22nd Jan - Kennet and K&A canal.

Got back out for a short stint on the river before going home via the canal for a couple of hours perching at dusk.

Visited another new stretch to me, just upstream of one that I'd fished previously, with the boundaries separated by a busy road bridge.

I walked the short stretch with the intention of fishing as I have been recently... baiting a number of swims with mashed bread and fishing for 15mins with either a feeder or light link-ledger over the top. Unfortunately the stretch turned out to be very shallow and the only swims that looked worth a shot produced nothing. It looked much more of a trotting water to me so I headed back to the car to get my float rod and pin. Upon reaching the road bridge I decided to roll a piece of flake around the slightly deeper but very fast water, and first chuck I had a tentative pull that resulted in a hooked fish. As if to emulate the events of my last session this thing took off using the fast water to its advantage and making a mockery of my chub gear. With no idea what I'd hooked again I followed the fish downstream and got it into the slacker water close to my bank where I quickly regained control. A minute later and up pops a small barbel which was bundled into the net before it got a chance to get back into the flow. A quick weigh for curiosities sake showed a weight of 6lb 5oz.. a very welcome surprise.

Bread is proving to be a very versatile bait for me this winter.. the last 3 bites have all hooked different species.. chub, carp and barbel.

Time was getting on by this point so I grabbed my gear and headed off to the canal to meet the old man and spend the witching hour targeting the perch. Conditions looked good and we both enjoyed pretty steady action until it was too dark to see the floats, with me taking the biggest at 2.3lb.