A TANNER'S WORTH?

 
     With a view to better exploring margin fishing on the canal, I had considered reverting to the black stuff and fishing the near bank with a w

hip. I confess that I would probably have used the top three or four sections of one of my cane poles in preference to that soulless horror but I cannot deny that it crossed my mind until I remembered that I already have three cane whips standing idle.

     Back in the fifties wannabe pole anglers who could not afford the real thing would often make do with a sixpenny or Jap pole. Obviously they were cheap, Japanese imports and their price was reflected in the corners that were cut to get them to market. I say corners were cut but that is a little unfair, they can be well made but they all lack the trimmings that the likes of Sowerbutt's had perfected when building their more up-market masterpieces.

     For a start there are no ferrules, each section being simply tapered in order that it may be wedged into the section below. The whippings were notable for their absence. They bore no decoration, the only thread used being comparatively coarse and restricted to binding the female joints for about four or five inches to prevent splitting. This end of each section was painted red and the corresponding male taper, black.

 
     Probably the most obvious difference is that the nodes were not fettled and smoothed out leaving the pole looking exactly as nature intended, knobbly, cranky and only as straight as 5 minutes work over a small flame would allow. The tip in particular was very fine and zig-zagged its whole length from one node to the next. They were and in fact still are, much lighter than the English pole ever was but mostly used for tiddler snatching. One of these would, I felt, be worth employing on the cut. If nothing else it would be fun, and it was.

     As if to prove that expertise trumps tackle every time, Michael Nadell in his outstanding work 'Poles apart' quotes the example of the country's Champion Roach Angler of the late 1800s, Joe Woodard who out-fished all of his contemporaries using his sixpenny cane pole despite owning a quality Sowerbutt's Lea pole. He favoured it for its lightness and as he favoured fishing the near margin it suited him perfectly.

 
     A cool start then on the Ashby after days of heavy rain had coloured up the canal did not generate much enthusiasm. The fact that I had picked up the wrong pole didn't help either. This one did not have an eye at the end to tie the rig to, so I had to come up with a way of fitting the line to a thin, bare cane tip. While I pondered this conundrum, I plopped a little black groundbait in the side along with some chopped worm.

     I came up with a fix eventually, I used a twelve inch No 3 elastic tippet looped below the second node, wound it up to the tip and fixed it with three tight pieces of silicon tubing. I admit I was worried but it worked extremely well. Within two minutes of putting my float in, I had missed a bite. Within five minutes I had my first fish.

 
     My plan was to see if fishing close in would continue to catch fish after the boats started. In that respect I proved nothing. Nevertheless, I did catch eight fish including Roach to 8 oz, Bream to 1-2, and a 1-0 Perch, but the bites dried up after 45 minutes. I did bump a couple more and caught a small Hybrid at long intervals after that, but by the time the first boat came along at 9am I wasn't getting any bites at all anyway, so the effectiveness of the tactic as far as negating the effects of boat traffic, remain unproven.

     What did surprise me was how much I enjoyed using this absolutely basic piece of equipment. Nothing could be closer to the stick cut from a hedge of Isaak Walton's day but obviously the fish don't care and nothing else I can think of really would have served any better, no matter how modern or high-tec it might be. Fundamentally a carbon whip is just re-inventing the wheel in this instance and I shall certainly be re-furbishing one of these for regular canal use.

     No day by the water is ever wasted and several things have become apparent over the last few trips on the Ashby. Firstly and most worryingly, the average size of my captures has dropped considerably over the last year or two. Secondly, worms are effective for more than just Perch, in fact I was surprised to only catch one this morning but the biggest revelation of the morning was the sixpenny pole. It was very enjoyable to use, very light to handle and far more capable than I had expected, coping with fish of a pound with consummate ease. It will be getting some love and attention soon and a lot more use. Meanwhile the drive to catch despite the boats meanders frustratingly on.