After the debacle of Boddington I managed a short session on the canal at the Magpies on the last day of March. I ended up taking the pole and the Bowood box as I was intending to fish chopped worm. On arrival the short term moorings were almost empty but the rest of the pound was being used although I did manage to get a spot about 25m past the bench where there was a 20m gap between boats. I set up with a 6-8 hollow elastic (Chinese approx 1.6mm) and opted for a 1g Paster float on a 0.12mm mainline to a 0.10mm hook length holding an 18. Two balls of groundbait with chopped worm were cupped in and I started on double maggot which resulted in 4 small roach. A swap to worm for the rest of the two hour session sees me pick up 15 skimmers, 8 roach, 2 perch and a rudd for a 3-03 total. Several bites missed with them just hanging on to the end of the worm and one good fish pulled out of within 3 seconds, probably a better perch.

I returned a week later this time just with the whip and stool for a very short session (10:05 to 11:40), fishing 50m past the wooded steps with my usual 5.4m whip set up. This time I did not take any worm, instead concentrating on white maggot over an initial two balls of groundbait. The session started with a run of roach then the skimmers moved in, ending up with 11 roach, 11 skimmers and 4 rudd for a 2-02 total.

Moving on 6 days I decided to go to Rowde for a change, if I could park, as the lay-by is often full, with a back up plan of continuing on to the Magpies if needed. As it turned out there was plenty of room and even more surprising was there was nobody fishing on the left of the bridge at the foot of the Caen Locks. This was a new section for me so armed with the whips and stool I decided to give it a go.

Plumbing up I found I had a lot more depth than the Magpies – about 4 to 4.5 ft. Fishing the same rig as before I started with two balls of groundbait with chopped worm then I had a quick roach or two on maggot before losing 5 on the bounce. This led me to go up to a 16 as I think the fact I was sitting quite high of the water was having an effect. I began alternating between worm and double white maggot and was getting plenty of bites but missing a lot more than usual. I lost a couple of skimmers at the net as I had only got the short travel handle that lives with the whips and It was only just reaching the water. I hooked into a much larger fish that felt like a proper slab of a bream only for it to pull out when almost at netting distance – the bream and skimmers do seem to have softer mouths. Anyway I fished from 10:10 to 12:05 and ended up with 6 roach, 21 skimmers and 2 perch for a 3-10 total.

Only one post this month as I leave for China on the 29th and return on 6th May, so will do a longer piece then!