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Over the Christmas lockdown, after turkey and wine, I thought it would be a great idea to join Instagram. You can see me on Instagram by searching for The Retro Angler.

This month's blog began at BJ's Fishery. This time I was fishing with my 13' fibreglass rod and a Mitchell Match I was given during my previous visit to BJ's.

I'd been chatting with a few other anglers and one of them had found the reel in his garage and said I could have it, as I was "into that old tackle." Obviously, I offered to pay for the reel, and was very surprised and grateful, so after a clean and a change of line, I was keen to use it.

My next two sessions were on the Trent & Mersey Canal. The first at Stenson Bubble and the second at Willington. I float-fished maggots but blanked both sessions, which could have been down to the water being 'gin clear' due to lack of boat traffic. You could see the bottom of the middle channel, which I've never seen before.

For the next session I decided to go Carp fishing. The weather went mild for a few days, and I want to fish the lead more this year. I used my Golden Green and unnamed 10' fibreglass Carp rods along with Abu Garcia Cardinal 654GT and Cardinal 157 reels. I used bright coloured pop-ups on both rods with some PVA bags of pellets and boilie crumb.

I had a relaxing day, but alas, no fish. I spoke to another angler, and he'd had two runs but no fish. I heard a Carp had come out during the early morning at 17lb. He also said the water is known as a "hard water" and there is a lot of natural food in the water for anglers to compete with.