Canal Silver Bream - Another No Show

Another morning chasing the elusive silver bream of the Coventry Canal saw an earlier arrival than I'd made for the previous session, but the same approach to the swim, which was to cast a disc of bread up the far shelf and see what, if anything, occurred. It was the same story. It sat there a minute, and then slid away. However there was no brace of silvers off the bat this time around, but the first of a succession of bronze bream.

Canal Silver Bream - Bloody Minded Fish!

Curious fish that they are, turning up in braces on consecutive casts just as often as singles out of the blue -- but for the life of me I cannot ever seem to manage a trio -- silver bream are the most infuriating fish swimming in my local canals.

This morning around 10 O'clock, I set off for the late morning feeding spell, which occurs between half past ten and half past noon in summertime, and especially in hot clear weather with bright sun, and for no earthly reason I can fathom. I was after roach, having recently had two different fish at one-pound, seven-ounces apiece from the spot where I was heading.

Angling News Week Launched - Read All About It!

Just a couple of weeks ago a new angling newspaper was launched. Angling News Week is on the shelves now, well the virtual shelves that is, because ANW is the first angling news publication purpose designed for mobile app-based consumption, which means you can subscribe, download the current issue, and read it at your leisure on your mobile device, be it smartphone, iPad, or indeed, any other computer-based, Internet-connected system, including your home PC.

Of course, ANW is primarily news based as you would expect, so the first 12 pages or so are full of what's going on in the world of angling. And the news is as current as it gets, because the man heading up ANW is ex News Editor of Angling Times and now digital publishing maestro, Steve Phillips. It also contains catch reports, tackle reviews, and everything else we expect, but, it also contains an innovation that I think angling publications have missed out on for years, because fellow blogger and cartoonist, Brian Roberts, has a strip of his excellent 'Jack's Pike' appearing in every issue.

And, I'm very proud to say that I'm appearing in it too...

Hoorah, in print at last!

My part to play in its future success is in writing pieces for one of the single page blog sections that spice up the newspaper between the more formal and technical multi-page spreads that we're all accustomed to reading in the middle of our weekly newspapers and monthly magazines. 

Appearing in ANW as a supporting act to such luminaries as Darren Cox, Duncan Charman, and Martin Bowler, is something of a shock to the system, but writing a blog section that must compare to others written by such all time greats such as Dave Harrell, a man who is recognised as one of the finest and most successful match anglers this country has ever produced, is both a tremendous privilege, and a huge challenge.

It'll be a challenge I'll relish and try my very best to live up to, though. You tell me if I don't!

You can download the first free issue as a taster, and subscribe to the following subscription issues, here ~

ANGLING NEWS WEEK

Only £1.49 per issue, and read it in the comfort of your bivvy too! Now, what could be better than that?

River Roach & Silver Bream - A Full House of Pain

Some time last week, perhaps Tuesday evening down the cut fishing with Norman, I became aware of a twinge in my leg. A kind of sharp ache in the joint between femur and pelvis. When I sat on my seat and then stood up, it would hurt a little, so I spent most of that canal session sitting on the grass. At home that night, it got a little worse and caused a restless night. By morning, My leg had seized tight and had to be manipulated out of bed, but I thought little of it. I'd overdone the exertions of trotting in a standing position off a rickety, half-submerged pallet on Sunday, and was paying now with a little muscle pain.