stevetheangler

And so it came to pass on Thursday, 1st February, after almost a month, that I managed to get out to a water’s side again, this time for a short jigging session of around two hours on my local canal, the Staffordshire-Worcestershire Canal at Awbridge Farm, Wombourne which is controlled by Wolverhampton AA.

The ‘Staffie’ as it is known around this area is quite accessible to fish as most of its length from Wolverhampton to its connecting with the River Severn at Stourport is controlled by either the Wolverhampton AA or the Birmingham AA with a just couple of short stretches that are controlled by Sankey AC (members only) and Kinver Freeliners AC (day tickets available) – all-in-all a total length of over 20 miles.

So the area of today’s expedition was to Awbridge Farm, to a quiet rural stretch…

… which allowed me to fish and also stretch the legs and do a bit of exercise …

The tackle consisted of a light Okuma spinning rod (8′, 7-20g casting weight) coupled to a small Okuma reel loaded with 8lb braid main line terminated with a 30″ length of 8lb fluorocarbon … and the starting lure was a 2 inch jelly white/orange bristle worm attached via a small jig head ..

Arriving around 0745 I wandered about a mile or so along the canal – not sure of actual distance as my Xmas presented smartwatch had been forgotten and was still charging at home – casting into likely looking areas and retrieving variously as ‘sink’n’draw’ style and little jerky slow draws along the bottom – all with no result.

A mis-cast into some branches of a far bank tree saw the lure lost and replaced with a small yellow curly tail type jelly… again not a single touch was noted.

Fishing on the walk back to the car I had the misfortune to hook into what I think was probably a large submerged branch/bough in the centre of the canal – tugging to free seemed to have an effect on the snag evidenced by the muddying of the water and the rising of bubbles as gases were released from the canal bed but my line was not up to the battle and eventually I snapped. As I hadn’t got far to go to the car – and with my right calf muscle and my back starting to ache I didn’t re-tackle but headed to the car which I loaded up and then sat in the boot with a coffee.

On the way back I had to pass over the canal at Bratch Locks which has a picnic area and a small car park and so I stopped off to have a look – no-one fishing there today despite it being a popular spot – and took a couple of photos..

And so, ended my day … fishless …

PLANS

Again not sure … Monday and Tuesday of next week I have medical appointments …

The car’s side mirror that had been fixed on Monday 16th January was again a victim on Friday 20th … ‘my man’ has an order in for another new one to fit so he will be in touch when it arrives so that we can arrange a date for the fitment so another date taken from the potential fishing possibilities … and expensive at £160 a time!

So earliest I think I’ll be getting out will be next Thursday, 9th Feb.

And the club’s AGM is being held on 17th February … usually its the last Friday of February so it’s a week earlier this year … but it does still come with the usual free post-meeting buffet :)  Last year’s buffet had so much food that we had doggie bags forced on us by the caterers … and so provided our evening meals for the next couple of days! LOL!