The new season starts tomorrow but i'll be working at Fishing Republic, so not so bad eh. Still I'm itching to get out on the river and this year see's me start an adventure that could last years.
The Great Ouse is 147 miles long from its source in Syresham, Northamptonshire to the Washes and into the North Sea at Kings Lynn. It flows through Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, Newport Pagnell, Bedfordshire and into Cambridgeshire, just north of Cambridge it's joined by the river Cam.
This last few weeks has seen me out and about from Godmanchester to Downham Market and everywhere in between. Checking out high traffic areas, places where I might get a rod in and also places where I can actually park the car... yep!
There's so much river and so many areas to fish the only possibly way to make any sense of it is one small bit at a time. There are going to be large areas where I won't be able to get too without a boat, permission etc and even more that I must ignore if ever I am to get anywhere.
It's not a bivvy up situation either because it's a river and unlike a lake where the carp will never be far from you, on a river it can be literally tens of miles. Once you find them though, they can be relatively easy to catch.
Being mobile and impatient is helpful because a place like this can suck up all your time without you really getting anywhere. So that's the order of the day, at least at the start. Find the fish, don't sit around and wait too long and of course hopefully, along the way, get a lump or two!