Warwickshire Avon - Troglodytes Trophotropisms

Got to love an Indian sizzler the problem was the king prawns lamb chops, sheek kebab and tandoori chicken was about to be deposited on top of a prawn puri and a couple of poppadum's already sat in the pit of my stomach. So with rice and a naan to accompany it, a loosening of the belt was a required 

We timed it right too as there must have been an issue with one of the local roads as traffic was being diverted past the curry house to almost gridlock levels. Tractors with trailers trying to get past, it really was a nightmare out there. 

With the sanctuary of the hostelry, comforting food and the good company I know where I'd have rather been. So thankfully for us when we said our goodbyes and the traffic has dispersed and the Falling Down situation (1993 btw 🤯)was everted. 

Anyway I was feeling rather full sat in the office the following morning and with some harness routing to sort out on a side-line project I'm working on (Jack of all trades me) was a nice distraction from the main stay as an interior design engineer, but I needed to get out when my work was done for the week. 

What to do where to go ?

Well I just fancied some bites if I was honest and with some maggots in the bait fridge getting bored of their containment, I headed down to the Avon to get a much needed dip of the float, the vitamin D levels up and past a troglodyte.

Very nice it was too with the sun high in the sky and the temperature around 17 degrees, the river was gin clear as expected but one of the the swim below has some small fish milling around.

However a sprinkling of maggots soon got them feeding and after ten minutes or so it was a bit every time the float went down the flow. Not the biggest of maggot munchers admittedly but when the small float disappeared from view it's a lottery what is going to be on the end.  

I baited two swims with hemp and pellet and I periodically returned to them but I couldn't see anything bigger than half a pound. 

Not unexpected but months now the river has been like this and it is very tough going indeed with dawn and dusk the best time for a bigger fish.

There is plenty of cover here though where the chub and barbel often tuck themselves away and drift over the bait from time to time. So the smaller of the two swims I fished a tiny pellet over the freebies with only a couple of tiny chublet pulls to show for it. 

Hard going at the moment, still there is a 6lb chub to catch....

...and I'll keep on plugging away !!!