Definitely, maybe

Thought I'd drown a sardine on Cyanide Straight  as a prelude to seeing if any roach showed themselves at dusk on Roach Reach.

Sardine number 1 duly halved and the tail fished down from the top of the bend and the head up from down the straight. Cobbled together some bait lifters for future use and twitched the baits and recast a few times. Far down, a roachy swirl. Yes I thought. But no the otter replied. They were working the far bank up towards me and twice the adult hauled out to crunch on a roach whilst the cubs snickered and darted about, much to the annoyance of the pair of swans. I walked back to the charabanc in a Stygian gloom and as I came out on to the road below the mill the whistles of another otter group echoed off the white washed weather boarded fascia. 

So, roach were still where a Farmers Boy and an angling National Treasure had sought them till fairly recently but in what numbers? As is sometimes the case the copse gave shelter from the brisk wind and I cleared a little gap and sunk on to ancient heavy relic of a seat into the silty bank. A really comfortable trot left to right and it looked so promising.

Three times something grabbed my double reds just as I was about to lift out to trot again, on for long enough to get me reaching for my new un-spaghetti like landing net handle and determine that what ever it was it was not a roach. 

Otherwise my maggots remained untouched. No rolls, or dimples of the smooth surface. And yes ol' whiskers was cavorting in the mill race again along with two cubs.

To cap it all off  the auto stop light showed off and the ignition warning light glowed red all the way home. Alternator I guess.