Memories

Bleak

Catching bleak the other day has taken me back to my  teens when I used to travel by London Transport bus, the 174 from Harold Hill and then the District Line from Dagenham to Richmond, to  fish the Thames at Hampton Court opposite Kempton Park racecourse. Between a line of willows I seem to remember.
Trotting a river like the Thames was totally different to my escapades on the Lea, Roding, Chelmer and Suffolk Stour, my self taught trial and error method of fishing, long trotting, became just that little bit tougher.
Especially when the tide ran!
On my early visits, fishing only with maggots and Spratts Silver Cloud ground bait, the only fish I would catch were bleak, and they were there in their hoards. Not unlike the minnow of the smaller rivers I experienced.
After reading the usual weeklies, but mainly books, I became more aware of other baits, like hempseed and stewed wheat. Do people still use wheat for roach?
They were both tried out, and roach of varying quality became the main prey, the bleak were no longer an annoyance.
I've not been back to the Thames for probably 45 years, and was wondering was the, what I thought then idyllic setting  still the same, and are those hoards of bleak, and the roach still there?

Another trip to add to my list of  jogged memories.