Float fishing & Advent hope

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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 the future one day return of the King. Not this time, a vulnerable baby born in a squalid stable, but the "risen, conquering Son", endlessly victorious over death and returning to bring to an end this age of tears and- for those whose trust is in Him- usher in the New Creation where there will be no weeping, mourning, sighing or death.

As every angler knows, when the float trembles, bobs, then disappears there's a need to be ready. The question that Advent invites us to consider is are we ready for the return of the King?


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