[Mike Kennard]

I feel like this year I am far grumpier than 'normal'!!!!! We have had the worst winter in decades and despite that the CI guys are having a field day out there with LRF/HRF and now squid!!!! The fishing they are doing looks brilliant, constantly evolving and breaking new ground and I am stuck indoors waiting for the pea soup to turn clear. I am so impressed with the progress made out there and the results they are achieving, just wish we could do something similar here.

As I write this it is blowing a gale, I have been soaked twice today while out on my bike too!!!! AARRGGHH!!!! More time to organise my kit I suppose......

 

[Steve Lewis]

Mike,

It is just you, Get over it, and quickly :muttley:

 

[kevin white]

mike, don't let us bast**ds grind ya down mate lol, get out there and do the best you can with what you've got, i'm sure it's better than you think.

kev

 

[Ritchie Campion]

Cheer up mate! Almost summer! Well for us in Jersey anyway

 

[Tim Murphy]

Mike, it's blowing a bloody hooly here too, is has rained, nay, monsooned for the past 40 hours ( just stopped) I know where you're coming from.

 

[Tim Griffin]

Mike, I think it's just the end of a very long and cold off-season. Apart from the piking (which was a brilliant diversion and allowed us to catch some nice fish on our regular bass kit) I haven't caught anything since the end of October! That said, the positives are that I have made some great new fishing mates, scoped out a bunch of new marks for when the season gets started and have the Welsh Bumble to look forwards to. I didn't catch regularly until August last year so this yeat has to be better! By May all this will be forgotten - I hope!
if it helps, we have 40mph northerlies, sleet and temps are 2 degress this morning.

 

[Alex Jordan]

I know how you feel Mike - it has been an exceptionally long hard winter ... I am getting very tired from slogging 60 - 100 hr weeks and it is taking its toll - sorta an anti climax today as its last day and the data centre is empty ...

Couple of positives - bank holiday is here and I may get some fishing in with Ben and Nathan - may even see of Ben wants to do some LRF'ing! oh and te forum has developed and grown better than anyone could have wished for!

Off on my dream trip on the 13th but I am so behind on rigging and packing - finding it hard to get everything done which is driving me nuts ... feeling very meh at the moment.

 

[Marc Westwood]

I agree, feeling very grumpy. Fed up of the cold weather and now gales, sleet and more cold weather. Fed up of commuting 100 miles a day along a rubbish motorway. And now really fed up that my Easter break has been called off as the site is waterlogged.

 

[Mike Kennard]

It's not all bad though!
Nantes was brilliant, both from meeting some of the people on here, a few (the bar closed early!) beers with mates and the tackle show was as good as the hype.
LRF/HRF has kicked off big time, I don't feel so strange/unusual playing with my 2in soft plastics and rubber crayfish anymore!!!!. It looks brilliant and is pushing the boundaries.
I have bought even more lures, another rod and have designs on more..... not to mention a new Certate perhaps.
The frustration is having a mountain of gear and no fish to show for it especially when others are having a great time.

 

[Dave Irving]

Mike,
I share your pain-The sea was the colour of milky coffee before this latest bad weather. The wind this morning was awful. I am longing for some decent settled sunny weather, to kick start this season.

 

[Andy Mason]

Mike. I'm down in the dumps too mate. Freeking Easter weekend coming up, I've 4 days off work AND permission to go fishing yet there's no where we can go with weather like this. I was so looking forward to Saturday fishing with you and the boys but even that looks off with the winds being so high for the next few days, the dorset sea will be like a cappuchino. Will anywhere escape the weather this weekend and allow a fish to be caught? If there's any chance of a fish, I'm off but where to?

 

[Mike Kennard]

Andy, my other half is off to Paris for a girlie weekend so I have the whole weekend to fish. Was looking forward to Weymouth but not sure what that will be like and even whether it is worth the trip. The only saving grace is that it is my local beer festival all weekend......

 

[Tim Murphy]

This forum is as much to blame as the weather? Going through the winter talking to a like-minded bunch of people, looking at the LRF finding a head of steam then talking about not being able to go out is a bit masochistic innit?

 

[Keith White]

our coastline is being battered too guys. Main SE coast road was closed as high winds brought sea, sand, rocks etc up into a few back yards.

 

[Mike Kennard]

This forum is as much to blame as the weather? Going through the winter talking to a like-minded bunch of people, looking at the LRF finding a head of steam then talking about not being able to go out is a bit masochistic innit?

Absolutely!!!!
I love all this 'new to us' stuff that is going on at the moment!!!! I just wish I could be part of it before the summer arrives.
This forum is briiliant for spreading the word but it does fuel frustration!!!!

 

[trev richardson]

Cheer up mate...it could be much worse...check out Scotland and Northern England. One of my mates up in North Scotland has had over 2 feet of snow........Mind you it serves him right he took off his winter snow tyres 2 weeks ago and proclaimed spring was here! Now that's got to be depressing. :muttley::muttley::muttley::muttley::muttley:

 

[Andy Marquis]

Nope, the weather and all is depressing me but I am fuelled to keep trying now others are starting to catch. Reports of 2 doubles and an 8, all on bait in the last week makes me want it but while bait fishing last night in a F9 with a 9.9m tide pounding over half the island it felt rough but it felt bassy and we had a few bites but only hooked a rat.
Signs are of things on the up and I for one and looking forward to it!!

 

[Gary A]

I feel like this year I am far grumpier than 'normal'!!!!! We have had the worst winter in decades and despite that the CI guys are having a field day out there with LRF/HRF and now squid!!!! The fishing they are doing looks brilliant, constantly evolving and breaking new ground and I am stuck indoors waiting for the pea soup to turn clear. I am so impressed with the progress made out there and the results they are achieving, just wish we could do something similar here.

As I write this it is blowing a gale, I have been soaked twice today while out on my bike too!!!! AARRGGHH!!!! More time to organise my kit I suppose......

Hi Mike, don't be too grumpy, the winter over here wasn't that good either. Some of the times we've met up to fish lrf, I wouldn't even have left the house to have bait fished in the wind/rain/cold etc. Yet, even with conditions against us, some fish have been caught every trip.

Like you and a lot of the other guys on the forum, I was intrigued to find out more about lrf, so when the opportunity came to join Keith,Kevin and the other guys, I jumped at the chance. I've been on numerous outings since then and loved every minute. But the fact remains, I haven't caught a fish for about 3 weeks (the fishing really has been that hard). I've always had the opinion that I love fishing and being out in the fresh air and if I catch anything it's a bonus! I've had my moments of doubt over these last 3 weeks of blanks, thinking it must be me doing something wrong, but things make a lot more sense now we know its fact that the squid (not you Chris) are distressing the fish we are targeting.

I've learnt so much already, and this can only be a good thing heading towards summer. So get out there Mike, believe there are fish there to be caught because they are out there.

By the way. the weather last night and this morning were absolutely atrocious over here and the weekend isn't looking too clever either, it's not always sunny Jersey.

Gary

 

[Keith White]

Well said Gary. Its only at least 10 days since you caught though. You had fish in the bumble only a week and a half ago.
But yes, It has been hard.

We'll venture out again and again and I'll bet you now, winter will seem a long distant past when we start hammering the main species..
Bring it on. Snipe are here now Gary. I know of a few that have come up and we've seen em so, this weekend could bring the first of the thousands of LRF snipe I'm predicting.

 

[Gary A]

Wow, I can't believe that was only 10 days ago.