A thick fog greeted me on the day of our test fish, car packed with flask food, rucksack/seat and rest of the tackle I made my way to the meeting point. A couple were there before me and we had a quick walk down to take a look at the canal. With the fog beginning to lift we were not happy to see that the colour that had previously been in the canal had gone and you see right across the canal through the gin clear water. Things were not looking good!

When we all arrived I set off and walked about 600 yards up the canal around a bend and stopped in the middle of a straight with hawthorn bushes opposite.

It did not look good when I found I only had about 2 1/2 feet of water at the deepest but I thought I had to give it a go.

.

A couple of pinkies were catapulted out and a single red maggot on a 22 to 0.07mm soon joined them in the crystal clear water. To cut a long story short after two hours only two of us remained and I decided to have a walk further down the canal in case it showed any signs of life other than newts and ducks! Half a mile later I decided enough was enough- the water was devoid of anything resembling a fish with the bottom clear all across and of a similar depth, no where near the 4 1/2 feet we had been told. Apart from disturbing a couple of water voles there was no activity and the most telling thing was that there was no sign of any kingfishers. In this area, if there are fish, there are kingfishers in residence. Walking back I packed my stuff up and made my way back constantly looking for a sign of a fish – nado!

As a water it was ideal apart from the depth and no fish!