Time well spent

Saturdays are days for bartering and trading. I spent the early hours sat with a cup of tea scanning Ebay for cheap soft lures and some braided line. Then, I opened negotiations with the Fishing Permission Officer. A promise of an afternoon to be spent shopping at the Trafford Centre earned me 2 hours fishing time before lunch. Married life is bliss. 

With no time to waste, I stashed a rod and a bag of bits in the Bongo (Advanced Fishing Transportation Vehicle for the uneducated), and headed for a stretch of canal I've not fished for a while. 

On arrival, with I unlclipped the lure from the keeper ring, flicked it down the margin, turned the reel handle once, and bang - a perch was hooked. First blood to a black and green 2" curly tailed grub.

I was immediately relaxed. So now, all I had to do was get into my routine.

Lure fishing on the canal is moving from new and exciting, to becoming familiar and predictable. This is no bad thing. With no other predators that will readily take a lure present, realistically, I am looking at catching small perch, with the outside chance of a pike having a go. So, the routine involves slowly walking along the canal, jiggling and twitching lures along the edge in the places which look right.

Also, rather than cover every inch of canal, I am moving on much more quickly. Find a feature - fish it - move on. This way I cover more canal, and get to see more stuff.  Areas around bridges warrant the most attention. Next is anything which overhangs the nearside bank. Little alder saplings are the best, as their roots dangle in the water, and usually serve as a home for a hungry perch.

 
And so that is how it went on. I covered the distance between a couple of bridges, and lost myself in the canal and the moment.

What I cant show you here, is the wonderful sights, sounds and smells of autumn - the kingfisher which landed on an overhanging branch opposite me, and flew off before I had chance to pull out my camera;  the shrew which ran across the towpath, pausing to take an inquisitive look at the strange man leaning over the edge of the canal (me);  the sparrowhawk trying to nail long-tailed tits along the hedgerow; and the wonderful smell of wood-burning stove coming from the moored-up canal barge.

I ended up with half a dozen perch, and a smile on my face.  No lost lures (that's a first!) and no pike activity. On the way home, I dropped by that pond again, and had a quick few casts in every swim, but to no avail. I am not sure there are even any perch in there. And so now for the shopping...