Not a nice way to start the day to discover the Duke of Edinburgh after a cracking innings and such a fulfilling and rewarding life as the Queens consort hadn't quite managed to reach his 100th birthday. With the lockdown restrictions now eased in the afternoon we visited some friends for a BBQ where the world as always is put to rights and Phil the Greek was part of the much needed adult conversation.
Some much needed normality restored and despite the cold conditions it never bothered the kids, and after a couple of burgers and handful of sausages those espresso martinis soon had us perked up and the parky weather quickly forgotten about.
What I didn't expect for this earning morning session to walk off the bulging belly was that not only was a scraping the windscreen again but soon in to the session a snow furry started and at one point it was actually sticking to the towpath.
A few more days it's the middle of April for God's sake the fish like me wondering what the heck is going on. I knew it would be tough for this session however how I managed to leave a toasty bed with a couple of rather large plump pillows and was fishing before the big hand reached 7 only ones sanity can tell you that.
The flakes were proper flakes too, some the size of 50 pence pieces !!!!
I've not checked the water temperature for a while, probably not a bad thing as I'd regret doing it, all I know is that is has certainly plummeted and is not helping me with the Zander challenge, not one iota.
There is hope though, despite the Zander laying up fending off the leeches, drop a bait on their head to wake them up from the brass monkey slumber, you can be lucky. Nearly two hours in without even a nibble despite fishing areas that do hold fish most of the time my fingers were questioning my resolve too, not jut me.
A record breaking March temperature and now back to January full on winter weather almost !!!
When conditions are a gnats nadger above freezing roving is the key to keep me motivated because eventually a fish will slip up.
Some of the swims looked ideal too and I've not fished this area for a while but usually at least one or two fish slip up here and sometimes when they are moving you can get multiple captures. I stuck with it though and eventually with only 15 minutes of the self imposed finishing time a bite came.
It came out of the blue too because I'd fished this swim at the start of the session as it's usually a banker swim but after 20 minutes there was nothing doing so I moved on, ones instincts working these time to avoid a blank.
The cast was perfect though and it kissed the overhanging tree as the roach deadbait after the underarm flick, settled exactly where I wanted it to. I knew what it was as soon as I hooked it though and the jack pike was quickly in the landing net before it wondered what the heck was going on.
These little Korum snapper dumpy floats are probably the best I've come across for canal fishing with deadbaits. Despite their small statue they are the perfect size to tackle canal Zander and offers just the right amount of casting ability.
It also means you only need a small coffin lead so the rig is very light indeed. That was the only interest I had though so not unexpected considering the cold conditions, certainly tough times and even tougher towpaths.
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