I had to think back to the last time that I was able to cast a line. My initial thoughts were the final days of the course fishing season back in mid-March. After looking through my own blog, I remember that I did manage a short fishing trip at the end of June – what a poor fishing year!

This particular local pond used to be full of Roach, which is what I was fishing for today. Waiting for a bite, sipping tea, I cast my mind back to the last time that I was out fishing on my birthday? I deduced that it was actually eleven years ago. At the time, I had purchased my very first split cane fishing rod, and have never opened the rod bag full of my carp fishing “carbons” since. I have added a few lovely split cane rods to the collection over the years too. One of my favourites I was using today, an old Mark IV, with one of my favourite ‘pins’, an Allcocks Aerial.

With the black death (Cormorant) circling above every hour or so, it was clear that this lovely pond had been targeted. This was confirmed when speaking with another angler there. A lot of the small fish are no longer. So I did not catch on my birthday. The wind was storm-force at times, float fishing wasn’t the best idea, making casting somewhat tricky (fishing excuses out of the way). I had a great day non-the-less. I am sure I used to class November as Winter, but today was overcast, dry and warm on this pleasantly mild Autumn day.