.....as the great French mind-angler Rene Dust-carts once said.

I wondered whether to report on my latest blank, and decided that, if I didn't, you might think I no longer exist.

Well I haven't caught much this winter - a mixture of other commitments, minor back trouble, and of course downright (and totally undeserved) bad luck! I've chucked a few spinners, impaled a few lobworms, caught one or two roach and perch, but nothing really worthy of comment. Yesterday was a typical example. The back was playing up a bit, so I went to a perch bush for a couple of hours before dusk. Nice warm day, so despite the clear sky I hoped the rise in temperature would bring the Sergeant out to play. Ledgered with long drop bobbin. Not a touch. The problem, I guess, was that the canal water temp was only 5degC still - and the clear sky.

But despite all this I have not failed to read the exploits of certain other local anglers on AN. People have asked me 'Why are you wandering about dribbling and grunting incoherently, staring blankly into space?' Why indeed? It's the imagination, folks, the imagination of monsters!

But I'm still here, and planning .................