Warwickshire Avon - Flambeaus and Flagelliforms

Consuming blue cheese before bedtime has always given me some very vivid dreams, from lucid one way beyond this atmosphere, like if I was an astronaut in the black sky, somewhere deep in to the nothingness, and then the next could be a full on debauched one where I didn't want it to end. 

It has sort of become a habit too, because, well I rather like it to be honest. I don't need much of the mouldy stuff either, just a small piece is enough to trigger them. Anyway somewhat related fishing, a well received by-product is that I literally don't think about anything, ones mind is clear which in these rather testing times that is most welcome. 

Why do you think my angling escapades has been increasing year on year ? well there is a good reason for that and it ain't rocket science....!!!!

Now talking of dark a recent purchase of a Nitecore NU25 has been one of those successful purchases, you see it offers literally everything I need out of a head torch, where after a few outings in, it's been money well spent (£45 quid). It's only 400 lumens for the main light however that is more than enough light when navigating in the dark, however it also has a bright red mode to offer less bankside disturbance, and also a spot light mode with various intensities which is perfect to illuminate a quiver in to dusk and beyond.  It's not a narrow focussing beam like I usually use but with rods elevated off the water idea for lighting two rods, oh and it's lightweight, which is a bonus. 

The purer the water the better the fishing ?. As a general rule there is no arguing with that statement (Don't worry Baz I'm not going to drink the water down here), but there are exceptions and one or two of them are quite astounding. Many years ago the old River Lea that runs from Hertfordshire down into north London and from there joins the Thames in the East End was once one of the best rivers in the country for big chub, barbel and other coarse fish. 

It was here that the great Izaak Walton fished, and many of the experiences described in The Compleat Angler took place on this once glorious waterway. But as the city expanded and industry flourished much of the river became too dirty to support much worth fishing for. 

By the early decades of the twentieth century the River Lea in London was little more than an open sewer.

Then rumours began to spread that in one or two places fish had been seen in the London reaches of the river. 

This was remarkable enough, but local fishermen simply shook their heads in disbelief when it was also reported that the fish that had been seen were actually seen in greatest numbers precisely at those places where sewer outfalls entered the river.

In Tottenham a journalist from a fishing magazine went along to see what all the fuss was about. 

He found a gin-clear, fast- flowing stream that ran between high, solid concrete banks. In fact it wasn't a stream at all. It was the sewage outfall, but the water running through it looked cleaner than the water that ran, at that time, through Hampshire's famous River Test. 

Even more exciting was the fact that great shoals of dace and chub could be seen in the fast water. They were difficult to catch, but each fish was enormous far bigger than the general run of these species in most rivers. In the two years that followed the discovery of the sewage outfall fishery the British records for gudgeon, bleak and dace were all broken by fish taken from that tiny water. 

When scientists investigated they discovered that the effluent was being so efficiently cleaned up that it was actually providing the fish with a protein-rich diet hence their enormous average size. Hardly surprising then that very few fish were knocked on the head and taken home for supper!

Anyway enough of that, I better get fishing !!!

Well this was one much of the same as the last session, groundhog day so I apologise but it's about all I could muster up with work getting in the way, as well as dusk coming ever closer, and a cold snap on the way. 

So it was back to the same stretch with the same method and probably the same outcome. This time though I decided to fish the swim where I caught a 12lber from which still has some cover, and then reduce the length of the hair to try and at least bank a chub.

For the first hour I actually chucked a lure around in a few swims to try and catch a perch or a chub but there was nothing doing whatsoever. Even under this bush where after casting upstream the lure on the retrieve went right under the cover where usually chub reside. Cast after cast with often perfect presentation nothing was either under there or wanted to grab it, so it was on to the 2nd half of the session.

I balled in some scalded pellets that I could see drift to the bottom and start to dissipate and then let the swim rest for half an hour before I dropped the bait in over the top. I received indications on the rod tip and there was fish in the swim minutes after the bait was out.

It's always shady here with the bordering trees and even half an hour before official dusk it was already pretty dark. The first proper foot pull happened about 15 minutes which was undeniably a chub. I also had some weird slow pulls where the tip would move a foot to the right but really slowly and a constant, where I had suspicions it could have been a crayfish because the wafter was removed from the hair at one point without any savage pulls that usually do that. 

I've had plenty of crayfish on the Avon over the years I can tell you so no reason why they wouldn't be here. Knocks and pulls on the rod eventually turned in to a 1lb chub that hooked itself but I saved its embarrassment but not taking a picture, well it was caught on a barbel rod after all.

Anyway curfew was an hour after dusk where after catching that chub bites dried up for 20 minutes and then thankfully started again. Sadly I don't there were any decent chub in the swim, let alone any barbel so a disappointing session. I'm hoping the rain will liven things up, the Alne is properly on the rise so I fancy trying for some big dace and then maybe some pike as well with a bit more colour in the water.