Far moor than just catching fish.

 

Unashamed, here I go again: In the 2020 Wild Trout Trust auction my pal was successful with a bid for one rod/four day’s boat fishing at Farmoor II. He parlayed that into two rods/two day’s in the boat. We managed to get one day in last October, before the cursed Covid-19 put us back into lockdown. Non-plussed, the excellent Thames Water staffers at Farmoor were happy to permit us to carry forward the un-used day to this year. Just goes to illustrate how flexible these WTT auction lots can be.



 Even May’s liquid onslaught held off for our day, however, there was still a very strong wind from the west. With the wind sock virtually horizontal I half expected boats to be ruled a no-no, but we were allowed out, along with just two other foolhardy crews. The drogue couldn’t slow us enough, so we tried mooring to a buoy off the south bank (where most fish have been caught of late, apparently), ere long casting was nigh-on impossible (for us) even with 7-weight lines, and we eventually motored diagonally across the 240 acre reservoir to the lee shore near the influx pumphouse, where it was more comfortable.


 Okay, the fishing suffered in that wind, although I managed three to the boat, one a three-something ‘bow which had me frantically winding-in the backing after its first run. Sadly, my crew-mate lost one close to the boat when his aging leader let him down in the worst possible way.

 Farmoor can be difficult or it can be on fire: that wind helped make it one of the tough days, nevertheless, I couldn’t care less – it was fantastic to be out in the boat (windswept but interesting), enjoying our day, with a nice lunch, beneath architectural clouds towering overhead in the wide expanse of sky. Thank you WTT.

[P.S. There’s a major bank competition there this coming week-end]



[n.b. Still not replaced my field camera, so free stock images again, sorry]

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