Thursday 9 July 2015

Nice to make your acquaintance again, Tommy.


Another beautiful Summer evening and what better way to spend it than on the bank of the stunning Warwickshire Avon. 
I started the session with two targets in mind, a pellet rod for Barbel and a swimfeeder full of chopped worm for Tench. The area I had chosen has previous form for Tincas, a slow flowing deep swim where they have graced my net before. It is also reputed to be a good spot for Barbel, not prolific but capable of a monster. Sadly I landed neither but it was still a fish-filled busy evening as Perch after Perch mingled in with the odd skimmer were hooked and landed, nothing big but that's not to say I wasn't enjoying myself.
It is 30 years ago almost to the day that I first cast a line on a cold day by the Yorkshire Derwent. 


The only fish I or anyone caught that day was a diminutive Tommy Ruffe and amazingly I have not caught one since. 
As the light began to fail I hooked what I thought was another small Perch but as I swung it in the realisation hit me, this was no Perch but a fish that had eluded me for three decades. My second ever Tommy Ruffe. 


To be honest I was so pleased to make its acquaintance that the camera came out when it had stayed in the bag for all the other fish that evening. I carefully put it back thinking that if it did ever grace the bank again the lucky captor could never be as pleased as I was to land it!!
I recast out to the same spot and could not believe my eyes when the next bite resulted in another one! I had tripled my catch total in the space of minutes, talk about buses! 


The light had now all but gone so I went to the pub to celebrate what felt like finally once again meeting up with an old old friend.




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