Not A Turtle Disaster

Back to Ryton this week for another half day session. Conditions weren't too bad - far better in fact than we had seen during the previous week. However, with the changeable conditions and faced with a blustery day, I was less confident on this occasion.

I intended to fish a float rod, but it was going to be much too hard work. My intended swim was also sat in the teeth of the wind and wasn't at all pleasant. I know fishing into the wind is generally the thing to do, but comfort ranks a shade higher on my list. I decided to fish the right hand peg on the sand bank, as it was benefitting from the relative shelter of the island.

Bird life was strangely quiet around my peg, so I took the chance to sneak some bait in as soon as I could. I then rigged up a couple of straight lead set ups with bunches of maggots for bait.

The first bite was a tentative one and I almost didn't strike - believing it to be a line bite possibly. Curiosity got the better of me though and I lifted the rod, to find a rather dull fight. My eyes lit up for a while, thinking I'd got my first Ryton Bream. It all turned sour very quickly though, when I was faced with something altogether turtle-like and looking pretty cheesed off with me.

I'd heard reports of these Terrapins in the past, but had never come face to face with one before on the bank. They certainly have attitude and it was quite funny when I lowered the net on to the sand bank. I thought it would need some coaxing, but it casually sulked off back across the bank into the water - almost as though it was a regalar occurence.

I pressed on for something more fishy but it was a tough session. I ended up with three Tench to around 3lbs and three Perch. The best Perch might have been close on a pound - it was long enough to be well above that weight, but was the leanest one I'd seen in a long while. I was going to get a photo, but it performed some acrobatics and was back in the water.

Back to the rivers next week, but it looks like we're destined to face them with a bit of water on. Hopefully they'll stay on the right side of things and we'll have a good opening weekend.