Snags, blistering winds, snow, a fox pod and pulling a bird

I had received a text last night from bazz asking if i want to fish the trent with him. I replied by ringing him up for infomation on the stretch.. . with college being a pain with money(EMA) i managed to eak a tenner from the farther and mother.. and confirmed to bazz that I'd be coming. next morning we arrived at the stretch of the river. and started to set up shop, with the rods set up and my bivvie/shelter erected we talked for the next hour and half untill the buzzers were going off.......(hmm possibly a 'sniff' or the current.) and we settled back down under cover from hostilities (weather) soon after i started to get bored so i shown bazz my new spin rod and had a quick blast with it...nothing..it is bout 1:00pm now and i noticed bazz messing with a rod rest head (pod) and i asked him what was it for. he had set up the pod and was saying how much it was and how long he had it.. untill i noticed something black near where the swim is, looked again and a pair of webbed feet sunk into the water..i warned.."bazz BIRD......BIRD"..."what" was replied as he stood up "bird" in the swim...."s**t was cursed and a sudden rust to the rods was in commence. BEEP,BEEP,BEEEP,BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP THE ALARM SOUNDED and bazz started reeling in he thought it was a decent pike untill it came to view..."F**k" was spoken followed by "get the forceps" i scrambled to get the forceps and the net.. the bird just kept diving under a over hanging tree and bazz was cautious incase a snag, i went as close to it as possible but failed so i went back. and it was just in reach with the net........ when netted and brought to bank we found it was a cormorant and hooked in the feet... (fowl hooked). i seemed to have dropped the forceps whist in scramble bazz said you got pliers and i did have i dismantled the trebles, and quickly removed the barb safely.. with the bird released we went back to our doings..each other bird that passed we shook our fists at bout 3:00 we decided to pack up and go home.......................Well no one can moan that we pull birds

Nice write up MrMakk

better luck next time out mate

shame about the bird a cormorant mmm i would have been tempted to not let it go lol

thought Bazz would have come on to tell us himself Maybe he will be along shortly !!!

Adie

adie1200 wrote:Nice write up MrMakk

better luck next time out mate

shame about the bird ( was it a cormorant ? )

thought Bazz would have come on to tell us himself !!!

Adie

Yup a cormorant (i could swear i mentioned its breed of bird)

Bazz still having diffuclty with internet.(using a dongle)...hell be on later

You did lol just me not reading it right

There's something strange with me and the Trent, Particularly that stretch of river.. last time I fished it I caught a canoe pretty well the same swim too! At least I never quite Blank when I fish there. I was messing about erecting a Fox Pod that I had used yesterday & wasn't concentrating when Alex was trying to warn me
Where the bird dived is pretty deep water, too. Both Alex & I now know a Cormorant will take a deadbait lol! It kept surfacing & then diving & put a hell of a bend in my 3lbtc Rod! Clutch got a good work out too. It was dead like playing a fish, it even tried to snag me up in the overhanging trees. Alex got the net over it & it gave up the fight..haha well..the swimming fight, its Beak was yet to come! I borrowed Alex's woollen gloves and made a grab for its head & it lunged at me, first grabbing my fingers & then stabbed the back of my wrist, plenty of blood.
I grabbed its beak & pinned its mouth shut, then made a snatch & got its throat! Alex had a good go with the forceps but the hooks were well set in its leathery webbed feet. I use Mustad fine point hooks with a micro barb and Alex did a good job of chopping them up & removing the points with his fold up multi tool pliers. He also removed a tangled treble from the net. I let its throat go and it dived & swam off, all we could see was a trail of bubbles & then it surfaced, shook its head & flew off! While all this was going on we had a crowd of growing spectators, some were foreign and all were commenting. We were both waiting for some sort of anti-angler type comment but none came. It could easily have ended with the RSPCA there to untangle it. I do hate the things (I'm not a cat fan either!) but wouldn't harm one. Always feel they are a good indicator of where the fish are (But not Pike!).

We never had any interest from a fish. The river is wide here and there are loads of overhanging tree's and submerged tree trunks etc.. it looks really Pikey!

Bazz

Sounds like you had a eventful day Bazz

Better luck next time

Adie

Bazz wrote:. Always feel they are a good indicator of where the fish are (But not Pike!).



Bazz

Aye then next time you go back you wonder why you aren't catching owt

I hate the things but like you wouldn't harm one if i got into a situation like you did. Fair play to you mate.