Warwickshire Stour - 28.12.12

With a gap in the rainfall and the Wife talking the kids to a play barn I went for a couple of hours at Wimpstone, the Stour had dropped quite a bit in the last 48 hours so perfectly fishable , the intention was to use a small feeder full of liquidised bread with cheese paste on the hook.

It was a good 5 or 6 swims I tried before I had the first bite, a proper sharp pull of the tip that would have been hard to miss, a decent fight and a nice Chub was on the bank. No scales with me but was over 3lb. The picture below shows the swim, some slack water and some cover by the nearside bank. I stuck with cheese paste as the water was chocolate brown and with reasonable pace to the river, the bread discs probably wouldn't have stayed on the hook for long.

For December it was incredibly mild, 10 Degrees :( I want it cold, the water clear and the levels down fishes so so much better. Who knows when that's going to happen though, probably February time. Bread and lobworms for me has always been the most productive and unlike cheese paste you don't know what will end up on the end of the hook.

The heavens opened and I decided to call it a day, it was type of rain that gets you wet. That was the only fish and the only bite I had in a couple of hours, the fields were littered with flood water debris and the bridge showed the signs just how high the Stour had been, it's going to take time to get back to normal, and the fishing recover, after the Christmas pig out it was nice to be out though.

I've got a job lot of garlic spam in the fridge in the garage and as I don't go back to work till next Wednesday I might try Snitterfield Reservoir to see if anything is biting, that or as the weather has been mild and the Avon dropping I might get the Barbel gear out and ledger some garlic spam at Hampton Lucy Brook. I'll be checking the EA webpage with the Avon levels with interest, it certainly looked like it dropped quite a bit when I drove through Stratford this morning, Lucy's Mill looked as angry as ever though, maybe it's wishful thinking.

Oh and by the looks of these pictures I need to clean the lens on my camera, then again might be the stench off the maturing cheese paste causing all sorts of issues, the smell certainly has a similar effect on the wife, she hates the stuff.

Warwickshire Winter Washout

The Avon is over its banks and the rain hasn't stopped, what a disappointing Christmas break. At least I've got some reading material to accompany the Port & Stilton, a subscription to Coarse Angling Today and the Underwater Angling book by Paul Garner and Stuart Morgan.

I'm hoping to fish the Stour or even Snitterfield Reservoir tomorrow just to get a line wet, fingers crossed as I need to hit the bank for a fix

Warwickshire Stour - 16.12.12

It's not just flood water us anglers have to contend with..........

the plan was to have a few hours at Hampton Lucy Brook but after going to have a look at the water levels just before sunrise there was no chance, the Avon was over it's banks and proper motoring through so had to switch to plan B. Plan B was the Stour at just outside Stratford. The levels were up but perfectly fishable. The venues I fish are usually quiet, in-fact if there is another angler within sight it's unusual. Today was no exception, for a few hours I had the stretch of river to myself. The fair weather anglers of Stratford AA winter league were meant to be hogging the whole Stour stretch, but not today,a bit too much flow, slightly too cold etc.

With bread, bread and more bread, a link ledger was the rig of choice,

I love watching the tip and with a river like the Stour you can use a sensitive tip, the 2oz tip I use shows every bite from Minnow, Roach through to Chub, you know exactly what's going on at the hook end.

After it's recent flood and the fact it was coloured, bites were hard to come by. A nice Chub and some quality Roach took a liking to the bread and over 3 hours had a dozen or so fish.

Be nice if the rain lets up and the water runs clear as I've always had the bigger Chub in those conditions, a 5lb'er this season still eludes me so I'm hoping to get a few sessions in over the Christmas period. The Avon still holds the bigger Chub in my opinion so hopefully if the levels drop that's where I'll be heading.

Warwickshire Stour - 30.11.12

With a long weekend away in a cosy cottage in Malvern planned I had a few hours Friday morning to go fishing. The Warwickshire Stour was back to 'normal' levels after being in flood. Wimpstone was cut-off as it was over the bridge, but as quicky as the river burst it's banks, as soon as the rain stopped the levels dropped.

A frosty morning, the intended quarry was a decent Chub. I liquidised some bread which was used as feed and planned to fish cheese paste or bread on the hook. The river was flowing probably a bit faster than normal and was coloured, 10 minutes in each swim without a bite I moved.

The raft swim below I managed a chub of about 2lb's, it nailed a folded bread disc within seconds of it hitting the bed and gave a fantastic account of itself to and the ratchet on the centrepin makes a great bite indicator.  I only use a 10ft feeder rod on the Stour, it's only a small River and in most places it cannot be more than 20ft. It's a TF Gear Nantec, less than 50 quid I think but it's well finished in gloss black, very well made and ideal for the job.

I missed a few bites on bread, the tip was rattling like a good'un but I didn't connect. I've been told there are some good sized Roach, so I might try a different approach next time. Maybe a helicopter maggot feeder set-up and a much smaller hook.

Switching to a big lump of cheese paste in a swim which had some slack water I managed a Chub which was 3lb 14oz's. The Stour chub all seem to be mint condition, they don't seem to average anything like the Avon Chub but I've still got loads of river yet to explore so I'm hoping for something bigger in the future.