April 24, 2006 - Finch Farm
The day was not the best but, after a two and half week lay off, and the fishless fiasco at Thorpe Lea, we couldn't help but want to try our luck at a different venue . Finch Farm is not that far from Royal Berks, but is a totally different environment. It is a newer fishery, built on open farmland. There is a pasture on the other side of the fence, with several horses and some shetland ponies, which delights me, horse lover that I am. There is a good stock of fish, usually in good condition.
Arriving early enough that there was still frost under foot, we set up, in a chilly mist, on the small spit of land that juts into the lake. Steve would be on the lake on one side, me the other, fishing back to back so to speak. Sitting hunched up against the chill, I looked for something to photograph, to take my mind off the fact that I was cold and damp and that the wind seemed to be rising. Steve assured me that the weather report had said the fog would burn off by late morning. Now why did I doubt that?
The first thing I found to photograph, Mother Nature's art work
The morning wore on... and on... the fog was not lifting, as predicted, and the air was turning colder as the wind kicked up. We still hadn't had so much as a nibble, quite discouraging. I asked Steve to set up the brolly (a large fishing umbrella) to act as a windbreak. Don't ever leave home without your brolly. Now I was a bit more comfortable and the waiting was a little more bearable.
It was almost three hours before Steve landed the first fish, a lovely Mirror Carp
Twenty minutes later and he had his second fish a little Common Carp
Another dry spell (not of the weather kind) ensued. Noon came and went, though you couldn't tell it by the sun which remained hidden behind the low cloud cover. It wasn't exactly foggy but close to it. I remained huddled under the brolly, occasionally taking a picture of the dew bespeckled webs and thistle. None of them turned out to my expectations so you can count yourself lucky they will not turn up in this narrative. I have other pictures with which to torment you.
Eventually, after another three hours, Steve netted his third fish, another Mirror
Things were beginning to click for Steve, and within fifteen minutes he had his fourth catch of the day. Meanwhile I sat watching the fish move about; they were everywhere on my side of the lake except where I had my by bait.
No. 4 for Steve a wee little Mirror
Finch Farm has stocked their pond with the usual assortment of course fish, roach, rudd, tench, bream and carp. One strain of carp has some lovely colors. In addition they have also stocked in goldfish, and, though I am not sure about it, koi. It will be interesting, in a few years time, to see what sort of colorful crossbreeds turn up. Fifteen minutes after catching his previous fish, Steve had one of these beautiful carp in hand.
In rapid succession, 15 minutes later, No. 5 a gorgeous colored Common
By now I was certain that this was going to be one of my infamous "dry" days. I have them much more often than Steve. There is a simple explanation, I will not use maggots or worms, yuck. I don't have any sympathy for the maggots, I just find them gross. The worms are another matter, I respect them for job they do and I don't like the idea of drowning the poor things. Unfortunately they are the bait of choice with most fish. But that's ok, I float fish with my sweet corn or luncheon meat and watch the world go by. At least here at Finch Farm I can watch the horses.
Steve ran into another quiet period, it would be almost two hours before his next catch. Fortunately a fishing friend stopped by to chat and see how we were doing and that broke up the day a bit.
It took almost two hours before No. 6, another Mirror, turned up
Five minutes later and Steve has No. 7.
In the mean time I sat, fishless... feeling sorry for myself. But, one of the horses had moved close to the fence and I was able to take a few photos. I love horses with feathery feet and this one had plenty of feather and the most fantastic beard. I use to have my own horse and I am of the firm belief that horses should be allowed to live in a natural state. Certainly a highly polished, clipped and trimmed horse looks nice, but Mother Nature put whiskers on their muzzles and around their eyes for a reason. That reason is to sense what they can't see (or see clearly) is near their face. And that's all I have to say about that. 
Just look at that magnificent beard
A small flock of Goldfinch came flittering through the saplings nearby and I sat watching them for a while. Beautiful little birds of buff, black, white and gold with a red face.
Goldfinch
Of course once I wasn't paying attention to my line, I finally got a bite. It whizzed around pulling like a great white shark and I fully expected to find something close to 10 lbs when I landed it. Instead there was only a smallish Mirror... quite pretty until we turned it over.... and discovered it had a terrible wound on it's side that had become infected. It looked to me like a heron may have had a go at it. We carry an antibiotic specifically made for fish injuries and put some on the little carp, wishing it well as we turned it loose.
Poor little Mirror Carp, first fish of the day for me
I'd no sooner reset my line and settled down than both our reels started spooling out. Steve and I each had a fish. I played mine while Steve landed No. 8. Now how's this for multi-tasking... with my rod in my left hand, playing my fish... I used my camera, in my right hand, to take a picture of Steve who was behind me. And it was a fairly decent picture, too.
No. 8, a nice Common, for Steve and largest fish of the day.
Steve holds up my second fish, another small Mirror
Steve rolls on and half an hour later has No. 9, a medium size Common
While Steve is busy preparing to catch his TENTH fish of the day I notice some activity in the pasture next door. There is a rather scrawny looking thoroughbred who seems to be at the bottom of the pecking order and who had been chased out of the pasture earlier today by the dominant animal.... a scrappy little sorrel (chestnut color with light mane and tail) shetland pony. I'd had my camera tucked away and didn't catch that interaction, but this time it was on hand and I got a series of shots as this pony and his dark companion made life miserable once more for the thoroughbred. In the world of horses size doesn't dictate standing in the herd's pecking order, it's brains and bossyness that wins the day... and it's usually a mare. In the wild the stallion protects the herd, watching out for danger and defending against other stallions, but the top mare is the one who keeps the peace and chastises the youngsters who get out of line. In most domestic situations stallions are kept separate so when you see groups of horses in a field it is usually mares and geldings. And the mares will dominate geldings for the most part.
I decided that I would make the four pictures into a slideshow to save space as I am sure that anyone who is reading this is getting tired of scrolling down... 
Never fear, the end is near
It must be hard to be bullied by such a peanut of a pony
It was now quarter past five in the evening, and the mist and rain had finally gone... there was sunshine... and Steve celebrated by enticing his tenth fish of the day out of the water.
Steve and No. 10, a middling size Mirror
What are the odds that we would both have strikes, again, at the same time? Don't know but it happened and once more I played my fish for a few minutes while Steve landed his eleventh fish. As before I multi-tasked and managed to take a picture of his catch for him with one hand while trying to land my own with my left. He netted a nice Mirror and mine, a minute or so later turned out to be a Common.
Steve and No. 11 a fair old Mirror of decent size
And here is my third another nice Common
We decide to stay a little while longer, it had been a fantastic day of fishing for Steve and I was happy with my three and the chance to watch the horses and ponies. But it wasn't over yet. Within half an hour my rod bent sharply and the line started running off the reel. I had finally hooked into a nice size fish. Nothing huge, but when all was said and done my fourth and final fish proved to be a respectable sized, fully scaled Mirror. It was a nice end to the day for me.
My fourth and the final catch of the day, a fully scaled Mirror of respectable size.
And on that note we packed our gear and headed home. Was it worth sitting in the cold, wind and rain? Yeah, a day out fishing is never wasted... even if you don't catch anything. But we had a total of fifteen fish today. Oh, I forgot to mention, I also landed a nice size roach at one point, with a blue dot tattoo'd on it's belly. Don't ask, it had something do with a fishing competion you could enter. As I wasn't registered, my blue dot went back into the water for someone else to catch. So ends this tale.
