RICH STEWART MAIN TARGET FOR 2021… “To catch the last big ‘un from a complex of lakes that I’ve fished for bloody ages!”
DAVE MAGALHAES MAIN TARGET FOR 2021… “Just to try and be a bit more consistent with my fishing time and hopefully cross a few more carp off the list.”
Summer was gruelling, but fun!
TOPICS COVERED THIS MONTH:
1. Maximising time on overnighters
RICH STEWART MAIN TARGET FOR 2021… “To catch the last big ‘un from a complex of lakes that I’ve fished for bloody ages!”
DAVE MAGALHAES MAIN TARGET FOR 2021… “Just to try and be a bit more consistent with my fishing time and hopefully cross a few more carp off the list.”
TOPICS COVERED THIS MONTH:
1. Maximising time on overnighters
2. A Ronnie with a wafter
3. Tickets for the future
4. Naturals in winter
5. Changing venues
2. A Ronnie with a wafter
3. Tickets for the future
4. Naturals in winter
SETTLING MY MIND TO PERFORM EVEN THE MOST FAMILIAR ACTS, like reading or writing, isn’t easy anymore. Day after day, I’ve trained my brain to scroll and flit, become agitated by stillness, and relentlessly spin the social-media hamster wheel, so I’m hoping that this rainy afternoon spent tapping away, with the odd car ‘slooshing’ past, will calm the neurons. I’ve just returned from a night fishing a famous old pit that I have a winter ticket for, and despite my resolve to break the lake’s hold over its fish on one night per week, it hasn’t happened yet. Unless I’m lucky, my campaigns rarely ignite from the off and I’m reminded of a quote from The Shawshank Redemption which sums up overnighter campaigns:
5. Changing venues
“Geology is the study of pressure and time. That’s all it takes really… pressure… and time. That, and a big Goddamn poster.”
Red, Shawshank Redemption
Forget the poster, fishing overnighters on tough waters is so often an exercise in pressure and time. Now, I frequently get agitated by lack of progress, usually as I pack up -I’m sure we can all relate? However, as soon as I close the gate and hit the road, that frustration evaporates and the resolve to break the code returns. Occasionally, a piece of the infinite jigsaw falls into place, but most of the time any progress simply evaporates in the time between leaving the lake and returning a week later, leaving me to start all over again. Now, before any of you break out the violins, please don’t think that I’d have it any other way. In fact, this is how I’d choose to fish, even if I had more time, which leads me onto Shaun’s question:
AUsing my limited time wisely helped with this capture
WINNING AT OVERNIGHTERS
SHAUN HARRISON ASKED (ISSUE 205):
Does anyone else purposely give themselves a bigger challenge than necessary, like cooking over twigs, using centre pin reels, limiting the test curve of their rods etc?)