Warwickshire Avon – Feeders and Flash Panney’s

My last trip down this stretch of the Warwickshire Avon was quite an unproductive one initially, not only were bites hard to come by, but even after catching a couple of Pike I quickly realised just how little I know about this new to me water. So what better way to find out what’s lurking than by fishing a maggot feeder for anything that swims.

There are obviously bait fish here in abundance, hence the Pike and Zander presence, but also the depth, which was around 5 or 6 feet in many of the swims appeared on the face of it ideal for a good roach or two. You see not a million miles away I found a bit of a hot spot on the Avon with similar depth, that basically was chock full of roach. They were always there when I fished it and despite not being down to the stretch for a couple or three years I assume they are still there now to be caught.

This would also be a bit of a double dipping session as a predator would also be fished for from time to time using the same tactics as I used to save a blank which was on the cards here last time. Yeap, a deadbait tantalisingly suspended under a float to try and attract the attention of a waiting Pike or Zander. In one swim the river swirls and twirls and sort of creates a bit of a back eddy so one drift of the bait through the swim is never the same.

There was certainly no need for livebait given the two Pike caught and one lost in such a short period of time. At least I’d try and manage a Pike if the maggot feeding fish were not forthcoming, and I was hoping they would, as the plan was to try and map out what exactly is going on here. I’ve not taken the deeper down yet to scan the depths and bottom because I’m sure there are some fish holding areas I didn’t know about yet.

I’ve been caught out recently being undergunned for Pike so I decided to make up a dedicated Pike set-up rather than manage with my Zander rods. Ok the Zander rods might be fine for a double figure fish, but something bigger could well be too much of a tackle tester. I prefer single hooks for Pike so those stayed, but the rod was beefier and the wire gauge increased. Also the potentially weak part of the set-up which was the large quick stop I usually use, was ditched for a large Gardner Kwik Lok Swivel.

You’ve got to be confident landing a fish whatever your target or whatever the fish potential and I wasn’t, hence the change that I made for this session.

Mick, back on track please, how did the session go?

My God, I don't think I've ever fished the Avon so tough, there was a match upstream of me and I could hear the occasional shouts from the seat box frequenters,

"Hey Dave, you had a bite yet ?"

"Nah, nothing doing, not even a sucked maggot"

After an hour in the same swim where I'd caught Pike from last time and without a bite on maggot feeder even after balling in a couple of balls of groundbait I decided to go and have a wander on the stretch and fish a deadbait in likely looking predator holding spots and do a bit of leapfrogging. Again not even a nudge or an enquiry.

The bit of the Stour I can fish looked very low indeed but a good walk up the stretch gave me an idea of some nice swims I can fish in the future. Certainly lots to explore.

So lots of walking and not a huge amount of fishing, so the last hour was spent in the same swim to where I started, again nothing doing, no fish topping or moving. The river was certainly in a mood.

"Dave, anything ?"

"Nah, not a sausage, I might pack up early"

So a rare blank. but I like to keep a record anyway, despite the post of nothingness.