Warwickshire Avon – I really need a piece of the Saxon

What the fork is that !!!

Now I’ve trodden a huge amount of ground within rural Warwickshire and if only my hobby was different I might be a millionaire. I stumbled upon what looked like an ancient pitchfork the other day, well it certainly looked old but then what would I know, a bit of googling I was none the wiser.

Nope it's not in my garage, was too heavy for starters.

I’d been watching the BBC4 drama the Detectorists series you see which follows the life and loves of a metal detecting club and their trials and tribulations in pursuit of Saxon Gold.

Imagine discovering another Staffordshire Hoard I’d not need to work again, and just look at this Frome Hoard to see what could be lurking, that find of 50,000 Roman coins would certainly keep me in maggots.

So I've decided I need some shoes with a metal detector built in….

I've checked online too, there isn't anything decent on the market, well nothing that wasn't included in the Kleeneze catalogue next to the cucumber spaghetti maker. Some patents exist though, they really do, shame they haven't come to fruition.

Boring, maybe to some but I can see the appeal, anyway as I’ve said before.

“Every man needs a hobby, every man needs an interest”

A bit like fishing, metal detecting as a hobby is the perfect excuse for an affair FFS, forgot the standard holding fish picture. Look what I’ve caught to get the eyes rolling, a picture of a half penny would have the same effect and she’d never ask again.

Now obviously you cannot just rock up on a farmers land and start sweeping with your coil sensor to try and find some eddy currents, there’s a code of conduct,unlike....

the practice of ‘Nighthawking’ no I didn’t know what that term meant either, well I do now, basically it’s a term used by Britain’s metal detecting community to describe the theft of archaeological artifacts under the cover of darkness. I can relate that to fishing somewhat as this stretch I've been fishing if it wasn’t for someone ignoring repeated warnings and literally camping out all night bankside I’d probably be watching an isotope for this session....

I love fishing an hour in to dark, and some big fish have come of it….

For this short evening session I 'planned' to do a bit of trotting, the fish were properly up in the water and feeding nearing dusk here last time and I fancied being a little more active than sitting behind ones rods, towards the end of the swim the river narrowed and picked up pace too so ideal for a long trot under a large float. Bait, well cubes of meat, some large visible wax worms and some bread I'd let float down the swim. Chub are great picking up stuff off the surface and some big fish topped when I was here before so fancied a dabble.

To hedge my bets I’d deployed another rod rigged with the Gluttonous Chub Poka-Yoke Rig and fish a Chub gobstopper, a proven barbel banker. You can ignore the rattles, bangs and twangs, the Chub, unless it’s a clonker will give up after a while, when the centrepins ratchet is audible, a Barbel will be on.

Best laid plans and all that….how did it go?

Well, it was a disaster....

I left all my trotting bait at home because I was in a rush to leave after finishing work late, so I'd only big pellets for bait. Trotting some scavenged slugs I had one pull that was it but the Poka-Yoke Chub avoid-er rig worked so well I watched nearly 2 hours of countless fish trying to strip the bait from the hair, the pull, bangs and bites were utterly ridiculous with some sharp and powerful 2 footers. A 4lb or so Barbel rolled in my swim too so there was at least one Barbel in my swim.

Back to plan C for Sunday me thinks, I need to look at the available swims to me so I'm visiting the mid section, shortening my hairs and reducing the size of the bait.

Even a small Chub will do....

I like posting about my blank sessions, I still have plenty of them. The car park and banks were deserted, maybe it's not just me finding it tough.