november-2026-free-line-part-2 - Flipbook - Page 41
FREE LINE / FIELD JOURNAL
PAUL OXENHAM
FIELD NOTES
For an angler adept at pulling a double from a shoal of twenties, it wasn t
lost on me that of all the fish in the lake, I d had one bite and bagged one
of the three known forties. Luck? I guess every dog has his day.
The sun came out, and the temperature rose steadily. My swim looked like
a bombsite with clothes drying and rods and mats strewn about the place.
I hadn t bothered to recast and so wandered around to see Phill, who did
a magnificent celebratory full English for us all as we just sat chatting
away. The carping jungle-drums beat their way back to Gloucestershire,
and I had a succession of calls and texts from friends congratulating me
on my capture.
Afternoon crept into evening, and still we sat in Pole Position with Phill,
enjoying the banter, camaraderie and nice drop of plonk that comes with
a significant capture with friends. By midnight we were ready to return to
our respective swims.
I had pre-clipped my middle and left-hand rods to two of the well-known
spots out in front of the Point. Lining up with the silhouettes of the trees
opposite, I was reasonably happy that the solid PVA bags and little wafters
were where I wanted them. Whilst I was still awake, I thought I d flick
the right-hand rod back out to the spot to my right for an hour, so with
another tricky side-cast, it went out there somewhere in the gloom.
FREE LINE
41
