Operation Brazzers Breach - Deep Dive

The pacey water at enemy lines a consistent level for a while, the weather cold proceeding this session these hardy sigh feeders if they were there, surely up for a feed. The problem was you see with the season end not that far off I was worried I'd not be able to try for let alone locate these rare species in these forgotton local waters.

The initial reccy the river was up, bombing through in water Barbel would like, not the Grayling but it showed just why they would like it here having fishing in chalk streams that contain them as residents.

The access though was ideal for a smash and grab session, and I'd try and catch one before they have even worked out what the hell was going on. I cannot imagine anyone fishes it for starters because waters like this are often overlooked by the masses. Anglers like me and the tangleator, this is our domain.

Anyway with a small window off opportunity for a proper reconnaissance before the rain was due to hit big time again, a plan of attack was hatched in all of 5 minutes. Maggots were to be distributed via a small feeder, bite indication a quiver-tip, bait worm or a red maggot. I did think about some trotting but roving and dropping in to a few swims I was hoping would bring a few bites.

Now this was the second trip behind enemy lines to try and see if indeed there is a pocket of Grayling that have established themselves in the heart or Warwickshire.

Sam was with me for this session where we'd try and winkle out firstly a fish, and secondly fingers crossed it was a Grayling. The sun was likely to be shining so he wanted to join me, after all this could well be another species to add to is already extensive list.

Like his Dad, most certainly, the love of small waters really has rubbed off on him, he was gutted when the tiny stream we'd been fishing was out of bounds due to us effectively poaching after the fly chucker who lined the farmers hands with a ridiculous amount of money to have it as his own had a word so to speak.

Maybe spending some money on a sign might help because the farmer never bat an eyelid when we were there, just used to wave whilst checking on his sheep.

It was the 'bullhead banker swim" he was most gutted about because we stumbled upon an area where bullheads were literally fighting to get at the maggot at the end of the float that was drifted down a shallow swim, an eyeopener for sure, in-fact one of the most bizarre things I'd ever seen when dangling the maggot.

So enough of the preamble, let's get down to business....

The river looked in fine fettle when we made our way up to the river, but the first swim I wanted to fish had a couple of dog enjoying themselves with a paddle. Here it's a little deeper but below past the really shallow and oxygenated area there is some nice swims where you could trot a float, if I'd had one with me that is.

We dropped in to a couple of these swims which were only a maybe a foot or so deep, there were a few deeper holes though as you could see the change in water colour. It wasn't as clear as I'd like for Grayling fishing but having caught them from the Itchen in brown water I thought if a fish was in the area it would fine the maggots or worm bait.

A good fifteen or twenty minutes in the first two swims not even a dace, chublet or gudgeon. In-fact the river seemed very devoid of life indeed, nothing topping, nothing moving, very odd for a river like this.

We moved upstream fished just above the pacey water and again not even a nibble.

Up stream there are some chubby looking swims so I thought I'd at least try and winkle one of those out. But after fishing two deeper swims with snags and rafts, again not even a nibble.

The last swim I kept a trickle of maggots going in, a nice crease where you would think fish would hold up because of the food naturally drifting their way. Again not even a tiny nibble on the tip.

There must be fish here though and with Sam getting bored I'm going to wait for perfect conditions.

A frosty morning and clear water. Fingers crossed that will happen before the season end. Bizarre so much promise and so little for reward.

"Dad, I might bring a book next time, that was rubbish, is there actually any fish in there ?"