Warwickshire Avon - Mind Blanks and Myringoscopes (PB Content)

With the Warwickshire Avon levels finally on the retreat for this midweek short post work session I fancied having a go for a Barbel. Any fishing opportunities need to be grasped with both hands especially in these testing times where the worlds ills can be forgotten, for a short while at least anyway.   

Now in the forthcoming new season it's going to be out with the old and in with the new, where one of my usual close to home club books will be replaced with one around the same cost, but with much more water to fish, and also a chance of a big Barbus. 

Its a no brainer really even though having held this club book before I'm hoping the reason why I got rid has been addressed, and I'm less likely to get issues with ones membership. 

Back to this session, well this stretch is the only stretch where I'd caught Barbel from this season and were the fish still there ? were they up for a feed ?

Simple cobbled together tactics with one rod and some chilli powdered flavoured luncheon meat as bait that I luckily found tucked away at the back of the bait fridge that I prepared a few weeks ago but didn't use. I'd fish the meat over some freebies to try and get any fish in the area to mooch about till they came upon the hookbait offering.

Chub are present here as well, in-fact some good un's so, the hair rig set-up was ditched with a smaller piece of meat and I'd fish a smaller piece straight on the hook. 

A fish, any fish to be honest would be nice and although I'd be over gunned with my Barbel rod, at least my probabilities of catching a fish would be increased. 

2 hours if that, as dusk was 18.20 ish and I'd have to be off soon after, but hopefully arriving at the witching hour at least I'd be bankside when the fish were most likely to bite.  

The river was a lovely colour, from its chocolate brown it was clearing fast and was almost like the colour of the water from a can of brown lentils. 

I dropped some freebies in first and then walked a couple of hundred yards where I'd caught a Barbel from before. An hour and a bit in though not even a nibble so with dusk approaching I decided to retrace my steps and fish the pre-baited swim.

What I didn't expect was a few confident pulls within five minutes and on the forth pull where the tip stayed there I lifted the rod and was in to a fish.

I knew it was a chub straight away but it felt half decent despite not being a match for the Barbel rod. When in the net I though, that looks half decent but then when lifting it out I realised it had been feeding and this felt heavy, so heavy in-fact it added 7 ounces to my PB

So 5lb 15 ounces of Warwickshire Avon chub !!! and very much unexpected and on my barbel rod but I cannot grumble as it was a lovely fish indeed and one of those fish I will remember, mainly because how quick the bite was in the pre-baited swim. 

But that was a wrap, I released it downstream and no more bites, but I left very happy indeed. It just goes to show these short sessions of mine can work really well and suit me best as I find it hard to fish longer than these short trips.