Warwickshire Avon – Wading Places

I bumped in to a couple of scythe wavers the other evening who were clearing some pegs of weed and reeds prior to a large match that was going to take place on the stretch of the Avon I’m fishing, during a natter they mentioned a peg they had recently cut which would require wading....

....a peg B so to speak.

I’d noticed the bank disturbance during a previous roving session but didn’t realise what it was for. I thought one of the horses might have been chomping on it because of the large heap of manure I stepped in.

So I just had to fish it….

The preferred evening session in to dusk was out so at least I might get a bend in the rod as the anglers I’ve spoken to here are finding it tough going at the minute.

I initially started upstream in one of my favourite pegs where there is no need to wade as you can fish from the bank but there is a lovely channel of water where I’d seen some clonking Chub last time. They were properly tucked out the way though and very cagey so I only managed some small'uns.

I could see them and they could see me….

Simple tactics, a centrepin, a stick float and a banded pellet.

There was a little extra water here though after some recent rain so the levels were up but the water still clear.

I’d drip feed the pellets in and let the float run down to try and intercept any fish coming up in the water. There is some streamer weed here too so I’m sure there would be some Barbel milling around. By switching swims I’d hopefully follow the fish downstream.

The first few runs went through unhindered but then as the float got the end of the swim it sailed under, yeap the first fish.

A small Chub but because there is plenty of cover here and the fish uses the flow to its advantage it’s great sport. A 2 lb Chub feels like a 4lber.

In a couple of hours I’d managed 6 or 7 Chub and after I hooked in to a much larger fish that I lost to a hook pull I donned the waders and I was peg B bound.

From an elevated position the swim only looked 2ft or so deep and after getting in the water it felt even shallower. I’d change tactics a little too as I need to mask the hook, the stream weed was much thicker here to an exposed point would quickly get snagged it.

So I snipped off the bait band and the hard pellet was changed for a squidgy hooker pellet. I also changed the float to a small crystal chubber as it would suit the shallow swim better.

Two channels flow in to one here so the water has some proper pace to it but the float was flowing through nicely and I was quickly in to a small Chub, again a good sporting fight where if fishing static I might be sat behind motionless rods.

The swim went quiet for a while, but I kept on trickling the pellets in hope there were bigger fish in wait. 

One plus point about fishing in the water is this area has some of the most vibrant Kingfishers I’ve ever seen, the tell tale chirping sound giving their location away, I don’t think I’ll ever tire of seeing them in flight, visually stunning.

Anyway, with 20 minutes of the session to go I noticed the flickering golden flanks of a Barbel at the end of the swim.

I decided to keep on drip feeding the pellets for a while and keep the float out of the water to try and give the fish(s) some confidence in feeding.

A couple of MAMIL’s stopped on the bridge to have a nose at the river and give themselves a much needed rest so I’m sure they were delighted to see an angler bent in to a fish.

Because a Barbel was on, a proper powerful lunging take and it started to power-off downstream, I initially couldn’t do much with it but after a couple more lunges the rod was getting on top of the fight. I turned the fish and felt in control of it but then all went solid….

….wtf

I let the line go slack but nothing doing….

Another couple of pulls, arrrrrrhhhhhhhhh. I’m sure I’ve lost the fish.

With the rod elevated I get back on the bank and walked downstream to track where the line went, sure enough, the culprit.

A submerged log nailed to the bed not only that but what looks like a dumped road sign….I managed to recover the hooklink intact but by now the swim was buggered.

So back in the water, with both snags removed hopefully I’ll do better next time. I don’t think it was a monster Barbel, but hey, any Barbel at the moment would be nice.The walk back to car it seemed I was the only one catching, at least it wasn't a blank.

Luckily the belated weekly Sunday roast made up for the loss....

The Shanghai AC have a match here Friday afternoon, albeit upstream so it will be interesting to see what turns up. I makes a change from a commercial water anyway. I'm going for a fishmeal groundbait feeder approach with worm and caster. There has to be some bream about.

I'm hoping to squeeze a quick dusk session in as it will be the best time to get them off guard.