Barbara the Barbel Update - Pt5

With her shoulder still recovering post operation, it has been nice to have various lunchtime outings with Mrs Newey before she goes back to work after half term. The latest with the mouse jiggler employed as I was working from home, some lambs liver for starter and then Adana kebab for the main course.

Very nice it was indeed too with glass of Turkish wine to go with it. The Wife well she had some homemade lentil soup and a chicken kebab in similar vein to my Adana as shown below. Two courses for £14.50, which for me ain't a bad deal at all. Oh and to top it off a swift in Wetherspoons where a pint of Thornbridge Coltrane (very nice) was cica £2.50 I believe.

Anyway with another holiday on the horizon I only had a short session to try and get that fishing fix so with the gear to hand from the last session, it would be rude to not have another for the Barbara now wouldn't it. For this latest trip out though I'd go and fish an area that I'd not tried yet. 

Not a millions of miles away from where Barbara was spotted but another nice fishable swim because the river is still pretty high at the minute and that limits where the fish can get any kind of sanctuary. I cannot believe how little I've been catching, it's dented my piscatorial confidence I must admit. 

Anyway to cut a long story short, the river had dropped considerably since I was here last and the colour was dropping out fast too. Almost bread flaking trotting territory because it was dark grey in colour. Two rods the same approach as last time where nothing really happened apart from some nibble on worm until the light went. 

That's when the chub bites started where I managed a couple of swingers when the nightlights were needed to see the rod tips. Barbara or anything remotely big were in the swim sadly, but at least the weather was quite nice albeit it was a little nippy when the sun disappeared behind the trees. I fancy a small river fix next time, prior to that though I'll be casting in to salt water. 

Barbara the Barbel Update - Pt4

The new boots for the Jimny have been excellent so far, the previous tyres were past their best to be honest with the n/s left showing ones cornering prowess after 5 years of ownership, I now know its (relatively low) limits, where as a Jimny as a passenger you'd be left thinking is this your final time on earth. 

Anyway 4x4 Tyres in Stratford-Upon-Avon came to the rescue and fitted some Cooper Discoverer AT3 ALL Terrain tyres. It's situated in the middle of a huge solar array farm which I've always admired from afar mainly because of the sheer size of it, anyway decent service and a nice waiting room.

Talking about waiting, looking back at my blog my sessions here and there haven't resulted in anything decent for a long time and I must admit it's testing ones resolve, however knowing there is a huge fish that I would love to catch swimming around in these waters has meant these short sessions suit me down to the ground. 

After the recent rain the Avon has been bombing through however I'd arrive at a high river that has just started to drop, it's on the way home from work which is handy, so for this session I'd arrive at 4.45pm and would be leaving half an hour after dusk. Not a huge amount of fishing time but with the swims limited I could fish I was hoping Barbara would be home in one of the two swims I'd fish.

I'd bait one up first and then fish that swim if the first swim wasn't doing anything. Fishing for a single fish isn't my bag usually but with some nice chub here as well, at least if one of those was caught instead then it could be a good un.

Anyway a chunk of spam on one rod, and a hot fish boilie and a paste wrap on the other, both with Dynamite Big Fish Shrimp and Krill stuffed in the feeder. It's such a pungent mix this and I've had some good results down the Wye with it, it has always been in ones armoury. 

I decided to tip the boilie rod with a few worms as well as extra attraction and after both set-ups dropped to the bed with a satisfying donk at least I knew both baits was presented ok. Anyway throughout the short session it was clear there was small fish in the swim as the worms were getting mullered but an hour in the bigger fish were just now showing. 

I gave it a good go and tried the other swim as well without even as much as a chub clang in to dusk and a bit beyond. The river is dropping nicely now and I've got a window of opportunity on Wednesday after work to give it another go. This time I might try another area entirely to see if I'm missing a trick. Still with some sea fishing to look forward to I'm hoping in that time, the fish will settle in to their new normal and river conditions will settle down a bit, at least it was nice being out in the fresh mild air. 

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.