The Tiny River Alne - Duniwassals and Dustbin Lids

A friend of mine Phippo put me on to Necessary Evil from Thornbridge Brewery, its a barrel-aged imperial stout, and if you find yourself in Birmingham often the Colemore Pub will have it on keg.

Like all imperial stouts Necessary Evil packs a serious punch and is to savoured not quaffed, so perfect for the Christmas break sat in front of an open fire watching a movie.

Not my usual tipple but it's nice to mix it up from time to time as things can get very samey if you stick to the same old same old.

I suppose fishing is similar, fishing the same carp lake or commercial I'd get bored pretty quickly, that's why fishing more natural venues such as rivers and canals have their advantages. 

Now whilst I'm on some niceties, I ventured over to the butchers which has just open up down the road. It's within the Field to Fork Farm shop. Now Eric Lyons is a well known butchers in Warwickshire and they have been around since 1903 so they must be doing something right, and I'm more than happy to see them closer to my gaff. Since I've moved to Stratford-Upon-Avon I've seen so many open and close sadly, but there is a good reason for the demise usually.

Offering great quality meat at a decent price is a must and this >40 day aged rib of beef not as costly as you think it might be.

In-fact a turkey crown is a similar price and I know what I would rather eat on Christmas Day and it's not the former. To be fair we will have both albeit the turkey will be a mere breast, wrapped in bacon and stuffed with stuffing. 

I do like cranberry sauce I must admit which I know is sacrilege on a roast dinner for some, but don't worry it won't be going anywhere near the beef so you can sleep easy tonight. 

Like I did last night dreaming of big dace down the Alne !!!

I've been speaking with Nic about the Alne, because it is a very moody river indeed. It seems to be boom or bust and more bust than boom in reality.

However Nic may well have be correct on his assumption that if the river is coloured and on the rise it can fish well like it did for me yesterday. Maybe the fish switch on when they know they have a higher probability to intercept any food particles ?

So 24 hours from not being able to keep a bait in the water the bites were so prolific would it fish the same again ?

To be honest I think I answered my own question before the session, because What a Diff'rence a Day Makes, nothing doing whatsoever in the same swim as yesterday fishing exactly the same way. When an otter skirted the margins right in front of me and popped its head up 30 yards to my left I decided to try another swim.

'Jacks Peg' is back over the bridge of depth and it's the swim where the big dace came from, would I fair any better in there ?

Errrr nope !!!

Another hour with only some minnow rattles on the quiver !!! Hmmmmm.....

So in the end I decided to return to the first swim and swap over from a helicopter rig to a simple running set-up and got fishing again. The thought being at least being free running at least I could see the bites easier. Now the swim is deep for a small river, easily 6ft or so and the feeder settles with a satisfying donk.

That cannot be said of some of the other swims where its a lottery whether you will get the rig back or not. At least in this swim you can be confident that the bait is presently nicely.

Now what I didn't expect that after another 40 odd biteless minutes, out of the blue the tip pulled all the way around almost to the butt and I lifted in to a solid lump that fancied the worm and maggot cocktail on the size 16 hook. It was a strange old plodding fight and I couldn't believe what it was when I scooped it up in to the landing net.

A big old bream 😭 of all things !!!

I have caught one in the past on the Alne to be fair and I know they have come out in the matches in years gone by but I didn't expect one this big. Ok not massive in the scheme of things but a 3lb 3oz bream is welcome on a small waterway like this. And that was my, lot !!!! No more bites and another blank avoided thankfully, but full of surprises these small rivers, and one of the reasons why I love fishing them. The dace ? where the heck were they this morning, oh well I'm not complaining.