Fish On

The last few years have seen me increasingly returning to riding my bike solely for the reasons that drew me to life on a bike as a child.. to explore, to escape, to have fun, to go camping.. and to go fishing. Something else I used to do an awful lot of when I was young and had the time. I’ve now sold all of the racing stuff, including the bikes; after more than 20 years of being wrapped up in what one might call ‘performance cycling’ I’ve finally kicked the last dregs of that habit out of my life and just indulging a love of playing on my bike. It’s great.

A small 6ft 6″ light spinning rod in 4 pieces fits nicely across the front rack, it’s just a smidgin too long to strap to the top tube. The handlebars are still wider than the rod so I don’t think it’s particularly vulnerable. Carradice Barley bag is just the right size for a reel, box of lures, stove, sandwiches, camera and an insulated jacket.

 

I only have to ride 20 minutes to drop a line in but it was a beautiful day so it seemed more sensible to ride 5 hours (return). The view from the King Harry Ferry is always a favourite.

 

Fish on. It turned out to be well worth the effort. This is Turnaware Bar in the Fal Estuary. I had never visited this spot before so it made sense to have a look on the flood tide.

 

Dinner. These mackerel are not very big but at this size they are so, so sweet, and being super-abundant around here I have no issues with eating them. Lovely grilled and dressed with a spot of lime juice and sea salt.

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6 thoughts on “Fish On

  • Brilliant composition on the last photo… more great stuff. I hate you deeply (sarc). Also, did you cook the fish out of doors with a camp stove and pan? What are you running a 22/36 front crank? Damn… too many questions. Keep at man. You rock.

    • ha, you flatter me.. and you really shouldn’t! anyway, the fish, no not this time – time was getting on. next time however it’ll be on a stick over a fire I reckon. The crank, yeah it’s 22×36 with an 11-28 at the rear. reason I’m doing that is that with no load or just a light load I never have to use the inner ring, it’s like riding a super simple single ring setup. Top end is a bit limited but I can still spin along at 30mph which as it is a touring bike is fine. no need to pedal faster when I’m using that bike. The inner ring is great when I have a camping load on and am riding dirt trails or steep stuff. with the 11-28 cassette that ring choice gives an almost straight through set of gears with no overlap between the two rings.

  • Hey Mike… Thanks for the reply. I’m intrigued too about the front rack you’ve got… seems like an unusual mounting to the forks? Now also… I’d like to use that last photo on my blog (http://bikewales.blogspot.co.uk/) as I reference yours. I’m starting to include external links of websites I visit and recommend. I’ll be sure to give you a photo credit…watcha thunk? Cheers! – cm

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