The Tiny River Alne - Zoodles and Zoosemiotics

One of my favourite lighter meals are these chicken meatballs with zoodles. Chilli, parsley and tons of garlic the courgette ribbons are heated up at the end with even more garlic and a smattering of lemon juice and a nugget of butter.

I use a julienne peeler to turn them in to spaghetti but there are plenty of different ways to turn a rather boring looking vegetable in to something a little more palatable.

Now the weather looks pants for fishing in the morning, a really bright sunny day but there was also a frost overnight. I wanted to fish the Avon but not being able to fish in the evening in to dark, I had to make do with a few hours in the morning. 

I had the gear in and on the car still from the evening before so I would decide when I got up, where to go and what to do. After a coffee and sorting the kids breakfast I was 50/50 in going but then I knew I'd only regret it later.

So to the Alne forthwith !!!!

I always have this to myself, that's why I like it and the fact it's 5 mins down the road. So some sun and solitude, I couldn't care less if I didn't catch.

The Alne like many of the local small rivers really need some rain because at the moment they are on their knees. But small rivers and streams when they are like this it doesn't take much working out where the fish are going to be hiding.

It's just a matter of travelling light and fishing the deeper swims where fish could be holding up and also those swims with cover. 

You will know quickly enough if there is a fish in the swim and after the 5th or 6th swim without even a nibble I did wonder about jacking it in and getting back to bed to annoy the Wife, but no I stuck to my plan of trying for a chub.

This swim usually holds chub for obvious reasons but not on this occasion. I cannot remember it being so clear as this and the bottom could be seen in most swims.

The key to my success was a section of cover a good walk upstream where literally within seconds of the bread flake falling through the water a few sharp taps the tip is going round nicely and a fish is on.

They are not the biggest of chub admittedly but respect for living in what must be a tough environment. Still they are chub after all, it goes with their make-up.

Another fish came soon after which was slightly bigger and that came from a swim 10 metres away. And that was my lot. I fished for a fruitless hour without any more fish to show for it. I was glad I made it out though, especially when the bigger fish had lovely proportions to it. 

On to the next one !!!

Warwickshire Avon - Puddings and Pulley-pieces

Inviting isn't it ? 

These Yorkshire Puddings I made Sunday are staple in the Newey household when we have a roast dinner, which to be honest is almost every weekend, I love cooking them, always have done. Top oven is the key to a perfect rise, or basically non fan assisted, and the oil get it as hot as you can, 250 Degrees C usually does it. 

Such a visual food is a Yorkshire, you just want to eat it don't you !!!!

 

Now the chub or Chavender! You know, there is something in a name. In a way Chub suggests a rather coarse, greedy sort of creature, but Chavender which is another name for the Chub suggests something aristocratic, some fine heroic character from olden times.

A mate of mine used to call that fish 'Gutsy Chub' or 'Chavender, Esquire', depending upon whether he was trying to hook one or whether he was actually trying to hold one as it made its first dart. I don't believe there is a more greedy, 'eat anything I can get hold of' sort of fish in our rivers. Really the chub is quite a shocker. Nothing comes amiss.

Paste especially cheese paste, worms of every kind, maggots, wasp grubs, snails, slugs, caddis, elderberries, hemp, wheat, grasshoppers, flies, including butterflies ,cherries, bread, Haribo's, sucker fish, liver, frogs and, some say, even mice are welcomed by the chub! It is said that the only thing a chub will not take is a toad. That is why my mate called the chub 'gutsy', and I must admit that it is a very apt name.

But when he hooked a good chub and it made the first wild dash, then it earned the respectful title of Chavender Esquire! That first rush is something quite terrific. Yet once the chub has made that dart and failed to break away it often gives in. 

You won't find a perch, a carp or a grayling throwing in the sponge or hoisting the white flag. However, that first rush will give you a thrill. You'll have your heart in your mouth. Why does he give in? Blessed if I know, though that mate pf mine said it eats too much and so gets short of wind and stamina: something like an over- weight, untrained boxer going into the ring and soon beginning to puff and blow. 

All the same, the chub is no fool, !!!, to catch the big ones can be tough and often thinking outside the box for something different can be the change that is needed. It's surprising with the river so clear how quick they get out feeding when the light goes and with the large piece of bread flake suspended off the bottom 6-8 inches or so wafting round in front of the fished eyes like a wind sock, and it seems to be doing the trick at the minute. 

Anyway to the fishing, I joined my friends up at the area where I've been fishing of late where my best chub whilst trotting (5lb 10 ounces) came from. Dusk was only an hour away so I fed a few swims with bread mash and a few pellets mixed in and would fish those in rotation when it got dark.

What I didn't expect was after throwing some pieces of bread in to the river to drift down that in one swim I had chub taking it off the top. Easily my favourite way of catching chub, the problem was next to the raft was really fast water and the tiny slack they were holding up in I couldn't get to them.  

Still I stuck to my original plan and nothing happened in a couple of swims prior to the light going but the first drop of the bread in to the first pre-baited swim it didn't take long to get a bite. 

Only a splasher though, maybe a 3lber but a welcome sight in tough conditions. An otter was just upstream of me causing some commotion but it didn't put the chub off because soon after this fish another one of similar stamp wanted in on the bread too. So two fish quite quickly I was hoping a big'un was up for a bite. But no, that was my lot. No more fish, and I fished a couple more swims too. The river was dead.  

Warwickshire Avon - Chasms and Catapedamania

When I was here the other day I definitely saw some half decent roach topping when I was chasing the chub and wondered if they were worth targeting or not. The problem was this small window of opportunity for that fishing fix wasn't the ideal time, but this would be a double dipping session so might as well give it a go, as I'm a bit chubbed out. 

Then again, if you think about it, at least they have been obliging of late, the other species haven't now have they. !!!

On the Warwickshire Avon at the minute when there are cormorants are on the hunt when it's as clear as this, those winter shoals of fish literally vanish somewhere else, where I don't know but often the river in front of you can be devoid of fish in the daylight hours. It can be very frustrating indeed, because all of a sudden when the light goes though, wow some activity !!! there are fish here after all !!!

If there are any cormorants on the stretch when you arrive, they soon vacate the feeding ground where they are clearly trying to flush out the fish, so at least being bankside gives some respite to the bait fish if there are any there that is. 

Now as per usual I didn't have long before I had to get back but a maggot and hemp attack for the roach on the float and I'd have a pike rod out in the deep slack(s). There is a few here you see where from a couple of foot deep it goes to 6-7 foot. Certainly a nice dark hidey-hole for a predator to tuck itself away.

A twitch off the bottom here and there would a predator be in situ ?

Well as expected a proper tough session this !!!

I must have fed and trotted the float for a good hour and a half without a nibble but then eventually some bites that sadly I missed. 

Minnows maybe ?

I swapped to the little feeder rod that I had in the car and decided to stick it out for an hour knowing that the bait was on the bottom. Eventually some decent twangs at least I knew there were fish in the swim. 

2 Herons, 1 otter, 2 kingfishers and a few cormorants downstream were sharing the river with me and they looked they were struggling too.

Eventually ones persistence paid off and a few of these Zander snack sized roach were caught. It was that hard going I decided to call the session early and return to the stretch for a chub in to dark the following evening instead. 
 

To be fair I did try a couple more swims on the way back with the Pike rod and apart from a tiny jack that snatched the bait on the retrieve even the Pike were having an off day.

Still I wasn't behind a computer, got to look at the positives haven't I. A session that I won't remember I know that. Dull as ditch water, so on to the next one, lets hope that is more memorable. 

Warwickshire Avon - Militants and Millenarianisms

When I was driving home in the dark from the last session along the small country lane back to my gaff, all of a sudden a scene straight out of the Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A huge array of lights with various colours and intensities heading towards me, and at that moment I thought I was about to be teleported up to the mother ship.

Thankfully though, after trying to process what the heck it was, it turned out to be a land train of cyclists (>20 easily), riding out together in a big group where safety in numbers was obviously key to their survival. Not one reflective vest from what I could see, just a boat load of lumens to try and block out my face palm. We've some fair weather though, they often appear out of nowhere in numbers down this neck of the woods, so can we have some rain, pretty please. 

Now looking at the long range weather forecast before the season end it all looked a bit pants to be honest as we could do with some rain . So for giving a late season barbel a go anyway, things didn't look promising but was I missing something ? only one way to find out I suppose. 

Now this new area I've been frequenting on the Warwickshire Avon probably sees more horses than anglers (not seen one yet) so I was back for some barbel blanking punishment, because I ain't done that well thus far in my quest for a PB beater. They are here though I know that for certain, so I've just got to keep plugging away with the short sessions I do, and get lucky. 

Now it's not all bad as I've caught some nice >5 chub here now so one of those would do as well to be fair, so anyway for this session I'd bait drop some hemp, small pellets and maggots coming up to dusk and fish a small Dynamite Baits glugged Hot Fish boilie over the top of the whisker twitching Smörgåsbord.

Now the barbel, Barbus barbus, is the other big long powerful inedible cyprinid of British waters. Its shape is much like a chub's, but it is darker in colour and has a more flattened head, and its tail is curiously asymmetrical, with the lower lobe rounded but the upper lobe pointed. 

It is a bottom feeder, a river-pig, not at all fastidious, the big barbel of the Danube fall to worms taken from the Viennese sewers. Barbel nose into gravel and silt, and feel for food with the four long barbules, two on the chin and two at the angle of the underslung jaw, as well as feeling it they can sample its flavour, with the taste-buds on the barbules, before it enters their mouths. 

Sometimes they take food in midwater, conspicuously, they turn belly-upwards to get at it and the pale underside shows clearly. This turning over presumably lets them feel and taste the floating food, before swallowing it. It is obviously the beard-like barbules that give them their name; for "barb" meant "beard" in English, as it does in French, before it became restricted to pointed bits of metal.

I've witnessed first hand myself that barbel can often be preoccupied with small items of food that they grub up from the bottom, but if offered a small bait on a fine hook either ignore it or, worse, use their great strength to straighten out the hook or break the tackle. 

In the course of a year, more tackle probably gets smashed by barbel than by any other fish, and put up a fight worthy of any game fish. 

Some say that barbel can cut through the line with the thick sharp spine that forms the front of their dorsal fin, but this is probably an excuse, and the true blame should be given to inadequate lines and tackle.

The British rod-caught record is >20lb now and there are some bigger than that, well over thirty pounds in European rivers. The closely related Aral barbel of the lower Volga and points eastwards grows to fifty pounds, and four feet. There are eight other smaller European species; and more in their Asian homeland. The great Indian barbel, the mahseer, is said to reach one hundred and fifty pounds. I don't know what sort of tackle it requires, trigger you got a broom handle I can borrow. 

Now even for English barbel you need a good Avon rod and strong wrists, and no end of groundbait, pellets and hemp, oh and a suitable river. Barbel prefer moderately fast, clean water, the big ones often choose the region of slack water below a rapid run, with abundant cover, or they will lie in thick weed in the middle of a fast stretch. They are only worth fishing for in the summer and autumn, in the cold weather you see, unlike chub they go deep and become very sluggish, and then comes the closed season.  

Damn It !!!

Anyway might as well give it a go I suppose before the water temperature drops again. Before I settled in to the session rather than do some leading here and there to try and find a decent place to bait dropper the bed of bait down, I'd bring the deeper in to play as that would do a better job of finding one than my rather lacklustre approach. (a trough >7ft deep btw) I've a new club book now but before I venture further afield in the new season and better conditions these smash and grab sessions is about all I'm willing to muster up at the minute !!!

Anyway the face says it all !!!

There were certainly fish in the swim when the light went because the boilie which was tight to the hair was being pulled and plucked for an hour and a half at least. Some of the bites were proper chub clangs as well but for some reason they avoided being hooked.

The air temperature had dropped considerably by this time in-fact when I got in the car to head home it was showing 1 degrees. So a bit of a wasted session I suppose as I could have well have caught a chub or two if I had changed my tactics. But that's fishing for you isn't it, cannot have it your own way all of the time, that would be a bit rubbish wouldn't it.  

Warwickshire Avon - Vindaloo's and Vindictivolence

Now as you know I prefer to concoct my own curries because I know what goes in to them for starters, but with the Wife occupying the kids during half term with a Toby Carvery (kids eat for a quid apparently during half term) with the Father-in-Law I had to fend for myself for this evening. Both of my kids Ben and Sam love my roast dinners and Ben, well I know he would be having a least 2/3 plates full of Toby's offering, as he looks forward to Sunday's even more than me. 

I however wasn't on holiday and was in the office for the daily grind sadly, so with the fishing gear in the car nipped to Morrisons for lunch, grabbed whatever spicy curry they had and would eat it after I got back from the Warwickshire Avon. I can count on one hand how many ready meals I buy in a year, would I be disappointed again ?

A no brainer really because this relatively untapped section of the Warwickshire Avon is a small detour from home and for someone like me, who doesn't have a huge fishing window for that fishing fix. I had planned to fish a particular swim but when I got to the river there was a few anglers on the opposite bank from another club and one exactly opposite where I wanted to fish. 

I mentioned untapped because a good two fields of this section is only available to the syndicate and I've fished it a few times since becoming a member, and seemingly I have it all to myself because I've not seen anyone else up here yet.  

So I headed upstream to an area that is shallow in the main but has some depth in the inside on one section of it. I did plan to try for a barbel but in the end fancied a bite from a chub so left the rod on the car and again it was out with the chub gear. 

Just down here carries some good depth and when the river is as clear as it is now sometimes depth can help you get a bite during the daylight hours when the bigger fish are tucking themselves away from you know you know !!!

I missed a bite literally as the bread fluttered through the water column because a fish had taken the bread on the drop as the quiver bent round before the SSG shot had reached the bottom. The problem was I didn't realise that at the time because I'm sure if I had let the bite develop I'd have a chub in the net.

The fish felt the point of the hook though and as expected that fish had spooked off before I got a second chance. What I did expect though after 15 minutes on to the next swim when I lifted the flake off the bottom out of nowhere a jack pike came up from the depths and grabbed it.  

A decent fight ensued on light tackle however I could see it was hooked in the scissors so thankfully I knew if I played it gently I'd be able to land it.

To be honest after a couple of runs it decided to give up and it was soon in the net. Not exactly what I wanted, but still nice to see a young predator especially in decent nick. With the light now fading I fished a couple more swims without a pluck or a nibble so it was on to the last swim (pre-baited with mash), the head torch donned and my stall set out.

Literally 10 minutes in to fishing a tentative pull on the 0.75oz quiver it soon pulls round confidently and a fish is on. It took the garlic oil sprayed bread with such vigour it obviously wanted it. Anyway a decent powerful fish I knew it was a good'un especially with it made a decent boil on the surface.

Another 5lber, this going 5lb 7 ounces on the scales and one more to add to my growing collection. After struggling for years to catch a Warwickshire Avon 5lber I'm blessed to be catching fish of this stamp now. Less competition for food from the barbel ? who knows but they have certainly increased in size over the years I've been catching them, my best ? well 6lb 2 ounces at the minute. 

And that was my lot, I had the fish retained in the next and fished for another forty five minutes well in to dark without another bite. Well tell a lie, one pull that didn't develop in to a full blown bite.

A lovely fish though and well worth the detour. So that was that, back on the car and I headed home a happy man for ones dinner. The Morrisons curry ? well not a bad effort actually, the chicken not the most pleasant texture (I put one teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda on mine for half an hour before cooking) but the sauce had the just amount of spice, certainly palatable, if you're a lazy'un. 

2 serving apparently ? Errr yeah ok, get out of here !!!! 🤣🤣

Warwickshire Stour - Finfluencers and Fimicolous

Groundhog Day springs to mind blog readers but with the weather being nice and fair in the morning with the wind almost non-existent, I fancied a roving session on a small river and and among the sheep poo. 

My bread and butter 🍞🧈

So many of them locally are low and clear the Alne, the Arrow the Leam etc, but the Stour not only varies in depth but as I've said before it's almost always carries a lovely tinge of green. 

So bread on the link ledger with the 0.75oz glass tip fitted lets get cracking on some of these lovely swims. Bread mash in the odd swim to prime and flake on the size 6 hook. 

There is plenty to go at these little river where once you have fished them as much as I have over the years it's quiet easy to know where the chub especially are likely to be holding up. 

I arrived at dawn and a bite in the first swim I thought I was on for a good session, but that couldn't have been further from the truth.

As soon as the skies cleared and the sun illuminating the banks swim after swim apart from small fish nibbles the chub were not showing.

 As I headed downstream there are so many swims to go at so I was hoping it would only be a matter of time before I had another fish.

A fast swim that had a slack on the inside just by a tree and a slack a little further downstream over at the far side can be hit and miss, but it was hit for me this morning.

Within a few minutes of the large piece of bread flake being out moving around the swim and suspended off the bottom 6 inches or so, a pluck and then another pluck, the tip pulls round confidently and I'm in to an acrobatic chub.

There was plenty of escape options in this swim and it tried them all, but with 5lb line straight through and from an elevated position I managed to bully it away from the inevitable. 

So two fish down but not exactly prolific....

....after retracing my steps and fishing the odd swim I settled down in the last swim where within seconds I'm getting indications on the tip. When I lifted the bread off the bottom I could feel a jab, jab, jab through the line and in the clear water could see a perch chase the remaining bread that was on the hook. 

I left it for a seconds and sure enough the greedy stripy nabbed it and I reeled in a tiny perch, the blighter. It did make me chuckle 🤣 And that was my lot, a tough'un, but some decent steps covered at least I could enjoy the Sunday Roast later with that extra roast potato and Yorkshire Pudding !!!

Warwickshire Avon - Metaverse and Metapsychology

I didn't really have the urge to go fishing when I woke up in the morning, the conditions I suppose are not ideal and when the rain started to come done, (the light stuff that gets you wet) I think I had made the right decision.

With the gear still in the car though I decided to nip out for an evening session in to dark where hopefully I'd winkle out a chub. 

I struggle to exceed more than a few hours fishing these days where little an often seems to suit my style of fishing where roving is a big part of it.

Even on this convenient stretch where I can park behind my swim if I wanted to, but when I arrived on the stretch an hour and a half before dusk I let the car by the swim(s) where I would fish in to dark and go on the search for bites.

As you go up the river there is some deeper swims that can often hold fish when the main river is low and gin clear. Some of the swims have some decent depth which can help when it's like this.

I was quite surprised that I had a quick couple of chub within the first half an hour and the first bite I missed so they were up for a feed. 

Anyway as the light went I retraced my steps and within seconds of dropping a bait in the pre-baited swim, a tentative pull a proper pull round developed and I was in to a fish. 

Not a big fish but a welcome bend in the rod and worth the trip out. Another fish of similar size (3 and a half pound) within half an hour, 4 fish that will do, 2.5 hours job done !!! 

Warwickshire Avon - Vampiregeddon and Vindictivolence

It's quite scary how time flies, you see every few months or so some I meet up with some ex work colleagues for a curry that were trainees and apprentices' when I started the world of work well over 30 years ago. We eventually all went our separate ways with our careers but still keep in touch because we had some good times over the years, yes I did actually enjoy going to work for a good period of my life. 

Now it certainly doesn't feel like 30 years since we started the ritual where often the same old stories pop up and we reminisce over old times. 

One particular one was when we borrowed a Rover 400 estate from Longbridge where we worked, that needed miles adding to as part of a fleet of engineering cars that you could borrow not just overnight but for a weekend. 

So with a full tank of diesel we drove to Dover, then got the ferry to Calais, then proceeded to drive to Amsterdam where we stopped for a couple of nights to see the 'sights'.

On the return we stopped off at the hypermarket filled the boot and whatever space was there in the cabin to the brim with cheap French booze, which overloaded the car so much, we broke the exhaust when negotiating the rather steep ramp on the ferry, because the car, well had little or no suspension left.  

Driving on the wrong side of the road, trying to get our heads down in a sketchy area of the Dam before getting to the hostel that seemed even more sketchy with some right old dodgy characters. However with more luck than judgement we managed to survive the trip relatively unscathed. 

900 miles or so driven and it was only when we got back to Dover we needed to add extra fuel. A very fugal car indeed where when driven sensibly you could get well over 600 miles out of a tank of the dirty and stinky stuff quite easily.

It's spring don't you know !!! well it feels like it anyway

Anyway after all that rich food and enough garlic to kill a colony of Vampires, and enough naan to choke a chub I needed to walk it off. Sadly I couldn't fish in to dark as the diary makers had their hold but enough time to try and winkle out a fish or two. So the plan was some double dipping for this session, chub naturally but then I'd also try and winkle out one or two of the Gudgeon that reside here, because come on who doesn't like a Gudgeon. 

But then not everyone thinks Cleopatra is attractive

But that’s how Julius Caesar. !!! 😉😉😜

To specifically target Gudgeon doesn't feature in many modern anglers quarry to target I'd imagine but then I like mixing things up as I think I'd get bored otherwise. If I had to specifically target one species only mind you it would probably be the chub as I use a variety of methods and techniques to target them and they are one of those species that bite all day long. 

Anyway to the fishing !!!

A rather blowy 14 degrees when I got to the river but with a slight tinge of colour I was hoping a few bites were forthcoming, and thankfully they were. 

Only from minnows and about 5 or 6 Gudgeon though, in-fact some of the swims I never had a bite on maggot. The chub well, I didn't expect a bite if I'm honest because here is not only shallow now in most swims I know from past experience dusk and in to dark when it's gin clear like this that's about you're only chance.

Anyway yes, ok a small helicopter rig did the business for these Gonks but to be honest the rod was already set-up and and set-up like this does work really well for these bold biters.

A good amount of steps ticked off and as I had the banks to myself so a decent amount of solitude, all was good in the world again especially then the water temperature was positively tropical for February.

So much so I might try for an elusive barbel in the week maybe on one the stretches I can fish in to dark. I'm sure their whiskers will be twitching after having been sheltering huddled up away from the cold. 

Warwickshire Avon - Chastity Belts and Catachthonians

Public access, no such luck...

...but luckily I'd access to the virgin waters via the key to the chastity belt where looking back on my blog I'd not fished this stretch in to dark before and I wanted in on it.

To be honest there is a good reason I was here and that is one, well convenience for starters, you see as I'm in one of the offices on a Monday and on the way home after the daily grind it's a small detour off the main road and after the locked gate is negotiated the bumpy track leads out on to the first field and down to the river. 

and two, !!!

Well George  you see had a bit of a mad session here a couple of days ago when after an initial 3 lber at dusk he subsequently had 3 4lbers in about the same time it's taken me to type this. The best a near 5lber which ain't a bad fish at all...

...were there any bigger here I wonder ? only one way to find out !!!

Now I much prefer fishing in the daylight hours if I'm honest, but to get that fishing fix it's needs must and just a couple of hours here and there is all I need really.

George put me on to the peg he fished which ironically was the one I already at my gear set-up in before he'd replied to my message. There is a lovely peg just downstream as well which I'd prime with bread mash and would return to it if there was nothing doing in the main swim.

 

It's a strange swim this with fast flow on the far side and as the rivers comes towards you the pace slows and it's almost static just out in-front.

I've caught some lovely roach here in the past so I did think about trotting a float for a while with maggots but for this trip it was the chub I was after.

Like much of the Warwickshire Avon when it's clear the river can switch on at dusk and beyond because the fish feel less threatened by predators that share the waterway.

Cormorants, well they seem to be growing in numbers year and year and even the tiny river alne isn't immune to these fish eating machines.

And Otters, yeap plenty of them about too in-fact I saw one a few days ago munching on something without a care in the world.

Anyway dusk was half an hour away and once the sun went down it was very cold indeed. In-fact the bottom of the bread mash bowl was already starting to freeze up.

The mist as well that was coming down nicely which obviously gave the resident barn owl a kick up the jacksie as it graced the skies from that point onwards.

So I got the link ledger set-up out and cast out just off the main flow that was carrying some decent pace. 2SSG's about right for the rig to arc round and settle further downstream. 

Large pieces of flake are so visible that any waiting chub can home in on the bait pretty quickly if they are in the swim of cause. With the sensitive tip it didn't take long to see some indications and as expected minnows were in numbers.

They can strip the nice fluffy bits of bread quite easily within seconds which can be a little frustrating but I stuck to my guns, at least I hadn't blanked.

With a nice sunset I fully expected the tip to pull round at any moment...

But I waited, and waited and waited and waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttttttedddddddddddddddd !!!!

The river was dead, no topping fish either....

I tried the other swim I primed as well with the same outcome so returned to the first swim and put out a large piece of bread this time sprayed with garlic oil for some extra attraction. But sadly nada, I'd imagine if I stayed there all night I'd have had the same outcome so an hour and ten past dusk with mist now blanketing the fields I was out of there !!!!

I've been spoilt a bit recently with chub captures so back to blanking again !!!

A nice evening though, on to the next one !!!