MODERATE PROGRESS

     This spring's slow burn is starting to show signs of life. An hour in (as so often happens), the float dipped, lifted and slipped away. The strike met with solid resistance and something heavy was plodding away on the end of my tether. It clearly wasn't a roach that had taken my breadflake but a nice male tench, hence the unseemly stubborn resistance, but hey, a decent fish is always welcome. 3-3.

     An hour later the entire scenario repeated itself but in a more dignified fashion, less dashing hither and thither. This one was female, long, thin and curiously for the time of year, not carrying any signs of spawn. All the same, it twiddled the numbers up to four pound one. Probably the biggest the Matchwinner has dealt with so far but it did so with aplomb.

     As the morning wore on the liners increased in number, the float lifting and resetting exactly as it was before. A sure sign that No1 anchor shot, just two inches from the hook, had not been moved. Eventually, however, the float lifted more purposefully and a more sullen resistance signalled the arrival of a half decent bream to round off the first warm and pleasant morning of the spring. It weighed three pounds three.