CONFIDENCE TRICK

      As obsessive lure fishermen our mantra was always that 'confidence was the best colour in the box'. It still is and although we are no longer flicking plastic about on the canals these days, it is equally true of our bait fishing. Somehow, today's choice of location has just never produced for me. I've lure fished it and never seen a fish. I've had minimal success and two blanks deadbaiting there and caught next to nothing on bait either. However it is easy access, has wide towpaths and is an attractive place to be on a warm and sunny, late August, morning so we went back.

     With not much hope of anything decent coming my way, I opted to simply try and save the blank and maybe, just maybe, put a little confidence in the bank for the future. To that end I opted to fish the whip, in my case a Jap pole, and maggots. Pete was going to the tackle shop so I badgered him for a mixed half pint of reds and fluoro pinkies. He must be so pissed off with me because I used about twenty of them and gave the rest back. Through desperation really, I put in a good handful of dendros at the last minute; probably the only thing I got right all day.

     Despite arriving with a surplus of optimism, it only takes me ten minutes without a bite for the glass to begin draining. The maggots did eventually catch me one small Perch but then the size and quality began to decline. I don't mind catching tiddlers but 1" is below even my size limit and Roach or not it would take more than that to top up my enthusiasm account. I dobbed some chop in and switched to the worm on the hook. Slowly the bite-rate increased and I was able to spend the morning trying to better understand the bites. Strike too soon and there was nothing there; delay too long and unhooking was a gynaecological nightmare.

     I did alright in the end but the biggest we had between us was barely 6 ounces. For all that, I have some positivity banked for our next visit. There are very few stretches of canal that do not hold decent fish these days and now I'm positively enthusiastic to get back. Maybe a tiny feeder across to the liles along the far shelf might draw something bigger to my bread. Yes, that'll do; I haven't fished bread in ages. That's decided then, bread it is; and maybe a few worms in case I need to keep the tip moving. I'm nothing if not indecisive these days.