Back on the towpath

This morning I actually managed to squeeze in a few hours on the towpath, it's been a good few months since my last lure fishing adventure and although I awoke to howling winds and the weather forecast was looking pretty grim I was still looking forward to being out with the lure rod again.

On parking up in the lane the heavens opened and I had to resort to the waterproof jacket but was eager to walk the few hundred yards to the canal and start my first fishing trip of this winter campaign. The autumn colours of the canal and towpath are simply stunning and it was a pleasure just to stroll along flicking out a lure into the murky canal, to be fair the water was actually a little clearer than my last visit back in March and I have to say I was feeling optimistic of a bite.

 

Autumn colours on the canal

The fishing was to prove difficult with such strong winds, I was happy enough with my casting and I was managing to drop the lures into some very fishy looking spots including the area in which I caught my first ever Zed. The problem however was the amount of debris blown into the water from the continuous heavy wind, virtually every cast encountered some form of flotsam either on the line or ensnaring the lure. I'd started with a rattling crank bait but after searching various spots for a good half hour I switched to my faithful slim Jim, yet again working this lure resulted in nothing but a few windfall leaves. 

With the wind picking up by the minute I decided to pop on a soft lure to try and get down as deep as possible and search the bed of the canal for my first winter predator. Sadly all I could pick up was yet more debris, I did have one rattle on the rod which I initially put down to more sunken bank side vegetation but once the lure was back at the rod tip there were no signs of unwanted plant life and my soft lure bore a couple of scars, a quick snatch by a Zed? I'd like to hope so.

Soft lures to get down..

I could have stayed longer but I needed to get back so it was a couple of last casts and then I headed for the car and out of natures wind tunnel, it may have been a blank morning as far as fish hooked goes but it had been one of the most refreshing mornings I've had in a long time, I can't wait to put plans together for my next Lurcherfly Canal Peregrination.....