Monday 2 March 2009

A perfect day - very nearly ruined.....

  • Yesterday was just about the best day I could have had without going fishing - my girls and I went over to north Cornwall to see some friends, and with the stunning weather, we all had a picnic down on the Camel estuary and basically had a blast building sandcastles, collecting shells and walking out on the sand at low tide. Out of the wind and it was really warm, and my sheepdog Jess was happy to chase sea gulls until we had to head home to Plymouth. What an awesome way to spend a Sunday.

  • But the rugby on Saturday afternoon came close to completely ruining my weekend - I know the mature me should rise with ease above such an outright disappointment, but to do this took real strength of will. To say that England were awful (once again) is something I hate having to admit, but surely the time has come now to start dropping players who can not stop giving away daft penalties. I would hate to be Danny Care when Martin Johnson gives him hell - and the idiot deserves it, what an insane way to get yellow-carded. "Professional fouls" I can understand when you have no choice but to try and prevent a score, but the penalties we kept on giving away were mad. The only reason the game was so close was because Ronan O'Gara momentarily forgot how to kick at goal. How much longer can I keep on watching the England rugby team do so badly ?
  • I heard from a friend over in Ireland that they had a couple of bass at the weekend, including a fish nudging the 5lb mark. These fish came on crab baits, proving once again that if you go to the right areas, bass are a real possibility all year round. I fully expect reports of good lure caught bass fairly soon from over there. They also had a huge flounder and some small sea trout.

  • I generally have a fisheye lens in my camera bag, but it rarely gets used. It's the kind of lens to bring out only on the odd occasion, like the shot you can see above - sometimes a shot simply "jumps" at you, and I took this one a few years ago with my friend Graham Hill. Yet again he was smashing decent fish on lures, and with the generally pretty poor light we had that particular day, I was keen on trying something else photography wise to try and emphasise the majestic lines of these fish. The head of a bass always makes a strong impression on me, and getting in really tight with a fisheye allows me to make something of that feature. Personally I really like the shot, but I do have reservations about using fisheye lenses too much......

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with the Bass Henry. One of the guys fished from the fishing4u.co.uk website had one over the weekend - on lug I think.

Stuart
Sea Fishing and Walking in the UK

Anonymous said...

The Rugby---- Well enough said. Are you hearing of any Bass round our way mate. ( Plym. South Hams )I want to get out but not sure what to target.
Alan

Henry Gilbey said...

Stu - sounds like there are some fish moving around at various places.

Alan - have not heard much about the fishing around us, people seem to be struggling at the moment. But it has to be worth a go sometime soon. Itchy feet !!

Anonymous said...

Typicall, just when you think the weather is on the up it gets cold and windy again. oh well. Just have to wrap up. Cheers Henry. Alan

Paul said...

England brought about our own demise really, not just Danny Care's fault although his sin-binning looked the stupidest. You can't coach poor discipline though that sits with the players and like you say some are going to be dropped and rightly so.

Henry Gilbey said...

Paul - we need to rewind and go back to the real men who brought the World Cup home in 2003. Men who could front up and take a game by the scruff of the neck. Still gutted.