Warwickshire Avon – Bloodbaths’ and Borborology

Sadly I was the instigator and the main protagonist in a morning of mass murder, a hundred or so lobworms executed in timely fashion were put to good use. With a canapé of pre sacrificed krilled maggots and an amuse-bouche of predator liquid, this offering to the Perch Gods was for them to hopefully hand over a couple of old’uns for ultimate salvation of the remaining party.

With the river clear as it is though this butchered and maimed limb concoction can switch a baron swim in to a fish filled one. I didn’t have much time for this session either before having to return to the family shackles, so it was a matter of getting a few swims prepped with a dropper full, leaving for a while then laying a bait over the crime scene awaiting the forensics to turn up to cordoned off the swim with their yellow tape.

I needed a decent Perch for the bloggers challenge you see, and despite catching quite a few stripy’s up till now, none were worthy of note and to be honest would look a little out of place on the scoreboard where some decent specimens are being banked.

This area of the Warwickshire Avon is very much untapped for me, for others not so, which for predators in particular it can throw up some cracking fish.

The problem is livebaits are more choice for catching Perch but here the pike are in such numbers so suspend a bleak under a big float the schoolboy Jacks would bully the smaller species out the way so I felt a lobworm would be a little more selective.

I also wanted to give the deeper a go down here just to see what depth was around and to also see if I could find any holes or features where Zander could be hiding out where I’ve suspicions that if there were any here they could be good’uns and another in to dark session was in order to try and bank one.

As a fellow no longer blogging but one time blogger said to me once,

“There are some F’ing massive Perch to be had there mate”

For a profanity like that to be used, I can confirm they were big, I'd seen the pictures.

So for this few hour'er a simple link ledger set-up with a big lob over the slaughterhouse, what could go wrong.

Well to be honest, quite a bit....

It was cold, very cold for starters with the water temperature 5 degrees and clear skies, that can certainly put the fish off, so 4 swims fed, no bites from either it was the matter of searching around with the deeper for future sessions.

I found one area around 100ft wide which was a lot deeper than the rest, in-fact around the depth I usually find some decent Zander, 12ft and more seems to be the sweet spot and this was bang on the money. An hour here with a deadbait I got a few tentative enquires but nothing properly took it.

I'd maybe try and fish a live bait here but again the small fish were suspicious in their absence.

Not a wasted trip by all means, but a big fat blank....

Lower Itchen Fishery – Flimflam and Floozy’s

The Monday at work my mind was elsewhere, you see the working week was to be cut short and at the end of the week, I’d be fishing one of England’s premier chalk streams available on a day ticket.

Post concept alias surfaces I needed to get a lengthy report out for a client so the headphones were donned and some Psybient mixes stacked up, Luciano Vizentin’s Dance with the Wolves really gave the ear drums a work out as did the more laid back BLOND:ISH mix from the 2017 Burning Man Festival , the low frequencies particularly pleasing, the correct number of BPM's too. Heck I even stuck it out for a whole mix from Solomun from The Old Port in Ibiza.

Dance music really does concentrate one’s mind to keep it on track, the tinnitus just about averted. Memories flooding back to the end of my 10 years of partying, the canal club in Wolverhampton and Code in Brum, dancing on speakers, away with fairies, beats just how I like them.

The hours pass quickly, the crosses ticked….well, the feasibility boxes filled mostly amber and red.

The end in sight….

My last trip down to the Lower Itchen Fishery in Southampton I felt a little cheated, not only did I fail to beat my Grayling PB but I didn’t really catch anything of note. Ok, the fishing was as prolific as ever with huge quantities of fish that reside in some of the swims a sight to behold, but it just didn’t stir one’s loins like the first trip down did.

Certainly no Harry and Markle sparkle that’s for sure….

One of the feeder streams

It didn’t help I suppose that Simon’s life is often dictated by work, even when he is meant to be on holiday, so fishing related chat, down and back was often broken up with the Champion partaking in a conference call from afar with all the flimflam terminology and acronyms that goes with the business consulting territory that apparently he specialises in.

Waffle to the layman and heathen like me….

Luckily Danny was with me for this trip down and like me he had plans that he had intended to stick to, for me it was before lunch fish the the upper part of the stretch and concentrate on a couple of swims that have Grayling in abundance and then after some much needed sustenance of fried onion and Lashfords Pork finest, more salmonidae and anything that would come along.

Main bait for catching the manic wriggler, well a couple or three tins of Green Giant and a pint of red maggots. Now sweetcorn passes through a Grayling like it does me and thee, I assume it's a bait that is mistaken for salmon eggs maybe, but it certainly did the trick when I've been to the Itchen before, as it seemed to land the better stamp of fish over the maggot.

A worthless foodstuff maybe, but boy, does it work....

Eventually or if I got bored, with a couple or so hours before dusk, I'd head down to the deeper lower swims with glides and holes and fish a little differently.

So it was down with the sweetcorn and it was out with the Warburtons Blue.

The bread would be fished liquidised in a feeder with a nice folded piece of punched piece on the hook to try and attempt something special that this fishery holds. Roach, Dace, Chub, yeap, any of those would be most welcome as any caught of size could well rival or better my mediocre PB’s.

A sight tip was fitted as I planned to finish off in the weir pool in to dusk to end the session and retire to the pub for a bit of fodder and a post Itchen catch-up. Rod, well the ever faithful, TFG 1.2TC River and Stream that is probably my favourite rod out of my ever increasing arsenal.

I felt that I went on the rove far too early when I was really enjoying myself in a couple of the swims bagging up on Grayling. If I had stuck it out in those the bigger fish would eventually turn up and a PB beater would have been mine. I’d managed an best equaling 1lb 8oz fish which was nice but still quite a bit away from the fish that are said to frequent this picturesque chalk stream. I needed to give them a proper go this time and fish through the plebeians.

My trotting set-up couldn’t be simpler, rod, a 14ft Drennan Acolyte plus, centre-pin (JW Young Aerodex 2900) loaded with 4lb line, a large Righyni float (Grayling Society ) a couple of BB’s to get the bait down quick to hopefully the bigger fish and a Guru QM1 hook which I found to be brilliant for hook-ups and ease of removal.It's such a light set-up that despite chucking the float out countless times and letting the rod tip do the work it never feels tiresome.

They are bold biters these Grayling and I found the self cocking and weighted float to be ideal as the fish would often hook themselves without needing a strike.

Corn on the hook with caster nearing red maggots and corn as feed, little and often worked well last time….

Much planning I’m sure you’d agree….but it’s how I go about my sessions.

Well, enough of that, how did it go....?

Well a bit of a mixed big really, it was cold very cold and only 3 of us on the whole stretch, still plenty of fish were banked, grayling, trout and more trout, the biggest grayling went 1.6oz so the big ones didn't show for me despite giving them a good go. Enjoyable trotting through especially with the flow making a small fish in to a bigger one.

After lunch I decided to head down the coarse stretch but despite fishing bread only game fish were caught, I wouldn't say I was tired of trout as they give a good scrap but a decent chub, roach and dace would have been nice.

Danny who had been feeder fishing most of the day had a lovely fat chub at last knockings to end an overall and enjoyable day. Door to door in less that 2 hours so not a bad drive either.

The Salmon seemed a lot more active for this trip too, a couple of big'uns spotted in the margins and lots of existing from the water in many swims.

Canal Zander – Kippers and Kakorrhaphiophobia

Come March the 15th my mind will switch to the closed season double figure Zander challenge where I will start Pt 68 of my ongoing quest for big kipper. I wouldn’t say I fear failure because the end of the day eventually one will turn up, I’m sure of it. Maybe I’ve more of a fear to what to fish for next once a double graces my hook.

A 9lb Canal Zander PB ain’t to be sniffed at and hopefully my efforts will equal reward because to be honest, it can get a bit monotonous especially when schoolie after schoolie is caught.

Last closed season I really struggled to bank anything decent. I’m not sure why either because the same waters were covered, the same tactics employed. Many of those waters were a stone’s throw away so very convenient indeed, so I think maybe I need to cast my net a little wider.

I’m always up for a reccy on less familiar pastures, so this meet up was ideal, you see for this session Sam and myself ventured over to the Coventry Canal to meet up with fellow bloggers, fellow Zed heads as the annual pilgrimage to celebrate the birthday of now painter and decorator and new language leaner Jeff Hatt of Idlers Quest , who for now anyway, has hung up his rods, frozen his maggots.

A shame really as he was one of the reasons why I started keeping a diary of my fishing exploits, Idlers Quest was an enjoyable read for many and was sadly missed when he decided to no longer put finger to keyboard, so….

Jeff, kiedy zamierzasz zacząć blogować i łowić ponownie ...?

With a carpet bombing approach, ie with multi rods in the water as part of the social, I was hoping something half decent would turn up for someone, as to be honest, my results up till now on the couple of times I’ve fished the Coventry canal have been tough.

The clarity was much clearer than I’m used to for starters and I’m sure that didn’t help but not only that but the boat traffic seemed much less which would explain the clarity. The thing is these Zander can be stubborn, in one area but not the next and the transient nature can maybe help in my situation, as, having never fished it in anger, and no knowing the swims, maybe a big fish can be caught off guard.

Our tactics employed for this meet up, I’d be manning the deadbait rods, one with roach, the other lamprey, Sam would be fishing maggot under a float.

There was a heavy frost overnight and I woke up Sam at 7.00am he bolted right out of bed ready to go fishing. Thick welly socks donned, three layers, trapper hat, you get the picture. We arrived at 7.45am with Danny already at the basin so I quickly got two baits out for a natter. The sun was barely up, around 2 or 3 degrees or so and within half an hour Sam was clearly not enjoying it, fingers like ice blocks, nose going red, even after a cup of tea he was too cold so we had to up-sticks.

I thought a short walk up and beyond the moored boats would help, but no such luck. After one bait next to some cover the other by a moored boat, Sam was shivering and complaining his fingers were hurting still and that after wearing my pre warmed neoprene gloves too.

Now I rarely feel the cold, but Sam is 6 after all but I was hoping when the sun got higher he would be fine but when Danny joined us I decided we had to go, he wasn't enjoying it and no me willing him to enjoy was going to work, so back home it was.

After getting back to the car and dumping the tackle off James and Brian were now at the basin as was Jeff with his dogs, a good turn out so was disappointing I couldn't stay, oh well, one of those things.

After a quick natter it was homeward bound.

"Dad, can we have some dance music on"

Good lad....

With the tackle in the car and after dropping Sam off I decided to go and fish a canal nearer to me, sadly despite fishing a few spots that were good to me in the past, there was nothing doing. I've found when it's as cold as this the Zander don't move around much such are the leeches they are covered with but drop a bait on their head they are usually up for feeding. There was no fish there most likely, no boats during the session either which can get them shifted from their station.

I'm hoping the lads did better than me....

Anyone recommend some pocket warmers ?