SHELL COMPANY; REPTILE NIGHT ON THE NORTH OXFORD.
Mornings are my time of day but I have an unrequited urge to catch a decent eel and to that end evening's are becoming an occasional thing for me. An added bonus is that I get to meet up with George who is not only good company to fish with but is also guilty of adding petrol to the fire. It was he who messaged me after having spoken to somebody who had quietly been catching eels from the local canals for many years. It was the final line that caught my imagination, "..the only rule us that you can catch them anywhere".
So far my experience is that I can't catch them anywhere. In fact my efforts up to now suggest that Terrapins are easier to catch than eels! In fact I'm beginning to think I might be Bob Mortimer's love child because my angling life has a habit of becoming pretty surreal at times. As I'd set off for the three hundred yard trek to the chosen spot I could see a woman acting rather strangely in the distance. Normally the only people you see standing around with their back to the canal staring at the bottom of the hedge are gentlemen of a certain age with bladder issues.
As I got closer all became clear, she was taking her tortoise for a walk, of course she was. A splendid, substantial creature, it was, is; thirty years old but I resisted the temptation to ask how old it was when they'd set off for their walk. One thing I have learned about canal fishing is that nothing need surprise you. All of life is there, even the stuff you'd never thought of. I should have known that more was in store.
Having eventually set out my stall for the fish that no one wants to catch, it was inevitable that a barge would come chugging around the corner and I'd have to wind the rods in again. No matter, once it had passed I dropped one bait back into the far margin up against reeds and an overhanging tree, and the other bang in the middle of the canal, hopefully into the channel. All that was left to do was wait; probably for another small Zander or even more likely, the crayfish to find my dead Roach.
Surely, the channel rod is showing signs of life I thought. Despite the boat digging it out not ten minutes before, the tip was oscillating gently down and up again. At first I thought it was caused by heavy ripples from the nearby swans but even after they'd died away, it continued. There was something strange about it though. Zander inevitably move off and crayfish tend to give stop-start indications until the bait is gone and the twitches stop.
Whatever, there was definitely life at the end of the line so I gently held the line for a while to confirm it before winding down. The fight was a bit odd, it never swam off but there was no thumping in the rod tip and no force pulling back, the line cutting the water just wandered this way and that before... a very large Terrapin surfaced and slid into the net! For those who've never caught one let me tell you they are impossible to unhook if there is no metal showing. Their jaws are immovable and they swallow their own heads back inside their shells and block all access with their front legs. Inevitably the line went at the hook and I had to release it with the jewellery unrecovered.
It wasn't the only thing I caught, I had a huge, 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough' crayfish as well, bringing my tally of catches in pursuit of canal eels to three; a Zander, a Terrapin and a Crayfish.
So far my experience is that I can't catch them anywhere. In fact my efforts up to now suggest that Terrapins are easier to catch than eels! In fact I'm beginning to think I might be Bob Mortimer's love child because my angling life has a habit of becoming pretty surreal at times. As I'd set off for the three hundred yard trek to the chosen spot I could see a woman acting rather strangely in the distance. Normally the only people you see standing around with their back to the canal staring at the bottom of the hedge are gentlemen of a certain age with bladder issues.
As I got closer all became clear, she was taking her tortoise for a walk, of course she was. A splendid, substantial creature, it was, is; thirty years old but I resisted the temptation to ask how old it was when they'd set off for their walk. One thing I have learned about canal fishing is that nothing need surprise you. All of life is there, even the stuff you'd never thought of. I should have known that more was in store.
Having eventually set out my stall for the fish that no one wants to catch, it was inevitable that a barge would come chugging around the corner and I'd have to wind the rods in again. No matter, once it had passed I dropped one bait back into the far margin up against reeds and an overhanging tree, and the other bang in the middle of the canal, hopefully into the channel. All that was left to do was wait; probably for another small Zander or even more likely, the crayfish to find my dead Roach.
Surely, the channel rod is showing signs of life I thought. Despite the boat digging it out not ten minutes before, the tip was oscillating gently down and up again. At first I thought it was caused by heavy ripples from the nearby swans but even after they'd died away, it continued. There was something strange about it though. Zander inevitably move off and crayfish tend to give stop-start indications until the bait is gone and the twitches stop.
Whatever, there was definitely life at the end of the line so I gently held the line for a while to confirm it before winding down. The fight was a bit odd, it never swam off but there was no thumping in the rod tip and no force pulling back, the line cutting the water just wandered this way and that before... a very large Terrapin surfaced and slid into the net! For those who've never caught one let me tell you they are impossible to unhook if there is no metal showing. Their jaws are immovable and they swallow their own heads back inside their shells and block all access with their front legs. Inevitably the line went at the hook and I had to release it with the jewellery unrecovered.
It wasn't the only thing I caught, I had a huge, 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough' crayfish as well, bringing my tally of catches in pursuit of canal eels to three; a Zander, a Terrapin and a Crayfish.
Great post Eric and congrats 🥂 on the PB 🤣
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