Warwickshire Avon – The fleeting flowing piscator

For the first six weeks or so of the new season the banks are notably busier with anglers, it’s usually those fisherman who fish their favorite carp puddle and goldfish bowl and switch to the rivers as ‘it’s what everyone does’ and then they quickly realise it isn’t easy, especially when you have to find fish and heaven forbid, use ones legs.

You want to fish one of the notable Barbel hotspots, forget it….IT will be occupied…..

They leave as quick as they turn up though, so be patient. So for me as an angler that seeks solitude this time of the year it’s an ideal time to visit stretches well off the beaten track.

The area in question is a bit of a trek, well for the modern angler. Even hardened ramblers would need a backpack, trekking pole and Ray Mears in attendance just to attempt it. In reality it isn’t that far to walk but because of the distance involved, the boscage and forna it’s an area that’s largely devoid of anglers. What gets me returning every year though, is the Carp that frequent this thick lily pad sanctuary. They seem to love it here, the problem is it appears to be a short-lived holiday as one minute they are sunning themselves, the next they have packed their bags and buggered off.

They are also crafty and difficult to catch, and as the cover is so thick it would be suicidal to hook one amongst the nymphaeaceae so they rarely venture away from the confides of their self-catering accommodation. I’ve found early morning is best when you can often find them feeding off the top away from the cover but even then the window of opportunity is very small indeed. My approach is simple, a surface set-up with bread or dog biscuit and a safety clip sleeper set-up with a boilie, lobworm or pellet as hookbait and a PVA bag of small pellets just on the edge of the lilies. They are not that easy to spot either, in the past I’ve often spent a couple of hours looking through the polarised cocoons without even wetting a line. It took 15 fishing hours for one fish; I’m hoping my knowledge would reduce that.

So to the session, this is the second weekend where the weather reporters have got it completely wrong, it was like a winters day and also raining. With my float fishing mate Simon in tow a carp was spotted as soon as we got to the first swim, not the biggest and wouldn’t have made double figures, it was also stupidly clear as I could see the lobworm bait on the bottom being attacked by all manner of things. I didn’t want to catch small Perch all day so I switched to a plastic corn topped cell boilie. Every break in the rain I went to try and spot them but it clearly evident they were happy amongst the thicket. After a consolation 4lb Chub The same common was spotted again but it didn’t seem interested in feeding at all. The decision was made to pack up early and upon returning to the car I watched a load of Chub and Barbel feeding in the shallows. I was half tempted to cast a line over the bridge. The Barbel was easily double figures.

With the Wife on a Hen Do the weekend, two trotting sessions are planned....the carp can wait.

Talking of Barbel, nice one Keith, a lovely fish.