Warwickshire Avon – The Ultracrepidarian Gatekeeper

Twas early morning, warm but overcast, tackle abound, and I spot a rather rotund obstruction on the frequently trodden meadow, damn !!!!

No not a troll (I wish it was) but it was a long in tooth, neck map wearing rambler who looked like he was headed for Mount Kilimanjaro rather than this small area of Warwickshire which is as flat as a witches tit.

Walking poles FFS, my face has bigger contours.

His eyes were on me and our paths would cross before I could unhook the clasp on the gate to head swimward, what could it be this time I wonder !!!!

“I wouldn’t bother”

“you’ll never catch anything decent outta there fella”

“rivers, they’re all buggered”

“I stopped fishing them 20 years ago, got fed up of them, nothing like what they used to be”

"We used to catch bucket loads of Roach, even 3lbers"

“I only fish commercials now, I often have hundred weight even in cold conditions, F1’s you see, they are hybrids or something like that”

“I’m retired now, I can fish when I like”

Ok thanks for the letting me know, but I’ll give it a bash, you never know I might be lucky.

I should have listened......!!!!!!!!!

I don't think I've ever had it so tough, with the deeper areas I'd preferred to fish not available I decided to bait a few areas with hemp and caster and also to try and find fish with my new over-sized polarized over-glasses. Bait was fake caster and also from time to time boilies with a few freebies stuffed in a PVA bag.

I'd have much preferred to fish in to dusk but with family duties I didn't have that option and as soon as the sun came out it was unpleasant just sat there.

I baited the first swim three times and gave it a good couple of hours rest before putting the bait in but apart from a few plucks and one chublet it was suspiciously quiet, a bit like the banks, apart from one other angler on this lower stretch I had it all to myself. When the sun was out the bed could be seen in nearly all the swims, it was so clear you could see why the larger fish would be likely to be tucked away.

I added some pellets to some shallows but despite going back and forth a few times I didn't spot any feeding fish.

Two other swims fished next to cover I also remained biteless so I returned to the first swim and sat it out for the last hour with two rods, boilie on one, fake caster on the other. Bugger all.

Even freelined bread didn't get any interest.

Not a wasted session mind you as I got to explore more and more swims and also with the river so low also the lay of the land.

I've a midweek session planned so luckily I can fish in to dusk again, has to be the better option. If I find myself with these conditions again then trotting must be the way to go.