Warwickshire Avon - Masquerades and Maschalephidrosis

With some of the costume sorted for the works masquerade ball the countdown to Christmas is certainly in full swing, where the hell did the year go ? as it only seems like yesterday it was 50th birthday. 

Anyway  I'm hoping for some frosts because well, the fishing always seems to improve with the overnight frosts kick in probably because I suppose the fish are less likely to go food chasing and would rather it come to them. They are less likely to turn their nose up a a bait too, as cold blooded eating food like us can warms the cockles. 

Cheese paste, good old cheese paste, hmmm, looking back at my blog I've not used any for yonks, bread you see has been the main stay when targeting chub, but to be honest it did me well when bites seem hard to come by. 

Chub just seem to like cheese paste and it's a proven bait over the years and always seems to feature in the anglers armoury. 

I even designed my own 'Depth Bomb's' to hold the paste which I got 3D printed in white which would mean that it would still be 'fishing' even though the paste may well have succumbed to the elements waiting for that bite. 

Often you see, to get that fishing fix during the winter months I have to rock up at dark after finishing work, and cheese paste just seemed to work for the chub when I have to use the headtorch just to navigate the way to the swim. 

Anyway with the dedicated cheese paste rod rigged up I fancied giving one of my favourite sections of the Warwickshire Avon a go. The levels are starting to come down after being in flood and there are always some slacks here you can drop the bait in to away from the bubbling and boiling main river.

It's starting to clear fast now and I bet fishing tomorrow would be an entirely different proposition so I was hoping this short smash and grab morning session would pay dividends.

Even though I've been trotting more and more these days I really do love these roving sessions moving from swim to swim to try and get a quick bite. Often I put in a few nuggets of cheese paste to prime the swim were leaving it for 20 minutes to half an hour and then returning to the swim can produce an instant response.

This stretch has has some unwanted attention of late sadly, much of the cover has been hacked down in many of the swims and I noticed the very last swim this morning has also had its overhanging tree removed almost entirely. It means the swim is now opened up that will aid trotting the whole length of the stretch but that cover that held fish, no longer does I'd imagine, their sanctuary no more.

And it gets worse, you see he floods took the salad leaves coverings with them and now a few swims are completely blocked by them. Now these need a tractor to lift them so it's going to be a nightmare to get them out I'd imagine.

Two of the best swims too so my options were limited for this session sadly.  The colour looked good for a bite but even the primed swims didn't produce. Hmmm.......still I've fished like this for many a year now and I know it only takes one bite to get rewarded for ones morning mud plugging efforts. 

It was that really sticky claggy mud that acts like a snowball gaining momentum down a steep hill. The mud sticking to your wellies just gets worse and worse and worse. Anyway with 6 or 7 swims down my moral was starting to waver especially when I've seen the state of the river only getting worse every time I venture here.

But present a bait right where a chub is holding up and your luck can change like it did for me. After creeping in to a rather intimate swim I dropped in the cheese paste and watched it drift down the water column, where after a few minutes a couple of plucks on the tip and then it went round properly and....

...I struck in to a solid fish that immediately headed to the thick cover on the far side. I set the clutch as tight as I'd dared beforehand because often bullying tactics are needed to keep them from their escape route.

I managed to turn it with the rod bent double and despite its lunges I had it under control and the fish after another surging run, this time headed towards some reeds was safely netted. I knew it was 5lb all day long when I lifted the net out the water from the spreader block.

It actually went 5lb and 6 ounces on the scales and a nice chub from the Warwickshire Avon where it turned my session from a low to a high. I could have gone home a happy man at that point but I decided to fish some of the swims on the main river where unfortunately I didn't have any more fish.

With some more rain overnight it will be interested to see what the river does because it's clearing at a fast rate at the moment and I fancy doing some trotting again. Before that though Sam fancies a fishing fix so it could be a maggots and a float next down at the marina, at least there you are almost guaranteed more than one bite.