Although my recent trip to the pool in Shropshire (check out the blog posts page) ended in a blank, I still enjoyed the visit. It’s remote and, apart from the anti-cormorant cords, is aesthetically pleasing.
However, the lines of fabric, that stretch across the pool at various places, are there for a very good reason. Funnily enough, you very quickly get used to them being there as well.
Although I didn’t catch this time either, I did see a crucian ‘top’, so that was an encouragement in itself, after my first visit was met by piscatorial death.
I did spot a brown hare as I made my way to the pool though, so I knew that whatever happened afterwards, it had already been a good evening.
As you can see from the video, I also captured the mammal on film. Considering the distance, not bad for an iPhone.
I also saw a male bullfinch in flight, while I fished, as well as listening to mistle and song thrushes as they joined the dusk ornithological orchestra.
I was in the same spot as my previous session, next to a small group of lily pads and an overhanging tree.
The shallow margins dropped off quite sharply and I fished close to the drop-off, a couple of lengths from the bank, in six feet of water.
Rod was a 12’ Greys Prodigy TX and the reel was a Shimano DL2500FA, loaded with 4lb Maxima Chameleon.
Joined by a loop-to-loop knot, there was a five feet length of Ultra Virage fluorocarbon 2.5lb line to a Drennan Super Specialist size 18 hook.
The float was a Drennan 3BB crystal waggler, with most of the shot around the float, so that the bait dropped more naturally through the water.
I fished a red maggot on the hook and loose fed the same.
On the journey home, a barn owl flew across the road near Bridgnorth. Many anglers appreciate the wider natural world that we live in, I most certainly do.