Warwickshire Avon - Abnormal Gaits and Aboulomania

The Xmas works do kicked off with a queue of people lined up to drink the Vodka poured in to the ice sculpture, which when fed neat from the top subsequently appeared at the end of a 8mm receptacle. Being older and wiser pacing yourself is the key to this sort of event, where the drinks were paid for and the food inevitably late.

The wobbling for the drunken few started quite early even before the 'DJ' decided to belt out his wedding party playlist and the dancefloor started to fill with those that love that kind of drudgery. 

Heck one Grey Goose gurgler had to be 'shown out' by the security staff with a couple of hours to go, bet he woke with a sore head 😀

For obvious reasons I wasn't quite in the mood for a proper party but I made the effort to go and even got in to character by dressing up as a Peaky Blinder which was the theme as was the Gadbsy dress code for the ladies. 

Now at one stage I had a premonition where a little like when Moses parted the Red Sea parted to allow the Israelites through, I with record box in hand moved the crowd out the way, shoved the knob twirler from his embarrassment and gave the crowd what they really wanted. 

But the fact is, I'm fast becoming the minority in many areas of my life work being one of them, the music well, yeah an old raver might as well be in the archives of YouTube. 

A 50 year old white male with grey hair even when a flat cap is donned stands out like a beacon among the generation Z'ers. But there is a reason I haven't been out of work since I started >30 years ago and as the years tick by, that experience counts for quite a lot, I just get on with the job, no over the shoulder watching needed for me, I'll give you a shout when I've completed the job.

Now a job I've still not completed yet, and that's to catch a 6lb Warwickshire Avon Chub. The weather is cold and getting colder and now is the time to try and catch one of those bigger chub, that a little like me have seen it all so can be tricky to tempt. 

But they have their weaknesses that's for sure and one of those is a large moving visual bait that not only can provoke their predatory instinct but also their hunger pangs. Large pieces of bread especially in this clearing water fished under a buoyant float can often tempt the most wary of chub.

Nic had been updating me on a session he was having at a local stretch to him and I wanted in on the act too. In-fact this session played out similar to his albeit it took me a good while longer to find the fish.

The first fish caught was a mint 3lber and another two of his mates followed him in to the landing net. Probably from the same school year because they were of similar stamp. Great condition though and so nice to see, just a shame about half the size on what I'm really after. 

I had a couple more moves but the fish were getting smaller catching a few more chublets at the end of a long run. The bread was doing the trick yet again though, is there a better bait in these conditions ? answers on a postcard please. !!!

With the sun starting to set I had the ledger rod in the car so I prebaited a couple of swims with bread mash and fished them in to dusk and half an hour beyond.

Perfect looking chub swims as well, both with cover and littered with snags. Sadly all I had to show for it was another chublet that launched itself out of the water with some impressive gymnastic prowess.

And that was my lot. Fellow syndicate member Dave has given me an area to try for the bigger fish so I might give that a go Sunday morning. I thought I was getting somewhere with the bigger chub but I seem to be going backwards for some reason. Oh well, I'm sure a decent one will show up soon enough if I keep on ticking the sessions off.