Warwickshire Avon - Knots and Knickerbockers

Now knots are very useful for tying things to other things. The full range of anglers' knots can be learned by anybody with an IQ of 140, a Magic Circle Diploma in Prestidigitation and three years to spare. It is best to practise at home, using an old piece of clothes line. 

This does you no good at all when you are using invisible nylon in failing light in a snowstorm, but at least you tried. And it does stop you worrying about what you can do with an old piece of clothes line.

Knots have one disadvantage: they are always weaker than the lines they are tied in, so that when you do eventually cast out, the whole of the terminal tackle drops off. But they're fun to do. If you like doing pointless, boring things.

However with it being over 27 degrees today I did wonder whether to bother going fishing at all but needs must to get the fishing fix , so I decided to head down to the Avon to try and catch a chub off the top with bread in the gin clear water.

Certainly not a boring pursuit but the problem is with the conditions the way they are I could be staring at a blank !!! Maybe the evening in to dusk would have been better, but sadly I didn't have that window at my disposal so it was like it or lump it. 

Simple tactics though and I love this kind of fishing because you don't need much preparation, grab a few bits and you're off, just make sure you check the knot on the end of your line, because it had been the downfall and lost fish for me in the past.

The fish were proper cagey but in the end I managed 3 chub, 2 small'uns and this one which put up a decent fight trying to take me through all the reeds, I managed to keep on top of it though and it was landed pretty quickly.

I baited one swim with pellets and hemp and returned after half an hour to see just small fish milling around. The bigger fish as expected were just now showing however not entirely unexpected. Still a blog post as short as the session, maybe next time I might fish in to dusk and beyond, you're not missing much at the moment.