I can officially go fishing again, had a few fish, how good does it feel! Rugby World Cup starts this evening……….

Okay, so I sneaked that gentle session in under the recovery radar the other day, then because I am an addict/with how good it felt, I couldn’t help trying again on Wednesday, the day before I had an actual face to face meeting with a physiologist to see where I am at with my recovery. I am 99.9% sure she would never read this blog! I literally could not resist going fishing, but once again I made sure it was with a mate, it wasn’t at all far from my Epic Berlingo, there was no casting of heavy lures into rough conditions - pretty impossible with this incredible weather anyway - and I ended up catching a fair few bass……………

I guess it’s going to take a while until I don’t cast and mentally cross my fingers at the same time and hope that I can’t feel anything bad in my heart. I am trying my best not to feel like this but I can very vividly remember what happened to me. I know that I am a very lucky person to still be here and also have the opportunity to work myself back to 100% or even 100%+ fitness and health. So after my gentle intro fishing session on Tuesday evening I went (gently) fishing again on Wednesday afternoon. Damn it felt good.

Take away the slight apprehension with every cast and it felt like riding a bike with how I cycled through a few different lures to try and figure out what might work. There were plenty of signs of baitfish around with working birds and fish busting, but to start with I could only get a few bumps on one of those cheb-rigged SG Slender Scoop Shads I was banging on about before my heart attack - check this blog post, I so like how these killer lures look in the water when they are rigged and swum like this. I then changed over to a surface lure but quickly took it off when a few micro bass started jumping on it. I don’t like sticking barbless treble hooks in these things and there were a few bigger swirls around which said to me that there should be a few larger bass on the feed.

So I ended up clipping on a little SG Seeker 16g, with my reasoning being that the bait being killed was most likely something like small sprats. When I hooked a joey mackerel on my first cast I did get to thinking all over again, but you obviously have to take the presence of fish like that as a good sign for potentially bigger bass so I stuck with the little Seeker. Up until a couple of years ago I think it was, I had never bothered to ask the grownups at Savage Gear if I could please see the smaller Seekers, not with how I tend to use these lures the most in pretty hectic surf conditions. It was my mate John Quinlan who I guide with in Kerry who switched me onto the 16g and 23g Seekers because at times he absolutely slays on them. That little 16g one especially looks incredible in the water.

And when what felt like a decent bass smashed into the little Seeker I know for a fact that I yelped. I couldn’t help it. I reckon you’d have seen the smile across my face from space, even through my sun-protection face mask (how mad does this weather feel after what passed for summer?). Okay, so it wasn’t a monster, but when I unhooked what might have been a 4lb bass and slipped it back, that was me done. There are countless people going through far worse stuff than me, and it’s not as if not being allowed to go fishing for a few weeks is that bad, but if you are a fishing junkie like me then you will understand how much it means to get back on the bike. It’s on your doorstep, it’s what you do and live for, your mates are catching a bunch of fish, but you can’t go. And then you can. And it feels bloody amazing in its sheer joyful simplicity. I caught a bunch more bass and a few joey mackerel and I loved every single second of it.

I then had a face to face meeting with an NHS physiologist yesterday. She asked me loads of questions, did a bunch of measurements, got me doing some step thing to a timer for about 10mins so she could push my heart rate up and check on stuff, and she told me that it’s fine to go fishing again as long as I am sensible and listen to my body. I have a few things I need to keep an eye on and I can’t go running quite yet, but she did some calculations and told me that I can increase my walking intensity which was like music to my ears. I am walking loads again, but I can do even more and faster. I learnt a hell of a lot yesterday and there’s a heart rate zone I need to get into for a certain amount of time each week. It isn’t running speed, but with how walking fit I have always been I am going to need to find some steeper and longer hills to speed-walk up them to get me into the zone as such. I went out for a fast 40min walk at 6am this morning and even at what I would call a really fast walking pace I’m struggling to get into the higher zone. My poor wife and our regular dog walks!

I then took the bull by the horns yesterday afternoon and went out fishing again, but to be honest I only gave it an hour or so because I felt pretty tired and I need to listen to my body more than I ever did. I tried somewhere different but saw very little sign of bait around, so I went through a few lures but didn’t get a single sniff on anything until I clipped on the Savage Gear Gravity Popper 9cm/13.5g. I have started putting this surface lure in my box this year because a friend of mine has had some cracking bass on it when other stuff wasn’t producing so well. First chuck with it yesterday and a smallish bass smashed it, then a couple more fish later I really started feeling a bit knackered so I headed for home with a great big smile on my face…………..

Which I am worried will be somewhat wiped away when England play Argentina in the Rugby World Cup tomorrow. If our recent crap results are actually a clever plan then I take it all back, but I think there is every chance we won’t even get out of the pool stages. The opening match that is France vs New Zealand at 8pm this evening is some way to kick the World Cup off though. Monster game, how intense is the haka going to be? I shall be watching, after a bit of fishing this afternoon I might add! I’m going to need those positive vibes from doing what I love. You all have a good weekend, catch you next week.

Disclosure - If you buy anything using links found around my website, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you anymore to buy via these affiliate links - and please feel entirely free not to do so of course - but it will help me to continue producing content. Thank you.