Huge apologies to all out there in web site land who have been looking at the site and wondering where all the catch this updates have gone. Sorry, but we have been out fishing.

With lock down having eased and yours truly suitably jabbed up we are pretty much back to normal and whilst Matt Keys has been busy out on Derwentwater with some of our new clients I have been down on Windermere waving a fly rod around. To be honest the fly fishing for pike has been spectacular with plenty of hectic moments. In the main the fish have been up to low double figures  but several acrobatic and some  very lively mid doubles have given us a right old run around. One day we discovered a pack of fish feeding hard on spawning roach and for an incredible hour of   fishing almost every cast produced a hit. Whilst some got away (always the big ones!) we boated several and all were into double figures. But then as with fishing so with life and there is always a balance……

Three days later we were drifting across a bay when Steve Walsh hit another indignant pike that we had to follow in the boat. Unfortunately in the hectic business of following the fish my fly line wrapped around the propellor which jammed up tight and stopped the engine dead. Typically this was the moment the wind picked up, and as Steve and the pike continued to battle we drifted ever closer to the rocky shoreline. The prop wouldn’t turn so with danger lurking ever closer I dropped the anchor into forty feet of water and hoped it would bite first time as we hit the shoreline shelf. With the rocks only a few feet away the boat slewed to a standstill and we dealt with the pike. Paying out just enough anchor rope, I backed the  boat into slightly shallower 4′ deep water.  Lifting the engine,  the line was jammed tight, so with strict orders to put the camera away, I stripped off and slid over the back of the Doghouse and into Windermere. Now mechanical  operations when standing chest deep and underpanted in a big lake, whilst balancing barefoot on underwater boulders is a bit necky to say the least, but with great care and Steve as my assistant, we  removed all the gubbins that holds the prop onto the shaft, took off the prop and the yards of mangled line, then re- assembled it all. For a daft moment  I considered having a swim but with nether parts retracting rapidly, thought better of it. Undundaunted and very refreshed, we pulled on the anchor rope, dragged the boat  away from danger, started the enginge and went back to the fishing.

While its not something I really wish to do again, in case othere are any boaters out there who get line or rope jammed round a propellor, the anchor trick is a good strategy to avoid disaster. I’m sure others have done it before, but in the worry of impending doom its easy to forget rational thought!  And it might just help save the day.

So there you go, there’s always a balance in life.

Take care , stay safe, get jabbed and we’ll see you on the water one of these days.

Tarra, Eric