Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.122 (Ruffe, Pike and Bream)

I'm almost having to force myself to go out at the moment as since the rivers have closed I haven't really had the urge to go fishing really. It's the fact that I want to keep up my >10,000 steps a day over the year which is giving me the kick up the jacksie I need, because otherwise I'd happy enjoy the duvet some more and a couple of plump pillows. 

I didn't expect to be scraping the ice off my windscreen as the weather seems to be picking up nicely with midweek next week where it's going to be circa 18 to 20 degrees I believe. 

It was rather nice though, and in around 4 hours or so managed nearly 18k steps after the fishing was a bit, well mehhhh !!

I had a Zander rod and also a float rod with bread and some groundbait to try and winkle out a fish or two. Anyway after the second cast of the float rod to try and gauge the depth I all of a sudden felt some resistance and something was on the end.

It turned out to me a ruffe 😍 that was foul hooked, well at least I hadn't blanked 👅

It was a welcome sight in the morning sun I must admit but nearly 40 minutes in without a bite on either rod I go itchy feet and decided to go on the rover. It's a very picturesque canal this and ok the fishing wasn't going well, but at least in the spring sun it was very pleasant indeed , well I say that quite a few landmines to avoid 💩which seems to the be the norm on the canal these days.

This area is usually quite productive but the water is still pretty cold despite the daytime temperatures trying to lift the mercury within those thermometers. 

So on towards bream bay past the pound that had barely any water in it where I tried a couple of swims on the way. In one swim I was fishing for 20 minutes or so when I decided to upsticks and I reeled in the Zander rod and something grabbed the bait on the retrieve. It didn't feel very mind you where the culprit revealed itself as a small jack pike.

Presumably it has been staring at the bait on the bottom and was in two minds whether or not to grab it when the roach sprung in to life when I picked up the rod and its predatory instinct took over. 

Bream bay always has some fish milling about mainly because it had plenty of features and a much wider bit of the canal where the fish feel comfortable. The reed cover looked much more sparse than I remembered but to be honest it didn't take long for a bite when fishing some cover for Zander, I also had the bread rod out for a patrolling bream.

I use a crude dinky Guru pellet waggler float that sits on the top of the surface like the Zander rod beside it. An overdepth set-up with a single SSG anchoring it to the bottom to resist the tow.

A really sensitive set-up and so easy to see what is going on under the float. I need not worry about this fish as it took the bait confidently where after a few bobbles on the surface it when straight under and I struck in to a solid fish.

I knew it was a bream from the slow plodding around because there are some kamikaze roach bream hybrids here, where my best is 4lb on the nose. This wasn't that size though but at least a fish to test the set-up. That was my lot, I did more walking than fishing but those bites were at a premium today. Very quiet down the cut I must admit, but then it's still early season really isn't it. The Zander well suspicious in their absence. 

Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.64

Worms are among the best all-round baits available but, again, are strangely neglected by the majority of canal anglers. Perch love them. So do tench and chub. Both eels and pike will take them, and contrary to popular opinion, some fine roach can be caught with them too. To complete the list, there are few better baits for chub than a big lobworm.

Many different species of worm exist. The canal angler need only concern himself with two kinds, the lobworm and the red worm. Lobworms are most easily found on lawns, tennis-courts, bowling-greens and cricket-pitches at night, when there is some dew on the grass. The period immediately following a heavy rainfall is most productive. I have gathered them in hundreds at such times.

Some anglers use the tail only for roach fishing, but I often use the whole worm and have caught many decent roach, as well as perch and chub. A larger hook than is generally used is advisable. I regard size 10 as the absolute minimum. A size 8 or 6 is better, especially when chub or tench is the quarry.

Red worms are another fine bait. When used in quantity and fished on a smaller hook than that used for lobworms (I use a size 16 wide gape), they will lure tench, perch, bream, chub and roach.

The best places to find them are in rotted-down compost or manure heaps, beneath old sacking and rotted wood, and almost anywhere where the ground is soft and damp. An old disused manure heap is usually a prolific breeding ground for them. The only drawback with these worms is that they are also attractive to minnows. Wherever these nuisance fish can be found in quantity, the lobworm will probably prove the better of the two bait for specimen fish.

Now Stratford-Upon-Avon district council in their wisdom decided to introduce a food waste bin a year ago now at huge expense. The two food caddies were delivered to over 62,000 households, to residents across the District, together with an information booklet , explaining how the new waste collection service works and what you need to do.

Residents were provided with a small 7 litre caddy and a larger 23 litre external food waste bin. The small caddy is designed to be kept in the kitchen for collecting food waste, which can then be transferred into the external food waste bin for collection. 

The external food waste bin is designed to be stored outside and has a lockable lid to contain any smells and prevent vermin getting in. The food waste is collected every week which will also help to prevent smells. Prevent smells ? lol within a week, we were thinking, this won't work for us it, the bins looked good mind you just didn't work very well. 

Que the established wormey, now I chuck the majority of food waste in there, and boy is it thriving !!! I'm still waiting for that day where the council representative to knock on my door to ask why we are not putting our bin out for emptying, probably too busy working from home or striking, oh well I can only hope. 

What I didn't expect was that a ruffe was the first fish at this early start down at bream alley. It gave a decent bite too. After a bream rolled in the middle of the canal and then soon after a metre from my float the next bite I'd hooked in to a hard fighting fish. 

It bolted to my right and was trying to get in to some tree roots but I managed to tease it out having to tighten the drag. It then went straight over to the middle with me struggling to keep on top of it using light tackle. 

Sadly after two decent runs the size 16 hook pulled leaving me wondering what the bloody hell was that. I suspect a large hybrid (my best here 4lb) as when it came to the surface it was silver. Whatever it was it did me over good and proper it !!!

I struggled for bites for a couple of hours after a moored boat left its moorings close to me but out of the blue the float buried and it was a bream. With an hour to go after another boat had ploughed up the swim the pungent worms led to another bite. 

This was hybrid again, I knew straight away, not that big though going 2lb exactly but a welcome sight in a tough session. Another one soon after of similar size and that was my lot. A slow session sadly and with that lost fish and another boat heading towards me, it was time for the off.  

Before I go I must mention Buffalo Si and his 14lb Zander he caught on the canal, a PB and another huge Zander to his ever growing collection. He messaged me when I was on route to the bream spot and was well chuffed for him.

He puts in the effort like no other angler I know, bonkers springs to mind, but as they say effort equals reward. 16lb next closed season ? Si will be on it I know that. 

Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.33

The UK's biggest EuroMillions lottery winners have been revealed as a couple from Gloucester who scooped £184m with a lucky dip ticket. Joe and Jess Thwaite won a record-breaking £184,262,899 making them richer than Adele last week.

Mrs Thwaite, 44, who has two children with her 49-year-old husband, said the win will give them "time to dream".

Why the heck would you go public ?

I can only imagine those people coming out the woodwork with the begging bowls !!! Still good luck to them as often winning that sort of money doesn't end well judging by those that have won similar amount in years gone by. 

Quite ridiculous amount of money isn't it, wouldn't it be better with 184 separate winners of a million quid. Not how it works though is it with the probability something like 1 in 140 million 👀 to win the top prize yeap I'm not ready to spend my hard earned money on a ticket just yet. The first thing I'd buy is a new car because I made the mistake of leaving the bream slime riddled landing net in the car overnight and wow, does it pong, in-fact it didn't help the car being sat in the sun till lunchtime as I'm sure that only added to the issue.

Talking about papering over the cracks !!!

Now the probability of catching a canal fish can be increased significantly when fishing maggots, because let's be honest, every fish that swims likes maggots, but bigger baits tend to mean bigger fish ?

I'm sat on the fence with this because the bream I've been catching on the canal have been of similar stamp whether I'm fishing with a single red maggot or a large piece of bread. The Zander too, a larger bait doesn't always mean a larger fish, my PB Zander and also PB pike, 11lb 8oz and 17lb 8oz respectively taken on small sections of roach on baits I wouldn't have contemplated using a few years ago. 

But if bites are required the humble maggot is hard to beat hence why it's one of those baits that has remained in the anglers armoury when other baits have been and gone. Heck even the boilie bungers use them from time to time as an edge ? an edge ? not rocket science surely Shirley.

Bread mind you is also one of my canal go to baits which is what I'd fish for this short post work session, as it is very adaptable indeed. From tiny pieces of punch to gobstoppers for chub but unlike the maggot which catches everything under the sun, bread often does bring the better stamp of fish for me. But then my punches are 35mm not 4mm, not likely to get a small roach on that am I.

There is a reason why bread works well on the canal though and that is because it's such a visible bait and especially the waters I fish , where the waters are almost always coloured anything to help the fish find the bait better is a positive. Anyway I was back after the hybrids and there are a few here, as there are Zander as well so a sleeper rod out for Zander for another one of my double dipping sessions. 

To be honest half an hour in to the session I should have known the outcome because the boat traffic was frankly ridiculous. A couple were first time narrow boat users too because after one of them crashed in to the lock entrance both of them were broadside on the canal soon after that was negotiated and gave the far bank a proper seeing to. 

There is a holiday company you see not far away and this is the first lock they come to so it's always quite funny to watch, as was the boat that passed with 7 half cut women onboard who looked like had already drank the top shelf twice over.

I would have quite happily joined them given the opportunity as they were clearly having a better time than me. The dance moves three of them partaking in wouldn't have looked out of place at a cheesy wedding.

I fully expected a take on the Zander rod but nada and it was only when I ditched the bread and put on a couple of maggots in the margin that I got a bite.

Another Ruffe believe it or not which somehow managed to find the grubs in a chocolate brown canal that was trying its best to mimic a river. In the end I had enough of that area and decided to go to an area that usually produces Zander, usually I say because it didn't for this session and after a boater went through as full throttle without a care for the angler in situ it was time for the off as I wasn't enjoying it. 

Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.28

So I was back with Sam to the same swim which 24 hours before produced quite a few bites from Mr and Mrs Slabby. This time though a sleeper Zander deadbait rod out and Sam would fish his whip whilst I'd chill out and watch. This area literally has acres of wild garlic and that pungency hangs around in the surrounding air, no vampires to be seen here, well apart from the Zander that is. 

Now Supercrush Green from Sonubaits was a key ingredient to the success I had yesterday I would say. Why ? Well sometimes confidence is the key in fishing and I've used this a few times now and there is no doubt it attracts fish in to the swim.

A blend of fishmeal and crushed koi pellets it certainly attracted the bream that's for certain but it also kept them grubbing around in the swim. I added a few small pellets in to the mix which helped I'm sure so would this session live up to the whip bending it produced yesterday ?
 

Now locating bream in canals is not always an easy mater. 

The shoals you see tend to roam up and down the boat-road in search of food and in my experience there will only be a few bream in any swim. 

If one bream is seen or caught, it is a practical certainly that there will be others in the vicinity.

Now after seeing a decent one roll here many moons ago when I was chasing canal Zander it is an obvious place where the roving angler would stop and set the gear down. 

You see from a rather lacklustre looking canal all of a sudden open country side and feature aplenty. 

Bait I'm sure goes in here more than any other area in a good walking distance. It's just one of those areas that screams fish and believe you me from often huge quantities of very featureless cutting all of a sudden you have plenty going on from reeds, overhanging trees and submerged roots. 

Now I'm not likely to visit a commercial venue anytime soon where spods of bait add to the fishes girth, but any leg up the ladder on these sort of forgotten venues is a must if you are to get a bite or two where often sections of canal can appear and often are devoid of fish.

And talking of devoid of fish, well Sam and I hot footed it to the same swim where bites were aplenty but there was a huge chop on the surface where the wind was making if difficult to see the float. 

After feeding the swim as before I thought it was only a mater of time before Sam's float would go under, but no, an hour went by with no action whatsoever. Those fish most likely vacated to another area of the canal.

Perseverance brought a bite though and at first I thought it was a hard fighting hybrid, but no it was another eel which do seem to have made a comeback on this canal. Now I'd have stuck it out in the swim but Sam wanted to move so we retraced our steps and set-up 40 yards away where the water was still which made the float easier to see.

The first culprit to hover in the maggots was a ruffe which was a welcome sight considering the predatory fish that live here too. Which reminds me throughout the 2 hour session the Zander rod fishing a roach deadbait didn't have anything pick it up whatsoever.  
 
24 hours is certainly a long time in fishing where canal fishing can often be bomb or bust. This was definitely a bust session compared to the last.

Another move with Sam now searching for sticks and stones to annoy his Dad, we only fed maggots this time and 15 minutes with the float in the water it buried and a lovely plump roach succumbed to Sam's whip.

And that was that, it was a scratching round for bites day where the bream were nowhere to be seen. What an odd session, we'll be back though, there is some nice fish here and to be honest, it was nice to catch a variety of species even though they were not the intended target. 

Warwickshire Avon - Steeplejacks and Stemmatology

Now the US had the space programme, whereas the U.K. had Fred Dibnah and an infinite supply of ladders....

....that's a strange comment Mick, well there is a good reason for that !!!!

You see, having seen a carp angler recently wheeling his gear down to a local syndicate lake with not only a fancy motorized trolley but with a trailer attached too, I did wonder if I've been short-changing ones own angling however I seem to be travelling lighter and lighter these days though because I'm a roving angler at heart. 

I sit down on ones backside long enough during the working week so to plonk myself down again for any length of time without the watchful eye of the diary makers is just plain ridiculous. 

Thankfully a quick look around the garage with a rod for every eventuality, and every quarry, ones mind was at ease.

Anyway with 4 days of the river season left and 4 sessions available to me with my thumb and forefinger tickling my bottom lip I was wondering, where to go ? what to do ?

Now there are two club books I hold which I'm unlikely to renew, so for this short post work session I was trampling the banks of the Warwickshire Avon to try and catch a ruffe and also a Zander.

I wonder if those two species have ever entered a fellow anglers mind because lets be honest, they are in completely different ends of the length scale, but here on the Avon the only place where ruffe are known to frequent and the other area I could actively target them is on the Warwickshire Stour where they do seem to be in numbers. 

So a couple of float set-ups one for Zander and one for Ruffe. A chunk of roach for the Zander and a suspended half a worm from the thriving wormery for the Ruffe.  Anyway back to the short session and boy it was a tough'un, no bites at all on the zander deadbait rod in a few swims and the ruffe suspicious in their absence. They do frequent the same waters though so maybe they were off raving somewhere.

The perch were still biting though a few small'uns, a big one that told the size 16 hook where to go and a fish around a pound or so eventually put a bend in the rod. The banks were deserted with only a barbel angler under an umbrella sheltering from the rain where he had managed a few 3lb chub to his name having been there since early doors.  

I had to be back for 4.30pm for family duties but at least the perch were willing to bite. You can certainly rely on them when other fish are having an off day. I'm sure with the clearish water the Zander would be biting come dusk but sadly I never got the opportunity.

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.214 - Neologisms and Naderites

Neologisms ? well yes, you see it has been stated that each language acquire 3000 new words, annually, but in fact, neologisms can not be accurately quantified, since so many hover between acceptance and oblivion and many are short-lived, individual creations. In other words, Neologisms are new words, word-combinations or fixed phrases that appear in the language due to the development of social life, culture, science and engineering. 

New meanings of existing words are also accepted as neologisms. A problem of translation of new words ranks high on the list of challenges facing translators for example because such words are not readily found in ordinary dictionaries and even in the newest specialised dictionaries. 

I dread to think how many new words have been created or accepted in the English language since the start of the pandemic, I bet it will be a record year, watch this space. 

<----Mick-------------------------------------------------------------------------2021---->

There is luckily for me is an answer....

Angling as we know can offer escapism if that's what you are after especially when there is so much of this pursuit that can be tailored to your own requirements. I lead a very busy life like many do and the solitude I need to seek to keep me on the straight and narrow is offered in spades when fishing, especially when fishing rivers where I am unlikely to see another angler, well one in maggot catapulting distance anyway.

Whenever my pastime has been curtailed though such as poor weather or the family life takes over there are other ways I can zone out and one of those is Videos such as this below. Cracking food and solitude what's not to like. 

Some of the food 'Kent Survival' knocks up is quite incredible really from huge tomahawk steaks, lamb tagines, curries, stews and to eating exotic meats such as zebra, camel and llama. 

Vegans or Vegetarians, this channel ain't for you....

If I ever got in to carp fishing where I'd spend a lot of time bankside waiting for that one toner I'd have to follow his lead I reckon, I enjoy cooking, always have done and would rather spend the time knocking up decent grub than slum it in ones bivi with a Bombay Bad Boy for company.  

My friend Davey G with a life far busier than mine and sadly without the time I get to spend in my own company used to watch similar videos. From bushcraft videos where the creator finished off his or her busy day shelter making with a Whiskey ,solo camping videos in the Scottish Highlands where there wasn't another human for miles and watching the trials and tribulations of off grid living . His idea of heaven despite not being able to manage it himself, YouTube was the next best thing.

If you've read this blog of mine for a while you will also know binge listening of electronic music via Mixcloud and being cocooned in ones haptic bass inducing Skull Candy Crushers also features in my zoning out time, and its another pursuit where the diary makers have no influence whatsoever. 

Anyway better get to the fishing Sam and I had a plan for this 2 hour session, the first hour with his float rod with maggots and groundbait in the ruffe swim and then the last hour we'd visit Steve's bush to try and winkle out a Zander. Not ideal conditions to be honest really hot and humid and the canal was an odd sort of browny green colour, almost lifeless if it wasn't for the insects milling around. The bites were not forthcoming and Sam get bored if there is a motionless float.

He stuck it out for the hour though bless him and I do enjoy our random chats. After half an hour in Steve's bush biteless fishing tight to cover luckily after the first boat went through we had the first bite. I thought the fish was properly hooked when I gave the rod to Sam but oddly it had dropped off.

Sometime the sign of a schoolie though as I use big baits here, so I reduced the bait size and again after another boat went through we had another bite as it dragged the float of out sight from left to right. Sam did the honours this time though and after reeling in to make the circle hook do its work another fish was on. 

Again another schoolie but Sam did a cracking job as usual of playing the fish and it was soon in the net. The sun had come out properly now and the sun was beating down so after another 20 minutes and yet another boat going by without a bite it was time for the off.

The Close Season Zander Quest Pt.198 - Pope Catchers and Pogonotrophy

A short cobbled together session this and a short post but with Sam blanking over the last couple of sessions on the lure a pint of maggots and some groundbait was the order of the day.

Every angler likes to see a float go under and Sam is no different. We don't do it enough I suppose but with ones single minded approach on the canal pleasure fishing sessions don't really get a look-in.

The area that Nic discovered though has some really nice fish in situ so I'm actually thinking of dusting off my keep-net as the Zander fishing isn't going particularly brilliant at the moment. 

Take this evening for instance despite fishing the Zander hot-spot (10 fish caught over two sessions, 8 over 4lb, the best 6lb) there were no bites at all, zilch, nada, nothing !!!!

The water temperature seemed fine but there was no fish moving whatsoever. There are usually bream here that roll and show themselves but not for this rather slow session.

After an hour without even a bite of maggot we moved swims and not long after we did the float dipped and Sam had the first fish on. 

I knew exactly what it was but he thought it was a perch at first. "Sam's that's a ruffe you've just caught"

"A ruffe, my first RUFFE !!!!"

"Yeap, worth just coming out for that wasn't it"

"Yipppppppppeeeeee, I've caught my first Ruffe"

He caught another 2 and bumped a couple off.

A shoal of Ruffe in a canal full of invasive predators, who'd have thought it. Tunnel Barn Fishery with more fish that water, you're welcome to it !!!!

Warwickshire Avon - Dunghills and Dromestoners

With the Avon so low and clear I wasn't that bothered about heading down the river post a big Sunday dinner but after Saturdays over-indulgence in all things bad, alcohol was off the table. However when Sam said he'd like to go and fancied trying for a Ruffe to tick another species off his growing list, the tackle was sorted and we were heading for a short <2 hour session down to an area that oddly tends to always hold them.

The problem was when we got to this rather sluggish stretch the bottom could be seen and apart from tiny minnows hardly anything above an inch in length was in the swim, hmmm going to be a tough one this. Still, armed with a few worms from one's on thriving womery I'm sure something would be up for a bite.

Now the ruffe is the perch's smaller and rather less attractive cousin; similar in shape, except that the spiny first dorsal fin is fused with the second soft-rayed dorsal,very different in colour, obscurer, with fins only a little touched with red and with greenish-grey upper body and silver-grey belly.

The first gill-cover bears a dozen small sharp spines; whence perhaps its name, after the starch frilled collars of former fashions. At first it seems surprising that ruffe should happily inhabit the same waters as perch, without competition, for a small perch is remarkably like a large ruffe. 

They both breed in late spring and summer, the ruffe's spawning beginning a few weeks later; but the ruffe lays the eggs one at a time, adhering to the bottom, while the perch lays them in strings a yard long, sticking to plant stems. So the newly-hatched fry, which are perhaps most likely to compete with each other, start off in different parts of the water; and grown ruffe have specialised in bottom feeding as perch have not. 

One I caught earlier

Now Ruffe will probe their snouts quite deep into mud in search of odds and scraps, nearly as far as a carp will; perch, when driven to bottom-feeding by a lack of anything to chase, just peck at the surface. 

Nevertheless, ruffe can be easily taken by float-fishing with fine tackle and red worms, or so it is said; few anglers would deliberately go in search of them nowadays, for all that Walton describes them as excellent table fare. 

Till the last century, though, the ruffe was sought out for a sort of antipathetic magic, on account of its other name of "pope"; anglers from Leeds and Sheffield and other Yorkshire towns used to meet at the aptly-named Crewel Bridge on the Trent in Lincolnshire, for the ceremony of "plugging the pope". They stuck corks onto the spines of all the ruffe they caught, and set them loose, free but unable to submerge, to drift floating down the river.

Errrrrrrrr ok, think I'll give that a miss...

So anyway back to the session, the first couple of fish were welcome gudgeon albeit not Gonk size and then a small perch got in on the act. The bites were few and far between even the bleak suspicious in their absence but a cast to a deeper area brought an instant bite. 

The float going straight under within a split second. Sam knew he had a bigger fish on and this was taking line of the clutch. He wanted for me to have the rod but I encouraged him to continue on with the fight and he eventually got the fish under control.

A small jack had decided it would like a tiny piece of worm, it was hooked in the scissors too, a size 18 hook and 2lb bottom. It was quite a good little fighter to be fair and could be seen trying to escape in the gin clear water. Eventually landed and rested it certainly gave Sam some sport from an otherwise tough session where sadly a Ruffe didn't materialise.  

Warwickshire Avon - Teratogens and Termagants

Finally the weather is picking up after the recent washout, ironically it’s coincided with the Summer Solstice, which is the longest day of the year, so for us S.A.D. sufferers it’s downhill from here. Now here in the Northern hemisphere it fell on June the 21st. The Summer Solstice basically marks the end of Spring and the start of Summer.

It will end with the Autumn Equinox, which this year falls on the 23rd of September. It took place exactly 15:54pm on Friday 21 June where the UK was treated to 16 hours and 38 minutes of daylight.

The sun rose at 4.43am and set in the evening at 9.21pm.

We get the most hours of daylight on this day because of the position of the Earth in relation to the Sun. It occurs when the Earth's geographical pole on either the northern or southern hemisphere becomes most inclined towards the Sun. When the Summer Solstice takes place in the northern hemisphere, the Sun will reach its highest possible point.

As a result, the day on which the summer solstice falls will have the longest period of daylight of the year. Our planet does not spin on a vertical axis, it is titled. Which means the amount of sunlight that reaches different regions of the Earth changes during the year as it orbits the Sun. Around the time of the summer solstice areas of Norway, Finland, Greenland, Alaska and other Polar Regions experience 'midnight sun'.

Now the Summer Solstice is celebrated by thousands of pagans across the world. Many gather at Stonehenge which is believed to have been used as an important religious site by early Britons 4,000 years ago. On the summer solstice, the central Altar stone at Stonehenge aligns with the Heel stone, the Slaughter stone and the rising sun to the North East.

A fascinating place for sure, the thinking of how the stones got there seemingly change year on year and new theories and tales are told about Stonehenge to keep the mystery alive.

Now talking of fascinating areas !!!!

Luckily one hasn't a nagging Wife as I'm back fishing again, so a sheltered stretch, a relatively peaceful place ideal for those seeking sanctuary away from the toil, tussle and turbulence.

I’ve caught a variety of species here, everything from Ruffe, Zander, Pike and Barbel. It seems to be a holding area for all things fishy, so for this short evening session I was planning on some double dipping to see what came along a couple of hours heading up to dusk.

A small roach deadbait on one rod, lobworms on the other. An eel would be nice for some bloggers challenge points but if you think about it, those two baits could pick up a multitude of species. Zander particularly like this area because there are bait fish to pester and plunder.

I’ve caught a couple of barbel from here which is odd, because it doesn’t fit their stereotypical hideout, but eels for sure hence this exploratory session.

Just down from here there is a lovely spot many wouldn’t fish such its location, but I know there are some BIG chub that keep themselves tucked up out of the way but venture out in to the shallows from time to time to pick up anything coming their way.

It was here whilst watching the fish through ones polarised sunglasses that I could see a couple of eels, maybe 1.5lbers hugging the gravel bottom and going about their business.

Those BIG chub that reside here despite fishing for them on a variety of different techniques and methods, have remained elusive thus far.

Usually they are spooked quite easily on the sight of a lump of bread floating or sinking, but also when the chublets get in on the act first and spoil the swim for someone targeting the bigger residents.

They take bread off the top eventually but only after you’ve exhausted nearly a whole packet of Warburton’s Blue and even then, when you think you’ve won their confidence, put a bait down they come up all skittish and often get spooked and go back to where they came from.

Even a freelined lobworm or slug is actively ignored which usually is a tactic that can catch them off-guard.

The best I’d managed out of the swim was 4lb 13oz despite seeing fish that would easily beat ones mediocre PB. It will always stay on my radar though because some of Chub looked massive and a scale above the ones I usually catch from the Warwickshire Avon.

Anyway back to the session in question as I'm going off topic, how did I get on?

I was in no rush to get started so I decided to visit my secret Ruffe swim before settling down for the last couple of hours heading in to dusk. I’d caught Ruffe before you see, and that was my target for the first hour to try and tick the species off for the Bloggers Challenge.

Now to the untrained eye Ruffe could be mistaken for Perch especially when the smaller fish in silhouette and with eyes squinted, look like brothers.

Consider its Latin name of Gymnocephalus Cernuus. That mouthful, decided upon by the great Swedish taxonomist Mr Linnaeus, could easily be misconstrued as some sort of infection that your parents warn you about as a teenager. At first glance, the poor old pope has not got much going for it at all.

They are a different colour though a sandy brown to dark brown colour with blotchy black markings and speckles across the upper body and dorsal fin. They have two dorsal fins which are joined together, the front is generally hard while the rear is soft. They have a short triangular head and large mouth, feeding mainly upon small insects, snails, eggs and fry of other fish. They have a number of spines and like Perch, very spikey indeed.

The British record is 5oz’s apparently, now that is one big Ruffe !!!!

They can be caught using the same tactics as small Perch as well, now a small red worm is hard to beat for a Ruffe but maggot would have to do. I've a small Tenkara rod that packs down in to a small tube which I keep in my quiver, fitted with an off the shelf pole float set-up it's ideal for these ad hoc sessions.

And I couldn't believe it, within seconds the float bobs and then sails under and I fish is on. Now if you haven't seen a Tenkara rod the tip is tiny, not much more than a 1mm and the butt not much bigger at something like 4 or 5mm so you actually get a fight from a tiny fish. And yeap, you guessed it a Ruffe. Amazing how certain swims they feel comfortable in, I think next time I'll bring some worms instead if anyone beats my weight.

Because lets just say it wasn't a big'un registering 0.72 ounces on the scales. Oddly one more bite which I didn't connect then the swim goes dead. So to part 2 of the session, an Eel or a Zander.  One rod a small roach and the other a couple of lobworms with tails chopped off. It didn't take long to get the first interest either, it felt Zander long but dropped off within a few seconds. The lobworm wasn't getting any interest whatsoever but the fish bait was.

Then it all goes a bit mad, where I manage 2 eels quite quickly, the best going 1lb 8oz's. I decided to remove the lobworms and replace with a smelt to try and attract a Zander but the Eels seem to like that as well, the first the smelt coming back with a head and no body and then the next bite I managed another eel the smallest in this session. 

The Zander were suspicious in their absence despite the Avon being up and a nice colour, but I know from experience it fishes better here in the Autumn and Winter months. So I headed back at dusk with two more species ticked off the list and a landing net to hose down. Targets next session, no idea to be fair I need to have a think.