It’s All Happening (Unfortunately)

Have you ever noticed that if illness comes along (and I’m not talking common colds or man-flu here. Well partly.), they tend to come along in two’s and three’s like buses.

I have been having problems with a very stiff creaky knee joint for a while and that has been occasionally painful during the last six months. Wear and tear so the Doc says, from too many knee trem…… I won’t go there.

I also have an ankle that occasionally goes weak on me. That too has been giving me problems recently.

Back at the end of November I caught that flu bug going around, and that keeps coming back for a second chance at making my life miserable (I am currently full of aches, pains, sore throats and stuffiness).

And then to provide me with the ultimate Christmas, I go and pull something while delivering some compost to my customers. Nasty feeling of muscle tearing in my stomach, and a new navel appears!! Down to the docs, off to the hospital and I am now the proud father of an Umbilical Hernia. Great!! Take it very easy they tell me. For at least four weeks they tell me! It might cure itself they tell me!! Might??

Believe me when I say that it is not healing; it is bloody painful, and it ain’t easy taking it easy when even the slightest bend or stretch kicks it off. So it looks like it’s down to the hospital to arrange for the op to close the tear. And then I have been told 4-6 weeks recuperation (med talk for chilling out and being lazy and bored).

On the bright side, at least I can see the new navel with my new glasses!

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First of 2011

My first fishing trip of 2011 was an invite by Phil (SCSF) to hit the beach at the old Grange Hotel stretch of Southbourne beach. At this time of year obviously there is little in the way of fish to target. However, there have been reports of a number of Dabs being landed at this venue and with a bit of a sea running there would always be the chance of Flounder and Bass close in along with the usual Rockling and Whiting.

Fishing the tide right up from 15:00 until 20:30, we concentrated our efforts on scratching out what we could using small hook rigs and straight ragworm or rag/squid, rag/mackerel cocktails. A pretty chilly evening with a medium strength SW blowing and gradually moving SE, making for quite a surf close in. Plenty of colour in the water for the first 50 yards and then clearing.

Little in the way of fish to report with just the one Flounder each, but at least it was a non-blank to start the year. 23cm for me and 32 cm for Phil.

Flounder from Grange, Southbourne

There was quite an undertow along this stretch, especially from about two hours short of high water. At one stage I had what I believed to be a reasonable bite, only for my line to sweep to the right, pick up my other line and swing around the end of the wooden groyne close by. I could have sworn that I could feel a decent thump on the line while I was desperately trying to retrieve it, but unfortunately the end result was both rigs snagged and lost. It wasn’t until afterwards that it occurred to me that the lines had move against the tide. Had a decent fish picked up the bait and swam off up tide?  I will never know.

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