Warwickshire Avon - Pallasethesia and Palpebration

Another busy working week, where a trip to the office was most welcome as it not only showed the fruits of ones labour but I got to see the interior I've been working on in its full production buck glory.

A car that I'm sure will rock the industry a little when it surfaces in a couple of years time. Something a little different than the humdrum, which for someone who has worked in the automotive industry for so long, I don't say that lightly.

The CAD bashing as been accompanied with more techno beats this week where its been head down and tick those feasibility boxes off.

Now what hasn't helped those retired type have been making the most of the good fishing weather and have been updating me with every bites via the couple of fishing WhatsApp group I'm a member of. 

The ever increasing workload needs to be forgotten about, and mixes such as this one above really do work wonders for ones noggin. At least I've got a decent view from my makeshift home office where I was eager to get out on the bank as the conditions looked perfect.

Now when you have been fishing as long as I have you do amass quite a bit of gear this picture showing some of it where a section of the garage is dedicated to all things fishy.

Rods in the rafters, quivers in every corner, the bait fridge squeezed in next to the washing machine, your only seeing 50% of it !!! but then nothing should get in the way of a pastime now should it. 

When I installed the racking the purpose of it was that I could still park a Lotus Exige under it, and yes largely a pipe dream I suppose because my money gets swallowed up just to keep the Newey family ticking over.

I could sell the Jimny I suppose but then it would leave me with a car I'd probably only use for pleasure purposes, and lets be honest, to get pleasure from driving these days in the local roads that wouldn't look out of place in war-torn Beirut, I'm sure the enjoyment would be short lived.

Now as anglers we are always looking for the next piece of tackle to acquire but despite there being some decent sales on at the moment, I've been perusing the sale items, trawling through the deals and yet I've not bought anything 😢 

To be honest, I've got all I need really and the rod I wanted to buy which was a 7ft quiver rod for those tight swims was out of stock anyway. 

So I'd only be buying for buying sake and maybe its best to save the pennies till something turns up that I really want. 

To be fair I nearly bought a beachcaster rod that was discounted but then just before pressing the buy it now button I thought what the heck, the odd time that I do go sea fishing my current cheapo set-up would suffice. 

The problem is for insurance purposes when you tot everything up is amounts to a pretty penny and knowing a few people who have had their tackle nicked over the years you'd best to make a list like I have and keep as many receipts as humanly possible. 

I had a suitcase go missing after a sailing trip to the BVI's and the hassle I had to go through just to get paid out from the travel insurance company I don't want to go through that ever again.

The pain in backside was out of all my holidays I'd rather not have lost this particular suitcase as it had items from an area if the world I'm unlikely to see again.  

That's why I have a box full of receipts now for these sort of eventualities, believe you me its worth storing them, because you never know when you might need them.  

The morning mist was still there however look above and the skies were clearing so reasonable conditions but to be honest needs must rather than the likelihood of catching a fish. 

Buy you cannot catch a fish without a bait in the water now can you !!!!

The water was clearing but there was still a little colour so I was hoping that the chub would still be up for a feed and if I'm to catch a Warwickshire Avon 6lber I need to rack the sessions up. 

With the chub gear still in the car it was out with the ever reducing cheesepaste to try and winkle out a post work chub.

There are plenty of swims to go at here and I'm quite lucky that the closest stretch of the Warwickshire Avon I fish is only 10 minutes away. 

Roving is the key here but after 6 swims down in swims that looked perfect for a bite I was wondering where the heck the fish were. The river here was still a little higher than I'd like and not all the swims were fishable but drop a bait on a fishes head you can often be lucky with a bite. 

Eventually two fish succumbed to the stinky paste with both over 4 pound and the biggest heading towards 5lb. The key was to leave to the bait a little longer than I usually do because it was obviously they were not moving around much at all.

I love winter fishing for chub and the first fish gave me a proper fight on balanced tackle where it tried to snag me up twice with the forgiving rod doing the 6lb line justice to soak up the lunges.

And that was a wrap, a few more biteless swims it just goes to show how a roving approach on this sort of river is a must where if I was sat in one swim I'd most likely been looking at a motionless quiver.

The weather really was odd where the mist didn't lift from the ground and above the trees clear blues skies. It was a cold one too with another frost expected overnight and with the conditions similar again in the morning I'll head to the syndicate stretch to see the pike are biting.