Float fishing & Advent hope
There are a number of factors that contribute to float fishing being my favourite method to employ while trying to outwit fish. One is the floats themselves, "beautiful in appearance, even more so in disappearance" as one author once put it. I love the aesthetic appeal of a float, particularly as these days I fish exclusively with traditional, handmade patterns - who can resist the iconic shape of a perch bob, or the lustre of a well varnished reed waggler, or the silk whipping on the stem of an avon or quill float? However, while acknowledging all the above, I would suggest that the overriding factor for me is the way that watching the brightly painted tip of a float protruding through the water's surface film massively accentuates the anticipation of a bite. Advent is a time of heightened anticipation. In its immediate context, the anticipation that accompanies the countdown to Christmas, but the broader and bigger context of Advent is the anticipation of