Piscatorial Quagswagging

...the diary of a specialist angler in around the Warwickshire Avon and its tributaries.

Wednesday 24 February 2021

Warwickshire Avon - Portuguese Tarts and Presbyophrenia

Fishing for me especially the short sessions I do is all about the preparation. You see if I were to get bankside and have to start making up the rods that is valuable bait in the water time potential fish biting time.

Heck just look at this Mexican soup I do topped with cheesy tortilla triangles, no messing all the ingredients mashed, chopped and weighed so the cooking goes swimmingly.  

Anyway it would be rude not to wouldn't it ? what ? well go fishing again stupid. 

With water so close why the heck not....

The weather was about to turn colder overnight you see and the Barbel potentially would be less likely to feed again and might be looking for that winter jacket they'd thought they wouldn't need in this mild spell.

It helps that I'm in the good books at home after I fixed the washing machine over the weekend where the every faithful 8 year old direct drive jobbie threw a wobbler and the door actuator and sensor after playing up for a while, decided to give up the ghost altogether. 

The Wife had the trigger finger on its replacement before I could get ones tools out but came to her senses when....

...."there was no need to fork out £400 as I'll have a go at fixing it".

A replacement part was sourced quick enough however the pile of washing would amount to the size of the National Debt if it wasn't sorted quickly. Luckily 2 days later the part turns up and after a hard weeks CAD bashing I replaced it quickly enough with only scraped knuckles and a cut finger to show for it.

The £7.95 part hopefully will give the washing machine a new lease of life and the money saved will come good to fill the rather empty under stairs booze cupboard that has been plundered over lockdown. 

To be honest we might as well leave it unlocked, no preteens  drinking gin and rum to be seen here !!!!

Anyway at midday after shoving down some beans on toast I put the tackle back in the car from the session the evening before and a quick temperature check the Jimny showed it was a very mild 15 degrees, the same as Ibiza apparently, so cannot be bad. 

It was still windy mind you but this session would be a short one like it was 24 hours before. This stretch though I'm under a club control so I'd have to be off half an hour after dusk at the latest, still hopefully a Barbel would bite.

I did think about a Zander session but I might leave that till the weekend where I'd have a little more time bankside. I'm quite lucky in that I can get here in less than 10 minutes so ideal in these COVID penalty times. 

This stretch used to be so good to me, when I first joined a number of years ago now (maybe 5 not sure) when the conditions were good without fail you could turn up an hour before dusk on this stretch where 9 times out of 10 you'd bank a barbel or three. 

It was quite prolific in the past too judging by the nickname it had at one time, I think I joined in its decline. 

To be fair there are encouraging signs though as the smaller Barbel seem to be appearing which is nice to see. It's all very well having 7lbers and over but you have to think about the future populous not just 'today'. 

Anyway no messing when I got bankside having battled myself through the strong wind the pellets went out the boilie already on the hair all I needed to do was wrap it in paste. The Avon had dropped considerably over 24 hours and almost clear I would say.

Certainly if we don't get anymore rain by the weekend it will be clear I'm sure. Heck might even trying surface feeding for Chub such the turbidity and water temperature.

Anyway an hour without a nibble a quick natter to the bailiff doing his rounds the best time for a barbel to bite was 20 minutes away.

A few minutes later out of nowhere a bouncing rod top and after lifting in to the bite a fish was on. I thought it was a good fish at first as it was hugging bottom but then I felt the weight of the fish after the first run and knew instantly it was a chub. Obviously no match for the Barbel rod so it was quickly netted. 

It was certainly determined he was going to have the bait that's for sure as it hooked itself I expect. Anyway a quick photo and returned downstream the bait went out again and I fully expected another bite. 

Sadly that didn't happen though before club rules called the end of the session as it felt right for a Barbel. Still not a blank and to eb fair the best Chub I've caught in a while although sadly not by design.

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