Warwickshire Avon - Hidey-Holes and Hippocrepiforms

The tangleator and I didn't have long down at this handy stretch of the Warwickshire Avon, but hopefully with a few maggots and his newly acquired freebie whip a few bites would be forthcoming. 

I promised after finishing work I'd take him away from his mothers apron strings to give her a bit of peace and I needed to top up my lacklustre vitamin D reserves. The river is ridiculously low and clear at the minute however here when the river has been in flood over the years it has carved out a much deeper area where even in these gin clear conditions the bottom cannot be seen. 

Gonks were the target but anything would do to be honest, heck even minnows wouldn't go amiss, as long as Sam was getting bites. The maggots were past their best if I'm honest but hey, when you're a greedy tiddler anything would do to satisfy the grub craving. 

He has really taken to the whip since the first outing and for simple fishing their is nothing better is there. 

Watching that float bury subsurface increases the serotonin levels no end and luckily this short sessions was on of those moral boosting fishing trips where bites were plenty.

Some friends of hours want to join me and Sam on one of our fishing trips and simple ship fishing I'm sure is probably the best way to introduce a kid to angling especially when a natural venue is ideal rather than having to slum it in one the F1 venues where there is more fish than water.  

Despite the gin clear water in the first swim the fish were up for biting and every single snag could be seen in this swim where just to the left of Sam there is a rather large sunken log that I'm sure would have been used by big chub to shed the hook. 

Initially the bleak go in on the act but half an hour in to his first swim we'd managed a nice variety of fish. Fishing slightly over depth picked up the first gudgeon and also seemed to attract the larger stamp of fish.

The next swim the first chuck produced a spirited small roach and lots of minnows. Sam could see the fish he were catching from this elevated swim and he was surprised a large perch, whilst not being interested in the maggots up till that point sucked them in after a precision drop of the float the bait was presented right in-front of his noggin.

A short hard fight ensued because after Sam was hanging on for dear like the pound and a half sergeant ejected the bait and the hook went with it. Sam was gutted as it was a 'proper stripy' and could have even been bigger than his bestest.

The gonks kept him entertained from that point onwards and after only fishing a  hour and a bit in three swims it really was a bite filled session.

I kept my eye out for any larger fish milling around for a future session but apart from a chub or two maybe around a couple of pounds the river was devoid of them. In these conditions though that is not unexpected on the Avon where if you didn't know better you'd be questioning the water quality because of the baron fish related biomass.

With September fast approaching I'm going to have a go for some river Zander because looking back at my blog over the years they are certainly up for a feed around that time.

I've some rods to set-up before then mind you and I've some sea fishing and more barbel fishing to tick off before I have a go at the predators. Hopefully we get some rain sometime soon because we really could do with some colour in the water to mix things up a bit.