May Day morning

 I'd said to Bev, last night, that if I woke up early then I would take a drive down to the "Carp Puddle" to see if my May "double" could be done and dusted so leaving me free to do something different. That's exactly how it panned out. On my way before 07.20 hrs, fishing by 08.00 hrs with the same floater set-up as on the previous visit. With the club's barbless hook rule, I started off with a size 8 Pallatrax  "Gripz" curve shank but lost six of the first ten fish I hooked. It was only when I changed over to a size 8  Korda "Widegape" that this issue was resolved and I didn't lose another fish. By 10.00 hrs I'd achieved my goal with an 11 lbs 6 oz Common and a 10 lbs 14 oz Mirror visiting the unhooking mat. 

I decided that I'd pack up and have a quick circuit of the site to see what birdlife might be around. There had been two Cuckoos calling when I arrived but they'd gone quiet (or continued north) well before 09.00 hrs. A pair of Common Terns were seen on two separate occasions and there was a trickle of Swallows passing through. A Raven croaked loudly as it flew south so there was definitely potential for discovering something lurking in the surrounding area. As it turned out the best I could do was an absolutely stunning male Yellow Wagtail feeding around the remains of a puddle in the corner of a previously flooded field. 

Back at the van, very happy with my morning, a flat tyre greeted me and somewhat took the shine away from a thoroughly enjoyable session up until that point! Still, these things are there to test us, if you don't experience the lows then you'll never appreciate the highs?