19/1/11 Tiddler Bashing!

Well not quite tiddlers actually, as we caught some really nice fish today, that would have pleased a traditional 'roach' fanatic no end.In fact,'tiddlers' proper were conspicuous by their absence.

I've been away ski-ing so it feels like an age(two weeks exactly) since I've wet a line, and it feels like even longer (eons) since I've actually caught anything.Unfortunately, the rivers are in a severe state of flood, so piking is out of the question, and the beaches are, typically for this time of year, pretty barren.

I'd have put the boat on the water today but the repaired prop has only just arrived back(superb job), and although the sea conditions were perfect , I didn't really have enough time.

Instead, Andy and me decided to visit a local farmer's pond, that I'd been told about some time ago,and re-live our youth with a bit of legitimate free fishing-a rare occurrence these days.

Half a pint of maggots(between us) and some light float gear and we had a busy couple of hours catching about thirty nice roach with a few in the region of 12oz. In typical roach fashion,bites were extremely finicky and difficult to hit, but it was fun to recharge our angling 'batteries', and hone our coarse angling skills In readiness for this year's mullet fishing.