Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.38

Now the little Jimny surpassed 20,000 miles this week and to be honest there isn't much to report. It's a few months off 3 years old and nothing has gone wrong, nothing has dropped off and despite it's flaws, well compared to modern cars, it still puts a smile on my face.

To be fair ownership has not gone without incident as around 6mths in to it a 'lady' with her family present decided to change lanes at the last minute at a roundabout and drove in to the side of it. I should have known something was amiss when after parking up to assess the damage she stayed in her seat to let her husband deal with the pranging predicament. 

I thought it was due to her being the size of a small continent and that mobility issues may well have been an issue.

And that maybe a jemmy might well have been required to tease her away from the steering wheel, but no come the insurance claim, yeap you guessed it surprise surprise she had received whiplash from the accident, this an accident she caused remember. On purpose ? quite possibly !!!

The shunt was at low speed, and to the untrained eye you wouldn't have thought mine anyway was in an accident at all, small marks to the alloy wheel and a slight cuff on the plastic side skirt and wheelarch, their car, well the bumper was hanging off at the corner and a broken headlight lens and that was about it.

Anyway to cut a long story short I stuck to my guns and was quite prepared to go to court and even after I rejected the 50/50 offer (I didn't claim) after 18 mths or so. So after all the rigmarole she didn't like the thought of standing in-front of a judge and withdrew her claim, and returned to the dark cave full of pizzas from whence she came. 

Now the key with all cars like this, you know the ones that won't pull the skin off a rice pudding and with brick aerodynamics is momentum. So even despite the roof rod holders adding to its coefficent of drag, once its up to speed on the country lanes I most drive its surprisingly efficient fuel wise. 

To be fair the notable difference was when the engine loosened up which counteracted the chunkier tyres I've subsequently fitted. Drive the Wifes PHEV 400hp XC90 back to back it really feels like they comes from completely different eras as that barely needs any throttle to make swift progress, but given the choice for a fishing trip, the Jimny keys would be picked up every single time. 

Now talking about momentum I was back, back to the scene of yesterdays soirée but this time ones curfew time was non existent and I had beefier tackle to try and find out what the heck gave me the middle finger. Nic decided to join me bankside too as he'd fished this area before and wanted in on the solitude, but also the chance of a few bites. 

Were they up for a munch like they were yesterday ?

Errrrrr, well not quite, to be honest get the excuses in early but compared to 24 hours earlier the weather couldn't have been more different. Bright sunshine rather than overcast and some heavy showers in the day must have cooled the water.

Now as I said the whip was changed to a float rod using the same size 16 hook but some missed bites 15 minutes in to the session I wondered what the heck I was doing wrong.

Only a dinky float as well, 8cm's or so and a few bb to cock it correctly. I must have missed 5 or 6 bites I reckon, hmmmmmmmmm

Anyway Nic arrived and fortunes were better for him as after lots of thumb twirling and probably wondering if I'd been exaggerating on ones successes yesterday out of the blue he had a bite.

A decent canal bream too at 4lb and 5 ounces which gave him the run around initially charging off like a hybrid, then realising he was a bronze bream after all. 

Nic added 2 further bream to his tally and I was wondering what the heck I was doing wrong. No roach, no hybrids, 24 hours can really make a huge difference on this canal and others for that matter.

Still dusk was on the way and I was hoping when the sun went down behind the trees things would pick up for me. The sleeper method feeder rod had a couple of decent pulls by this time so I decided to pack that away and concentrate on the float. 

Then 'A Bite, Nic, a BITE !!!!'

I spoke too soon though as a few seconds in to the flight I knew it was foul hooked and a couple of rolls the bream escaped the hook. Still at least I knew there was bream in the swim.

It didn't take long for the next bite thankfully and a 2lber after a scrappy fight was in the net. His mate decided he wanted in on the maggots too not long after.

So a slimy couple of bream as blank savers. Nic's swim had gone dead by this time. A tough session I must admit, but then not a blank and just goes to show don't take things for granted on these natural venues, but then that's why I like fishing them, no day is the same.