Warwickshire Avon - Stalwarts and Stagmometers

A little like fishing everyone should have staple ingredients in their larders and cupboards and this simple chickpea and spinach curry was knocked up in no time. Not only does it mean you haven't succumbed to the processed rubbish you get in ready meals these day, but you get the satisfaction of putting in front of the hungry, who in this case was the Wife who was about to hit the biscuit barrel.

Now talking of the wife,  I actually allowed her (joke) to put the heating on this morning where it got down to 6 degrees overnight and when we woke up, there was certainly a chill in the air. So a boost of the heating, jobs a good'un. 

Only an hour of course, no cheap shale gas to be seen had in Bards country, OH NO !!! I hear my bank balance cry and those of the elderly people and fuel poverty families that Insulate Britain are causing carnage for !!!

In the 1990s, the UK made a “dash for gas” and in recent years, it has leaned on the fuel to ease the phase out of an even more polluting fossil fuel, coal. That makes the UK heavily reliant on gas for energy, with 86 per cent of homes using it for heating and more than a third of electricity supplies coming from gas power plants.

Now estimates suggest that the amount of shale gas that we are sitting on that could be feasibly be extracted could easily supply the UK with cheap gas for >100 years. 

However there is currently a moratorium on fracking in England cus back in November 2019, the Government would take a presumption against issuing any further consents for fracking in England, because of the environmental concerns over its extraction. 

However hydraulic fracturing in the United States began in 1949. According to the Department of Energy, and at least two million oil and gas wells in the US had been hydraulically fractured, and that of new wells being drilled, up to 95% are hydraulically fractured. 💭

So apart from the North Sea which is still one of the main contributors to the reserves, around 50% of the UK’s gas supply now comes from across Europe, predominantly Norway, but Netherlands, Belgium, and Russia too, all supplied through long distance pipelines.

Because of the demand more recently though wholesale gas prices are only going one way, and that way is up !!! Energy companies going bust, bailouts being talk about, not a good time is it, luckily no issues with other fuels and their supply, oh wait !!!!

I'm alright jack I managed to find a petrol station that wasn't closed (Asda in Whitley Coventry) that had some petrol in it, luckily despite the Jimny being on fumes the pump restricted £30 fill later it was back to full again (almost)

Now talking about back to being full again the recent rain (thank God) the Warwickshire Avon had a nice top up and as did the Alne and the other local rivers. With more rain on the way a little like the gas prices, it is only going one way, The temperature is dropping as well I'm hoping to start targeting some of the species that wake up from their slumber. Perch, Zander being within one thoughts at the minute and also Chub and Barbel.

I spotted a couple of Barbel in a swim the other day and for this cold session in to dusk I'd try and winkle one where I'd seen them. 

To be fair not big fish, the biggest maybe 7 or 8 lb, but certainly one to give a good bend in the rod and to satisfy the angling craving. 

Only a short session like most of my barbel sessions are mind you, where I'd fish a pungent paste wrapped boilie with a pva bag of mixed freebies. 

In January time I love nothing more than using 1/4 tins of spam especially when the water is coloured up, give them something they cannot refuse, like a post pub kebab craving. 

For now though a more of a scaled down approach because the river is still clear as I'm typing this. We've still quite a change to happen to the Warks Avon before its big meat time. 

So when I got there the river had literally risen a couple or three feet when I fished it last and it looked in perfect nick for a bite. The temperature had dropped though so the larger fish could wells switch off  but within minutes of getting the rod out the first chub clang came.

It didn't take long to properly snaffle the boilie and it hooked itself eventually. Only a 2 lber but at least it wasn't a blank.

I unhooked it in the net and released it downstream of me and got the rod back out. Again within minutes of the getting the bait out the same happened. Two more fish came soon after and again released downstream. The were getting bigger though with both around the 3lb mark.

The best was yet to come though and just after dusk as the light was going a few tentative pulls turned in to a Barbel esk bite and a fish was on. It carted to my right towards some cover in the margins so I knew it was a chub again.

A bigger one though judging by the fight and sure enough when it was in the net it was one of the longer fish that reside here. Probably not far off 5lb and when it gets its winter belly on probably a 6lber. Oddly with that returned nothing else materialised despite fishing another swim for 15 minutes, sometime the Avon can be like that though. I'll be back.