Warwickshire Avon - Shysters and Shenangos

Living so close to the Warwickshire Avon its quite nice to be able to have quick ad hoc sessions when the mind needs to be in a better place. Work has been really busy since I started this new position engineering once of the nicest cars I've work on for a long time. 

No furlough to be seen here, the job retention scheme that has been welcomed by many workers who couldn't work during the pandemic, and particularly enjoyed by those that like to defraud the state, the shysters. 

All £3,500,000,000 of it 😵😱

The problem is I started the position 2 and a bit years ago and there is already planning going on for the other future models as well massive expansion plans. I've fallen on my feet really despite ones earning in the industry been rather stagnant for years, I could still keep the fridge full thankfully. 

20 years as a freelancer now a proper permi because off-payroll working tax implications where jobbing jobs are almost non existent now so every penny counts. 

There are still contract jobs outside of IR35 for sure but many with hourly rates less than what I was earning in 1999. I'm getting older though so the reduction of hours has been most welcome those 6.00am starts no longer and I've not worked 50 hours for ages, maybe not a bad thing. 

I suppose it helps in those good times I've paid ones dues and my outgoings are not what they used to be despite them feeling never-ending like it does for many.

Talking about never-ending you only to look at the post count on this blog of mine to see that my sessions seem to be on the increase year on year. There is a good reason for that, because I need that solitude more than ever these days because the 18 months have only amplified the need for peace and quiet on my terms.

The Avon has risen quite nicely when I was here last and the chub were really quite active when the flow had increased and the water over their heads had risen quite dramatically. 

Their confidence clearly to be seen on the rod top and within minutes of getting the bait out a chub was on it straight away.

4 succumbed to the hot fish boilies which were wrapped in matching paste I fashioned up from the boilies. You cannot buy the paste from Dynamite for some reason, they are missing a trick and sales for sure.

The problem for this spur of the moment session was that not only had I left my bankstick in the garage but also the bankstick that has my phone mount on for selfies.

So I'd be knackered if a 6lb chub turned up as I'd have no real way of taking a decent photo, oh well, I was bankside now I'd just have to get on with it. 

The EVA bag keeps the rain out in these damp conditions and just has enough bait and bits in for spur of the moment sessions like this.  The rain had been on and off or day but I was surprised to see quite a drop in the river and nothing like what it was a couple of days earlier. Although I look at the Stratford graph as an indicator to see the rise and fall, sometimes here it can buck the trend.

With the wellies donned I hotfooted it to the swim I intended to fish and arrived half an hour before official dusk which was 7.20pm. The nights are drawing in fast and if I'm to continue my fishing fix those venues I can fish in to evening are a God-send really. 

I find on the Warwickshire Avon bites unless the water is coloured up more often than not come on the run up to dusk and not much after so this session wouldn't be much more than an hour.

What I didn't expect though was no chub plucks and pulls whatsoever in the first swim where I fished a couple of days ago so I made a move to another swim. Again nothing much materialised in there either, the chub were not interested for some reason. 

Then out of the blue !!!!

All hell breaks loose when a bite comes out of the blue and the rod rest I fashioned up from an inch thick branch luckily holding up. I could tell what it was straight away. 

A Barbel !!!

You cannot mess around in this swim so I had to get on top of the fish as soon as I could and luckily for me after a two handed on he cork handle I managed to turn it, and not long after it was in the net. A quick photo and a weigh in the sling after an initial rest it went 9lb and 12 ounces. These short sessions are certainly worthwhile and I will continue on with them as some nice fish can turn up at the witching hour.