Warwickshire Avon - Roadkill and Rodomontade

A rather grim discovery heading over to the river for a morning session, yeap not the usual roadkill I usual stumble upon, and probably why I thought it was a badger at first.

I've seen plenty of otters over the years and some very close up indeed but its only when you get as close as this you realise just what an impressive animal it is, and no denying it is the apex predator in these flowing waters. 

The river is back to its summer best, low and crystal clear where in the daylight hours you can often be scratching around for bites, especially for the bigger fish.

The smaller fish are in numbers though and fish maggots bites can be forthcoming. I was after gudgeon though and this section of the Warwickshire Avon has had them year and year. Despite the size these little fish are bold biters and can offer some fun when the fishing is tough.

In one of the swims I could see a small shoal of them in the margins, almost sunning themselves in the morning sun, where initially I was wearing a fleece, and then come the end of the three hour session I was just in my shirt.

It was breezy with this couple or three days of low air pressure we are having and almost felt a spring morning despite it being summer. Maggots were doing the business and it really was a bite a chuck, however no proper gonks gave themselves up but plenty of the smaller fish were up for a feed.

Their blue sheen almost looked psychedelic when highlighted by the suns rays. I fished quite a few swims with bites in most but the chub were suspicious in their absence. 

Bits of bread were unhindered in the low and clear illuminated swims however there is one swim that is deeper than the rest and it is also largely in shade and can offer a bite when others don't.

And I wasn't wrong, a chunk of bread on the size six hook was cast underarm into a rather compact swim and within a split second, out from the far bank gloom came a chub and hovered up the bread with not a care in the world. 

A nice fish as well and gave me a merry dance initially but after bullying it away from the overhanging tree it knew who was boss and almost decided the game was up there and then, and I teased it to the waiting net. 

Small dace, perch, bleak and tiny chub were in most of the swims but the gudgeon were only in two swims. With the sun now high in the sky even the small fish seemed to be off feeding.

So it was back home early for some beans on tiger toast with, cheese and coriander, a flavour combination that everyone needs to give a go a some point. A Hindu mate of mines Wife put me on to it when we used to take an extended working lunch back in my apprentice days, when often the beans on toast was swapped for a plate full of chilli heavy vegetable samosas and tamarind sauce.

Fond memories !!!