Another brace..with added stripes.

What do you do when it's your day off and you're intent on getting to the stillwater after them Roach but your road is closed and a dirty great road mashing machine is blocking your drive?Well you walk with your kit to the nearest fishable water.
About a ten minute walk from my home runs a small tributary of the Great Ouse.

Despite being in this handy location, until today I've never fished it.
The day was cold,grey and raining,the sort of day when even your bones get wet and because I was walking ,the brolly stayed at home.The spot I started at has a path running alongside and I have to say that it wasn't long before sniffing dogs and loud owners started to grate...I have nothing against them of course,but I'm not used to sharing my bank time with such interuptions(this is before I'd even wet a line).
I had tackled up with a feeder with red maggots(roaching gear) and had managed to get some lobworms for the size 12 hook.
That first cast,that most important cast went out to the far margin,the rain worsened and I realised my chair was hovering above a dog turd....deep joy!!
Nothing happened,the rod tip stayed still,not even a floating stick hit the line to make the old ticker miss a beat.The rain continued and I'd got to the stage where I may have been drier in the river!!The feel of the water that had penetrated my undies and the smell of dog crap was making me question my sanity....(this is where most writers put "when suddenly............").Still nothing happened.
I moved,and refilled and recast...of course I'd not brought food or a towel,oh the simple pleasures.About 1pm the rain stopped and the tip snatched around resulting in a "Julian" thats a Bream to you but they do look like their name is Julian and I'm told there's a guitarist called Julian Bream.

The rain re-started and after another hour of nothing I moved again.I cast between a snag and an overhanging tree and immediatly got a bite and was into a fish,as I was playing it the rain stopped and a shaft of sunlight fell on me for the first time today.

After a spirited battle a rather nice "footballer",or Perch was in the net and I weighed it at 2lb 4oz...then something happened that had never happened before...I asked a passing dog walker to take a picture of me holding the fish and was met with a firm refusal,maybe I looked dodgy all wet and bedraggled,anyhow the fish was photographed in the net and returned.

I have found over the years that Dick Walkers advice to"first find your fish"is a very valuable piece of info because within ten minutes I had another fine "footballer" of 2lb 13oz on the bank.

Out of the glare of the now full sunlight came a sight that I never tire of,that flash of blue of a fellow fisher,the Kingfisher,the day had turned into a fine one.Of course this most beautiful of birds was scared off by a passer-by who hadn't seen it,nor probably cared to.
I had one last cast for another Julian before resting on my laurels and trudging home,wet but happy with my two braces,bream and those mint Perch.