Warwickshire Avon – Mackerel Born Killers

With the closed season nearly upon us and the local rivers out of sorts I was unsure of what to fish for. It was going to be a little milder after the recent cold snap so I didn’t mind sitting a session out so a Pike session it was. I’d unintentionally caught a couple from this venue in the past that took a liking to lobworms intended for Chub but there was a nice marginal slack that despite the pace of the river it could provide a little sanctuary for the apex predator. A chance trip to the local supermarket I had a freezer full of cheap Mackerel and with the river coloured it was an ideal bait to use.

I rarely fish for Pike but as a potential point accumulator (best so far of 9lb) for the bloggers challenge I could add points to try and stay in 2nd place in the River leader board. I’d not a chance of catching the specimen fish catching machine that is James Denison but it could keep me propped up if a larger specimen decided to feed on the pungent scombroid.

I like hedging my bets and with some lobworms and stinky cheese paste in the bait fridge I’d also have a rod for a Chub. If they had been on the feed over winter they would be at their biggest too. I’m yet to catch a 5lber, easily the biggest Monkey on my back, I’d catch one, one day that’s for sure.

It’s a numbers game….

I turned up at the river, unpacked the rods, set-up the landing net and banksticks then discovered I’d left the Mackerel at home..arhhhhhh.

Ok only 10 minutes away but not ideal having to go back from where I’d came from. With the rods set-up it was sit and wait, now the lobworms remained untouched, but as soon as I put some cheese paste on within fifteen minutes or so I received my first bite. The problem was I had limited amount of cheese paste, so after a few fluffed and mistimed strikes, I was cheesepasteless. 

The wind was picking up too and it was surprisingly mild but as it was open it wasn’t exactly pleasant. The fox drop off indicator remained motionless so with an hour left I decided to drive a few miles down the rod to a spot where I’ve caught Zander before and fish small strips of Mackerel as a bit of an experiment. 

And as suspected, yes, Zander do like sea baits.

Now with the weather a little more settled for this next week hopefully I'll start catching some decent fish again. It's been all very mediocre of late, I need to put a smile on my face.