Piscatorial Quagswagging

...the diary of a specialist angler in around the Warwickshire Avon and its tributaries.

Saturday, 19 October 2024

Warwickshire Avon - Quims and Quomodocunquize

'Another' pass out from the Wife saw me venturing to sunny Spain where Benidorm was the first port of call for a night to blow the cobwebs away, and then 5 nights at my mate Wardy's place in Pilar de la Horadada. Good food, good wine, 26 degrees, and a much needed change from the daily grind I must admit, where as I get older those holidays and breaks are needed to keep me sane. Suppose working hard 😉 has its benefits. 

I'm not sure I could live in Spain personally (gets far too hot for me in the summer) however after cycling some nice irrigation canal routes within some nice scenery where the predominant species seemed to be carp, just the fact that I was in shorts and t-shirts appealed greatly I must admit. 




The wine too, apart from being rather cheap to buy in restaurants and supermarkets, I've been dabbling more in white wine rather than their red which so far have been right up my palate. Rioja and the like I've found hit and miss and for me a very much a marmite country where wine is concerned, and the fact I've a finger in the air when I've opened a bottle, or ordered a glass whether or not I'm going to like it or not. 

That couldn't be said for the Gambas Pil Pil, which I'm not quite manage to replicate back home as yet despite many many attempts. Saying that, they can vary quite a bit, some with more of a chilli kick, others overloaded with garlic, smoked paprika and then those with the distinctive flavour of sherry. 


Sat in the sun, a nice cold Albariño on the go with some crusty bread and garlic prawns that's a nice afternoon right there just watching the world go by talking all manner of subjects with good friends. Fishing has a taken a back seat and that chill time was certainly most welcome especially when I got back to work with a bang.  

Tony left me a sketch of an airduct I needed to knock-up in CAD that was needed for a cold climate test 48 hours later, so a CATIA model created and a 3D printer kicked in to life to appease the penny payers. At least the sketch gave me a chuckle even though after a nice break I was back to work with a bang.


I got back from Spain late Tuesday evening and Wednesday evening I was out with a mate for a curry and a few beers before some abstinence, before another holiday October half-term in North Devon. I'm actually really looking forward to that I must admit.

I'm meeting up with my twin brother for starters where hopefully I'll have a couple of trips out to try and catch a smoothhound from Westward Ho ! all being well. The conditions and tides have to be right but I'll be packing the rods anyway. The LRF gear too, some decent rockpooling down there. !!!




 Anyway I could have gone before this session but wasn't really feeling it, so decided to try and winkle out a chub locally from one of my favorite section of river. The Alne was shooting up as was the Stour after the recent rain, however the Avon was at a nice level however I needed to be quick as that was heading only one way, and that was up too.

The colour was all wrong but I had a variety of baits with me such as bread, meat, worms and a batch of newly concocted cheese paste.


It's not quite cheespaste weather yet because it's a great winter bait for chub I find, but with the water coloured it might just be the key to getting a bite. The fish had other ideas though because swim after swim the tip apart from minnow taps didn't move whatsoever.

I alternated the baits too and used worms for the last two hours where in the end after lack of action on the 'banker stretch' I ended up moving to the syndicate stretch. 


Sadly after my best efforts and around 8 swims fished the water was shooting up and getting more coloured minute by minute. I expect the bigger fish were grouping together to batten down the hatches before another deluge to contend with.

So sadly a blank, however after waking up with a headache that was gone when I returned home after the decent walk in lovely Autumn weather (well apart from that light rain that gets you wet for an hour) it wasn't all bad.

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