Nic was with me for this dawn session down at the Warwickshire Avon where hopefully we'd get in and amongst the Zander that reside here.
The river is still well up and coloured but here despite the main river motoring through there are always fishable swims here mainly close in where fish are likely to be holding up. Zander really don't mind these coloured conditions where the other species are clutching their fins and twirling their thumbs waiting it to clear.
The river was higher than expected and with Nic settling in to a swim above me I tried and failed to get a bait out in the next swim down.
The water you see was changing from almost static to whirlpool within a minute and despite a decent size egg weight on the float the flow was wiping it out every minute or so.
Luckily I had a running ledger set-up too and that was on a heavy bobbin as I had a hunch that the conditions might be difficult.
Size 1 Sakuma 440 circle hooks on both set-ups and I was going to fish a whole small roach on one rod and a chunk on the other.
Within fifteen minutes I decided to up-sticks and move to the next peg down again where luckily presentation of the bait would be a lot easier.
It was a deep swim, 10 foot ish close in but a tree was slowing down the flow sufficient enough to be able to keep the float static close in and the running rig went out almost mid-river just off the crease of the river. What I didn't expect was a run within 10 minutes of the getting the float rod out however despite a confident run I didn't manage to hook up.
At least I knew there were fish in the swim and it didn't take long for another run on the float however this time the float buried under the surface within seconds after the first bob.
Circle hooks are my default now for Zander and as soon as I tightened up to the fish I knew it was something half decent. It gave a pretty good fight too and was staying lower than Zander do and not really nodding about so I was surprised when it popped it that it was a Zander.
Not a massive fish around 6lb or so but most welcome when the river is recovering from being in flood. Nic came down for a look and with that fish returned he decided to fish the next swim down from me as he was struggling dealing with the conditions like I was.
The ledger set-up I cast over to a slack on the far bank where I saw some small fish top however even with a heavy bobbin and a big lead the flow would drag it out of position.
The key was to ignore the bobbin and tighten up the baitrunner and any interest would activate the alarm. Nic had a run but didn't hook up and that was after a good 45 minutes or so without an interest whatsoever. It was clear that it was going to be a tough morning but it was good to catch up as always.
Out of the blue a bit came on the ledger rod and it turned out it was a pike a similar size to the Zander with the Zander giving the better fight if I'm honest. After that fish all went quiet and another swim each for Nic and myself there was nothing doing so we called it a day.
That session had brought my 2021 season to a close and looking back at my blog posts I've done ok again this year, not only have I been out more than ever despite the lockdown year but there has bee some nice fish caught.
The closed season will be interesting as I will be giving this 2 mile stretch of canal much of my fishing efforts and it will be interesting to see what will turn up in an area where I've been amazed by and it is largely untapped apart from the likeminded who also fish this stretch for the surprises that just seem to be getting better and better.
Another PB I managed this year was a
8.2 ounce dace caught from a small overlooked stream, and next year I aim to try and find more of these forgotten waters to fish.
I love mixing my fishing up and these offer so much interest to me and finding new waters to fish and what they hold is a big part of my angling adventures.
I will cast my net wider though that is one of the changes I want to make.
Not only fishing local waters I'd not fished before, but also travelling further afield to waters where my target species such as river Zander and Barbel are a more likely quarry. A Warwickshire Avon 6lb chub is still a target, but again I think it is a change of waters I may well need to do, if one is to be banked.
Anyway 2021 can do one, let's hope next year is a lot better and tight-lines to the blog readers, say safe and hope you have a good 2022.
Good work
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