The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.159 – Gollumpus and Garconanokin

A Zander trip to 'dog pool alley' cannot be taken lightly, here you need to watch where you tread, every step needs consideration before planting, otherwise your footwear will be tainted beyond saving.

Now there is the added problem that some stools can be well hidden, already trodden and sadly not easy ,so before you place that landing net down, check and check again, you'll thank me after.

It's been my pet hate for a while but during our lockdown walks out an about with the Wife and kids, they are firmly on my side, it cannot continue like this, it's getting worse, much of it in plain sight,  those poo bags on display for all to see.

What's all that about, who knows? It's just illogical. By tying 'poo' up in a plastic bag and then hanging it up, it sort of acknowledges responsibility. But the 'poo' takes far longer to biodegrade.

Some sort of modern art thing going on ? or a particular good one done by ones pungent and disease riddled toothpaste squeezer, needs to be proudly exhibited to highlight its near bag breaking almightyness ?

Maybe a poo displayer could explain?

Or is there one group within society where fingers could be pointed.

Could it be the mainly old with weak arms, aiming to sling it onto the ground beyond the trees, clearing the branches, but no longer have either skill or strength to do so, as their Daley Thompson days are over....?

Or could it be the ones that you see only the failures and the majority out of sight of mind....?

Then again I don't think it's that because there is one particular ditch on this stretch where no exaggeration, there are hundreds and hundreds of the poo parcels, different coloured bags too, so one would assume it's not the same (person).

Now it doesn't help to try and avoid being tainted it's dark down this neck of the woods, the banks either side high and therefore the sun rarely penetrates the waters surface. That's one of the reasons why the Zander like it here, their eyesight better than their counterparts, one-upmanship if you will.

So how can the lazy be educated so that we can enjoy public spaces in their best light.

Could there be a solution, an answer to stop all of this ? Some ambient light to help me see ones dipping floats ?

Well humans have used animal dung as fuel since the neolithic period, and have known how to get flammable gas from decaying organic matter since the 17th century. 

Small-scale anaerobic digesters are commonplace in many developing countries, while larger plants producing heat and electricity from animal manure and human sewage have long been used in the west.

Now methane has been used before for light generation but the Malvern Hills had the UK’s first dog poo-powered street lamp, and it is generating light in more ways than one.

Inventer Brian Harper went the whole hog and built his own. The idea seems simple enough, dog walkers after being supplied free paper bags deposit the product of a hearty walk into a hatch and turn a handle to get the process to work.

The contents are then broken down by microorganisms in the anaerobic digester, producing methane to fuel the light, and fertiliser.

Of course, poo from different breeds of dog is suited to powering different types of electric light.

Things Grow Big Down Here

For example, a large poodle is best for a standard lamp, floodlights call for water spaniels, and dalmatian droppings are ideal for spotlights. To safely power a gas lamp though, corgis are always recommended, Or the full lightshow you'll be fine with a Lurcher.

Down here just a couple of sausage dogs would suffice !!!! A mere amber hue would be all it would take to stop doing a double take to quash that premonition that appears to be walking down the towpath.

Talking about an amber hue, for this session apart from smelt on one rod after a delivery of my favourite bait for canal Zander, on the other rod I'd dyed some roach yellow for some added attraction, these were reasonable sized baits too.

Roving to start but then as the light was starting to go I wanted to be positioned in one particular swim which is a man made transitional route takes fish from one area to another. I rarely blank here and some sessions around this area can be quite hectic but there are some good fish to be had hence the nasties that need to be overlooked.

When the rivers were in flood I fished here a couple of times in to dark, but the water was cold then, Zander like some warmth to get them moving unless you drop a bait on their heads of course, then a bite will invariably happen.

Anyway back to to the session, it was very warm in the day reaching 24 degrees in the day ans still warm when I rocked up at 7.00pm.

The first half the session was roving from cover to cover away from the main area I'd target in to dusk.

Here in the past before the cover was thinned back in a couple of sessions I can recall I'd had multi runs and caught multi fish all from the same bit of cover. 12 fish in an hour and a half the best once you drop on a shoal. However two hours in, not even a dropped run.

Down from here though a very sheltered area where sunlight doesn't penetrate so for me having caught some nice Zander from here already, this is where potentially a big'un would be hiding out, it's got that feel about it too.

The boat track has a nice depth as well, deep enough for a good fish to hide. But sadly time passed quickly with motionless floats, dusk hit, bats flying around and with floats difficult to see I decided to end the session with a blank.