The last Sunday challenge had been a blank, didn't get my choice of swim, or rather my choice of hole in the weeds. But it was nevertheless worth the trip, as a kingfisher soon made his presence known, by diving and catching what looked like a tiny rudd. Several species of dragonfly and damselfly darted and danced above the water surface, and a large brown dragonfly landed on a small protruding wooden post, not a yard from me. Putting its oviposter into the water it appeared to lay an egg, or perhaps some eggs, before flying off again. Not too much can be expected in what turns out to be no more than 30 minutes by the waterside, but this half hour certainly had its gems.
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Another beautiful little creature. But the best was yet to come, and the next three casts produced three very delicate bites, resulting in three small crucians, 6 - 8 inches in length, deep bodied little bundles of pure gold. And they scrap so well on my J.W. Young travel barbel rod. I have not used this rod for barbel yet, and it seems to be far more suitable for light float work. Catching a barbel on it will be an experiment that will have to wait for the next river trip I think, although I have doubts as to how well it will deal with a large barbel, heading downstream at a rate of knots.
But I just love crucian carp, fishing for them is rather like catching little teddy bears, they just seem such cuddly little fish. They don't even need to be big: larger ones, especially from heavily fished waters often look to be old warriors, but the smaller specimens are invariably quite delightful.
So: five fish in about 30 minutes, half a dozen casts: the Sunday challenge has been very well met this Wednesday morning, and I return to pike up my wife, with an unexplained grin on my face.
A grin that remains, as I realise my Freudian mistyping of the word "pick" in the last sentence.