RETURN TO CANALS IS A CUT ABOVE THE REST

My last fishing trip was my first return to canal pleasure angling in 15 years. Before taking up carp fishing, I was a keen young coarse angler regularly fishing the canals around the West Midlands. I recently made the decision to rekindle my passion for coarse fishing.

I now live in Cheltenham so, after a little online research, I settled for a day on the GloucesterSharpness Canal at Purton. With my brand- new Daiwa N- zon feeder rod in hand, I set out to see if I still knew what I was doing.

The location itself is stunning, fields on one side and a ship graveyard behind me, with the odd stunning canal barge chugging past. The people there were very pleasant, too. One person who owned a barge that's also a floating cafe came up to me and offered me a free coffee. Well, I wasn't going to turn that down. "latte please" I said, and off he went, returning with a top notch latte.

Alert and ready, I began with a cage feeder, a good groundbait and pellet mix with a juicy worm at the end of a 2ft hooklength.

It didn't take long for the action to start and I was into a tench weighing in at 4lb which, according to locals, is a rare treat. It's safe to say I was like a 10- year- old catching his first fish.

The positive feeling I had was full of happy memories of my old favourite spot on the Wombourne Canal in Wolverhampton. From there it was bream after bream, with the biggest also at 4lb.

Come the end of the day, I could barely lift my net out of the water holding a positive 18 fish in total. I'm now in the process of building up my coarse tackle and equipment so that I can have more full fun- packed and rewarding days on the bank, knowing that with every qualifying fish there's an IYCF Mission Accomplished badge waiting for me.