The albatross has landed

      An early start on a Wednesday morning, the car loaded with the fishing gear and away to Suffolk for some pike fishing with Bure Boy and The Essex Scribbler at a can't fail venue. Typically the straightforward hour and a half trip turned into four hours of bumper watching thanks to an accident somewhere on the A14.
      The only excitement in the ten mile traffic jam was a white Ford Fiesta rolling ten feet backwards into a Range Rover Evoque, the lady in the Range Rover blowing her horn and flashing her lights to no avail. I gave her my telephone number having witnessed that it wasn't her fault at all but there have been no calls so they must have sorted it out amicably.
      By the time I finally arrive at the venue the clear sunny day has turned windy and grey.  A long walk then tea and coffee brewed-up and a lot of chat on topics from pensions to politics, music to traffic, Bob Dylan to urban myths, Russia and Russians, Jeremy Clarkson to Jeremy Clarkson, house prices to motoring and inevitably football to cricket. Quite a lot of bullshit too. I think the pike were dozing off.
      So, some good chat then but what of the pike fishing. Well, despite three crack, expert pike anglers fishing with five rods not one fish was caught, bait was lost but no fish caught, or lost. 'We' might have had one bite, well BB might have and this at a 'we can't fail, we always catch here sort of place'.
      It goes without saying that we didn't catch any of these specimens pictured below, they're there as a reminder of better days.

      'In fact we can't remember the last time we blanked can we BB', says the Essex Scribbler.
      Now I'm back and a pint of Marston's Pedigree has been poured and I know the reason why three 'pike experts' blanked and it just couldn't be simpler.
      I forgot my lucky cap.
      Fishing success, it always comes down to attention to the little details so when we embark on the 'three men go pike fishing in Fenland expedition' there's no pressure whatsoever. The cap is going in the safe until that day.
      Right, at least the 'lucky cap' knows where it stands.