Warwickshire Avon - Gablocks and Gastrophilanthropists

I was watching a Cadence Fishing YouTube video the the day and the Angler was fishing a section of the Warwickshire Avon at Evesham where using the 'Wag and Mag' method he was picking up some nice fish. Maggot was used but it was bread punch he was using initially with a thought to change to maggot later on in the session.

That didn't happen really to be honest as the bread really did work from the off, the feed wasn't that much either, on the day the humble bread they were queuing up for.

Now some 'hybrids' were caught but straight off I knew them as Silver Bream, to be honest you can see why they get mistaken for other species of fish because they are not as identifiable as others are.

The last time I was here at this section of the Warwickshire Avon I used a small cage feeder with maggot and would have had a decent net of roach if I'd had one. Towards the end of the session I had to pack up sadly because a larger stamp of roach were coming along, 8 or 9 ounces, and some nice plump fish too.

Friend Dave who had been catching some superb specimens of Silver Bream not far from here had told me that they had mostly been caught when the light was going, when, out of the blue a shoal would just turn up.

So for this session, not a long one sadly, but I'd fish the float with castor or bread and also later on as the float was difficult to see I'd switch to a cage feeder and fish bread on the deck to try and add a Silver Bream or a Roach Bream Hybrid.

To be fair to the species tally of the Blogger Challenge River Scorecard where I'd already hit 14 species, but I suppose after an initial surge I'd hit a bit of a road block.

Considering the angling literature I've got in ones library there doesn't appear to be that much written about this forgotten fish. I doesn't grow big, it isn't that distinctive, but what it does have is character of it's own.

Having caught a few stillwater fish, once you know exactly what you are looking at, they do offer something to the angler I say. The large specimens Dave was catching they were unmistakably Silver Bream, the large eyes and fins an instant giveaway to me.

I'd certainly like one of them, and I was hoping for this session I'd manage to come across one fishing a little differently to how I fished for them last time. Now I did think about a sleeper rod for Zander or Pike but I'd give that a miss I think. They were not interested last time, maybe it wasn't cold enough for an easy bait, because lets be honest, there is enough bait fish here for them to peruse whilst it's still mild.

So I got bankside and got sorted, a quick plum up to try and drag bottom and lets get fishing. The river had that green tinge to it, the clarity wasn't brilliant either so I thought I'd start off with fishing bread. Liquidised bread a feed, a small amount initially but I could see it filling the swim nicely when it dropped through the turbulent surface.

It took a while for the first bite, maybe an hour in to the session but the float went out of sight in this relatively pedestrian glide. It felt decent as well, so I was hoping for a Silver Bream first off, but after it tried to get under my feet I knew it was a chub. A decent one though, 4lb 8oz's. A walked downstream after netting it and placed it back where it came from albeit away from the pack.

Because a pack there was....

The float going under 4 more times and each time was a four pound chub. The roach were not interested but the Chevin were, a cracking session especially as the fish were a decent stamp. There was quite a wait between bites and I had to feed more than I thought but not fishing the float for a good while, I could get used to this 'wag and mag' lark, maybe next time I'll wait till the clarity is a bit better and fish maggot instead. That or maybe try and find the bream with the deeper and fish a fishmeal donned method feeder with a worm or pellet hookbait to try and single out the bream.

An enjoyable session though and as I headed in to dusk where I struggled to see the float I switched to the feeder rod. That didn't take long to have it's first bite as the light was going, a chublet though this time and that put an end to the session. I'll be back for sure, because I'm sure it's just a matter of time before a Silver Bream or Hybrid graces one's net.