I had fancied a float session on the canal for a while hoping it would now be on form having been sketchy all spring. However on arrival I noticed my pre planned spot (tucked away in the bushes on Boxmoor) to be gin clear and bottom visible more or less all the way across, no fish could be seen at all and even the surface was lifeless. I gave it half an hour of watching my maggots drift aimlessly through the clear weedy water before moving on.
No silvers could be seen anywhere before I noticed a shoal of a dozen bream milling about on the surface. I threw in some of the old bread I had left in my bag which seemed to illicit some movement, so on went a piece squeezed on to my size 18 the best I could, just to see if said activity was fish hurrying away or unable to resist the temptation of bread well past it's sell by date. I of course hoped for the latter.
The float dips I miss, re bait and connect second time round with one that twisted and turned giving a decent account of itself like canal bream do. I knew this was likely to be a hard day so I was happy to have mugged a good fish early on, a nice looking bream too.
I was right to be sceptical although I hadn't envisaged a couple of hours of walking and catching nothing after the bream. The water was clear and even the odd boat failed to colour it up for long, very few fish could be seen topping and the my float and bait remained untroubled by any fish. So much for a sit down, catch a dozen roach or perch sort of morning.
Trying a spot on the way back to the car I was pleasantly surprised to hit into a chub which I was desperate not to lose in the snags, like the bream it cheered me up no end, a scale perfect chubby chub, glistening beautifully in the sun.
Then a cormorant surfaced right in front of me making me jump, no doubt the reason for the absence of silvers, there's always been cormorants over winter here but I suppose all it takes is one too many and the balance can be catastrophic.
Fortunately the chub here were far too large for avian predators and the next one was much bigger than the first with an even more hectic tussle.
At just under 5lb it would be a quality fish for the upcoming river season and it really made a potentially bad day good, also a bonus was how lucky I was that the hook held.
I bumped one further chub but couldn't bemoan my luck, the sun was bright and a howling downstream wind made for low expectations especially with the silvers all missing. I did endeavour in this spot managing a chublet, small perch and a bleak to add to the three larger fish.
The walk back saw a few small fish spotted below a lock which was spilling out water, I hope they were all in the current there breeding but I am worrying about the canal this year. It was a poxy total today but some quality fish so I'm very grateful that my local knowledge was able to help me dig out a few good ones, to make the best of a challenging morning.
