The Tiny River Alne – Widdles, Wigs and Wamblecropts

Did I miss something in the week, during Presidents Trumps and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un ‘historic’ meeting. Trump made a huge concession the suspension of military exercises with South Korea. That’s on top of the broader concession of the summit meeting itself, security guarantees he gave North Korea and the legitimacy that the summit provides his counterpart, Kim Jong-un.

As far I could tell nothing about North Korea freezing plutonium and uranium programs, nothing about destroying intercontinental ballistic missiles, bugger all about allowing inspectors to return to nuclear sites, nothing about North Korea making a full declaration of its nuclear program, nothing about a timetable, nothing about verification, not even any clear pledge to permanently halt testing of nuclear weapons or long-range missiles.

Maybe the staring of each other hair styles Kim eventually came up Top Trumps, hoodwinked springs to mind, so not top dog after all….

Now talking of top dogs, I wasn’t after a Zander or even a Barbel, but anything that would to be honest as this venue was little more than a stream. 

As I suspected for this first session of the new season, the mile and bit stretch of this diminutive river Alne I’ve got access to for this season was a little more than a widdle. 

I’d fished this small tributary of the River Arrow before, albeit upstream where I managed a few tiddlers on lobworm if I recall. It certainly wasn’t anything to write home about and I vowed never to return, but for me and the way I like to fish, this new stretch is very much my thing.

A jumpable river, off the beaten track, any bite on the quiver tip, any dip of the float, all very intriguing, all very new….

You see I love fishing small waters just to see what is hiding in them, ‘potential giants from tiny waters’ which David Carl Forbes my favourite author and illustrator was an advocate of. 

There is just something special for me fishing this sort of waterway. 

Back to basics, tackle to a minimum, a wriggly worm, a slice of bread. Fishing how it used to be before big business got hold and told us how we should be fishing, and what new item we need to be buying to keep up with the lady eating Desmond’s and the monotonous Charman’s.

Bollocks to that, I’ll fish how I want to fish, ta very much….

Unlike the closed canal zander quest I’d stupidly got myself involved with, fishing with no targets in mind can be more satisfying, more relaxing, and eventually when something of note turns up, even more rewarding too. In the winter just gone the capture of a rare Bard’s area trout and some half decent dace from nothing more than a dirty ditch was up there with the most memorable fishing trips I’d had, and believe you me having nearly reached 600 rambling blog posts, there has been enough of them.

Now having seemingly eaten my way through a whole cow the day before having being treated by the Wife for a nice meal out, this sort of venue is ideal to get ones digestive system back to normality and to keep the indigestion at bay. Roving from swim to swim with cocoons donned to try and find where the fish will likely to holding up. Be it, deeper areas, areas of cover, natural pools and snags that sort of thing, features where fish would feel comfortable residing.

It’s surprising just how much water is covered and when exploring any new venue, areas to target as quickly established.

The water level of the Alne can rise quickly after an afternoon of rain, and a day of it, you’d likely see it over its banks. So it can go from being fishable to no so in a day, but then when it is fishable, that can often open out new swims to fish, and that’s where fishing these sort of waters holds appeal for me. It’s different every session, oh and I could bike it more or less, as it’s just down the road, very handy indeed.

So enough of the guff, we’re back fishing running water again, yippeeeee !!!!

So simple tactics for this inaugural session, a light link ledger setup with a short hooklink and size 12 Kamasan B983, lobworm top or tail and my trust TFG River and Stream rod fitted with a 2oz quiver tip. Centrepin the usual bronze garish jobbie fitted with 4lb line. I wonder what I could pick up if anything. A river like this is open to predation which may well be an issue, but only one way to find out, I’d a few worm to drown.

I walked nearly the whole stretch and certainly lots of character. Shallow riffs, snagged filled deeper pool and areas full of lily pads. I've no doubt it will fish much better with some water on it, but I did catch a couple. A small Chub and a tiny trout, which for this part of Warwickshire areas like this are few and far between. An enjoyable trip mind you and such a quiet area with literally no road noise at all, it's a great place for solitude, and sometimes that's all I'm after.

I'll wait for some rain to top it up a little and then I'll give it another bash.