Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.62

With garlic emanating from every pore, orifice and leakage it was time to give the Wife some rest bite. She'd put up with it overnight bless her where the impromptu four different curries eaten the evening before were garlicky and then some, they were off the charts, as was the audible aroma. 

The couple of pints of Old Peculier added to the fumigation requester, and the huge naan breads didn't dumb down the emissions. Thankfully the Bailiff of Warwick who joined us for a pint beforehand was unware what the consequences would be to the town a few hours later as he might have had me in the stocks. 

Now I am quite sure that anyone who wishes to become a first class angler should begin by acquiring the art of fishing with the float. Floats are wonderful little things, once you understand them - and the fish. That little float sitting on the surface shows you the unseen. There you are, sitting well back from the water when, suddenly, it bobs and twitches. 

One second you are sitting easily, relaxed - and the next, you are tense, your hand drops to your rod butt, you hold the slack line and you are faced with the problem of judging the right second to make the strike. You must not make a mistake. A split second too soon, a split second too late-and no fish!

Of course, when you go home you can tell everyone the story of the fish that got away, but this is not very satisfactory and no one will believe you. We anglers have a lot to put up with, one way and another, for, apart from the weather, we come in for a lot of Micky taking. I had a birthday card sent to me last year and on it were the words from 'The Angler's Prayer'

'Lord give to me
to catch a fish 

so big that even

I, in telling of 

it to my friends,
shall have no need
to lie'

I wonder if we are inclined to stretch only a little the size of that fish we almost landed? But no matter. We can take a bit of leg-pulling for we have something a non-angler can never enjoy. We know that strange and wonderful magic of the unseen life in smooth waters running through green fields, the peaceful hours interspersed with keen excitement. Let me set the scene. 

We sit back, watching and waiting, on a warm summer day. Above us the sky is blue, around us cattle graze in daisy-dotted grass or seek the shade of spreading trees in full leaf, and bees hum about the pink dog-roses. 

Perhaps a kingfisher, russet gold and dazzling blue, skims upstream. There goes breath-taking beauty. The king- fisher, the honest fishing bird, has his own stretch of water. He never poaches his neighbour's territory. And quite likely, standing in shallow water, will be that long, spindle-shanked wader, the heron. He is a fine looking chap, but I am not sure that I like him too well. He is rather too wholesale in his fishing.

Greedy that's what he is, and crafty, too. If we watch carefully we shall see that he always faces the sun so that his shadow falls behind him. If his shadow fell in front of him no unsuspecting fish would swim within the range of his shattering beak. Shadows spell danger to any fish. Let them see a shadow, and they are off and away. 

Around our float, shimmering like jewels, dragonflies dart and hover. There are the big copper-gold ones, and the blue ones like living sapphire. Everything is peaceful until suddenly we have our first bite. There are many pleasures to be gained from fishing, but it is important for the beginner to have the right attitude. Angling is the 'gentle art', to be practised by the gentle person, doing nothing, at any time, that could cause a fellow angler the slightest bother or embarrassment. 

Now I was back with the heavy gear this time with a windbeater float fitted because the canals of late even the channel boats crossers would think twice. A smaller float just didn't cut it and to be honest fishing the bigger baits I do a larger float just seems to more suitable. 

A rather gloomy morning, literally no wind and no ripples on the surface, errrr and I had the windbeater float fitted. Oh well I couldn't be bothered to change it and got fishing.

Some bream groundbait and some mashed bread went it around 3/4's the way across and as per usual a large piece of flake on the hook. I even had the chair with me today to try and put me off moving swims as you know me, when nothing much is happening it's time for a rove.

I also had the sleeper rod next to the reeds to the right which is area I've been feeding to try and incept the carp. A yellow / white pop-up over a bed of 5 mm pellets and that rod would be left for the whole duration of the set-up rigged up to an alarm.

There was signs of fish in the swim as soon as I got there and after something grabbed the bread on the fourth cast on the drop I knew it wouldn't take long to get the first bite. Obviously I missed it me being me, but soon after I struck in to a solid slab.

It surfaced almost straight away so I knew it was a bream and after some plodding around it was soon in the net. Clear signs of bukkake, sorry spawning going on and it's nice to see bream in this area again as they have been rather absent of late.

Around three hours of fishing in total with 6 bread caught and 2 small hybrids. The bream as pictured below going 3.5lb's on the scales and gave me a proper scrap. So much so I was disappointed when I finally had it in the net.

I thought it was another big hybrid the way it fought so was amazed it was a bream when it surfaced. My heart was going ten to the dozen as I thought I had something special on the end. How wrong was I , but then that's why fishing is such a wonderful hobby.

As soon as the sun broke through the clouds the bites dried up and I decided to end the session an hour early before the towpath got busy. The water temperature is over 11 degrees now so warming up nicely. I fancy trying some other areas now having got my fix but 2 PB's amongst those many sessions I cannot complain.  

A canal tench is certainly on the radar and also a few trips to the 'hallowed' for some predators but yet again we are mercy to the weather.

It's still pretty mixed at the moment and we haven't really had much settled weather, plenty of rain which doesn't help especially when trudging the towpaths. They have been ridiculously muddy and they haven't exactly been a joy to walk down. On to the next one !!!