One of my favourite lighter meals are these chicken meatballs with zoodles. Chilli, parsley and tons of garlic the courgette ribbons are heated up at the end with even more garlic and a smattering of lemon juice and a nugget of butter.
I use a julienne peeler to turn them in to spaghetti but there are plenty of different ways to turn a rather boring looking vegetable in to something a little more palatable.Monday 27 February 2023
The Tiny River Alne - Zoodles and Zoosemiotics
Sunday 26 February 2023
Warwickshire Avon - Puddings and Pulley-pieces
But when he hooked a good chub and it made the first wild dash, then it earned the respectful title of Chavender Esquire! That first rush is something quite terrific. Yet once the chub has made that dart and failed to break away it often gives in.
Friday 24 February 2023
Warwickshire Avon - Chasms and Catapedamania
When I was here the other day I definitely saw some half decent roach topping when I was chasing the chub and wondered if they were worth targeting or not. The problem was this small window of opportunity for that fishing fix wasn't the ideal time, but this would be a double dipping session so might as well give it a go, as I'm a bit chubbed out.
Then again, if you think about it, at least they have been obliging of late, the other species haven't now have they. !!!
On the Warwickshire Avon at the minute when there are cormorants are on the hunt when it's as clear as this, those winter shoals of fish literally vanish somewhere else, where I don't know but often the river in front of you can be devoid of fish in the daylight hours. It can be very frustrating indeed, because all of a sudden when the light goes though, wow some activity !!! there are fish here after all !!!
If there are any cormorants on the stretch when you arrive, they soon vacate the feeding ground where they are clearly trying to flush out the fish, so at least being bankside gives some respite to the bait fish if there are any there that is.
Now as per usual I didn't have long before I had to get back but a maggot and hemp attack for the roach on the float and I'd have a pike rod out in the deep slack(s). There is a few here you see where from a couple of foot deep it goes to 6-7 foot. Certainly a nice dark hidey-hole for a predator to tuck itself away.
A twitch off the bottom here and there would a predator be in situ ?
Well as expected a proper tough session this !!!
I must have fed and trotted the float for a good hour and a half without a nibble but then eventually some bites that sadly I missed.
Minnows maybe ?
I swapped to the little feeder rod that I had in the car and decided to stick it out for an hour knowing that the bait was on the bottom. Eventually some decent twangs at least I knew there were fish in the swim.
To be fair I did try a couple more swims on the way back with the Pike rod and apart from a tiny jack that snatched the bait on the retrieve even the Pike were having an off day.
Still I wasn't behind a computer, got to look at the positives haven't I. A session that I won't remember I know that. Dull as ditch water, so on to the next one, lets hope that is more memorable.
Warwickshire Avon - Militants and Millenarianisms
When I was driving home in the dark from the last session along the small country lane back to my gaff, all of a sudden a scene straight out of the Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A huge array of lights with various colours and intensities heading towards me, and at that moment I thought I was about to be teleported up to the mother ship.
Thankfully though, after trying to process what the heck it was, it turned out to be a land train of cyclists (>20 easily), riding out together in a big group where safety in numbers was obviously key to their survival. Not one reflective vest from what I could see, just a boat load of lumens to try and block out my face palm. We've some fair weather though, they often appear out of nowhere in numbers down this neck of the woods, so can we have some rain, pretty please.
Now looking at the long range weather forecast before the season end it all looked a bit pants to be honest as we could do with some rain . So for giving a late season barbel a go anyway, things didn't look promising but was I missing something ? only one way to find out I suppose.Now this new area I've been frequenting on the Warwickshire Avon probably sees more horses than anglers (not seen one yet) so I was back for some barbel blanking punishment, because I ain't done that well thus far in my quest for a PB beater. They are here though I know that for certain, so I've just got to keep plugging away with the short sessions I do, and get lucky.
Now it's not all bad as I've caught some nice >5 chub here now so one of those would do as well to be fair, so anyway for this session I'd bait drop some hemp, small pellets and maggots coming up to dusk and fish a small Dynamite Baits glugged Hot Fish boilie over the top of the whisker twitching Smörgåsbord.
Now the barbel, Barbus barbus, is the other big long powerful inedible cyprinid of British waters. Its shape is much like a chub's, but it is darker in colour and has a more flattened head, and its tail is curiously asymmetrical, with the lower lobe rounded but the upper lobe pointed.
It is a bottom feeder, a river-pig, not at all fastidious, the big barbel of the Danube fall to worms taken from the Viennese sewers. Barbel nose into gravel and silt, and feel for food with the four long barbules, two on the chin and two at the angle of the underslung jaw, as well as feeling it they can sample its flavour, with the taste-buds on the barbules, before it enters their mouths.
Sometimes they take food in midwater, conspicuously, they turn belly-upwards to get at it and the pale underside shows clearly. This turning over presumably lets them feel and taste the floating food, before swallowing it. It is obviously the beard-like barbules that give them their name; for "barb" meant "beard" in English, as it does in French, before it became restricted to pointed bits of metal.
Wednesday 22 February 2023
Warwickshire Avon - Vindaloo's and Vindictivolence
Now as you know I prefer to concoct my own curries because I know what goes in to them for starters, but with the Wife occupying the kids during half term with a Toby Carvery (kids eat for a quid apparently during half term) with the Father-in-Law I had to fend for myself for this evening. Both of my kids Ben and Sam love my roast dinners and Ben, well I know he would be having a least 2/3 plates full of Toby's offering, as he looks forward to Sunday's even more than me.
I however wasn't on holiday and was in the office for the daily grind sadly, so with the fishing gear in the car nipped to Morrisons for lunch, grabbed whatever spicy curry they had and would eat it after I got back from the Warwickshire Avon. I can count on one hand how many ready meals I buy in a year, would I be disappointed again ?
A no brainer really because this relatively untapped section of the Warwickshire Avon is a small detour from home and for someone like me, who doesn't have a huge fishing window for that fishing fix. I had planned to fish a particular swim but when I got to the river there was a few anglers on the opposite bank from another club and one exactly opposite where I wanted to fish.
I mentioned untapped because a good two fields of this section is only available to the syndicate and I've fished it a few times since becoming a member, and seemingly I have it all to myself because I've not seen anyone else up here yet.
So I headed upstream to an area that is shallow in the main but has some depth in the inside on one section of it. I did plan to try for a barbel but in the end fancied a bite from a chub so left the rod on the car and again it was out with the chub gear.
Just down here carries some good depth and when the river is as clear as it is now sometimes depth can help you get a bite during the daylight hours when the bigger fish are tucking themselves away from you know you know !!!
I missed a bite literally as the bread fluttered through the water column because a fish had taken the bread on the drop as the quiver bent round before the SSG shot had reached the bottom. The problem was I didn't realise that at the time because I'm sure if I had let the bite develop I'd have a chub in the net.
The fish felt the point of the hook though and as expected that fish had spooked off before I got a second chance. What I did expect though after 15 minutes on to the next swim when I lifted the flake off the bottom out of nowhere a jack pike came up from the depths and grabbed it.
A decent fight ensued on light tackle however I could see it was hooked in the scissors so thankfully I knew if I played it gently I'd be able to land it.
To be honest after a couple of runs it decided to give up and it was soon in the net. Not exactly what I wanted, but still nice to see a young predator especially in decent nick. With the light now fading I fished a couple more swims without a pluck or a nibble so it was on to the last swim (pre-baited with mash), the head torch donned and my stall set out.
Sunday 19 February 2023
Warwickshire Stour - Finfluencers and Fimicolous
Groundhog Day springs to mind blog readers but with the weather being nice and fair in the morning with the wind almost non-existent, I fancied a roving session on a small river and and among the sheep poo.
My bread and butter 🍞🧈
So many of them locally are low and clear the Alne, the Arrow the Leam etc, but the Stour not only varies in depth but as I've said before it's almost always carries a lovely tinge of green.
As I headed downstream there are so many swims to go at so I was hoping it would only be a matter of time before I had another fish.
Warwickshire Avon - Metaverse and Metapsychology
I didn't really have the urge to go fishing when I woke up in the morning, the conditions I suppose are not ideal and when the rain started to come done, (the light stuff that gets you wet) I think I had made the right decision.
With the gear still in the car though I decided to nip out for an evening session in to dark where hopefully I'd winkle out a chub.
I struggle to exceed more than a few hours fishing these days where little an often seems to suit my style of fishing where roving is a big part of it.
Even on this convenient stretch where I can park behind my swim if I wanted to, but when I arrived on the stretch an hour and a half before dusk I let the car by the swim(s) where I would fish in to dark and go on the search for bites.
Friday 17 February 2023
Warwickshire Avon - Vampiregeddon and Vindictivolence
So with a full tank of diesel we drove to Dover, then got the ferry to Calais, then proceeded to drive to Amsterdam where we stopped for a couple of nights to see the 'sights'.
On the return we stopped off at the hypermarket filled the boot and whatever space was there in the cabin to the brim with cheap French booze, which overloaded the car so much, we broke the exhaust when negotiating the rather steep ramp on the ferry, because the car, well had little or no suspension left.
It's spring don't you know !!! well it feels like it anyway |
Wednesday 15 February 2023
Warwickshire Avon - Chastity Belts and Catachthonians
Public access, no such luck...
...but luckily I'd access to the virgin waters via the key to the chastity belt where looking back on my blog I'd not fished this stretch in to dark before and I wanted in on it.
To be honest there is a good reason I was here and that is one, well convenience for starters, you see as I'm in one of the offices on a Monday and on the way home after the daily grind it's a small detour off the main road and after the locked gate is negotiated the bumpy track leads out on to the first field and down to the river.
and two, !!!
Well George you see had a bit of a mad session here a couple of days ago when after an initial 3 lber at dusk he subsequently had 3 4lbers in about the same time it's taken me to type this. The best a near 5lber which ain't a bad fish at all...
...were there any bigger here I wonder ? only one way to find out !!!