Closed Season Zander Quest PT54 – Morning Glory and the Mind Messer

Heavenly blue, crimson rambler and pearly gates, delicate blooms that crawl quickly up trellises.

But when morning glory seeds aren't planted when they are instead ingested whimsical thoughts can crawl through altered minds with kaleidoscope-like visions.

And teenagers know this....

Popular in the hippie era of the 1960s, apparently morning glory seeds as a hallucinogen seem to have sprouted once again. Garden centres in the States have noticed their seed stocks depleted by adolescent hands, users experiencing adverse reactions, or bad trips, from the seeds that are drank as tea or merely ingested.

Ipomoea nil - Morning Glory

They contain a compound known as LSA you see (D-lysergic acid amide), a precursor chemical to the better-known hallucinogen LSD — hence, the seeds’ psychoactive effects. But even budding chemists have to be careful. While it’s true the drug can induce acid-like hallucinations, like LSD, it can also provoke psychotic episodes, flashbacks, overwhelming paranoia, and vomiting.

Don’t sound great does it but then 99p from the local garden centre, you can see why some are dabble with them.

LSA is legally considered a depressant you see and it’s notably also a very active hallucinogen / psychedelic. It’s thought to be somewhere between one-tenth and one-twentieth as powerful as LSD, but because the dose of the compound present in plant seeds varies, it’s easy to overdo it.

Please, I wouldn't bother....

I don’t need seeds to get my fix you see as the last session the staring of one’s motionless Zander floats for a considerable amount of time give me a visual trip that to be honest was quite appealing….

The towpath snaking like a roller-coaster, the fishing rubbish the hallucination enjoyable. A bit like the Beatles Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds video, a bit of a mind messer.

Stare at the red dot, and stare a little more....

Troxler’s Effect I reckon, well something like that. This means that the small, involuntary eye movements made when fixating something fail to move the stimulus onto a new cell’s receptive field, giving unvarying stimulation

So back to the mind messer it was....

Starring at floats and leapfrogging another area of cover that I’ve largely ignored in the past, there is Zander here I know what but up and till this point, the larger fish have eluded me. Treading the towpath on a bank holiday Monday morning though is something to be relished, boat traffic nonexistent, wildlife active, spring bloom in its full on glory.

Another tough session, 300 yards of cover, covered, nada

Down to West Nipple, nothing.

Back to a banker for at least one fish, yeap you guessed it.

Then I decided to walk beyond where I usually do and prior to reaching a lock there was a disturbance in the margins. Hmmmm, couldn't work it out at first.

Float positioned, small schoolie quickly nailed the bait but soon dropped off.

Bugger, the activity got more and more and yes you guessed it they were spawning, I watched for an hour or so, nice to see it was too.

I assume a female on her nest, the males guarding it.

I didn't have a lure rod but I bet they would be biting this morning, but then didn't want to disturb the passion.

Another week I'm sure will make all the difference.