Warwickshire Avon - Twiddlers and Tufthunters

I found the weir out of bounds for ones pike float fishing gear as the river has risen much further up than I thought. There was no way the floats would hold bottom, heck even a ledger set-up would have probably been constantly dragged off line such the pace on the water. 

The plan you see for this short evening session was to fish the weir pool in to dusk to try and catch one of the infamous Zander that live here that until this day I've not spotted one let alone caught one. 

Now I'd been told about Zander swimming in these waters a while ago now but I always believed it was one of those tales that were basically Chinese whispers, but then out of the blue when fishing for chub I foul hooked one when I struck in to a bite with breadflake on the end.

It was only a 3 pounder but confirmed that there were actually Zander her after all. Since that fish I'd caught a few from the stretch now, the biggest maybe going 7 pounds or so but the larger specimens that could well be here haven't succumbed to my tactics yet. 

There are pike here as well though in-fact more often than not its the pike that get in on the act first. I've had a couple or three doubles so there is always a chance of a decent fish if the Zander are not playing ball. But the river was over 8 degrees so there was every chance of catching one, and as we know Zander do like moving around at dusk especially.  

I'd lost a decent fish to a snag when I fished a similar session last season and that fish I didn't get to see, but if it was a Zander, it would have been a bloody good one. Downstream there is a swim that is always fishable even if the river is in flood so with the weir out of bounds that would have to do.

To be fair I caught a cracking pike here recently and the biggest Zander I caught on this stretch came from this swim so at least I washing blind and it had some form.

The swim was whirlpooling though and with a constant stream of stick and debris coming down the river it wasn't exactly easy fishing. The river still had >2ft of visibility so I knew sundown and when the light levels dropped that would be the best chance for a bite.

So a time to chill and watch the floats and try and get a fish on the bank. The wind was bitter yesterday but it actual felt rather mild to be out and with more rain expected overnight and well in to tomorrow there may well be a barbel fishing opportunity. 

There are barbel here as well, in-fact the last barbel I have caught came from this stretch if I recall. Anyway an hour and a half down with only stick bites giving the float attention I was hoping dusk was when my fortunes would change. 

But no, dusk came and went and the witching hour sadly not producing a bobble, bite or a nibble. The margins were full of fry when I switched on my powerful headtorch when I left and even the plundering perch were nowhere to be seen.

Even the chub that often pick up small deadbaits didn't seem to be around and I left with another tick in the blank session tally. A blip hopefully because I'm an angler and I want to catch fish, not sit around twiddling ones thumbs. 

On to the next one !!!