“Okay” I replied. “Come to my place at nine and we’ll have a go at the Wessex Fishing Drome. I fancy a day on the Kennet flowing section, and Tuesday is the day the roach and chub are available. Well, roachzoids and chubzoids.” “‘zoids?” “What with the massive predation in the *noughties and problems with hormones stopping real ones breeding, the scientists, realising that fish were simple things without emotions that could be replicated with nanotechnology, came up with artificial fish. They look and act like fish but are programmable. They come in sizes undreamt of twenty years ago – we ought to get a couple of roachzoids weighing a thousand *Blairsten at least. The great thing about ‘zoid fishing is that it’s so *zarp, the fish are always immaculate, it’s indoors and it tests your skills to the limit. You can adjust the flow on the river and the zoids are programmed according to your ability level.” “Blimey, I didn’t realise. I haven’t fished since about 1990 on the Trent, and then it got hard so I didn’t bother anymore, then I moved to Solent City. Does anyone catch real fish anymore? Shall I bring my old gear?” “The fish are still there in places but your positioner tells the controllers that you are up to no good, apart from the party members who have some preserved waters – real angling is long gone – though there is one spot. One day perhaps. You can bring your old gear or borrow some of mine, you’ll need new line and electronic hooks anyway. Your old rod might struggle a bit, the new tryplas ones are much tougher and lighter, even the reels are finally down to 50 Blairstens.” Next morning Joe and myself climbed aboard the microbus and telepathed our destination. After paying our fees (500 *yen) we walked down the corridor to riverscape 3. We entered at the door for our chosen swims. Joe gasped. Inside it was like a stretch of the Kennet from 1950. There was a tinge of colour in the water. Close in beds of ranunculus rippled in the current, further out a smooth glide beckoned. We appeared to be in a lush water meadow but in reality the stretch was only fifty Prescotts long with just two swims, each equipped with a low console. The illusion was created by Drome surround. Birdsong filled the air and a gentle breeze blew upstream. “What do you think of the pace, Joe?” I can slow it down a tad if you want.” Joe just stared. He hadn’t realised places like this existed. He’d thought people had just come to places like this to watch 3D representations of Sir John Wilson fishing back in the Nineties. “Each door gives the illusion of a private section of river, there’s 200 people on this bit really. The other ‘scapes give the Stour, the Avon, the Wye and so on. In SouEast there’s SavayDrome in Denham City for the carp men, in WestMid there’s SevernsideDrome at Bewdley City. If you think this is fantastic it’s a good job you will never get inside an Orgydrome – party members only. Zoids that you can only imagine” I added. “Let’s get tackled up. Borrow my spare tryplas rod and reel. I’ll show you how to attach the hook link and bait.” Joe, already staggered by the feel of the rod and reel, could hardly believe the behaviour of the line. It seemed to be untangling itself. “Intelligent Line, that’s why you can’t just tie a hook on. Speak to the console and ask for “attach hook” and it’s done, also ask it to give you floating line and allow manual shotting for your old stick float, I’ll stick to my Harrellplas one. Grab a box of magzids, dangle the hook in the box to bait the hook and start fishing.” Joe got set up in his swim and started fishing. Rusty at first, it soon began to come back as he got into an easy rhythm. The rod was like nothing he’d handled before, its action changing as he used it. The reel took a bit of getting used to, a bit like a closed face reel but using electronic sensors instead of mechanics. The magzids looked like real maggots but could be programmed to lie still or wriggle, and none of that rank ammonia stench. Cast, feed, mend line and trot, retrieve. The stick float magic was coming back. But no fish. Or zoids. “What I am doing wrong?” “Nothing.” I replied, “keep trying and in a while it will start happening. It’s better that way than reprogramming the zoids to a lower level. Once your feeding and presentation are scoring over 80% you will start to catch 200 Blairsten roachzoids and as you persevere they will get bigger. Score 98% and a thousand Blairsten one might take it. Increase the feed and shallow up for chubzoids, there’s a chance of a three thousand Blairsten one like Tony Miles had last week. After an hour Joe hooked his first zoid. It looked and felt like a pound roach, it just didn’t smell like a roach he mused as he watched the electronic hook automatically disengage from the mouth of the fish after he’d netted it. On the screen by his side the weight flashed up – 250 Blairstens – just over a pound then in old money. From then on it was plain sailing as Joe and myself caught roachzoid after roachzoid, though none over 500 Bs. After an hour for lunch in the caf  When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission, which supports our community.
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