For a number of reasons I’ve not been fishing as much this last year as I would have liked, something I intend changing in 2015, all being well that is. And all has not been well in recent weeks. Not long ago, in a Newsletter, I advised  anyone who just needed to get out and see the float go down over the holidays to either fish Bircliffe Pond or as a banker fish bread punch at Baker’s.

Last week having spoken to a pal of mine just before I left home, telling him I was guaranteed a few bites, I did the latter. I so convinced him that he came to see how I was getting on. For some unaccountable reason that I still can’t figure out, I spent 2 or more biteless hours talking to him about how good it should have been but wasn’t. Fortunately it then started to rain which gave me the excuse I was looking for to go home, but I did get wet getting the tackle from the car to the house.

Yesterday to prove to myself that the previous session was a chance in a million I returned armed with two slices of bread and a tub of crumb, (cheapest fishing ever!). When I arrived the pond was empty and so I picked a sheltered spot near the car park and out of the horrendous wind and tackled up. In went a small pot of crumb and true to form as soon as the bait hit the bottom down went the float and a small roach was lifted to hand. Some ten minutes and more than a dozen or so roach later I was congratulating myself on a job well done, when, out of nowhere, a gust of wind, the type that produces a mini hurricane spout on the water, lifted the box I keep all my small rigs, hooks, shot, and all those personal bits we have all collected over years, in, and dumped the lot in the water in front of me. To my horror the box was upside down and I could see things sinking or floating away out of reach. Reaching for my landing net I scooped as many as I could, including the box, as quickly as possible hurriedly dumping them on the peg behind me. Realising I’d missed many more than I’d caught I vainly tried dragging the net along the bottom for the things that had sunk, which might have worked had my landing net handle not broken as a result.

I don’t recall if it was in anger, dismay, or frustration, but the damage had been done and so I dropped in another pot of crumb and began once again to get a bite a throw. Little consolation I know, but it allowed the water to settle and clear and let me see my scissors which were sitting on the bottom beside the peg. I tried the landing net without the handle but to no avail, it was too deep. Not to be outdone I took of my jacket, rolled up my sleeve and kneeled beside the peg, up to and beyond my elbow in water. I got the scissors just before my arm went numb with the cold, thank heaven I wasn’t in up to my neck. However with nothing to dry my now achingly cold arm on, because my towel was in the water too, I decided I’d had enough, wragged the lot up, fed my crumb to the ducks and the robin and came home.

I’m now sitting in front the log fire with a pot of hot tea looking at what I managed to recover, which is drying on an old towel on the table, and trying to make a list of whatever was lost. Already I’m missing shot, some winders/floats, swivels, style pliers and styles, and probably a lot more. Hundreds of wet hooks/packets are drying in the kitchen and will hopefully be OK to use when they dry ‘cos I hate tying hooks. No doubt at some point in the future while I’m fishing I’ll look for something and not be able to find it but ’til then I’ll not know.

I don’t know about anyone else but this is an unfortunate end to a generally poor year, lets hope 2015 turns out better for everyone.

If you’ve a hard luck story for 2014 why not share it with everyone below.