Predators, Prey and Passers-by

 I've a new pair of fingerless gloves with me today and I'm glad I've got them as the wind is funnelling its way down the canal again chilling me to the bone. It's just after 10am and I've just made my first cast hoping for a bigger inner city roach. The immediate dipping of the float lets me know that the roach are still here and they're hungry. I fail to connect with the first bite but get the second one. These roach are quite speedy and I'm conscious of playing them carefully, but quickly away from the spot where I'm getting the bites and keeping any splashing to a minimum. I try to swing this one in but it's bigger than I thought and it drops off - should've used the net. The first lesson of the day.

The roach hotspot

Bites continue and I land a couple of roach. The second one is a beautiful fish of around four ounces and I'm suddenly struck by how amazing roach look in the winter. A fish in prime condition. It's not just the metallic sheen of the shiny silver scales along its flank or even the ruby red fins that catches my eye, it's the subtle shades of blue and grey across the top of its back that really make it stand out as a creature of rare beauty. It also has the beginnings of that deepness of body that you see in bigger roach. I must have caught hundreds of roach during my time fishing but I still have that same feeling of it being a huge privilege to be the presence of such a wonderful being. They really are my favourite fish and it's probably why I spend so much of my fishing in pursuit of them. Part of it is the quest if you will to catch that elusive fish of a lifetime but most days I'm content to just see one whatever the size. A simple pleasure, but rewarding at the same time and of course there's always the chance that the special fish may turn up. That sense of optimism is somehow always there but it's a part of a much larger and complex set of reasons for being on the towpath.

I've brought some worms with me again today and have a feeling that maybe a big roach will take one. Failing that I'm still convinced there must be some perch about, maybe even a big one that will fancy an easy meal rather than chasing roach about. To boost my thoughts of perch a young lad on a bike stops and chats about fishing with me. He tells me he's been walking his dog some evenings and shining a torch into the water and has seen the many fish just sat quietly close in to the bank and on one such evening he scooped out a large perch with his landing net. Just then a 'towpath expert' appears and greets us with 'the basin up there is the best spot to fish'. I reply with 'I'm doing fine here thank you'. I generally enjoy my conversations with passers-by and have met all kinds of interesting folk and had wide ranging chats about the history of the canal, their personal memories of it and even literature but there's nothing that rubs me up the wrong way quite as much as someone telling me I'm in the wrong place or fishing in the wrong way.
 The expert then decides that showing off to the young lad is preferable to trying to impress me and soon he has his phone out looking for a photo of a large pike taken from the basin. He shows me it too. It's a fine looking fish and the lad is suitably impressed. I'm somewhat sceptical about its supposed 18lb weight as there is nothing in the picture to lend any sense of scale. The expert leaves and I ask the lad why he's not at school. Home schooling apparently so I stop worrying about truancy. A few minutes later and he wishes me good luck and leaves too.

During this time I realise that I've not caught a single fish. I reel in replace the worm with bread and cast out again. The float is pulled under violently and I'm into a what I first think is a better roach. However, it's a tiny jack of maybe half a pound and it has definitely taken the bread, of that I am totally convinced. I put him back some 25 yards along the towpath from my swim.
As I try to catch a few more roach my mind wanders and I try to imagine what is going on beneath the surface. There's obviously tremendous competition for the available food as I'm getting a bite every cast. I picture the bread sinking slowly and hordes of little roach whizzing in to take small bites of it until only a small speck remains. The fish that takes this final morsel is the one I catch.  I've not even bothered introducing any feed at all today as it seems somewhat superfluous. The roach keep coming. They're not more than a couple of ounces but it's fun and stops me noticing how cold it is.
For a bit of variety I try a worm again, fished around two thirds of the way across the canal. I let it settle for a few minutes and then twitch it slightly towards me. After the second twitch I get a really positive bite and I'm into a decent fish. The cane hoops over and I can feel the steady pull of the fish as it moves slowly to my left. It's not a perch as there is no tell tale head shaking. Slowly I began to raise the fish up to the surface towards the waiting net. It's a pike of course and it's by far the largest one I've seen here. It makes a couple of determined lunges away from me but I gradually win the battle and draw it over the net. It's a bit tricky getting it in as it is longer than the net but I manage it without any mishaps.
This is the biggest pike I've ever caught. It's still only a jack but I estimate it to be approaching five pounds. ( It was actually just over 25" long and quite chunky). As I'm unhooking it a voice intrudes on the moment. ' You were just setting up as I went past before and now you've got a fish'. It's an elderly lady that I remember saying hello to before. I'm cheeky and ask if she would mind taking a photo of me with the pike. I show her what to do with the camera and she has a couple of goes. Things don't really work out. She cuts off my head and the pictures are so blurred I could be holding anything. ' I've been having trouble with my eyes' she says as I thank her for trying. Oh for the help of a tech savvy youngster. The pike is getting angry now and I try a shot on the unhooking mat but it keeps flipping about. I eventually get the shot below. I take the fish along the bank and allow it to recover in the net before releasing it back to the depths.

 

catch of the day

It's turning into a funny day. A mixture of predator and prey. I start to imagine the canal as something like the Cruel Sea. The roach are the merchant ships crossing the Atlantic with the ever hungry pike the deadly U Boat pack preying on them. Of course the roach have only their wits to protect them as there is no Compass Rose on the canal.
I catch a couple more roach and another jack of around 2lbs on a worm before the cold, and the need to answer a call of nature get the better of me and I head home. I'm really enjoying these short sessions on this stretch of canal and next time I think I may move further along towards the basin and see what treasures it holds. After I am meant to be exploring the canal and although this spot has provided plenty of entertainment I'm beginning to feel restless.