A day to fish, and with heavy showers and winds forecast I chose the south bank of Knotts, being protected as it is by the banking of the canal behind.

At one point I thought I saw bubbles in the next swim, but there turned out to be furry yellow  pussy willow catkins being blown into the water from the trees behind.

Nothing was interested in legered baits all day, be it pellet, method feeder, pop-up, bread or corn, so I set up a second rod with float and size 18 hook and the pint of maggots i generally carry for tough days. Fishing less than two rods out, and feeding the occasional nugget of liquidised bread, I caught twenty roach, which turned a wet and rubbish day into a fun one. With five between six and eight ounces, it was more than the plague of tiddlers and I plan to return of an evening to see if there are any proper big ones.