Angler’s Mail – July 09, 2019

anglersmail.com 9 JULY | 63

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QUICK CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1. Creel material 4. Man-made stillwater 6. Pole grabber


2. Scardinius erythrophthalmus 8. Offshoots of canals and
   lakes, box accessories 10. Revolving part of reel


3. Shot size 14. Nutrient-bearing portion of fish egg


4. Steve, Mail venues spy 16. Rod licence body


5. Tiny weight units 20. Rods support
   DOWN


6. Pike leader (4, 5) 2. Rig great over soft mud, weed or debris


7. Where tide meets stream 4. Lipped, floating, diving


8. Caused by gravitational pull of moon and sun


9. Fish semen 11. Affects rod bend 13. Multi-fibre line


10. Fishing group abbreviation


11. Anti-bite trace above pike float
    Answers to last week’s puzzle:
    ACROSS: 4. Slug 6. Dogfish 7. Emma 8. Piranha 9. Tail


12. Short 12. Simon 13. Drag 14. Shot 15. Mesh
    DOWN: 1. Adipose 2. Igor 3. Linnet 4. Sheatfish 5. Grayling


13. Roach 13. Dee

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The INFORMANT

Our secret angler takes you into previously untold stories.

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I

T’S strange how a small
change can make a big
difference to our catches. A
friend of mine was having a
lean time on the carp lake that
we fish, and no matter what he
tried, he couldn’t end his run of
blanks.
He swapped baits and rigs
and swims, but nothing made
the alarms sound, and the long
days of motionless rods were
beginning to get him down.
But then, out of the blue,
he had a really good day, even
having two fish on at once, on
what is quite a difficult water,
which got him thinking what he
had done that was different.
Back home that evening he
was going through everything
that he could remember,
stroking his chin thoughtfully,
and as he did so he caught a
faint whiff of diesel from his
fingers.
It was like a light bulb going
on above his head. In the past
he had always avoided filling up
at a petrol station on the way to

out of his pocket and squirted

some in, before screwing the lid

on quickly and hiding it in his

jacket.

Which means that he now

has an extra bottle in his glug

pot pouch, but there is another

problem on the horizon.

He lives close to the centre

of London, where they’ve just

introduced a £12.50 daily

charge for anyone using a

diesel car, at night or by day.

His wife says it’s time to

change the car, and she’d really

like to get an electric.

A whiff of success

the lake, because of the smell

that it leaves on your hands,

but the tank had been so low,

he’d had no choice.

The following week he had a

lot of ‘dad’s taxi service’ runs

to do for his children, because

they were off school, and he

needed to fill up again on his

way to his weekend session.

He went to the same smelly

pump, and at the lake he had

another good session, enjoying

plenty of action.

So the following week, when

he hadn’t needed to use the car

so much and so didn’t need any

fuel, he fished with clean hands,

and really struggled.

He couldn’t hide the

excitement in his voice when

he told me about it, wondering

whether he’d stumbled on

something significant.

The problem was how to

ensure that

his bait,

lead and rig had just the merest

scent of diesel on them from

his hands on a regular basis.

He decided that the next

time he filled up, he would take

a Jerry Can with him, but no

sooner had he got it out of the

boot of his car on the forecourt

than the man behind the till

switched on his Tannoy and

told everyone: “Pump number

4. Put that container away! We
   don’t allow them here.”
   The next time he filled up, he
   went to another garage and,
   using the pump furthest
   from the kiosk, the one
   favoured by the ‘drive-
   off’ fuel stealers,
   he slipped
   a jam jar

4