As many anglers are admiring and looking upon their new tackle that I’m sure will have been gratefully received over the festive period, there will be those who will have already tested their presents out already.
With the mild spell upon us and with the temperature as I write nearly into double figures, many will have already taken to the banks on venues all over the region.
Yes, surprisingly for December we have been lucky and although many will have always wished for a ‘white’ snow- covered Christmas again, many including myself have looked upon this warmer weather with delight.
Looking back to my canal fishing days and experiences today, sitting here, I simply can’t imagine loading my ice breaker into my kit to spend 40 minutes cutting a hole in a four inch sheet of ice for a few tiny roach and perch during a hard winter now.
However there are still many canal enthusiasts that will be eagerly willing to do so and I for one cannot dismiss anyone’s keenness, especially when looking at the mass of tackle that I and many others are laden with today within our own personal disciplines that make us work so hard.
It’s a thought, whilst sitting amongst good friends, we spoke enthusiastically about what it was like when we were youngsters.
Going to bed with a manual or Angling Times Christmas edition, to simply fall asleep dreaming of the chances of ‘just’ going fishing and carrying ‘next to nothing’ to do so.
With that and looking at what’s been happening this week on the local scene, our reflections were also mirrored as we took a walk around Carr Mill Dam on Monday.
Here, a great turnout saw many rods from all over the north west turning out for the popular Monday members match.
It was then, as I stood with a friend for a short while, that we looked upon the huge amounts of tackle that some anglers competing need to take in order to challenge, agreeing openly together that there simply are not any shortcuts towards success today.
This match on Carr Mill saw both side of this expansive water pegged on what was a damp dismal day. What we witnessed was a difficult one all round, with just odd bream taken along with a few skimmers by tip men as we walked the bank.
However just as ‘I’ get told time and time again, being prepared is essential and here Wirral’s Derek Bennett was seen being fully laden and taking
small fish ‘long’ on the pole.
Having exhausted the feeder on peg 90 on the sunnies to no avail, Bennett – having primed a peg as deep as he could find on his long pole line – switched over to take more than 150 roach at 13m and saw his effort enough to take the days honours yet again with 11.15.0.
Rounding off the year with now over 50 wins on this awesome venue over the past three years, including the lockdowns, Bennett’s preparation, dedication and certainly the amount of tackle he has available, underlined everything that we spoke about and simply what match fishing stands for today.
Happy New Year, everyone.
