Warwickshire Avon - Mud Pigs and Mysteriosophy

So the new version of the quirky Suzuki Jimny's UK residency ended abruptly after the manufacturer announced it could no longer pass tightening emissions laws, despite being relaunched just two years ago. 

Unsurprisingly, the problem area seems to be its high carbon dioxide emissions, which Suzuki made clear was an issue in 2018. All car makers are now under pressure to meet average emissions across all models of 95g/km of carbon dioxide.

Unfortunately for the Jimny, it isn’t anywhere near clean enough, oozing a rather smutty 154g/km from its 1.5-litre petrol engine combined with manual transmission. The problem was there were many customers let down that had their names on the waiting list and because of that second-hand prices have shot through the roof. 

I paid the retail price of 18k ish for my SZ5 model and 2 years and 15k miles later unbelievably they are fetching 7k over what I paid for it. Ok yes I could cash in no problem but it suits my needs if I'm honest and the back to basic approach oddly has made me enjoy driving again. 

Unstoppable in mud and wet river banks and enough space for ones tackle, with approach and departure angles to rival any competitors. Would I pay that much over list for it, having owned one for the last two years, errrrr nope. 

Now Suzuki addressed the problem recently because you can now buy a van version believe it or not which hasn't the same strict emissions rules, the problem is they are like rocking horse poo to get hold of now as well and the prices have also sky rocketed because of that. 

Will the prices drop when the supposed 4dr hybrid version is due on these shores ? no idea but if I sell up now, I still haven't the foggiest what I'd buy instead, especially when the subwoofer is now up and running in it and the Wife still hates driving it.

...."is the steering wheel connected to the steering rack ?" "its very wobbly" 

Anyway enough of that Autumn is officially here where the autumn equinox in the Northern Hemisphere was Wednesday just gone. Now I've certainly noticed a drop in temperature, well in the morning anyway where its got down to 10 degrees or so, so I'm hoping with some rain on the way (crosses ones fingers and toes) that the fish are thinking about getting on the feed. 

The problem is the days have still been warm so come the evening with the doors and windows open those daddy long-legs or lanky crane flies if you like that are in good numbers this time of year want to find warmth in your house where its much warmer come sundown. 

They skulk lankily in the corners of our living rooms at this time of year, and jitter disconcertingly about the bathroom when we are trying to brush our teeth. 

There certainly seems to have been more than normal this year but who knows. As the Newey household resident spider and insect catcher I've had more work cut out to keep up with the cries of help from those less keen on showing them the door. 

Anyway back to the fishing as I've not made it out this week yet. Luckily for me though the Waning Gibbous moon phase was here for this session because there is something about the full moon that not only effects my sleep but looking back at my blog my fish capture returns too. All very weird I know but I'm getting paranoid over it all....

....yes really !!!

Now the Waning Gibbous phase is when the lit-up part of the Moon shrinks from 99.9% to 50.1%. So it It starts just after Full Moon and lasts until the Third Quarter Moon. Waning means that it is shrinking and getting smaller, while gibbous refers to the oval-to-round shape.

It can be challenging to differentiate the first stage of Waning Gibbous from a Full Moon when 98%-99% of the surface is illuminated. Unlike the rest of the household my sleep has been very restless over the last couple of days and those early hour walks down the wooden hills where the garden almost seems its been lit by a football grounds floodlight.

Even a well deserved nightcap doesn't seem to help, bolt upright in the middle of the night, what is that all about. Even those post blue cheese vivid dreams seem almost impossible to achieve when the moon is full, maybe I'm a vampire or something.

 

Now talking of vampires this would be a double dipping session where come dusk I'd fish a deadbait on a sleeper in the deeper water this syndicate section has, to see if there are any Zander here. 

Then as per normal here I'd fish a pungent paste wrapped boilie with some freebies to see if a Barbel was about or maybe one of the big chub that reside here would be nice.  

The good thing about this time of year is that I could be bankside post tea, get the gear ready before dusk and the light goes, and then hopefully not long until the action starts. But this is the Warwickshire Avon is can be very moody indeed and one day to the next it can vary so much.

I was bankside half an hour before dusk and would fish till 9.00pm so only an hour or so in to dark but enough to winkle out a fish usually.

I got the smelt deadbait out as soon as I got there and after fifteen minutes or so after a couple of bleeps I retrieved the bait and there was a huge crayfish hanging on to it. Now I've banked crayfish in the past on the Avon but this one was a scale above the others I'd seen but sadly this one released its grasp before I could get it out.

The smelt was getting attention throughout the short session but sadly not from fish, it was very quiet indeed. The Avon felt very lifeless indeed however the stars and the bright moon kept me occupied despite the lack of action. 

To cut a long story short after some initial chub plucks and pulls it went dead but then 20 minutes before packing up time a proper bite where a small determined 3lb chub had hooked itself insistent on having the blue cheese and garlic boilie.

I didn't even use the landing net but unhooked it when still in the water. And that was that, after getting the bait out again my self imposed curfew had arrived and no more fish. What a moon though 😎

WANING GIBBO