February to June 15th

With Covid movement restrictions in place, the end of the river season drifted into a non event for me. 

The closed season didn't see much activity either. I attended more Covid vaccinations than I had fishing outings! Just a single trip to a local club water for a few hours. 

A cheeky robin looks on

With lots going on at home and work to distract me, the closed season seemed to drift by with relative ease this year. In the past I'd often spent hours on end preparing tackle and bait, willing the days to roll on by. This time, I'd done literally nothing by June 15th, other than to return all rods and reels into some semblance of organised storage and to purchase the usual range of tickets.

A well earned week off work beckoned to mark the new river season...

January

 Some pretty simple monthly statistics to kick the year off:

Fish - 0, Bites - 0, Sessions - 0.

The first time in over a decade that I haven't managed a January outing. 

Lockdown 3 has naturally limited the options, but the frequent moody and foul weather has done a fair job of narrowing them further. Throw in some family baggage and the month quickly became a write off.

You know things are bad when you've had more trips to the local Covid test centre than you've had fishing trips! My daughter recently clocked up her 4th visit - all negative outcomes so far thankfully.

Her nursery was a casualty for a week though when a staff member tested positive. A week of juggling home working and providing childcare is something I don't need much more of! 

We end the month with rivers over their banks again and temperatures dipping. I'll probably extend my barren spell for a couple more weeks and hopefully have the odd day off work when conditions improve.

Our local pond