🎣 Fishing the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal with Ian Clarke on blog day
It’s been a while since I’ve been on the bank with Ian Clarke; in fact he hasn’t ventured out yet this year. Until today, that is, when we met up on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal for a morning session.
The first thing we noticed was the colour of the canal. Following heavy overnight rain, it was akin to what they call ‘builders’ tea’. The other factor that was going to affect the fishing was the wind direction change, as a strong breeze blew from the north.
Ian goes through his tackle choice in the video, mine was my standard approach. I fished with a 0.8g Drennan crystal waggler, 4lb Maxima Chameleon line and a size 16 Drennan Super Specialist hook.
Casting over loose maggots, I did start with a worm, but for most of the session it was double-maggot. Ian caught the only fish of the session, a perch. Just a small one but bigger than mine.
On the nature front, a treecreeper worked its way up a common alder on the far bank. Although not seen, a mistle thrush sang from woodland beyond the swim. Likewise, a tawny owl gave out several ‘hoots’ during the session but, again, not seen.
The weeks certainly pass very quickly and its ‘blog day’ once again. That’s 22 years and 34 weeks since I posted my first entry. People who just watch the videos won’t notice any difference at all, but, those who visit the website will be aware of a slight tweak, as far as presentation is concerned.