May is the month when you really feel that Spring is here and Summer's not far behind. The leaves are fresh on the trees and everywhere is smothered with blossom. Good-to-be-alive month, this though and there are glimmers of hope from time to time with the weather being nice, which makes a change from it being rubbish. These pictures from my regular WFH walk where I'm lucky to be able to get out in the open countryside 5 mins walk from my front door.
It's the month when the dyed-in-the-wool coarse angler should get himself sorted out, ready for next season. Mend or replace any worn or damaged tackle; check the catalogues for the latest additions; check that his fishing outfit is in good repair, that his wellies haven't or that mice aren't nesting in them. perished.
Oh and and renew his club membership, it's no use waiting until the second week in June, when club secretaries are working around the clock to send out membership certificates and by which time the lists may have closed anyway. For the game fisherman, May is a really magic month, with hatches getting more frequent and prolific.
Novice or cack-handed trout men can look forward to the period in late May or early June when the mayfly hatch is on the water and the fish are feeding as if there's no tomorrow. Duffers' Fortnight, it's known as. For a couple of weeks, so it's said, the veriest duffer cannot fail to catch fish.
In the main it's true, and the most gormless and ham-fisted can stock up with enough stories, suitably embroidered, to last him the rest of the season.
On some waters, however, Duffers' Fortnight can be affected by the application of Sod's Law, which decrees that the trout are scoffing some other insect which is hatching in quantity at the time and ignoring the mayfly. This has been known to lead to mass outbreaks of hysteria, alcohol poisoning, wife-beating and cat-kicking.
Anyway to the fishing, with my mum to go and visit after working from the office, it would be rude not to have a dabble for canal zander wouldn't it especially when the spot I caught a
8lb 9oz fish from the other day, was only a slight detour on the way home.
As someone who spends a lot of time sat behind a CAD machine sat on my backside these trips are a must to keep me sane to be honest. I'd definitely struggle with life if I didn't get my much needed fishing fix. My blog is a testament to that I suppose, little and often, because long and drawn out also isn't for me, each to their own though, to be honest I'm a bit jealous of the time.
Talking of which I've managed to watch two decent movies this week, 'Late Night With the Devil' and 'Monkey Man'. The first a horror that is something a little different from the humdrum where In 1977 a live television broadcast goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation's living rooms.
Then the 2nd A young man ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he's beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, he discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city's sinister elite.
As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.
So back to the fishing well after hot footing it to the area to fish the amount of surface crud I knew was going to be a pain in the backside.
The bit of canal no matter what time of day you fish has surface tow and when it goes back and forth that debris can start to gather on the loop of line.
The way to get round this is barbel style when fishing river in flood to lift as much line as you can out of the water.
It was one of the reasons why I bought it to be honest, well being EVA and also bigger than the previous bag as I was running out of space.
A few kamikaze cyclists when past this area of the Grand Union canal and a few dog walkers interesting in what I was fishing for.
"Zander ideally"
"What's a Zander ? never heard of those"
What I didn't expect was that the first fish was actually a rare pike. I can count on two hands those rare pike I catch in Bards country and this was one of those. The water is green and much clearer mind you where the pike probably deal with it better despite being in Zander infested waters.
A rather lean and skinny jack that I felt a bit sorry for. As a predators it's certainly not top dog here. With the warmer weather the water temperature had rocketed to 15 degrees which I was surprised at so I will be looking to target other species going forward, because I certainly do better for bream for example when the canals are over 13-14 degrees.
I fished every bit of cover for 15 minutes or so and nudging the bait off the bottom from time to time, however sport wasn't exactly prolific.
Despite fishing for canal zander for many a year now I never tire of seeing a float bob and move and then eventually meander down the canal, however from time to time you get a bite that after the first bob, the float literally submerges within seconds and disappears from view.
So the first Zander of the session and a waspers delight, a fish heading towards 4lb I'd imagine. A fish that I thought was much bigger from the fight, however I'm sure the warmer water helps.
I managed another schoolie soon afterwards but another hour without a bite and being bitten by gnats and with rain on the way I decided to end the session early.
So nearly two hours and 3 fish so not a bad return to be honest and it's good to see Zander back in this area because it was off my radar really, because bites we really hard to come by. With a bank holiday weekend on the way hopefully I'll get a few sessions in where Roach and Zander will be the target.
On a bit of a roll Mick
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