Size really isn’t that important this season

WHAT a start to the season! Traditionally, the first couple of weeks can be a damp squib, but this year the sun shone and the fish fed on perhaps the most eagerly-awaited restart to fishing I can recall.

With fewer work parties out in certain areas due to lockdown restrictions, some stretches have been nothing short of a jungle adventure just to get from footpath to bankside – my own favourite stretch of the River Nene included.

Head-high nettles, tangled brambles, and even a few fallen branches from winter storms were all in evidence on my first trip.

But effort equals reward, and a few moments of gardening to cut a path through were worth it when that orange-topped float hit the surface for the first time in ages and began to weave its way steadily downstream.

It didn’t have to travel far before the first fish of my new season made it bury out of sight. The culprit was one of the fattest little gudgeon I’ve ever caught!

I didn’t care, it had been a long time since I’d enjoyed a session on the river, and we all must start somewhere, at least that’s what I told myself!

For other anglers it was a very different story and you can see the best of those opening week fish, including a new Trent record barbel, a record-shaking zander, and a shock albino grass carp, inside this issue of Angling Times.

Fish of that quality aren’t easy to catch, and usually you’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find the prince.

But that’s the fun of fishing. Size doesn’t matter sometimes, it’s all about enjoying the moment, especially when you’ve waited so long for it. Have a great week on the bank.