The lull

 Another old one from www.sexyloops.com 

The spring fishing has been good to me so far this year, unseasonably warm days from January onward meant some nice carp were caught, along with some big prespawn smallmouth before the maruta arrived which meant good fishing for them as well as the carp and barbel that were following them in the hope of getting some eggs to feed on.

Now though, I'm coming to a bit of a quiet spell in my fishing. Spawning almost complete, the maruta are trickling out of the rivers round here. The carp and barbel are starting their spawning, or getting ready to, and the smallmouth won't be far behind. An unexpected cold front at the start of the week means I might manage one more smallie trip this week before they start getting busy. I don't mind it so much, it gives a bit of time for reflection, cleaning gear, swapping lines, tying flies and all the other little things that need looking at.

It's actually been pretty interesting for me to look back on this last few weeks.  The last couple of years I've been spending my spring holiday in Malaysia drinking/fishing with Paul and had kind of forgotten about what's right on my doorstep around this time of year.  Also because of the pandemic, I hadn't taken much leave so had a lot to use up over March rather than the 7-10 days I usually have left at the end of the year.  Having plenty of time to rediscover places I'd neglected and explore some new locations was great. Don't get me wrong, once travel opens up again I'll be off, but it's not the be all and end all.

So, I've a couple of weeks coming where there won't be much productive fishing, but I'll be getting the float tube ready and making sure it still floats so I can hit the lakes near me that I've ignored for ages in search of some pretty little bluegill, prespawn largemouth and maybe some snakehead once the temperature climbs as summer approaches.  To go along with all this anticipation of fishing, it's also going to let me get my zoom set up exactly as I want it for doing online tying with the Flicking Feathers guys.  So plenty of tangetial fishingy stuff going on.

Perhaps it's because I no longer really have a closed season but sometimes I don't mind a slow couple of weeks