G Bouy and The Willows we decided to join them and try to intimidate them. It didn't work. They kept on catching regularly and we were having a lean spell.
The day ended with our boat having 25 fish (17-8 to Craig) and Chris/Yusiry having 38 fish (25-13 to Chris). Nick Preston had 11, Chris Lane 11 and Steve Ellerbeck 4 (only fished the morning).

So the season has started well and looking forward to many more successful days.