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FROM 21 NOVEMBER 2022 TO 15 JANUARY 2023 – BOB’S BIG FAT QUIZ OF THE YEAR (LOOKING BACK) AND SIDESTREAM’S HOOTENANY (LOOKING FORWARD)

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Mudeford woods in Winter. Well to cut a long story short somehow weather, inclination, other hobbies and Christmas all conspired against me so December and the start of January slipped by without me going fishing. However, we are now in mid-January and I have at last made it bank side. I appreciate all bloggers have different modus operandi, but realistically my blog is my fleshed out fishing log, and yes some of the tittle tattle of my everyday life finds its way in. However, I rarely post if I haven’t a fishing session to write up, so belatedly I hope … Continue reading FROM 21 NOVEMBER 2022 TO 15 JANUARY 2023 – BOB’S BIG FAT QUIZ OF THE YEAR (LOOKING BACK) AND SIDESTREAM’S HOOTENANY (LOOKING FORWARD)

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THE WEEK ENDING 20 NOVEMBER 2022 – SOMETIMES SMALL STREAMS CONTAIN SURPRISINGLY … SMALL FISH

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The stream at Millhams Mead that flows into the Stour Millhams Stream, Millhams Mead, Kinson, Monday 14 November 2022 (Session 45/2022) A timetabling issue (or put another way my failure to read a key email) meant I rocked up at Waterloo Road for an afternoon mock when the school was closed to allow the staff to attend the funeral of one of the teaching staff. I’m not sure I ever met the member of staff but he or she must have been relatively young (not many teachers see out their careers at Waterloo Road) so sad news and may he … Continue reading THE WEEK ENDING 20 NOVEMBER 2022 – SOMETIMES SMALL STREAMS CONTAIN SURPRISINGLY … SMALL FISH

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THE WEEK ENDING 13 NOVEMBER 2022 – SUNNY SUNDAY

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Looking downstream from Priory Marsh Quite how it gets to Sunday and I’ve not been fishing all week is a mystery, but at least it gives me a chance to work a Joni Mitchell song into this post’s title. The Lower Hampshire Avon, Priory Marsh, Sunday 13 November 2022 (Session 44/2022) Allowing for perspective the X is roughly where I was aiming the feeder It was a fairly late decision to head out, in part driven by a desire for some ‘me time’. One of the brother-in laws is staying with us whilst he is between flats and there can … Continue reading THE WEEK ENDING 13 NOVEMBER 2022 – SUNNY SUNDAY

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THE WEEK ENDING 6 NOVEMBER 2022 – JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO BACK IN THE WATER

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Orchard Lakes To explain the title, I’ll change my normal order and start with: Nature Notes (Part One): Settling down to my sandwiches over lunch with the conservation volunteers, the conversation turned to one of my regular angling venues Mudeford Woods. Or rather what was one of my regular angling venues until a pollution incident a couple of month’s back saw a significant number of fish die. However, recently I had been thinking about returning to Mudeford Woods as it seems some stock survived the pollution. The fishing lake is situated within a nature reserve, so it is likely to … Continue reading THE WEEK ENDING 6 NOVEMBER 2022 – JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO BACK IN THE WATER

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THE THREE WEEKS ENDING 30 OCTOBER 2022 – RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS

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Maze Lake, Beaver World Fishery I’ll avoid wittering on about the three weeks just past in the same sort of detail as I went into about a solitary week in my previous post. I short, I knew fishing during the first week of the three that have slipped by would be ‘sacrificed’ in the Great House Reorganisation and Clean Up of Autumn 2022. As I get older I declutter assiduously (there is no way that when I pop my clogs the nippers want to spend days sifting through Surrey score cards from the 70s, Palace programmes from 80s and umpteen … Continue reading THE THREE WEEKS ENDING 30 OCTOBER 2022 – RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS

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WEEK ENDING 9 OCTOBER 2022 – IT’S LIKE A FAIRY TALE*

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Following on from the spell a few weeks back when I wasn’t really too bothered about fishing, I now seem to have the bit between my teeth and ideally would like to be going more than once a week. The reason isn’t because I am driven by some need to meet a quota, as in ‘I must fish X times a week’/’I must fish every day’. I’ve a running friend who started running every day during the first lock down and is now on day 925, or some such, of consecutive runs but by his own admission it has become … Continue reading WEEK ENDING 9 OCTOBER 2022 – IT’S LIKE A FAIRY TALE*

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WEEK ENDING 2 OCTOBER 2022 – IT DOESN’T MATTER ANY MORE

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I doubt that anyone follows this blog in sufficient detail to recall that during the third lock down I followed the Archbishop of Canterbury’s advice and started to compile a ‘when this is over I will … ‘ list. The Archbishop’s logic was that at that time we all needed to concentrate on the future and on our hopes. The odd thing is that whilst at the time I found making that list therapeutic, until last week I hadn’t ticked one single thing of the list, despite the easing of the restrictions. The reality is that now things are back … Continue reading WEEK ENDING 2 OCTOBER 2022 – IT DOESN’T MATTER ANY MORE

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THE FOUR(?) WEEKS ENDING 25 SEPTEMBER 2022 – AFTER FORTY DAYS IN THE WILDERNESS … TAKE ME TO A STEAK BAR

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This comes to you after a few weeks of me being at a lowish ebb, not one of my overly dramatic downs, just a period of general lethargy. Whilst there have been lulls in this mood, for some reason fishing wasn’t the activity that came to mind when I was on an up. C’est la vie, plus ca change and all that. Oh, and before you accuse me of hyperforeignism, I maintain that my mixed heritage includes the French aristocracy. The de Forges side of my dad’s family first appeared in this country just after the start of the 19th … Continue reading THE FOUR(?) WEEKS ENDING 25 SEPTEMBER 2022 – AFTER FORTY DAYS IN THE WILDERNESS … TAKE ME TO A STEAK BAR

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WEEK ENDING 21 AUGUST 2022 – DOWN IN THE FLOOD

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After the long dry spell, the rains came this week then this email about Mudeford Woods dropped in to my inbox “ … during the torrential rain yesterday the lake has suffered severe pollution. We suspect this is a result of accumulated debris etc in the road drains being flushed into the stream and lake in a short space of time … hundreds of fish have died. The committee has therefore no option than to close the lake until further notice. …The Environment Agency were contacted and were on site yesterday. The exact cause of the death of the fish … Continue reading WEEK ENDING 21 AUGUST 2022 – DOWN IN THE FLOOD

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WEEK ENDING 14 AUGUST 2022 – A WORD FROM BARRY BUCKNELL* …

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Oh lumee what is he wittering on about now …. okay I’ll try and be brief. Now, I’m from the generation that doesn’t shout about their love and devotion for their ‘other half’ (that’s their ‘partner’ for younger readers). We’ve been together other 30 years, two kids up and gone (thank you for that line James Lawson, although one has bounced back home and good company though he is, I wasn’t expecting that). So, if people cannot join the dots, well that is their issue not ours! Equally if the current dabble back into DIY brings into focus our different … Continue reading WEEK ENDING 14 AUGUST 2022 – A WORD FROM BARRY BUCKNELL* …