Jedi lure fishing.

I feel like I am just about getting back into the swing of things with this here fishing game. My crushing guilt of leaving JB alone to deal with our little Jekyll and Hyde that is BB is subsiding as we grow used to his demands (of which there are currently many). The first few times out after BB came along it was near impossible to concentrate, but over three varying short sessions I reckon I have clawed back a smaller amount of concentration each time.

It does amaze me that somehow even when my mind is somewhere else, that my body has retained ingrained information that it can just carry on fishing and even catch fish whilst I probably have the outward appearance of a minion, and one of the stupid ones at that. Hence it was quite shock when I was bleeping through baby pictures on my camera and found these two pictures, which according to the date were caught and photographed in the last month, but for the life of me I can't remember catching or photographing them even though I have evidence to prove I did.

Now although not big they do prompt the question, have I attained some kind of canal enlightenment where I can free my body from the shackles of the mind and it will just catch fish on its own without me thinking? Well possibly I have and at least I think I now have to give blindfold lure fishing a go, or if I wanted to be really cool, I could go drag Jeff Hatt out down the cut dress him like Obi wan kenobi and get myself a blast visor and recreate that scene from Star Wars where the old Jedi is whacking on about trusting my instincts.

Ascension aside there are definitely a few more fishy thoughts creeping back into my head as I become used to being a father. Luckily as well this fishing famine came at what I suspect is not a great lure fishing time of year on the canals. The few times I have ventured out I seem to remember that the boat traffic is very heavy, the water is very coloured and although they're aggressive, it seems only small fish are up for hitting the lures. By my reckoning though I could be just about back on point just at the right time, when the predators are getting their munch on ready for winter and the water ways are quietening down.

All new perspective.

"Oh how much time I have wasted in the past"

I knew that when our long awaited bundle of joy came along there would be some time constraints added to our lives. Truthfully I don't think I have ever underestimated something so much in my life before. Three weeks ago young Brody arrived and ever since, time has been sucked into the black hole that is a new baby and I and JB for our parts have stood joyously smiling with teary eyes, shoveling our love and attentions into being there for him whilst barely noticing the world go on around us.

But as everyone says you begin to get used to the extra effort and ultimately life starts to settle down. I for one have now begun to have at least enough time to wipe my arse correctly and have lengthened my showers from three minutes and forty two seconds to a frivolous four minutes.

It wasn't that long after the lad arrived that JB suggested I might like to use a modicum of my paternity on myself and go fishing. Now at still less than two weeks in it seemed she had either gone insane or just wanted a little time alone with the kid without a worrying/annoying father sticking his oar in. Either way she offered and I accepted, although I must say that the only way I could console myself to actually leave was to convince myself it was an actual necessity, so as to keep my skills sharp should society collapse and I need to provide my small family with valuable protein by way of buckets of small zander and perch from the canal.

After literally tearing myself away I ended up sitting in Jeff's courtyard for an hour drinking tea then fishing for a further hour on the cut whilst looking at my watch. I reckon I caught a few fish but truthfully I didn't care as I just wanted home.
Then a mere three days later I was out again after waking for the boys six am feed. This time things were a little more relaxed and successful though once again my heart and mind literally were somewhere else.

It's worth mentioning at this point that I have made some adjustments to my fishing to help ease the transition of being a parent and an angler. Regular followers of this blog may have noticed that my fishing has gone from an all round approach aimed at many species to a focused one targeting some specific species. I can now see that this concentration on lure fishing is going to pay me back in spades as both of my most recent sessions were never planned and on both occasions I just grabbed a bag, rod and net and was fishing within half an hour. Hopefully this bait-less tack will continue to help me be the angler that I am and the good father that I want to be in the very packed schedule that is parenthood.

For now though I am a still primarily concerned with little more than my new amazing boy, but saying that a few fishy thoughts are beginning to creep back into my head, and I can't deny already earmarking a little Shimano lure rod I've got that looks just about right for a toddler to use as a float rod.