A New Dawn

Following a break (for all sorts of reasons) the enthusiasm finally returned and it wasn't long before I'd found a suitable club and was back on the bank.

Old Windsor Angling Club (OWAC) are a long established small and extremely friendly club affiliated to the Thames Valley AA (TVAA), Reading & District AA (RDAA) and the Basingstoke Canal AA (BCAA). Their own water is a stretch of the Thames that runs along Home Park in Windsor in the shadow of the castle, this and both the TVAA and BCAA waters can all be fished for an annual membership fee of just £35.

River Thames - Home Park, Windsor

The first day of the 2016/17 season I opted for Home Park with the intention of spending a few relaxing hours just getting back into things and as there's nothing I enjoy more than running a stick float through a river swim that's how I kicked off. Nothing complicated, 3lb main line straight through to a size 18 with red maggot and/or caster (occasionally both) on the hook and loosefed with a few grains of hemp.

With more than 14ft of water under the rod tip and a 13ft rod I'm not sure I ever got a bait down deep enough but it was good fun nonetheless with a few decent Roach landed along with a dozen or so Dace and the odd Bleak.

Weather wise it was a pleasant 17 degrees with a light wind and thankfully no rain although when I called it a day around 8 o'clock the heavens were about to open. 

All in all a thoroughly enjoyable eight or so hours fishing.