Tuesday, 28 February 2017
Monday, 27 February 2017
Warwickshire Avon – A veritable spam chariot
I felt invincible as a 19 years old in my Storm Grey Metro GTI, the grippy 185/55 Pirelli P600’s only highlighted the lack of power from the 1.4 ‘k’ series throwing out those straining 95 horses. The back lanes of Meriden and Balsall Common were my playground, the law often broken.
Some of the speeds travelled over those ‘B’ roads looking back were utterly ridiculous, especially as comparing the body structure to a modern car, I was driving a crisp packet that was ready to crumple at any time.
Then one evening lift of oversteer came in to the equation and I was starring down the face of the grim reaper whilst travelling sideways along a deep and dirty ditch at a considerable speed, how I gathered it up, God only knows.
No wonder the insurance for the cheapish car was £1200 TPFT that’s over 2.5k in today’s money.
So I needed to do something before I killed myself or others for that matter….
I slowed myself down by mimicking that ‘flat eric’ advert and installing one of the biggest sound systems a spam chariot had ever seen. Bespoke trimmed panels with 6X9” drivers in the rear quarters, upgraded door speakers and ‘A’ post fitted tweeters.
The biggest upgrade however was the boot mounted 12” subwoofer which I built myself out of MDF which featured a proper calculated single reflex bandpass enclosure and also provided a mounting for the accompanying amplifier that went with it.
Oxygen free gold plated cable in abundance, money no object….
Let’s just say my Mum knew when to put the tea on the table, the 50hz-150hz meant I could be heard.
Then some git nicked it, it was my pride and joy and I was gutted.
It was eventually found abandoned in a Birmingham school car park where the joy riders had managed to not only help themselves to the Alpine head unit and the majority of the ICE systems but also buggered the reverse gear and gave the engine a misfire.
Sadly only one option, it was written off, an omen? Maybe who knows but it was about the only car I missed as a youth.
Maybe a scare was good though because in future years the cars got ever more mad and powerful, TVR’s, Supercharged V8’s, trackday cars and the like.
One big difference though I learnt to respect them and what they could do, hence why I'm still here.
Now a little like the Zander I've been catching on the cut, I'm hoping wading through the smaller fish eventually a lump will turn up, they are an intriguing species and I've learned to respect them as I've not worked them out just yet, so for this session I was at an area of the Warwickshire Avon that has some Zander in residence to try and bank a lunker.
I was there at dawn with a lovely red sunrise and compared to the day before the weather was much nicer, the wind was still up but it's largely sheltered so rather pleasant as the air was clean and fresh.
The first fish came pretty quickly after I re-positioned the bait in-between some cover.
Not a bad start at 6lb 7oz
The next fish then came on the other rod which was cast 30 or 40 yards further upstream, a much better fish at 8lb 4oz which after checking when I got back home bettered my PB by 1oz :)
The everything went quiet....
I decided to up-sticks to a swim further upstream but after an hour and a half being battered by the wind I decided to head back to where I started more or less.
A small Pike came literally within minutes of casting out and then soon after a Zander of 5lb 15oz's decided he wanted the Roach section. It was quite distinctive, if I catch it again, as it had a rather large open wound so 3 Zander, a PB and a scrappy hard fighting Pike, not a bad morning.
Some of the speeds travelled over those ‘B’ roads looking back were utterly ridiculous, especially as comparing the body structure to a modern car, I was driving a crisp packet that was ready to crumple at any time.
Then one evening lift of oversteer came in to the equation and I was starring down the face of the grim reaper whilst travelling sideways along a deep and dirty ditch at a considerable speed, how I gathered it up, God only knows.
No wonder the insurance for the cheapish car was £1200 TPFT that’s over 2.5k in today’s money.
So I needed to do something before I killed myself or others for that matter….
I slowed myself down by mimicking that ‘flat eric’ advert and installing one of the biggest sound systems a spam chariot had ever seen. Bespoke trimmed panels with 6X9” drivers in the rear quarters, upgraded door speakers and ‘A’ post fitted tweeters.
The biggest upgrade however was the boot mounted 12” subwoofer which I built myself out of MDF which featured a proper calculated single reflex bandpass enclosure and also provided a mounting for the accompanying amplifier that went with it.
Oxygen free gold plated cable in abundance, money no object….
Let’s just say my Mum knew when to put the tea on the table, the 50hz-150hz meant I could be heard.
Then some git nicked it, it was my pride and joy and I was gutted.
It was eventually found abandoned in a Birmingham school car park where the joy riders had managed to not only help themselves to the Alpine head unit and the majority of the ICE systems but also buggered the reverse gear and gave the engine a misfire.
Sadly only one option, it was written off, an omen? Maybe who knows but it was about the only car I missed as a youth.
Maybe a scare was good though because in future years the cars got ever more mad and powerful, TVR’s, Supercharged V8’s, trackday cars and the like.
One big difference though I learnt to respect them and what they could do, hence why I'm still here.
Now a little like the Zander I've been catching on the cut, I'm hoping wading through the smaller fish eventually a lump will turn up, they are an intriguing species and I've learned to respect them as I've not worked them out just yet, so for this session I was at an area of the Warwickshire Avon that has some Zander in residence to try and bank a lunker.
 |
| A long and lean Zander, sat in a 30" Korum Latex Barbel landing net |
I was there at dawn with a lovely red sunrise and compared to the day before the weather was much nicer, the wind was still up but it's largely sheltered so rather pleasant as the air was clean and fresh.
The first fish came pretty quickly after I re-positioned the bait in-between some cover.
Not a bad start at 6lb 7oz
The next fish then came on the other rod which was cast 30 or 40 yards further upstream, a much better fish at 8lb 4oz which after checking when I got back home bettered my PB by 1oz :)
The everything went quiet....
I decided to up-sticks to a swim further upstream but after an hour and a half being battered by the wind I decided to head back to where I started more or less.
A small Pike came literally within minutes of casting out and then soon after a Zander of 5lb 15oz's decided he wanted the Roach section. It was quite distinctive, if I catch it again, as it had a rather large open wound so 3 Zander, a PB and a scrappy hard fighting Pike, not a bad morning.
Saturday, 25 February 2017
Warwickshire Avon – Poetic Crustice
Cakes, donuts and custard tarts.
Chelsea buns, jam tarts and Bakewell slices.
They don’t quite do it for me sadly, a peppery pork pie or a sausage roll forthwith, chop, chop.
I just haven’t got a sweet tooth so when there are birthday cakes or leaving cakes in work, I rarely indulge. So anything savoury especially as if its free I find hard to refuse, and could happily pulls ones chair up gorge myself on the finger buffet full of scotch eggs, pastries and quiches.
Then again oddly I’m up for a large slice of Victoria sponge if it’s to Mary Berry standard....
Chelsea buns, jam tarts and Bakewell slices.
They don’t quite do it for me sadly, a peppery pork pie or a sausage roll forthwith, chop, chop.
I just haven’t got a sweet tooth so when there are birthday cakes or leaving cakes in work, I rarely indulge. So anything savoury especially as if its free I find hard to refuse, and could happily pulls ones chair up gorge myself on the finger buffet full of scotch eggs, pastries and quiches.
Then again oddly I’m up for a large slice of Victoria sponge if it’s to Mary Berry standard....
yum yum.....
Now think of a piece of white fluffy bread topped off with a golden brown baked crispy crust stuck in front of a large mouthed Chevin.
No right-minded Chub especially a hungry could or would refuse, surely Shirley….
Even I’m licking my lips….
On a recent session for Chub the bites although were there didn’t come as quick as expected and the fish that were caught were OK, but nothing like the size I know that grow here.
Maybe it was the blue-green colour and clarity of the water by my reckoning, it wasn't as coloured as I thought and in previous trips to this part of the Warwickshire Avon bread would have been the better bet.
So with a crusty loaf purchased it was back to try and catch one of the lunkers that have sadly eluded ones hook thus far.
Now I like tinkering with methods so for this session I’d also add some flavouring so by dunking the bread crust once hooked in smoked Mackerel pâté, I’m sure the Chub would be obliging and it….
also doubled as my breakfast….
I was in to minds whether to trot for this session as it’s something I want to do more of in the new season but as the swims are small here it’s more suited to a link ledger, the depth varies quite a bit too you see and I know of a few holes that Chub would likely to be hiding.
I didn’t think it is particularly necessary to feed any mashed bread either as if there is a small head of Chub in a swim then mostly likely the larger fish would find it first, well that’s my thinking, hierarchical feeders where the bully gets its first.
My usual link ledger set-up was modified for this session, a running ledger bead complete with shot link sandwiched between two float stops and a Kamasan B983 tied direct to the link.
Now think of a piece of white fluffy bread topped off with a golden brown baked crispy crust stuck in front of a large mouthed Chevin.
No right-minded Chub especially a hungry could or would refuse, surely Shirley….
Even I’m licking my lips….
On a recent session for Chub the bites although were there didn’t come as quick as expected and the fish that were caught were OK, but nothing like the size I know that grow here.
Maybe it was the blue-green colour and clarity of the water by my reckoning, it wasn't as coloured as I thought and in previous trips to this part of the Warwickshire Avon bread would have been the better bet.
So with a crusty loaf purchased it was back to try and catch one of the lunkers that have sadly eluded ones hook thus far.
Now I like tinkering with methods so for this session I’d also add some flavouring so by dunking the bread crust once hooked in smoked Mackerel pâté, I’m sure the Chub would be obliging and it….
also doubled as my breakfast….
I was in to minds whether to trot for this session as it’s something I want to do more of in the new season but as the swims are small here it’s more suited to a link ledger, the depth varies quite a bit too you see and I know of a few holes that Chub would likely to be hiding.
I didn’t think it is particularly necessary to feed any mashed bread either as if there is a small head of Chub in a swim then mostly likely the larger fish would find it first, well that’s my thinking, hierarchical feeders where the bully gets its first.
My usual link ledger set-up was modified for this session, a running ledger bead complete with shot link sandwiched between two float stops and a Kamasan B983 tied direct to the link.
The float stops could therefore be moved up and down the line if necessary, particularly in slacks where the flow wouldn’t dictate the buoyant breads height but moving the shot link closer to the hook would.
So did they come to the party....?
Well the greedy smaller ones did, as a short morning session I banked about 8 fish, the biggest 3lb 8oz so not the biggest sadly but on my TFG River and Stream rod and centrepin they give a cracking scrap so it's not all about the big fish as I enjoyed the session immensely.
The search continues....
Well the greedy smaller ones did, as a short morning session I banked about 8 fish, the biggest 3lb 8oz so not the biggest sadly but on my TFG River and Stream rod and centrepin they give a cracking scrap so it's not all about the big fish as I enjoyed the session immensely.
The search continues....
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