Pat Regan: Roach, Perch, the Old Vintage Gear, and Tortilla Wraps...

I managed to grab a few pleasant hours out on the old cut (local canal) recently.

Humans were scarce out there and all I had was my old lovat pipe and a bit of Condor ready rubbed for company. The sky was heavy and it looked rather stormy. Nonetheless, the cool breeze ruffling the water's surface ensured that the rain stayed away.

A kestrel whizzed past over the far bank reed beds looking for her lunch and a stoat rushed out of the hedgerows, did a mad dance, spotted me, then shot back in.

Above: the crazy stoat dance. I kicked myself for not having my superzoom camera with me but at least I managed to catch the little guy in action.

I recently made myself some small roach floats and was eager to try them. For bait I had a small bag of bread slices and a few out of date tortilla wraps.

Above: Bakelite reel and Spanish reed rod that I have used for 60 years.

I found a quiet spot out of the wind behind a lines of sloe bushes and before long the bites developed. Half a dozen roach later I changed to using a small worm on a number 18 hook.

Wandering along the bank I soon started catching some spritely perch. Nothing very big but great fun on the old Spanish reed rod with ancient Bakelite centrepin. What’s more, my new floats were working perfectly and showing every movement, as the fish eagerly hit the bait.

Above: Small striped wonder. The beautiful British perch.

After about 6 or 7 fish I reached into my wicker creel and saw the tortilla wraps. Without further ado, I attached a small, folded strip of this Mexican delight to the hook and cast out.

To my surprise, the roach loved this bait and took if more enthusiastically than the bread or worms. In fact, the best fish of my brief yet enjoyable 13 fish canal session was caught on the wrap.

Most of the fish turned out to be lovely roach yet one or two gave the impression of possessing a bit of rudd parentage too. Some fish along this stretch also display bream crossed with roach traits as well.

Above: bright fish on a dull afternoon.

Incidentally, during my session when I was bobbing the worm for perch, a mystery fish turned up.

The little 3 inch float rushed under the surface and I saw a silver flash at my feet in the water. The fish, which I estimated to be about 2 feet long, stripped line off the old centrepin and then threw the hook. The size and shape suggested it was not a perch and it appeared far too silver to be a pike. It's sleek appearance and behaviour in fact reminded me of a rainbow trout attack, yet nothing like that exists herein.

In many ways this is the great attraction of angling. One never really knows what will turn up unexpectedly and every water has its mysteries!