Warwickshire Avon - Rhinophyma and Rhyparography

Though often found in tandem with Reservoir Ears, Nightfisher's Nose is another angling affliction however this one has a much wider range, and can affect anglers on almost any type of water and, in spite of its name, at any time of the day or night. 

An early symptom is the change of the epidermal hue to a bright cherry red. Often this is welcomed by unsuspecting nightfishers whose batteries have given out, because it helps them find their way in the dark.

Alas, this first symptom is swiftly followed by a steady secretion of sinusoidal fluid, which increases in volume from the classical dew-drop to a steady drip and then to a veritable torrent. This last condition is known as the Silversleeve Syndrome.

Worse is to come. The nose turns purple, then to a deep shade of ultramarine. And then it drops off.

Anglers should be advised to bring a detached nose with them to the surgery. Provided it has not been too heavily frosted, it can be sewn on again. Take great care to ensure that the nose is sewn on the right way up: the malformations of the nose peculiar to winter anglers often make it difficult to ascertain its original orientation. 

One of the medical curiosities of this century was Mr Fred 'Hooter' Broadbottom, of Ardwick Green, upon whom an early nasal reinstatement operation was carried out in 1926. The nose was, unfortunately, replaced upside down.

From then on, every time he sneezed, his cap blew off...

Now when Martyn the owner of my local tackle shop Stratford on Avon Fishing and Outdoors Ltd offered me a taster of this 1980 Ardbeg Kildalton I jumped at the chance, as it's not that often I'm sampling Whisky of this vintage, in-fact I've not been partaking in spirits for a while to be honest, so no rhinophyma to be seen here. A nice drop it was too and if it were unopened worth a few quid if you look at the winning auction prices. 🤯🤯🤯🤯

Now Rhinophyma is commonly linked to chronic alcohol use, colloquially being misnamed ‘whisky nose’ or ‘rum blossom’. However, the true reason for this disfiguring condition has no clear causative trigger. Some studies have linked rhinophyma with sudden emotional responses that trigger flushing. 

Rhinophyma is a benign dermatological condition of the nose, derived from the Greek word ‘rhis’ for nose and ‘phyma’ for growth. It is the end-stage presentation of phymatous rosacea, and may occur in patients with few or no other features of rosacea.

Although recognised by Greek and Arabian physicians as early as 2000 bce it may have easily been confused with tuberous conditions of the nose such as leprosy, syphilis, and tuberculosis. First accurately described by Virchow in 1846, it can result in significant facial disfigurement, emotional suffering, and even serious ocular complications.

Anyway after some pleasantries exchanged I wondered where to go fishing the following day. The Avon was on the rise again after yet more rain however when I was going to go it would have peaked, so I decided to try for a Warwickshire Avon barbel. I'm not one to wait behind a motionless rod(s) for 8 hours so I'd arrive after lunch where I'd fish to cerfew time which was just a gnats nadger past dusk.

Although the stretch chosen was only 12 miles away I'd not fished here for ages to be honest but a few like-minded anglers I know had been doing ok on this stretch, and catching fish from time to time that would beat my PB too. 

Even though the Warwickshire Avon isn't home to a huge number of barbel, those that are still milling around tend to be on the larger size. 

I cannot quite believe that my PB of 12lb and 14 ounces came in February 2019, so nearly 5 years ago now. I can remember it like it was yesterday and it was an impressive fish indeed that took a huge piece of meat, which would be the same tactic I'd use for this session. 

I don't really know this stretch well at all, in-fact I think I've only fished it once so I was fishing it blind, but I've done plenty of barbel fishing to know how to target them in these conditions. So it was out with the bigger barbel rod and some stinky Dynamite Big River stinky groundbait, with the robin red flavoured meat mounted directly on the hook. For this session I even decided to get out the comfy seat because the walk wasn't long at all !!, and boy it is comfy !!!

The Jimny negotiated the parking area and the lead up to it with no problem, however by the looks of it there could have been some cars that got stuck recently. Some sticks had been laid to aid traction in a few spots and also by the looks of it some discarded mats for I assume the same purpose.  The deep ruts evidence some cars had been sinking in the soft muddy ground. 

Because of the time constraints this area would have to do as prime time was dusk obviously and I wanted to be as close to the car as possible. After a lead about I decided to fish 3 swims for around an hour each where one swim seemed to have some depth, another swim in the middle of the river just off the crease and then the last swim would be a slack to the right which was a little shallower.

A quick temp check certainly mild enough for barbel and the water was coloured enough that in theory they might be feeding in the gloomy day.

To be honest this isn't really my sort of fishing, I rarely bring a chair for starters but I rarely give one swim an hour unless I'm trotting, but maybe a bit of a chillout is called for sometimes. Anyway the hour passed quickly in the first swim without any interest so I moved to the second. Again the hour went without even a chub pull, so it was last gasp salon in the last swim.

There were certainly fish in this swim because the meat was coming back nibbled away like an army of minnows were on to it, so at least I knew it was presented right. I was running out of time though and sadly curfew came round just as dusk came without a fish to grace the landing net, and I had another blank to add to the collection.  On to the next one !!!