Warwickshire Avon - Mammoths and Myrmidons

Working from home most of the time certainly has its advantages where this a toad in the hole came to the rescue when scratching my head thinking what the heck I was going to have for lunch. 

With the gas and leccy prices skyrocketing probably not the best idea when a cheese sarnie would suffice, but what the heck, might as well enjoy it whilst I can, cannot get that in the local Morrisons now can I. 

To be fair my mandatory once in the office week is going to be twice a week in a couple of weeks, where Monday and Wednesdays I'll be fighting for the parking spaces, where I'd be on to a loser, you see >130% heavier than the little Jimny the new 110 defender is certainly the behemoth is looks on the road where it looks a scale above the humdrum. It would be completely unsuited for some of the roads I drive where the width would be a massive hinderance. 

The Jimny eventually because of it's CO2 levels was eventually not economically viable for Suzuki to sell in the UK and they pulled it from sale, something doesn't quite add up does it. 🤔  It did come back as a watered down commercial version, but not quite the same to be honest, lets hope the 4 door hybrid version due next year is a flyer as might fancy an upgrade.  

Now being baron from anything decent on the bank of late a behemoth would be nice to see in the bottom of ones landing net. So for this session in to dusk I fancied venturing down a swim I fished recently where I was done over by a gluttonous chub.

I stupidly fished a normal boilie on the hair last time and after some perseverance from the persistent pecking plucker(s), I'd fished the majority of the session without a bait on. 

A school boy error if ever there was one !!!

It's happened before I might add, but not learning from my mistakes I went home fishless with the chub laughing from the sanctuary of their lair with their bellies bulging from the hemp and pellet freebie buffet, and boilies picked straight from the bag. Fingers and fins up, I can well imagine. 

The local rivers are still a bit pants at the minute but dusk there is often the opportunity for a bend in the rod. It was the barbel that I was after that tend to reside in this area from time to time so I was back to fish the same peg with the same tactics however a change of hookbait.

Now Wafters are harder than standard boilies out of the bag, thus help to withstand the attention of crayfish, nuisance fish and diving birds but I'd also reduce the length of the hair to try to try and least catch one of the chub.

I actually get a kick from seeing the chub give the hardened hookbait a good going over before eventually hooking themselves from their avid determination. Some of the bites can be quite ridiculous and at least catching a chub albeit on barbel gear means a blank is avoided despite not the target species. 

As we head in to Autumn there have been plenty of moans during every hot summer about the effect on fishing caused by the weather. Anglers (me included) complain of many quiet patches. 

Looking back at my blog though, apart from the lack of bigger fish, I've had plenty of bites and not many quiet sessions. Though the fish may not be over- helpful at times, every lull seems to be filled with incident. 

Now before I settled in to fishing behind a static rod in the pre-baited swim I fancied feeding some pellets to flutter down through the water column, and fish a buoyant float with some meat on the hook.

It's a nice trotting swim here and not that deep so before I parked my backside in to dusk and a nadger beyond I'll try to winkle out a chub or maybe even a barbel. 

An hour trotting without a nibble the only other angler on the stretch finding it very tough indeed the change from a chunk of meat to a banded pellet eventually some small chub started to show.

They properly nailed the bait and it was nice to see the very buoyant chubber float go straight under. Nothing big mind you but very satisfying in these gin clear conditions where the Warwickshire Avon can be very tough indeed. Nic from Avon Angling UK had messaged me at the start of the session and he was finding it proper tough on the Wye, so much so he headed home early.

It was cold though and once the sun was down it almost felt winter

I'd primed the swim I'd static fish an hour before with a mix of hemp and pellets and within 5 minutes of getting the wafter out I had the first chub pull and then for the next half an hour the bites, plucks and taps kept on coming.

Prime barbel biting time now but after a foot pull that stayed there and I struck in to nothing I decided to sit on my hands and wait for a proper bite. 

I didn't have to wait long where a fish had hooked itself and I knew the culprit straight away. Yeah a persistent chub really wanted the back of the bait fridge ancient Sticky Baits krill wafter doused in Dynamite Baits Hot Fish liquid. 

A decent fight as well despite being on the barbel rod and I knew it was well over 4lb when it was in the net. I was correct too, as it went 5lb exactly on the scales. A lovely fish indeed, the barbel as elusive as ever but as expected dusk and beyond the Avon transforms. Curfew came and went and I went home a happy man.