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- This has been a distinctly odd season, blighted somewhat by COVID, and by the unfathomable actions of the Public At Large, but perhaps even more so, by
my unusual lack of enthusiasm, which may have arisen as a result of getting into the habit of finding stuff to do at home, and often, just avoiding the
unappealing weather. That said, there have been other factors, described below...
- The unexpected effects of COVID #1 - folks who probably never ventured to the river previously, ever, seemed intent on drowning themselves and their
family members with the aid of newly-purchased paddle boards.
- The unexpected effects of COVID #2 - the unanticipated appearance of so many paddle-boarders, kayakers and other 'new' river-users resulted in
vastly-increased demands upon parking and bankside space, so a number of boatyards and homeowners totally spat the dummy. Signs were erected, cones were placed, parking was prohibited, and a few irate householders shouted and raved like maniacs, confronted by
the sight of unfamiliar parked vehicles and men with fishing rods...
- The unexpected effects of COVID #3 - maybe not entirely unexpected, in this instance, but the numbers of visitors on most days was in keeping with something
between weekends and bank holidays, and it was often difficult to find a spot away from the disturbance caused by their activities. Even when some modicum of
separation was achieved, it was usually not long before there would be some unwelcome and unnecessary encroachment, very much to the detriment of any fishing
opportunities.
- The unexpected effects of COVID #4 - there was an apparent surge in angling effort, quite concerted in some instances, and inevitably, some marina staff
and owners of riverside businesses and homes were not at all happy. A degree of sensitivity to the effects of our often-unwelcome presence is key, and although
some individuals who asked anglers to leave had clearly exceeded their authority, this can usually be avoided if some common sense is applied.
- To summarise the short-term and / or lasting effects, there were three venues where future parking is likely to be contentious or prohibited, three more
venues where fishing is now no longer allowed, and two others where anglers have been asked to leave, now requiring careful situation handling in future.
- The unlisted, but most significant effect of the above, for me, was that I became totally p*ssed off with it all, fairly early on in the season, and chose
to fish elsewhere (where, for the most part, there were very few issues, other than the over-presence of 'holidaying' FCPs - future-COVID patients).
- All that said, the one thing that I've really missed most was the planned visit to fish with
Phil in Devon, usually the highlight of the season; really hoping that normal service can be resumed in 2021.
- On a much more positive note, I've enjoyed some great days out with KeithG, and sometimes, more often than
not, we've even caught a few fish, including one particularly memorable occasion in August. Having lost a few on the day (see below), I finally put
something chunky in the net, at 6lb 1oz; Keith came over to join me, and for a while, not much
happened. Just as it was all starting to look a bit unlikely, he was into a strong fish that gave him an impressive amount of grief before wallowing - totally
knackered - in the net - a superb 5lb 8oz - not a bad day in the salt mines, for both of us.
- To get another big 'negative' out of the way, the Southern IFCA netting /
MCRS review has not yielded the conservation-led measures that were hoped for; the draft proposals
contain a few welcome improvements (e.g. a netting ban in key areas of some - but not all - southern river estuaries), but on the whole, they do very little
to increase the protection of our mullet populations, and fail to introduce the science-indicated 47cm MCRS
that is badly needed, for all three species.
- I was unable to exceed the 2019 catch total, for a number of reasons already described; I don't think that any shortage of fish being present was a
factor, on this occasion.
- Again on a very welcome positive note, in terms of the larger fish, this has been a fairly typical year. The best specimens were two 'sixes', only
seven days apart, and from two different counties, in late August; the first was 6lb 0oz, on
20/08/20, and the next, the 6lb 1oz mentioned above, on 27/08/20 - and both were from new venues.
- In addition, there were three 'fives' - 5lb 2oz on 16/07/20, a
5lb 8oz on 31/07/20, and the third,
5lb 0oz on 09/10/20. The last two of these fish also came from new venues, which was highly encouraging.
- I was not able to start catching mullet earlier in the year than in 2019, due entirely to the March / April / early May COVID lockdown. The first day when
fishing was allowed was 13/05/20, and I was fortunate and more than pleased to land a lively
2/06 thicklip on that day.
- The final productive session was also on the 13th, this time on 13/10/20, and most bizarrely, ending with a fish of exactly the same weight as the first session,
at 2/06. I have to say, I wouldn't have thought that this would be the last fish, at the
time; it was an ideal day, for the time of year, the weather was great, and a couple of fish
were landed. It was just the fall of the dice that there was then some weather-dodging to be done, and sessions later than that date were
sadly unproductive.
- The ability to be selective about trip scheduling was definitely not the positive factor that it had been in past seasons, again due to COVID, and for the
specific reasons described above.
- There were still some very memorable fishing days to be enjoyed, particularly - but not exclusively - the capture of the better fish described above.
- Carried forward again this year, and not exactly an important statistic, but I still haven't landed a 4lb+ mullet on the 1st nor the 28th day of any
month, in any year, from 2011.
- On the other hand, another pointless 'stat' was addressed - of all the possible whole-ounce weights from 1lb to 5lbs, I had never caught a fish of
4lbs 13oz, and just like buses.... this year I caught two of these, the first on 03/08/20, and
the second on 03/10/20.
- The overall 'spread' of fish weights, i.e. the proportion in each weight band, was less satisfactory than in recent years. There was a very distinct
66% reduction in the number of 4-5 lb fish, but the number of 2-3lb fish increased by a factor of 50%, this shift being almost entirely due to venue choices; I
regularly visited some highly-enjoyable locations which tend to produce fish of a smaller average size. The 3-4lb band remained about the same as usual, as did
the numbers of 5 and 6lb fish.
- October started off quite well, with a number of fish landed, despite some cold early starts, and these included a powerful and determined
5lb 0oz. The cold air temperatures and high winds, or high winds plus rain, made further trips
distinctly unattractive, and on the days when I did venture out, there was an ominous scarcity of 'mullet sign'. As usual at this time of year, every
time the float went, the strike was met with resistance, and I was able to haul in a succession of poxy 2~ or 3lb+ bass...
- There were several periods where there was a halt in proceedings due to prolonged spells of unfavourable forecasts, whether wind, most commonly, or rain
and wind in combination. There were too many days where the wind was expected to be 40, 50, 60+ mph, and personally, I tend to lose a big slice of enthusiasm
when the speeds are in the upper teens.
- Due to various factors, there were 17 fewer trips this year than in 2019, 44 fewer than 2018, and 57 fewer than 2017. I'm seeing a bit of a worrying
trend here...
- As a positive, there was a consequent reduction in mileage, travelling only 75% of the 2019 distance, and only 55% of the 2018 figure.
- My best continuous 'run' of mullet landed without a lost fish was ten, in July and early August.
- There was one excruciatingly miserable day in August when I managed to lose four fish, each time trying to avoid a structure, and either failing to do so,
or incurring a hook pull; at least I finally managed to land one, but that didn't really take the sting out of it.
- Then there was a flash of deja vu... There was one excruciatingly miserable day in August when I managed to lose four fish... this time, very fast bites, and
they just kept falling off, extremely undramatically. Just as before, I was accompanied by the always-helpful Percy Vere, and I finally landed one - this time,
6lb 1oz, a proper 'band aid' on the day's proceedings. Whilst (more than) very
pleased with that, the four lost fish was again a weight on my mind for several days (meaning 'still, now, in December...').
- Spent time fishing several new venues in 2020, four of which produced a good few mullet - seventeen in total - with three of these locations producing four
quality fish of 5lb 0oz, 5lb 8oz,
6lb 0oz, and 6lb 1oz.
- Success eluded me at three other new venues fished - to be continued, except for the very promising one that is now fenced off and suddenly full of pontoons
and boats...
- The final trip looks like being 04/11/20, or 'L2-1'; sadly, this ended without a mullet, with three largish bass and a new 'no fishing'
sign providing the day's most intense irritation.
- Achieved only some of the other objectives set:
- This was the fifth-best 'top 5' and the sixth-best 'top 10' weight of the last ten years, since and including 2011.
- The 6lb 1oz now (just) features in the 'all years' top 10; reviewing my stats,
there have still been no 6lb fish landed earlier than August.
- The average weight per mullet was slightly down on 2019, largely due to fishing at venues where the size of fish is generally smaller, as mentioned above, but
there was still an improvement over 2018, 2017 and 2016.
- The proportion of successful trips was very much in keeping with the previous two years, marginally higher than 2019, and slightly down on 2018; this further
suggests that a more determined effort on my part might have achieved a much (?) higher total of mullet landed this year.
- The number and percentage of totally 'blank' sessions was slightly reduced over 2019, always a very welcome statistic to achieve.
- The average number of mullet landed per successful trip showed a small reduction over each of the previous two years.
- I was unable to match past years' monthly catch figures, with numbers significantly reduced in nearly all months. The exceptions were June and September;
the latter produced the best total for that month, so far; this was largely due to the fact that I became irritated with my lack of determination and made a truly
concerted effort to pull my finger out...
- A poorer percentage of hooked mullet were landed than in the preceding seasons, with 2020 featuring in the bottom three entries, for this particular
statistic. August was a particularly poor month, with marginally more fish lost than landed, and more in that one month than in all of the others put together.
This also equalled the highest ever monthly lost fish total, from October 2017; pretty poor performance, although often, if they're going to fall off, they
just do.
- There were five trips where there was the seemingly very long drive home to be endured after losing the only fish of the day, somehow harder to swallow than
a day without a hookup, or even a single bite.
- I was again engaged in a number of titanic struggles, most of which (surprisingly, even unbelievably) ended well. During one trip, sadly, a particularly large
mullet spat the hook after a few minutes... and it was almost certainly an immense fish, which looked like two large fish in tandem... Later, a very good fish of
4lb 13oz did little to take the sting out of it, although I was more than relieved to have that
one on the bank.
- There were thankfully no occasions again this year where fish became snagged and a rescue mission with the inevitable dunking was called for... but read on...
- Another real 'lowlight' came about while I was mixing some groundbait, and the rod leapt into the channel, continuing on its rapid journey away
from the bank, with a real purpose... Thankfully, I was able to react fairly quickly and ditched most of the clothes, dropping my belt pouch into the murky
water in the process, complete with all the tackle goodies contained therein. Managed to get into the (quite) cold water without further accident, and struck
out after the rod, which by now had taken a left turn and was continuing down the channel. It soon became snagged in some bladderwrack which was breaking surface
in the margins, and I was able to catch up with it, only to find, disappointingly, a bass still attached. After a real struggle trying to get back onto the bank,
stepping on a submerged rotting hawthorn branch in the process, and collecting the obligatory number of slime and grot-covered thorns in my foot, I went about the
task of finding the tackle pouch. That took some time, and then another age passed, removing and drying the tackle items. 'Best' dunking, so far, in the
last 10 years? (note the creative use of the word 'best'...) - wasn't at all thrilled, in the slightest, not least because of the poxy bass...
- Of the 28 locations visited, compared to 56 in 2019, 13 were productive; there were 58 venues previously fished that remained untried in 2020.
- Caught no thinlips in 2020, although there were a few near misses, the best chance being a hook pull after ten seconds or so. New opportunities and methods
were identified (thanks, DaveC), with fair numbers of fish feeding at certain points in the tide - these deserve some much more determined effort expended, next
year.
- Continued again to expand upon knowledge of the productive states of the tide that can be fished, particularly at a couple of existing venues, which has led
to greater flexibility during the visits to those locations, and increased catches.
- Surprisingly, there were hardly any problems with dog owners this year - who probably didn't get a look-in, with all the other counter-productive
activities going on.
- Managed to fall over spectacularly, a couple of times, usually in mud or water, most memorably (for all the wrong reasons) during one cold 05:30 session
in October; I realised I was stuck, started to fall, staggered seven times, trying to regain my balance, in thigh deep water, and ended up with a wader full of
pretty cold water, for my troubles.
- Still haven't revisited all of the targeted venues - to be continued in 2021.
- The numbers of thinlips in the river seem to be reduced again, although there were plenty at other locations that I visited. There are again a couple of venues
where I've seen some quite large specimens, plus ridiculous numbers of scrapes, and these
seem to offer some excellent future opportunities.
- Again, I didn't actively target golden-greys in the way that I had planned, and only caught one this year, albeit a veritable 'missile', even though
it weighed in at a modest 2lb 8oz. On one occasion, I was captivated by the sight of one of
these, which swam around my feet for a while, in shallow water, as though I wasn't there.
- As expected, the whole season was much the poorer without the welcome spectacle of
Boris (the swan, now sadly departed) getting totally medieval upon the other encroaching wildlife.
- All mullet were returned safely, a statistic of prime importance that I will want very much want to see repeated again in future years.
- All things considered, a very frustrating year, with far too many irritations, and in terms of results, somewhere squarely in the middle of the tabulated
season statistics for the least ten years. And on top of that, there was that blasted 'virus-thing'... Hoping for better in 2021, and I shall be taking
steps and making the extra effort required to ensure that it will be a more memorable and productive season that this has been.
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