Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.59

Sunday Roasts are a staple in the Newey household they always have been. It's one of those rare meals where we all sit down together at the dining table and share good food and the wife and I share a good bottle of wine or two. 

Now the secret to a good Yorkshire pudding is that you need a double oven if possible or one that is not fan assisted. The oil is heated to 240 degrees C where the cold and rested batter is shocked by the huge change in temperature. 

Now talking about change in temperature, the fish I'm sure haven't a clue what the heck is going on. The cold rain and and the considerable drop of temperature overnight if I could foresee just how rubbish the Easter holidays would have been weather wise I might have booked us on a flight to sunnier climes. 

Its not just the temperature either because there is a good reason I've been fishing the rivers for trout, and that is the wind. When the canal is flat calm fishing a float is an enjoyable experience however any chop whatsoever and the tow, oh boy the toy, it just turns it in to a horrible experience.

For this session in to dusk and beyond I fancied trying for a Zander in an area locally that I know a few have been coming out of late. To be fair Sam and I tried the other evening but there was nothing doing whatsoever. I'd have tempted to stay a little longer to be honest bur when gets cold, he goes from a kid enjoying the experience to absolutely hating it !!!

So it was just going to be me this time so I could stay as long as I wanted. With the freezer now topped up from online baits it was out with the deadbaits one a roach, the other a pimped up yellow sardine. Zander take smelt readily but there is pike here as well so I wanted to try something different as what I've been doing recently hasn't been doing me any good.

One of the floats illuminated by a torch the other is a bite activated jobbie that is usually green and flashes red when it receives a bite. I've used these before but the bite needs to be from Tyson Fury not a wet lettuce, lets just say they are not as sensitive as expected !!!

I had a float rod as well with bread as bait because towards dusk I wanted to try and winkle out a bream that reside here, at least that could save a Zander blank. 

The water temperature is creeping up slowly but the fish are still not feeding as I expect them to at this time of year. Nearly two hours in without an indication in two different swims I decided to concentrate on one swim and when the water stopped bouncing between the locks and was nice and still I decided to reel one of the deadbaits in and feed some bread mash not far off the track.

When the light started to go there was plenty of bait fish topping and then a slow bite where the float bobbed once and slowly dragged under I struck in to a solid lump.

A slow plodding fight I knew it was a bream and not a bad one for here, certainly over 3lb and the blank avoided. Another one of similar stamp literally a minute after getting the bait back out and then a 2lb hybrid half an hour later there were certainly fish in the swim.

Well I thought that, then it switched off completely and went dead, so it was out with the other deadbait and the float rod packed away would a Zander be up for a feed ?

A good three hours now with one of two deadbaits (most of the time) out not a sausage, I had a 9pm curfew imposed by myself but then with 5 minutes to go Buffalo Si from River Masters appeared from nowhere and he's been fishing not far away. 

A 20 minute catch-up with his exploits I decided to leave him to it where I know he would be fishing at least a few more hours when I had left, well probably 12 knowing him. Anyway, I woke up to a message on my phone, Absolutely nothing apparently  !!!