Warwickshire Avon - Phantoms and Phantasmatography

Anglers often like to make things as difficult for themselves as possible. How else can we explain the rule on some chalkstreams that dry fly is the only allowable method and that no casting is allowed unless the angler has first spotted a rising fish? How else can we explain the fact that anglers will try to fly fish in the sea for bass when spinning or using bait would be so much more productive? 

The love of difficulty of course stems from the oft- repeated fact that there is more to fishing than catching fish. The more difficult it is to catch your trout, the greater the satisfaction in doing what few can do well. But the pursuit of the difficult can be taken to extremes. Dr JC Mottram became an enthusiast for fly fishing for barbel. 

That would be reasonable enough if barbel were taken every now and then on fly, but records suggest that, as a general rule, barbel simply will not take a fly. However, the records clearly did not convince Dr Mottram. He spent several seasons developing his barbel fly-fishing techniques and against all the odds he actually had some success. How on earth did he do it?

The answer is simple. Mottram was a scientist and before he tried to catch his barbel using this most unlikely method he made a careful study of his intended quarry's habits.

Dr Mottram noticed that early in the season, when barbel tend to shoal in large numbers wherever there is shallow fast water running over gravel, it was possible to trick them using a fly tied to look like a tiny minnow. Dr Mottram experimented with painstaking research and endless days on the river he landed two barbel on his fly a fish of four and a half pounds and one of six and a half pounds.

Mottram is almost certainly the only angler mad enough to fish deliberately for barbel with a fly and actually catch anything. But the odd thing about barbel is that very large specimens are now and then caught by accident on a fly. 

A sixteen-and-a-half- pounder was caught in about 1880 on the Hampshire Avon by an angler fly fishing for salmon and in 1948 a fisherman on the Kennet caught a five-pound barbel that had taken his fly as it floated on the surface of the river.

Even among the more eccentric branches of the fishing world this dry-fly barbel fisherman did not produce a flurry of imitators. Some things are too difficult even for fishermen!

Now I wanted an easy session for this one, so simple tactics really when I arrived at sunrise, a rod to catch chub off the top if any were feeding and also a float with red maggots. Despite the river being really low and clear you can bring the fish out in to the open with a trickle of maggots.

The picture above this one an hours worth of trotting where predominately dace and small tiny chub were up for a feed. The odd bleak, small roach and perch also made an appearance but in this one particular swim it was dace that outnumbered the rest.

I did rove around for some of it trying to find the chub but it was only in two swims where they were taking it off the top. Not in numbers either just the odd fish. Not unsurprisingly because not brilliant conditions after all. 

What didn't help was that the phantom tree cropper has been down here again most likely to make better access for canoes (only permitted access once a year) because one swim was a shadow of its former self, the cover removed in large quantities with the freshly cut branches and trees plain to see.

It's happened before on this stretch where one of the stretches willows was hacked down with the Angling club wondering why the hell would someone do that. Canoes and paddle boarders seem to like it down here since the pandemic because they were a rare sight on this intimate stretch prior to that. Anyway apart from that much smiles to be had, as a few lovely hours down the river which I had to myself, and plenty of fish caught including a couple of chub.

Both chub came to bread, despite a bite a chuck on maggots in two swims for some reason the chub didn't show at all and yesterday the first chub I caught yesterday coughed up loads of the wriggly fish attractors. Plenty of dips on the float though and rare session for me, not tangles or snap off's either, so that was a bonus. On to the next one 1!!