Warwickshire Avon - Silk Snatchers and Simeonites

With the local rivers seemingly stuffed full of bait fish at the moment and the river being clear, what to fish for. Certainly the Barbel don't seem to be interested in a stretch where usually there are fish in numbers. Spawning who knows but after speaking with other anglers, they are wondering the same thing, where have they gone.

For this short morning session I decided to fish in and among the lily pads, an area that has not only thrown up carp in the past, but also tench believe it or not. Even with the river as low and clear as it is, the float stop need to adjusted time and time again, because it has some depth to it as well. 

Where the bait eventually settles away from the shoals of hungry bleak and dace, one would assume it would be a nice place for a Tench to hang out away from those that would prefer to partake in the rave.

I don't float fish enough because when I do, I really enjoy it, the concentration required is something a little different and when that static float eventually starts to move, visually as a fisherman there is nothing quite like it.

I fished lift style under a large crystal insert waggler and its a great method, the float lifting out the water and almost settling on the surface when the bulk shot is displaced off the bottom when the fish picks up the bait.

I used groundbait initially to get some bait on the bed, a mixture of dead maggots, hemp and small pellets. The fizz on the surface evident it was adding some attraction. Corn for bait because maggot would pick up unwanted small fish such the biomass at this time of year. There were a few pike hits when I was there, one jack even launched itself out of the water such the ferocity.

Sadly straight to the point, after half an hour the first bob of the float and then it sailed away, a small dace of three ounces decided that it would like a gob stopper. And that's as exciting as it got. Once the sun came up the amount of small fish I could see on the surface was ridiculous. The bigger fish seemingly not interested, even the bream.

But that's fishing for you, sometimes it's nice to be out, especially when you can watch a feeding kingfisher, a novice in a rowing boat flapping and flailing, a butterfly chasing a dragonfly.