I was visiting my mum, but the overnight rain made me abandon my plan to snatch an hour at Piddinghoe Pond and instead to see if coloured water in the Chichester Canal would be productive. A bit like the section of the Stour I see every working day from the train window and fished for the first time last year, the Chichester canal is also a venue I have been meaning to fish for years. If you are consigned to trips along the A27 it is a logical place to break your journey, the A27 crossing the canal at a point where a lay-by gives access. So I stopped off whilst en route for an hour of cold and windy canal fishing. As I could see fish jumping just north of the road bridge, I abandoned my original intention of fishing in the canal basin, but after freezing for an hour and catching two gudgeon I was happy enough to call it a day. The next day’s Anglers Mail ironically featured the canal, confirming that the spot by the road bridge to be productive early on in matches, with the fish then moving up to the basin. Oh the problems of locating winter shoals. In theory there is a day ticket fee of £4.50, but the old boy sensibly stayed in the warm, rather than seeking out his one customer!

Gary