Warwickshire Avon - The Untrodden Pt.7

A fanatical coarse fisherman had long wanted to buy a house by his favourite river, the Thames. At last the chance came and he bought a small cottage with a long garden running down to the river. He then bought a small boat and began to prepare for the opening of the coarse fishing season. He cleaned his rods and reels, sharpened his hooks, checked the meshes of his landing net and did everything possible to ensure that his life by the river started in the way he meant it to continue.

On his inaugural outing he decided to fish a few hundred yards above a weir. It was an area of the river known for its big pike and if there was one species this fisherman loved catching above all others it was pike. He'd caught his first pike a lively six-pounder when he was just ten, and now forty years later he wanted to celebrate the acquisition of his dream house by landing a pike over ten pounds.

On 16 June, the opening day of the season, he got up at dawn, prepared sandwiches and a large flask of hot tea, checked his tackle one last time and walked proudly to the end of his garden. His new boat was bobbing happily in the current and he loaded his tackle aboard and set off. The weir was about half a mile downstream, but the river was running quickly and it took just ten minutes to reach the chosen spot.

He threw out his anchor, set up his best pike rod and cast a large sprat into an area of slack water just a little to the side of the main current. On his first cast the float vanished and a good pike was soon engaged in a fierce tussle at the end of the line. It was an eight-pounder, not quite the hoped-for double-figure fish but a good start nonetheless.

According to the newspaper reports that later appeared, it was at this point that everything started to go wrong. As the fisherman tried to unhook his pike, he slipped over backwards and was lucky not to have fallen into the river. The downside of the tumble was that the pike fell on the fisherman's face and sank its teeth into his nose. 

The fish's sharp teeth had only a slight hold on the skin, but in an unthinking reaction to the pain the fisherman yanked the fish away, leaving a nasty wound that immediately began to bleed. Trying to keep his temper despite the pain and the blood now dripping freely on to his shirt the fisherman gently returned the pike to the water and took stock of his situation.

As he stood dabbing his nose and wondering whether or not to call it a day he noticed that his home-made anchor a chunk of concrete with a steel ring through it - had come adrift and his boat was slipping rapidly downstream. 

The fisherman lunged for his oars, but one had already slipped overboard.

What on earth was he to do? 

The boat had picked up speed as the water began to race towards the weir and he suddenly realised that in a few moments his idyllic trip had turned into a nightmare.

If he couldn't stop the boat before it reached the weir he might even be killed. 

He tried using the remaining oar as a paddle but it had little effect against the power of the current. 

He glanced back to the security of the bank, but there was not a soul to be seen. He shouted for help, but no reply came. The few houses he passed seemed deserted and he began to panic. 

He tried to steer the boat away from the main current, but without success and then looking over his shoulder, he realised that the boat was now no more than a few hundred yards from the foaming waters of the weir. Just before the weir itself there was narrow wooden footbridge, but there was no way the fisherman could jump from the boat and reach it as he passed underneath.

Then he had an idea. It was a long shot but it might just work. He quickly attached his heaviest wire trace to his line, added four large treble hooks and a weight and sat down to wait for the boat to reach the bridge. He had just one chance but he was ready. At the moment the boat cleared the bridge the fisherman expertly cast his weight and hook back at it. The weight went high over the bridge and landed in the water on the upstream side. 

The fisherman, his boat still moving downstream, reeled in as fast as he could and as the weight and hooks were dragged back over the footbridge they caught in the bridge's wire superstructure. The fisherman turned side-on to the bridge and gradually allowed his rod to take the strain. 

The rod bent into a hoop and the line sang in the breeze, but the boat began to slow and the line held. If the fisherman had decided to try for pretty much any species other than pike that day, his tackle would not have been strong enough to hold the rowing boat in the current. 

But the pike tackle was powerful and the hooks held until someone crossing the bridge a little later noticed that the man standing in a boat in the middle of the river and apparently fishing for a footbridge was actually in serious trouble. The police were called and a motor launch rescued the fisherman just as his line finally gave way.🤯

Anyway, enough of that !!

Back to fishing, well the recently bought maggots needed reviving by the Jimny's demister because the fridge for some reason had gone really cold, just off freezing which meant the maggots were like Joe Biden on the campaign trail. 

To be fair it didn't take long for them to kick in to life and we were off to do some fishing !!! I left all my feeders all at home though and not only that but the back-up catapult was also left behind. Tw@t, so I could only really fish as far as I could chuck the maggots. 

I need not worry though the amount of fish really was an eyeopener really especially when the river is gin clear. I fished two swims and it really was a bite a chuck, predominantly chub, but also some small roach and dace to add to the mix. I fed some bread to see if any bigger chub were about but they were nowhere to be seen with the sun high and the skies blue. 

Bleak were plundering the pieces though and from time to time they were getting chased by perch. Anyway I stupidly forgot my sun cream and sun hat so decided to call the session early, but boy, a river alive with fish, so nice to see !!!