Warwickshire Stour - Garlic Goo and Gastrophilanthropists

One of mate Nic's videos seems to be getting a lot a attention of late, the views over >30k as I type this which is fantastic going, the drone thumbnail ? who knows, but making great content helps I'm sure, as his channel stands out from the humdrum. 

I wish there were more YouTubers creating content on small rivers because I love fishing these small waterways even though the quarry isn't particular big compared to the larger rivers.

The Warwickshire Stour is home to my PB river roach though so this is gems to be had from this little river which basically winds it way through farmers fields. The chub don't go massive, a 3lber a good'un but if there is anywhere locally to catch a few chub, this river can often deliver that. 

Nic had been fishing it of late and when he said it was 'bang on !!' I sorted the gear and wanted to try out a newly purchased rod from Angling Direct, their Advanta Specimen Twin Tip. I wanted a rod compliment my TFG River and Stream rod for small river fishing and this looked a nice budget alternative. It's 11ft 1.25TC, with an Avon top and also a quiver section with 1, 2 and 3 ounce tips. 

I liked the slightly bigger and minimalised guides very similar to the TFG rod I must admit, but I needed to catch a fish on it to see what it was like. For this session I fitted the 1 ounce tip because I've found that the lighter the tip you can get away with the better for chub. They certainly are not stupid when mouthing baits so to get less resistance only helps. 

I also wanted to try an impulse purchase which was some garlic goo because I had some krill goo, that I used to good effect before, when pepping up bread and cheese paste and this looked just the ticket. An edge ? maybe, maybe not but you know me I like experimenting with baits and conconctions, got to be worth a go.

So simple roving tactics for this short morning session, with a small cage feeder of liquidised bread and I'd alternate between bread and cheesepaste for the hook. Thankfully the weather looks a little more settled going forward and I've broken up early now so I can start to rack the sessions up. 

Many of the fellow bloggers have been saying the same, what an awful period of weather we have been having, it really has been rubbish.  Anyway for some reason the club match on here tomorrow had been cancelled, prematurely I believe, as it was bob on.

In-fact I'd have liked it a little higher to be honest. Anyway I got there just before sunrise and walked the stretch and baited a few spots and would fish then in rotation. Some of the swims looked perfect for trotting to be honest but fishing the slacks away from the main flow can often bring some quick bites.

And I was right on the money because it didn't talk long to get the first bite where after some tentative pulls on the tip it confidently went round and I struck in to a solid fish. It actually made a jump for freedom when it felt the hook and launched itself out of the water 😀

 

A lovely Stour chub indeed and after a spirited battle where the rod coped admirably it was soon in the net. The cheesepaste again doing the business, when you have such confidence in a bait it is hard to change isn't it.

I didn't expect another bite so quick but after the paste went out again with the fish retained in the landing net and some more mash went out , this time an unmissable bite where I'm hooked up to another chub within about 10 minutes or so from the last fish.

A smaller fish this one but welcome all the same. As the morning progressed the wind picked up and the sun came out for a good hour or two. The bites dried up when that happened but over the 3 and a bit hours I was there I managed to catch another 3 chub making it 5 chub in total.

In one of the swims I missed two bites where after some loud cursing I managed to get the bait right under the middle of the raft where 5 minutes later this time I managed to hook up. These small river chub don't half fight for their size and this newly christened rod perfect for the quarry.

Was the added garlic goo making the difference ? probably not, but the cheesepaste did the business once again and and enjoyable morning indeed. The Avon is getting back to more settled conditions now so I'll hopefully be able to start targeting those again and try to catch some of a better stamp.

With plenty of fishing opportunity before the year ends hopefully I can start racking up the sessions now. Where next ? decisions decisions !!!