Warwickshire Avon – Flimflam and Formication

In the black corner Nash baits The Key (Kray) and in the red corner CC Moore’s Pacific Tuna.

Somehow I’d succumbed to the marketing of these two ‘super’ products and my wallet was quite a bit lighter than a usual week with the family.

To be honest I keep off social media on the most part and the first article I found on ‘The Key’ where the manufacturer was engaging with the potential purchasers of this apparently wonder bait did make me laugh, talk about heated.

Come on chaps, a bulk bait maker such as Nash is there to make money, if they can convince you to buy it because of some decent marketing and the tweaking of one’s angling purse strings then surely they’ve done their job.

No need for the insults….

The thing is, I rarely fish for river carp, if I do I prefer to sight fish and catch them off the top but even then I’ve only fish for them a handful of times and done ok.

I was back in the ring though and in particular in and amongst the walk on area, the corridor before the ring , to see what I could pick up. You see carp patrol these waters, basically up and down it, a little like the kerb crawlers of Hillfields in Coventry, if you’re PC plod looking to give someone a talking to, it’s not rocket science.

For instance with my eyes closed I’d flung out a boilie rig here last March after blanking for Zander and a 20 lber turned up out of the blue that gave me enough bloggers challenge points to jump Sean in to second place behind fish machine James.

They are greedy car after all, are they really that hard to work out ? a little like Barbel fishing, put a bait in front of it and it’s up for feeding, it will.

Sweetcorn, bread probably just as good, just don’t tell anybody....

We are all after that wonder bait though and like me, I am always looking for something that will give me the upmost confidence.

There were bream here last time, and apparently Tench, which I’ve seen no hide or hair of up till now so would these baits pick up something a little out the ordinary. It's not something I usually do but I decided to pre-bait a little. Ben came with me this time and deposited a little bait in the swim I intended to stay in all morning.

The left rod, pacific tuna boilie on the hair with matching crushed boilie and small pellets in a PVA bag and then on the right rod, The Key (FFS) boilie on the hair and then a PVA stringer of freebies.

Sit back and wait for a run, wait for a rod nodding....

The problem when sitting for long periods of time though is that, recently when being bankside the inspects, mites and tics or whatever they are have been playing around with my skin. Not only giving me itchy bites but also playing with my subconscious as even when tucked up in bed or sat at a CAD terminal in work I’ve felt like from time to time I’ve things crawling over me.

The Wife has been badgering on about using some Jungle Formula so this session was its inaugural outing of the Diethyl Toluamide so see if that would improve the situation.

I nearly always wear long sleeves when I go fishing to lessen the skin exposure but of late, this has seems to do next to bugger all.

So the session….

Well don't not why I bothered....

Not even one bleeding bite. Now it was still pretty clear so I'm wondering if a back lead, (heaven fordid) is the way to go.

Arhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!!!!!!!! I also got bit to buggery.

Should have stayed in bed.

Warwickshire Avon – Pedeconference and Pandiculation

Back from a long day at work, I step in the front door in to the hall and I’d literary had one foot in the office when the Wife appears.

“Hello love, good day?” “Anyway as I was saying yesterday…”

My foot in both camps, the hall and office

“Yeah, just give me a minute, just need to get sorted”

“So if we stop the weekend, it will be £*** oh and we get the next day in the park for free, oh and …..” “Could do with knowing asap, so we can get it booked up”

I continue on my way, I need to get showered and changed, the Wife still trying to hold conversation, even the overly extended yawn and outstretch it didn’t put it off her mission.

“So what do you think, shall I book it up, we can even spend some of out clubcard points”

An easy way to end this, card out wallet….

“Here you go, yeah whatever, just get it sorted, by the way, I’ve decided to go fishing later, how long till tea ?”

“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, look at the cool new trick I can do with my tennis racket”

“Ok, give me 5, let me have a shower first”

So this fishing hobby of ours, great isn’t it, as it’s on your terms, I thrive on the benefits of spending time alone, freedom is considered to be one of the benefits of solitude, you see the constraints of others will not have any effect on a person who is spending time in solitude, therefore giving the person more of a scope to their actions. With increased freedom, a person’s choices are less likely to be affected by exchanges with others.

As a solitude seeker, contemplation, spirituality and discovering ones identity, what’s not to like. Fishing is an avenue to get your fix.

And boy, do I need it....

Heck, maybe as an addition to maggot drowning some meditation and some deprivation of sensory input is the way forward.

Blest! Who can unconcern'dly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day.

Then again solitude is torture for those in solitary confinement, then again after finding oneself alone in the house sometimes, is all very weird, noise is the norm, no denying that.

So with the bank balance battered yet again, I was back at the Warwickshire Avon, this time a swim of convenience and this time smaller than usual boilies with a paste wrap. In this case some Barbel slick sense from West Country baits, some of the most lovely smelling baits I've put my hand on.

There had been a nice sprinkling of rain you see and also with a drop in temperature I wanted to see if there was any Barbel up for feeding.

It was much clearer that I thought it would be, but I know for a fact that's not a problem it's just a waiting game basically.

With the bait positioned over some gravel between some streamer weed, the bites started, the odd tap and pull here and there, from chublets and then the odd proper pull from a proper Chub the hour before dusk was pretty uneventful.

About 20 minutes before I'd have to go the rod starts to nod a few times, bang,bang,bang.

So unusually for me I struck in to it as the bite hadn't properly developed. Then that's when all hell broke loose, obviously a good Barbel initially it headed further in to the streamer weed but I managed to abate it's powerful run but then it came back towards me upstream and I could visually see the fish in the water.

It eventually surfaced and look a decent fish, maybe a double. I grabbed the landing net and positioned it on the platform in readiness but then it had one last run upstream where it wedged it self among some thick reeds.

The fish was stuck fast....bugger

I put on as much pressure as I could but nothing was doing, so only one thing for it, maybe a stupid thing in hindsight.

I gave it some slack....

The problem was it buried itself even deeper into the reeds but this time when pressure was applied I could feel the line grating up and down the edge of the reeds.

As suspected upon applying as much pressure as I could the line caught the feather edge of the reed and the fish was gone.

It's happened before in similar fashion but luckily for me I don't lose barbel that often, this one I wanted to bank though as it would have upped my bloggers points for the species that's for sure.

Lesson learnt and with my tail between my legs I was homeward bound.

Warwickshire Avon – Fins and F**K Ups

Picture the scenario, CAD work complete on the remaining load of block models for an interior buck property that the ‘A’ surfaces were finished nearly a month ago, another job well done, I can now wind down a little after a week of solid modelling, my eyes, feeling the strain, I need the break, so….

5 Axis milling machine about to cut ureol.

“Mick, hang on, we have a problem” “you haven’t sent the models yet have you ?”

“Errr, yes, why !!!”

“Computer says, No !!!!”

So this week up till now had been correcting someone else’s boo-boo, sorry f*ck-up that should never of happened.

Oh well, these things happen, hopefully back on track.

Luckily caught in time, crisis averted.

Well till the next one anyway….

The thing is with one’s head down, bluetooth earphones streaming Sacred Passions 2 by Journey Escapes (Mixcloud), it’s surprising just how quickly I can plough through the work.

Mind elsewhere you see, something electronic music, not unlike fishing can give me.

A little like Barbel, who can often get preoccupied feeding on the layer of bait dropped hemp, so even the most wary can get caught out as they are zoned out like I can be and that’s what I was hoping for this short evening session.

As nearly all my fishing sessions, nearly 500 now, since I started blogging, I plan them….

I suppose that’s the engineer in me, very meticulous on the most part….

So Hemp and small pellets via the dropper, leave for an hour / an hour and a half to let them munch and grub over the free offerings, and then fish a bait over the top for the last hour before dusk, no real science to it and more often than not an unsuspecting barbel will get caught out.

I bit like my youngest and a finger buffet though, churn through the sausage rolls, pork pies and cheese sticks and eventually sometime remotely healthy will enter ones chops, lesson learnt next time.

"Dad, yukkkk, what's this green thing !!!!"

For the hour after the hemp drop, I’d fishing a link ledgered bit of bread flake just to see what would crop up.

Martin was already bankside and on the Barbel, ended up with 3 fish lots, one a near double and lots of Chub.

After a natter I went to my chosen swim and couldn't believe the difference from a few days ago. all the colour was out the water and must have been at least 1 ft lower. I was committed though with not much time left but in hindsight I should have moved back to where Martin was where the swims are deeper and the streamer weed thicker.

I put some bait down and proceeded to seeing what I could pick up from the weir, after a few chublets it was back at the chosen swim.

Bait cast out, it was sit back and wait.

The krill boilie received attention straight away, yeap chub in residence. With dusk fast approaching I needed a Barbel but a few minutes before ten and the light all but gone and my home time a Chub hung itself, I hand landed it and looked around 3lb.

Probably not the best decision to fish where I did, oh well, at least I know for next time.

Warwickshire Avon - Boilies and Boniforms

Back at the Avon, river up, with a tinge of colour.

A handful of large boilies I've confidence in, one on the hair, spam and meaty groundbait, hemp and small pellets in the feeder.

Bait under a overhang, a tree canopy.

Rod positioned, patrolling kingfishers in flight, sit back and relax.

Then out of the blue all hell breaks loose, the centrepins ratchet doesn't have time to wake it, the rest doing it's thing and preventing the rod from going river bound, butt is off the ground.

It all happened in a split second, rod in hand, this Barbel obviously doesn't like to be hooked. It's powered off downstream.

I'm now in control, the carbon tiring the fish, what a  cracking fight.

The fish with a look of surprise that it has been caught, 

6lb 4oz of pure muscle, the power of these fish need to be experienced to be believed.

Back home, now where's that snag rest I once had. 

The Barbel are feeding, now where is that double....

Warwickshire Avon - Barbel and Badonkadonks

It was a head turner that for sure, to be honest a freak of nature, a proper badonkadonk, so much so, I forgot to buy the very item I went in for.

Even the Wife was impressed, "wow, I wished I had that backside."

"Yours is fine, my Dear" as I take a sneaky second look....

So being spam'less with the river a nice colour, I cobbled together a set-up....

This morning session with Sam we were fishing an area of that is often fishable in even flood conditions, you see the nature and flow of the river means this small stretch is pedestrian in any given weather conditions.

We didn't really have a target in mind, set-ups were a link ledgered couple or three maggots, a Barbel set-up with a couple of krill boilies and from time to time a shallow float set-up.

It didn't take long for the first fish either, a small perch, then a small rare Ruffe to add a few points to the bloggers challenge.

All 0.96oz of it....

Soon after a chub that I didn't weigh but looked like it wouldn't make 3lb, this slow section of the Avon was fishing rather well.

Now when a decent bite was received not long after putting the Chub back, I thought, what the heck was this, it was stripping line off the drag for a start so I had to tighten the clutch, at first I thought it was a monster Chub or maybe even a carp but when it surfaced after an arm aching battle, it was a Barbel of all things.

Sam was amazed it was the first Barbel he had seen in the flesh and wanted to give it like I do the care it deserves, rested in the net, then weighed, rested in the net and released it went 7lb 14oz's.

It had a mark on it's mouth, so should be easy identified in the future. Not a bad morning, and we luckily left before the heavens opened.

Warwickshire Avon – Hard Body and Rubber Legs

Don’t ask how much I paid for this lure, you don’t want to know.

Manufactures blurb….

The Realis Shinmushi has incorporated the actions of a “hard” body and “soft” rubber legs, creating a 3 dimensional pulsation that predator scant resist.

The most important factor for the “Bug” lure is the “sound” the bug makes when falling on the surface of the water. The hard body of the Shinmushi will enable any angler to create this effect. In addition, the rubber legs and feather on the tail hook will also induce bites from the bass.

The wings works as a “stopper”, limiting the lure from traveling too far, while staging a “freestyle” swimming action when retrieving. Anglers will be able to approach the fish in a versatile manner.

This ultimate “bug” lure will automatically induce bites from the bass while “stopping” it or “moving” it.

Separate body structure: The body of the Shinmushi is a two piece structure separating from the belly and the back section. By removing the belly hook eye, anglers will be able to separate the body to customize the lure depending on the given situation.

Wing: We made it a point to design the wings as a fixed feature instead of a free moving wing, for its function as a stopper. It was also carefully designed to enable to the lure stage a ”freestyle” action while retrieving. We have employed elastomer as its material minimizing any drag while casting.

Rubber legs: The length of the legs are 70mm and are so soft that it will continue shimmering even when holding it still in your hand.

So enough of that….

I wanted to try this unusual surface lure for Chub on this nice stretch of the Warwickshire Avon, come dusk you see, I’ve seen some big fish surface and yet a static bait and trotting maggots has been ignored.

Barbel won’t be on my radar till much later on in the season and to be honest as I do like variety in my fishing, apart from the dedication I give the Zander challenge I need much needed multifariousness otherwise I’d get bored.

However after the capture of one last weekend for a little double dipping, a bait dropper of hemp, small pellets and dead maggots went next to a overhanging tree and half and hour before dusk I'd put a boilie bait over the top.

Enough of the preamble, how did it go....?

The first chub came pretty quick, properly nailed the lure and on light gear gave a pretty goo scrap too.

Wow what a great way to fish, the swim has reasonable depth and flow so it was a matter of casting upstream and allowing the lure to drift down on the surface, giving it a quick, flick now and again to make it look like an injured insect.

Reeling it in like a normal lure it's wings rotate causing a surface disturbance with added noise.

As the light goes, the bigger fish start moving about, but not long after the first fish, the second one comes along. This feels like a much better fish and after it got stuck in some marginal reeds I managed to get it out.

3lb 14oz's, a mint fish with a bronze back.

I know a bigger fish will come winter, but a nice fish all the same.

With the sun now setting it was time to sit behind the barbel rod....

The odd sharp tug and twang it was uneventful but having to leave at dusk, I know for well, that stay an hour in to dark, a Barbel would likely be forthcoming.

The weekend, well, I'm in two minds what to do as weather don't look the best and Sam coming with me.

Warwickshire Avon – Slacks, Sabbaths and Snollygosters

Got to love a weir pool, all manner of fish present and more often than not, something special turns up. I’d not actually fished this weir before, not sure why either as having walked past it a few times it was certainly inviting and just looked fishy.

Now not being one to worship a high and mighty, Sunday for me is about rest and recuperation, however more often than not, that goes out the window. You see I reckon I suffer from Willis-Ekbom disease or restless syndrome, where I have an overwhelming, irresistible urge to move ones legs. So even If I have a chance to lie in or put my feet up, I just cannot manage it.

Half the problem however is as someone who has started work at 6.00am for nearly 20 years now, I’m often so knackered come the weekend I struggle staying awake. The plus point as an hourly paid contractor I’m one of those that can be relied on, take note those congressional snollygosters and politicians, I’m a man of principles.

Take note Nadhim Zahawi….

Net results, I’m rarely out of work, but one big problem, the regular Sunday roast for example, if I had that at lunchtime, I’d asleep by 2.00pm.

What at knackered body clock does give me though is not only to I rarely use an alarm, as an angler I have a slight advantage over the other maggot downers is that often I’ve the pick of the swims as the majority are still tucked up in bed, whilst I’m swim bound as I’m awake and twiddling my thumbs at 5.00am Sunday morning.

ShhhhhShhh it’s also free parking in some places on a Sunday, what’s not to like.

Start work at 6.00am, it’s the way forward.

So this weir pool….

I wanted to fish the slacker and calmer water to see what I could pick up, a running feeder set-up with maggot on the hook, one fake, one real.

The feeder filled with small 4mm pellets, hemp and dead maggots.

I didn’t really have a target either, just happy to see what would turn up.

Perch, Bream, Roach, you name it, more or less a bite a chuck. Nothing outstanding and after a quick natter with the Bailiff who has a right job on his hands patrolling and dishing out day tickets, evicting people maybe the tactics were a little wrong.

But hey, that's fishing for you....

Anyway after a few hours with nothing of note the tip wraps round and a Barbel is on, the unmistakable fight a fit and powerful Barbel can only give the light set-up was being tested especially as it went straight in to the heart of the weir. Eventually I turned it and I was getting control, certainly arm aching mind you, as someone that doesn't fish for Barbel that often, you can see why people like catching them.

I wouldn't say I was disappointed when it surfaced as it gave a good scrap but I thought it was bigger than it actually was.

Sometimes though, those smaller fish fight harder than a double figure fish.

5lb 4oz's on the nose...

Maybe I should give them a proper go soon, as I know where some bigger ones reside.

So I learnt lots today and I'll definitely be back, next time however, different tactics all together.

Back home, out for some lunch with the family, all before midday.

Warwickshire Avon – Hemp, Halieutics and Hedonism

The simple pleasures in life are to be treasured, last Sunday after an afternoon of cracking food, good company, bladderation in moderation, I wasn’t ready to go to bed.

It was warm after all, so with the kids conked out asleep, the Wife watching another dross American show on Sky Atlantic I wanted a little solitude.

Viken Arman, Live at Belvédère des Caillettes on the Bluetooth speaker, a nice bottle of Red and a big fat cigar that I enjoy from time to time.

Heaven….

Port and Stilton, another one of my hedonistic pleasures.

Oh yes….can life get any better….?

Even the bats seem to be more prevalent than ever, as if they came to watch.

Fishing for many, and for me can offer so much pleasure in some may ways, for instance one scenario after watching motionless rod tips for a couple of hours completely out of the blue, a Barbel has finally moved in to the baited area picked up the hookbait bait, felt something isn’t right with it, and bolted downstream.

Silence to Violence in a split second….

where if the baitrunner wasn’t activated, or the clutch set properly, the rod if you weren’t quick enough would end up being ripped out of the rest and would be river bound never to be seen again.

It’s something unless you have experienced it firsthand you wouldn’t think a fish could do that.

I take that a little further but using a centepin reel with a ratchet, not only does it offer, for me anyway more control over a powerful Barbel run but it also offer an audible bite indication that is a sensory overload in itself.

It must be seen to be believed….dare I say it the ‘Three foot Twitch’.

For this session Barbel would be the target. I didn’t have much time either, this was a stupidly short session.

The swim I wanted to fish has a large canopy that hangs over this relatively narrow stretch of the Warwickshire Avon. When it’s low and clear as it is now, the fish tuck themselves out of the way under this overly large parasol and venture out when the light goes. You can catch them if you can get a bait underneath by casting upstream and rolling some meat but a recent snag that has appeared recently has made that nigh on impossible.

Bait and wait is the way to go….

So with half a pint of casters I had to use up I bait dropped a Smörgåsbord consisting of about a pint of hemp, small pellets and some broken boilies to match the one I’d use on the hair.

Boy they love hemp, doesn’t everyone.

The rig, well an adaptation of the Gluttonous Chub – Poka-Yoke Rig

So a large spicy squid boilie rather than an overly large pellet. The problem is Chub are always around so meat is a no go because I when they move in I want to know that the bait is still intact after they go on their bait stripping mission.

Ok sometimes the Chub will eventually hang itself but it’s surprising just how many powerful pulls and tugs the rig can tolerate and the hookbait is still staying put where it needs to be. Meat you are in two minds whether the bait is still there and the last thing you want to do is keep on recasting.

So a tough skinned boilie, large stop, long hair is the way to go for this approach.

So best laid plans and all that....

A bed of bait down, leave for an hour, whilst I had a small quiver rod with link ledger set-up to try and catch a few Gonks, and a few Gonks I did.

A bite a chuck, the best went 1.35oz so 0.09 more than I managed before.

Rods went out, sit back and bait....

After 10 minutes the first indication, a smash and grab chub bite, bang, rattle, pull, tug till eventually I got bored and struck.

Yeap a small Chub the culprit.

Rod out again, dusk upon us, the right rod goes this time, bang, rattle, pull, tug. bang, rattle, pull, tug, yeap, this one has hooked itself.

Damn Chub, sadly with the light about to go and club rules and all that, I'm off.

Btw if the Focus estate driver is reading this, yes I had a tyre inflator, 

Warwickshire Stour – Boobs and Babblement

“Dad, Dad, Dad, DAD !!!….”

“What”

“Can I have a go at casting again”

“Yes if you want, just give me a sec”

I was sidetracked….

Sat in a field with young Sam on another fishing trip, my mind was elsewhere. A stunning morning again it was, sun beating down, sky blue, then out of nowhere a jogger of the bouncing kind.

Black shorts, white vest top, barely contained Mitchell Brothers.

The red support bra, working overtime….

Jaw dropped, fair play, got to be uncomfortable….an exchange of pleasantries.

The Stour at the moment is very low indeed but a stretch just outside Stratford-Upon-Avon is deep, very deep indeed so lots of swims perfectly fishable.

Sam with his float rod, me with a piece of bread on a link ledger.

There is no doubt the Stour fishes better when there is a little water in it, but we still caught fish.

Roach, little chublets, dace and a few Perch.

Not big fish, but that’s not the point, trampling over fields, watching the bulls in the neighbouring fields, appreciating the countryside, dirt under nails. That’s what it is all about.

One with nature.

The last swim Sam also witnessed his first Pike attack first hand as when I’d hooked a small chub from underneath an overhanging bush, on the retrieval one not much bigger than the chub itself grabbed it on its flanks and proceeded to shake its head.

“Dad, that was awesome, thanks for taking me fishing again”

Despite the constant babble and chatter which gets in the way of a solitude seeker, that’s all that I need, a sentence like that.

Next stop, I might take him to the Avon to track down a Ruffe.

"Can I put some maggots on that scab of mine now"

Maybe after the Barbi, Son

Luckily forgotten about....

Warwickshire Avon – Ebullience and Epulation

The late ‘Ruddles’ the Golden Lab was such a character, so obedient, quiet, slept well and was a joy to take to the pub and on holiday.

Even the malting of hair was largely forgotten about, he was that easy to look after.

He had to have his feeding time like clockwork, bit like the dawn and dusk Tench, that appear in the summer and then become elusive.

Certainly this time of year, no better time to catch them.

However I remember a New Years Eve party we hosted at the Father-In-Laws he even wasn’t fazed by the loud fireworks we were setting off. Then again as we were otherwise occupied with rockets, single ignitions and alcohol, he’d helped himself to half the buffet which consisted of pork pies, sausage and pizza.

His stomach swelled to such a size he couldn’t even get up the stairs….

The morning, don’t remind me, I can still see the resulting mess now, not pleasant.

Would the Tench be getting their heads down feeding properly again, I need to find that feeding spell because at the minute my results for this Bloggers Challenge have been mediocre.

Last time I tried for them on this lily riddled stretch of the Warwickshire Avon I blanked, what was encouraging though was eventually after feeding a second swim for a couple of hours eventually some tell-tale pinhead bubbles started to appear.

Sadly family duties took priority and I had to leave….

Either they were feasting on the bed of bait I put down or they were grubbing around for bloodworm as in my mind no question, there were Tinca in the swim.

Again I had a small window to fish, so it was no messing around….

Early start….

Rod made up, Drennan Insert, lift method.

Some dark groundbait, hemp, small pellets and the odd grain of corn, a sprinking of dead red maggots.

Sleeper rod for any passing Bream or Carp, PVA Bag, halibut pellet.

No time to waste, let’s get fishing….

What a stunning morning and a nice time to be out. On route, stop at the bridge, peer overhead a double plus carp spotted sunning itself, river clear as gin.

It's weedy down here but because it is match fished some of the swims are often raked so I set station in the swim I fished the previous time and also fed the swim adjacent to it that had a gap between the lilies. I'd pop to that swim from time to time to see if I could see any bubbles.

After feeding the swim, eventually signs of movement on the float, the float dotted down to a small bit of red showing, oh and what a great way to fish, centrepin, lift method, as a visual indication, when a bite is received nothing better.

Float pops up 3 to 4 inches, strike, a fish is on....

So the first fish a bream, not a bad one either, just over 3lb.

I fully expected the Tench to move in eventually if they were around but throughout the morning session it was clear it was a bream day.

There are huge quantities of small fish here, ground bait is a waste of time, as the shoal hits it and then Perch hit the shoal, lots of commotion.

Now talking of commotion, the method feeder on the sleeper worked brilliantly, so much so I could have fished another rod more effectively than the float.

As after an initial small Chub, after the 3 or 4th bream they were getting bigger, biggest 4lb 8oz. Considering I don't really fish for them I'm sure some 6, 7 and above must be about. You can see why they have matches here, I amassed well over 30lb without even trying.

No bubbles appeared in the neighbouring swim, and another bream caught I called it at day.

Highlight of the day, a nice bream to register on the score board, lowlight, bust my bleeding landing net thread, the rest of it, is still in the handle. Hopefully that is salvageable, we'll see.

I'll get one of the handy clay modellers on it.