Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.121 (Canal Zander)

A lot of people think that dreams are boring and not worth discussing. But it has now been scientifically proved that they are incredibly important really and not boring at all because they reveal our character, our past, our future, and sometimes our friends' future, if we really know how to interpret them. In fact, the most boring dream you ever had will have more meaning than the most significant event in your so-called waking reality.

There are about one thousand theories about dreams, why we have them, what they mean, how long they last, whether we can have them when we are awake, what is illusion and what is fantasy, is life but a waking dream and so on. Some of these are a bit complicated and not very interesting, okay, but the subject is so important and I've read so many really freaky Test Your Own Dream Power books that I think I should go through them one by one. So, like, get your cup of tea now, okay?

The first one is that dreamland, the so-called Land of Nod, is in fact more real than the world we think is real because the one that's really real we always forget about as soon as we get out of bed so that it seems less real to us than the real one. But this Land of Nod is a special, magic realm where all the little everyday things we tend to take for granted become incredibly important for reasons we can never quite understand.

This brings me back to the question on which this second theory rests. In fact, some people think it's the question on which the whole of life rests. It's the heaviest question you could ever be asked, heavier than anything that's ever been on Mastermind. It is: WHAT IS REALITY?

I don't know.

The second theory about dreams is not quite as interesting as the first one. In fact, it's probably the most uninteresting one there is, apart from the six hundred and fifty seventh, which we'll be coming to a bit later. 

Are you ready for this? 

The sort of dreams you have depends on what you have just had to eat, or what you've had during the day if you happen not to have been to the toilet before you went to bed. 

So if you've eaten a really heavy hamburger, full of additives and sugar and salt and carbohydrates and colouring and blood and insecticides and nuclear waste and meat, you'll almost definitely dream about being a cowboy, surrounded by nuclear power plants, and you'll be shooting at everything. 

And every time the burger turns a corner in your intestine the dream will get more violent until the whole Mexican army, who have really bad teeth and don't look very well, gun you down like at the end of Bonnie and Clyde, except it's not blood that comes out of the bullet holes but little worms of meat, like a Big Mac being pushed through a mincer.

On the other hand, if you've just eaten a wholesome, satisfying, totally alternative plate of kidney beans, you'll most likely dream about running through the woods with Kate Beckinsale with sitar music playing . Or if the beans weren't soaked properly, you'll probably find that the meadow is a bit marshy in places and, if you've been really greedy, it will turn into a steaming, smelly quicksand that swallows you up.

Stilton Cheese and Port, don't even go there !!!

This theory shows how important it is for you to avoid constipation. Imagine what all those dreams piling up inside of you could do to the karma of your dreamworld. You could start getting really weird dreams about meat oozing out of quicksands, or cowboys playing the sitar.

So you could say that when you go to the toilet you're just getting rid of all your used dreams. Maybe that's why it's such a good place for writing songs! Hey!

I sometimes wonder what sort of dream you'd have if you'd swallowed three packets of bubble-gum? Or a lump of coal? Or a very long shopping-list? That would be a pretty boring dream, I suppose. Not that being boring makes it less important. This theory's quite a boring theory but it's probably true. 

Sometimes the truth is boring. Right? 

Well for me, another black cloud is hanging over the work situation, which will be the third time in 5 years 👿 EV cars don't you know, yeap very polarising especially where markets and consumers are concerned, so I suppose we were due another cull of staff, or a boot up the arse altogether. We should know more on Monday, but we will see but for some. 

An escape from reality would be nice now wouldn't it. Last weekend was perfect, a proper decent turn out from the lads and Seb Fontaine, Slipmat and Dave Pearce (and others) providing the low down frequencies that really were getting back to the old skool raving I used to do. Loved it !! 

So I wasn't exactly feeling it post the recent announcement, but I needed to get out and go fishing for some much needed fresh air and to try and catch a fish ot three. So I was back chasing Zander up at an area that provided some much needed rod bending this time last season where we assumed they were queued up for some bukkake action. So out with the smelt, out with the roach, lets get fishing !!!

Half an hour in to the fishing a bite came out of the blue on the smelt rod and it was a confident bite as well, but I pulled the bait out of the fishes mouth when I tightened up to the circle hook. Hmmmm two more similar bites where I didn't connect to the fish it usually only means one thing and that is small zedlets. It could well have been the same fish too as all bites were within the same stretch of cover.

Oddly the bites dried up but I had another chance an hour later when another section of cover produced a bite within a few minutes, however this times a fish was on. A welcome Zander around 4lb graced the net and a blank avoided, and its eye highlighting just why these predators are top dog.  

Warwickshire Trout - River Alne Pt.12

The draw to the cut is wavering I must admit, to be honest fishing the canals and rivers cannot be talked about in the same sentence for me. Canals are 'means to an end', yes I said it, but you have to look at the positives Mick, 

"Well what are they ?" 🤔

Well for one those steps can be ticked off which when you are often stuck behind a computer like I am and despite what some other anglers say, there are some nice fish to be caught on the canals. Ok it's not your sanctuary anymore, as you're sharing it with dog walkers, poo bag flingers, kamikaze cyclists, tiller twiddlers and dawdlers, but there are some more out of reach places, where the misanthrope can get his fix. 

I wasn't quite ready to go and tackle the silver fish turd tanglers in the canal just yet however as I'd leave those till early mornings but with a 'We Love Ibiza Weekender' starting tomorrow where 12 of us would we raving it up for a mates Stag Do, I needed that fishing fix otherwise I'd not get out till next week now.

So a quick but tasty meal of Phat Kaphrao, which is Soooooo easy to make and probably one of my favorite Thai dishes the gear was in the car and I was off to go and bother some trout on the Alne with the Salmo Hornet, it was a lovely day nearing 19 degrees but I only had two hours max, which to be honest is about all I'd fish for anyway.

A little early in the season I suppose with the close season for brown trout and rainbow trout in rivers, and for brown trout in unenclosed stillwaters, under the Midlands byelaws is 8 October to 17 March. But a couple of days in to the season it was worth a try I suppose, because be nice to see of the herons, cormorants and otters I've seen on this stretch in the coarse season hadn't eaten them all. !! 

The river was low and clear but perfect for fishing for trout as I could see the lure under the polarised sunglasses and it can be exciting fishing when the trout are on it. Swiping snatches and they literally come out of nowhere.

After trying a couple of the deeper swims where the bigger fish often reside without a take, I headed down to the weir where the recently fallen in tree seemed to have moved a bit. So much so it meant my usual vantage point was no longer fishable. I could just about sneak in to a position in the middle of the weir where a handful of tricky casts brought naff all. 

Usually the smaller trout live there but none today and on this stretch it's the banker swim really. Anyway there is plenty to go at here so I headed up the stretch to fish those likely holding swims. 

Cast after cast in rather lovely sunshine those trout were just not showing at all. I fished just shy of a couple of hours and in that time I would usually catch one or two fish, or on a good day 5 or 6. I lost my fishing reading glasses at one point and after retracing my steps to no avail, I called it a day. I'll leave it a month I think like I usually do as it's not that productive early season looking back at my blog.

Still a really nice spring day to be out and ok I didn't catch any fish this really is a place to seek the time in solitude that I need in ever increasing numbers, a slice if heaven so to speak. 

Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.120 (Canal Zander)

The Wife an avid F1 fan had set the alarm for 3.55am to watch the Melbourne Grand Prix, and to be honest it wasn't a bad race as we chilled in bed. Mainly because some rain meant there were cars going off the track which obviously added to the excitement. It's not usually my thing but it was nice to see Lando Norris taking victory with 60 million a year Lewis Hamilton wondering why his Ferrari lacked the pace of the McLaren.

Anyway with the race finished and the tackle sorted last night I was in two minds whether or not to go fishing, mainly because Zander which were my target for this session are usually hard going at the start of the river closed season, but you cannot catch fish lying in bed now can you. 

Thankfully I'm in Zed central where I live so only a short drive I was bankside around 7.00am with the fields still full of frost. The sun was already up and offering some relief from the cold because it was still nippy. The canal was far clearer than I'd have liked because Zander thrive in mucky water where they are top dog. 

Now there is no real science to this Zander fishing lark when using deadbaits. Small roach or smelt perfect to attract these fascinating fish and leapfrog likely holding areas.

It didn't take that long to get a bite either and I love fishing this overdepth float method because once a static float jumps in to life, you can literally see what exactly the fish is doing under the water. This fish took the bait confidently and was heading right towards the middle of the snag so I had to act fast and tighten up to the circle hook.

Not a big'un but a nice fish all the same however it didn't fight particularly well but then the water temperature I'm sure had something to do with that.

I thought I would be on for a few more bites along that section of cover but that was the only fish I managed. In-fact as the morning progressed I just wasn't feeling it after moving stretches and decided to end the session early rather than forcing myself to fish, because I knew I would only regret it.

It does take me a good while to get back in to the canal fishing because they are not rivers after all which is where my allegiances lie, but the reality is this is me and many like me till the 16th of June. Like it or lump it 😁

Warwickshire Avon - The Untrodden Pt.25

Now fishermen are notorious for losing things. Every year thousands of baitdroppers, fly boxes, rods and reels are left on riverbanks and lakesides. Fishermen who wade regularly are prone to drop watches rings, hats and flies into the water and it is very rare indeed for them ever to be found. But it does happen and every now and then it happens in the most extraordinary fashion.

A fisherman who came every year from London to try for the salmon in the North Tyne was in the habit of taking his gold signet ring off each morning and putting it safely in a drawer before setting out for the river. Then came the fateful morning when he forgot and on reaching the river and beginning to wade, he discovered that he was still wearing the ring. He was a superstitious man and as he'd always caught plenty of fish while not wearing the ring he was not going to risk everything by keeping it on today.

He tucked his rod under his arm, carefully slipped the ring off his finger, felt for his shirt pocket and dropped the ring straight into the river. He saw it glint for an instant and then it was gone. The ring was not particularly valuable but it had enormous sentimental value and the fisherman was not prepared to lose it without a fight. All thoughts of fishing vanished as he took his rod and began his search. The water where he was wading was not particularly deep, but it was fast-flowing and the golden gravel on the bottom made the perfect camouflage for a gold ring.

The fisherman tried dropping stones that he thought were of similar weight to the ring in order to see how far downstream they travelled before reaching the bottom. He then raked over the area with his distance gradually from the spot where the ring was lost in case the wading stick. Nothing. The search continued and he increased his current had carried it further than he'd first thought. Still nothing. Hours later and too despondent to fish at all, the fisherman returned to the cottage he'd rented.

He searched again the next day, having carefully marked the where he'd first waded, but still no sign of the ring could be found.The fisherman tried to forget his loss and continue with his fishing holiday but somehow it was spoiled and he left early to return to London.

His landlord happened to call in on the day the fisherman was packing up to leave and he nodded sympathetically when he heard the story, but expressed the hope that the fisherman, despite this disaster, would return for his annual holiday the following year.

One year later the fisherman drove up to the door of the cottage he'd rented now for ten consecutive years. He'd almost forgotten the lost ring and was looking forward to a week on a river that, from reports he'd received earlier, he knew was in excellent order.

He parked his car, opened the front door of the cottage and turned on the light. Just as he threw his bags down he saw it. The ring he'd lost the year before was right in the middle of the hall table. The fisherman simply couldn't believe it. 

He rang the estate lodge and spoke to the manager who explained that another visitor fishing the same stretch of river just a few weeks ago had hooked it. He'd thought this such a remarkable occurrence that he'd mentioned it to the estate manager who immediately remembered the tale of the missing ring.

Perhaps the most curious aspect of the story is that the fisherman who caught the ring had been fishing almost half a mile downstream from the point at which the ring had originally been lost.

I definitely need some luck because my results have been rather medicorce of late however with one day left to fish there was always another chance. So yes back to big fish central the syndicate stretch of the Warwickshire Avon. George pictured above was on the stretch as well as another WBAS member Jacub and we were all hoping for some success. 

I had trotted bread for an hour without even a nibble so after chilling for a while when a cormorant literally appeared right by my feet, I baited up a little I went for a natter with George who was just putting back a near 5lb chub fishing meat in the swim I saw Barbara the Barbel.

So it was out with the ledger gear for myself where I'd also fish some luncheon meat. !!! With the Avon here pretty clear I expected the bites to come as the last faded, but some meat went out and I was going to chill out for a while with a cuppa but then a sharp twang on the tip it pulled round and I was in to a fish myself.

It felt decent having to steer it away from the near margin escape route it could only be one culprit and that was a chub, I was right on the money, and it looked a good'un too !!

It wasn't that long but when I lifted the landing net and saw its girth, it looked a 5lber so out with the scales where they settled on 5lb and 10 ounces, my biggest chub of the season and a rather nice fish to end the season with. There was still some time to go though and I gave myself a curfew which was half an hour in to dark.

Oddly to all our disbelief on the stretch the swim(s) went dead and no more fish were caught, however some positives, it's good to see some specimens appearing on this stretch and what other surprises might appear when we are good to go again in June. For now it's the canals where hopefully some nice roach and Zander will grace the landing net. 

Warwickshire Avon - The Untrodden Pt.24

With the new (and now spare) landing net in its rightful place I can relax for future sessions if I ever left it behind again, oddly it jogged my memory, you see 10 years ago 👀 I devised the Gluttonous Chub Poka-Yoke Rig as I was being pestered by greedy chub when they were getting to the bait before the barbel which I knew were there. 

This stretch was on the grounds of Charlecote Park now in National Trust hands which is a rather grand 16th-century country house, surrounded by its own deer park, on the banks of the River Avon in Charlecote near Wellesbourne.

A lovely place and convenient place for me to fish however that was short lived when they decided to stop the fishing within the park and like me, the other anglers, had to take their maggots and luncheon meat elsewhere.

It was a shame as I got to know the patrolling ground staff quite well and I was on first named terms, mainly because my watch was slow 😉 and they had to remind me that I should have been off by now, it was dark after all.

"Mick, you again !!"

Anyway a rather extreme rig I suppose but it served its purpose rather well and banked me some barbel over the time I was fishing it, and as the crow flies its not far from these pastures new down at the Untrodden. 

So with my barbel rut as deep as the mariana trench I decided to have another got at these hallowed banks, you see not only do we think that Sean 'we assume' has caught Barbara but Eric caught his first Warwickshire Avon barbel recently (watchout for the blog report) and ok, it was only half the size of Sean's net buster, but it looks like there is more barbel to caught on this lightly fished stretch.

Could there be bigger ? well James Denison thinks so and that's good enough for me. 

However I need a change up !! My conventional tactics haven't been working whatsoever and my luck could well need a change of approach, so ok we had a hard frost overnight but I fancied trying something a little different, and with only two more days to go of the fishing season, bugger it, out with Dinky David and Giant Goliath, to at least appease my desperation.

Two rigs of completely different scales, one a size 12 hook with bronze maggots, the other an overly large 30mm pellet from Dynamite, which is a belachan Fermented Shrimp concoction that has a 3 day breakdown apparently where I think I would need a few years due to my recent form 😜 but fishing is fishing, we don't want it easy now do we.

 

(well sometimes we do, and I'd like luck thrown my way, shovel loads of it, if that's ok)

If you're an avid reader of the blog you know I like experimenting, so if nothing is producing the goods, there is no harm in trying something else, fishing could become monotonous and we don't want that now do we.

Like I said not ideal conditions for a last gasp barbel before the drawbridge goes up, but at least fishing maggots one of those rather large chub that also frequent this stretch might slip up even though the gobstopper would likely be too much of a mouthful. 

But then these are chub we are talking about they are the next species of fish after the mud sifters (carp) that might need to be prescribed Mounjaro and Wegovy (weight loss meds apparently) with their gluttonous habits. Anyway enough of this waffle better get fishing !!

Let's catch a barbel !!! (in my dreams)

Anyway two swims to be fished and I put a small amount of freebies in both and got fishing. Dusk was around an hour away and after putting out the maggot rod within 10 minutes I had a bite. I struck and something decent was on but the way it was wriggling about it was only one culprit, yeah a pike !!

It looked around 6 or 7lb so I would have liked to have landed it but the inevitable happened sadly. I can only assume it grabbed a small maggot muncher on the strike or it's got a taste of maggots.

Dusk came and went without much action and the temperature had dropped considerably and I was getting a little chilly. I gave myself a curfew then out of the blue a whacking bite on the huge pellet rod that didn't develop, damn it !!

It was most likely a chub that grabbed it, but that was my lot sadly. I stopped a good hour in to dark and that was good enough for me, those restless legs got the better of me and walked back to the car with one's tail between my legs again. 

One day left, one last hurrah ? Errr very unlikely with my current form 😀 

River Wye - Gravestones and Grithbreachs

Ever forgot something, and you realise when you've arrived bankside ? there is a good reason why I have a range of items either in my bag or actually in my car, because it seems to be a regular occurance. A rod rest head, a bankstick, even a spare landing hand handle. 

When I placed the tackle at the top end of the stretch I was fishing and after negotiating 'heart attack hill' and what seems like a mile of walking, it dawned on me, nope not the catapult, but the bleeding landing net FFS. As I pinged in some pellets in a couple of the swims an otter with a smile in it's face popped his head out one of the swim I was going to fish, and then continued to stare at me as it proceeded to waft down the river. 

Bugger !!!, I dumped the tackle and then decided to check the car but then after retracing my steps I rang the Wife and she confirmed "yes it's still in the garage !!!, not like you to forget things is it". Sooooo only one thing for it, onto Google to find the nearest tackle shop and thankfully the Angling Centre Limited was only 17 minutes away and they surely could get me out of the predicament I was in ?

They open at 8.00am which I was surprised at so after arriving at the parking spot at 7.15am that was perfect really, because loaded with tackle it took 20 minutes just to get to the area I was fishing, and then another 15 minutes to get back to the car, up the 'heart attack hill' which now has some newly built steps, and then a short drive to the tackle shop.

I ended up with a Dinsmore Shake n Dry landing net which came with its own storage bag, which is perfect really as I will now leave it in the car. A pony though, £25 quid so this trip is certainly adding up. It was a nice size similar to my Guru specimen net but a nice rubber finish, which does often repel the fishy pong landing nets are prone to. 

So back to the stretch again which took a little longer it was school starting time and the traffic was worse. Phew !!! I can relax now, wasn't too bad, despite me being the cause of all these problems. I fancied chilling out for a bit behind a rod for an hour before trotting the stick float and the first chuck of the feeder in a clear and lowish river, but that never happened.

The chub were on it straight from the off and it didn't take long to have a fish in the net to christen it because after after some ridiculous really powerful pulls on the tip, I switched to a small piece of meat on the hook rather than boilie on the hair and within  a few minutes a fish had hooked itself with yet another powerful bite. 

Then it was fish after fish after fish, nothing big from just under 2lb to around 4lb but I was enjoying this and in the end switched back to boilie on a hair just to revel in the ridiculous bites I was getting. I prefer to trot if I can on the Wye and it was a barbel that I wanted so decided to move upstream to the croy and have a go off there. 

I had already pinged in some pellets in this swim and it only took 15 minutes to get a bite trotting small cubes of meat when the float buried and I was in to a fish. The head shakes gave the game away and another nice chub was in the net after an enjoyable fight on the 15ft float rod.

I had quite a few more fish over the next couple of hours but there was no sign of the barbel. After taking stock with some lunch I decided to check the water temperature which was 9.9 degrees. So a nice temperature but I could see the bottom in most of the swims so I'm sure being clear wasn't helping the barbel front.

I tried another swim next where I have caught barbel before trotting but after another couple of hours with only chub again and the float now becoming difficult to see at the very end of the run, I decided to set my stall out to try and catch a barbel. 

This swim is renowned for the barbel that like to hang around the rocks but fishing a feeder you risk the chance of snagging up and losing gear, which happened twice. In the end I cast to an area that gave a satisfying donk on the feeder that seemed clear of any issues.

Chub after chub again and when the light started to go I though the barbel might come out to feed. The fry were being chased by the perch and activity seemed to increase, with a couple of Goosander popping up in my swim with one of them with a gobful of what looked like a dace. The bites seemed to get more violent if that was possible and a few of them were 100% a barbel bite, until I lifted in to the fish.

The barbel just didn't show for me at all and curfew time came where I reckon I must have had over 30 chub, with the best maybe a scraper 5lber. A really enjoyable day on my tod, but at the moment for the life of me I just cannot seem to catch a barbel. They seem to be a bit of a bogey species for me where on my headstone I think I'll have the chubmeister.  

A chub fest, which I don't mind as you know that, but the barbel again seem suspicious in their absence, but then this is Piscatorial Quagswagging, this is the humdrum. I've another couple of fishing sessions planned before the season end, and to honest I'm stuck in rut really, I think the closed season will be a good thing where I can take stock, sell my rods and take up flower arranging or bird bothering (the feathered variety !!)

I love the Wye though, I've said before it's like entering a different world there really is nothing like it and works wonders for the mind. It's only an hour and 15 minutes away by car as well, so I need to fish it more, not just a handful of times a year. I love long trotting on a BIG river, it feels like proper fishing rather than being stuck behind a rod which as you know my restless legs often kick in. 

Warwickshire Avon - Killzones and Kickshaws

The weather really has been glorious of late, spring has definitely sprung and I can already feel my mood changing for the better. The fishing though of late to be honest hasn't been particularly productive, ok I've caught a few nice fish but I seem to be struggling for bites for some reason, so for this morning session I fancied fishing for anything that comes.

So it was out with the bronze maggots to try and catch some chub. There was a match on here yesterday so I did wonder if the fishing would be tough, but I need not worry to be honest.

I arrived at an empty car park to a bright sun just on the rise and decided to fish a swim where the river is pretty shallow but it also seems to hold fish. I'm no trotting expert but I'm more than confident now to run the float through, mend line and obviously feed regularly.

The were dead reeds right out in front of me and to the side, so not ideal to be able to land the fish but thankfully there was a little gap that was just wide enough as otherwise it might have posed a problem.

Anyway a bite first cast after 15 minutes of feeding little and often without running the float down, I really did not expect that. !! It was a nice chub of around 2lb with the 15ft Diawa rod doing its thing perfectly, having to tease it away from any other fish in the swim in a slow and confident pull upstream in pretty pacey water.

Then another fish soon after, wow, I'm enjoying this. Over the next hour and a half I caught around 10 chub with the smallest around 1lb and the best maybe a 3lber. Not massive but it was exactly how I wanted it to play out, and all from one area of the swim. 

Now Nic had put me on to these, Guru size 20 Super MWG hooks which incidentally held strong when he landed a barbel trotting maggots on the Avon recently, and I must admit, the hook hold on all the chub I caught were all excellent, they were certainly not coming off that's for sure.

Once the sun came from behind the houses though and was illuminating the swim the bites dried off completely, and another hour and a half trotting without even a bite in the killzone I decided to knock it on the head and go and enjoy the sun instead.

I was just in my long sleeve t-shirt at the end of the session and that was at 10.00am and apparently it's going to reach 17 degrees or so. A really enjoyable morning and I really need to do more trotting to be honest as I really enjoy it when I do and there is nothing more satisfying seeing a float bury under the surface and you lift the rod in to a solid fish.

Sadly no barbel showed it was a chub chub chub, but nothing wrong with that when they put up a good account for themselves. On to the next one !!

Warwickshire Avon - The Untrodden Pt.23

Well it looks like Barbara was finally revealed to the world, you see Sean caught a 13lb 10oz barbel from a swim up from where I saw the fish. 

All that effort I put in, it just goes to show, the right time the right place and when the stars align, you can catch a fantastic fin perfect fish like this one was. A superb fish and congratulations to Sean, WHAT A FISH !! 🆒

Could there be bigger swimming around here ? quite possibly but it was great to finally see a decent barbel caught on the stretch, what an awesome looking fish too. 

Now high-protein baits may be sure-fire fish attractors, but they don't come cheap. And they get dearer by the season. It's not so much the hook baits that cost the money (for the number of bites I get, two or three flash-fried hi-protein black-pudding balls will last all day). No, it's the groundbait. A few handful of that and the old après-pêche social fund (i.e. beer money) is looking a bit sick.

I've always been heavy on groundbait because of my general lack of accuracy (I'm no Jon Arthur). I tend to depend on the splatter effect, being a bit short-sighted, uncoordinated and not over-endowed with means of propulsion such as muscles. But I can't go on just throwing bait out and hoping for the best. I'm practising accuracy and investigating the means of getting just the right amount in exactly the right places.

An old angling book I've got suggests swimming out with the groundbait. That must have been written when Britain was a tropical swamp; these days it's a bit chilly round the Trossachs.

There's the old-fashioned angler's throwing stick, of course, either thick bamboo with the top joint sliced vertically in half, or an ordinary stick with a dessert spoon tied to the top. I find the bamboo type OK for distance, but a bit lacking in accuracy. With the other, I find that after a few throws the spoon tends to come off and follow the bait. The wife is getting a bit fed up of eating custard with a fork.

I did think of catapults, especially after I discovered one with a pistol grip, arm support, wrist guard and other aids to accuracy and distance. But I had one or two reservations, apart from the fact that I did myself a mischief just pulling the elastic to full stretch. A catapult is too much of a temptation when there are intrusions in your swim, such as swans, ducks, power boats, cormorants and definitely not the otters. 

'What did you get today, dear ?'

'Oh, a couple of roach, two ducks, a swan, a feller with a commodore's cap and a snotty-nosed little tyke who was fishing too close.' At one point I thought I'd really found the answer: a giant pea-shooter. You can get them in plastic, about three feet long and with a half-inch bore. Saw a bloke using one. He filled it with small balls of bait, rolled in flour to reduce friction, and blew them a hell of a distance.

It looked highly impressive and completely foolproof. Until his mate came along, just as the lad was about to blow, grabbed .hold of the other end and blew first. With mates like mine, I daren't risk it. There's something about flour-coated minced worm-and-catfood balls that puts you off your ale. Even if they are flash-fried.

Finally I thought of a kite, with a little platform underneath that could be tilted when it was over the target. But for that you need a smooth lift-off if you're not going to be covered in protein and have tweety-birds pecking at you the rest of the day. And you need the wind blowing steadily in the right direction.

It could be embarrassing, after a sudden crosswise gust, to have a police person striding down the bank towards you. Blowing black-pudding balls out of his walkie-talkie.

"Ello, 'ello, 'ello. Having a nice play are we? And what little toys have we here, then?'

'Nothing officer. Ha ha. Just a kite, a throwing stick, a catapult and a pea-shooter."

Anyway back to the fishing  it was out with the catapult and some pellet pinging because the other day I had a few bites and caught a couple of nice chub one going 5lb 8 ounces and around 60cm's long doing exactly that. 

I'm sure it's the noise of the dinner bell where now with the water a tad warmer (it was 8.5 degrees when I measured it yesterday). 

Fish a small bait and with some freebies to get the fish grubbing about, bait and wait basically, and whilst I did that I'd wait for a pike bite. Which to be honest happened half an hour on getting there. A weird bite though, from nothing, to one bob then it went straight under and then when I lifted up the rod whatever it was had already made off at one heck of a pace and over 3 metres to my left.

The fish dropped the bait with one hell of a disturbance on the water, bugger !!!  I had another chance half an hour after that bite which was a normal pike bite. The fish was messing with the bait for a while then the float went off towards the middle of the river where after a few seconds of feeling the weight of the fish it dropped off. This didn't feel that big though so I wasn't really too bothered about that.

And that was as exciting as it got a few more hours fishing and nothing to show for it. I even fished the swim where Sean caught the fish for the last hour but no one was home. Still what a lovely morning though, and lots of wildlife about. It's not all about catching fish now is it. 

Warwickshire Avon - The Untrodden Pt.22

Back in 2021 I had I had a suspicious looking lesion in the middle of my left cheek checked out because it had changed colour and also was starting to grow. After a referral from an online GP via video call I was off to see a dermatologist at the Nuffield in Leamington where thankfully it was nothing to worry about. It was a seborrheic keratosis which is a common non cancerous skin growth, however as us anglers spend lots of time outdoors you cannot be too careful. 

Anything suspicious get it checked out !!

So this week I had it removed by laser by Eve Clinic in Leamington because it was definitely getting bigger and more pronounced. The procedure after the initial anaesthetic went it was rather painless with only the smell of a pig on a spit when the audible laser was doing its thing was all I had to worry about. It's a bit scabby but that will sort itself out. Ok I will most likely be left with a small scar, but it looks better already to be honest, less of a quasimodo. 

The following day I was out for the evening with a mate Phippo, a fellow automotive design engineer who has taken early retirement (jammy git) and we've been frequenting various indian restaurants and pubs every few weeks for many a year now. Like me a lover of beer and the lover of spice. 

Cinnamon Arch which are now operating out of the Duck on the Pond in Long Itchington is still our favourite from when we first discovered them in the Joseph Arch pub in Barford, where they were fondly known by us as 'The Joey'. 

We'd not eaten here before which was Lavang in Solihull so we had been looking forward to this for a while as they do have a good reputation. 

Anyway before the curry we'd had a couple of Ale's in the Pup and Duckling a few doors down and also to buy some of the imperial stouts of their well stocked shelves from where we entered the vibrant and busy restaurant which is so nice to see. 

It's a small space so the tables are rather close together but to be honest that didn't overly bother me and the service was excellent, like a military operation, where every member of staff knew the task in hand. 

Many other hospitality businesses like this are finding it tough to just to make a living because that spare cash for the punter is harder to find these days with the cost of living spiralling, not helped with the various tax and business related rises to come in April. 

Most cut their cloth to suit and meals out are a luxury these days even though it's good for the soul, which for us it was out with the mango lassi palate cleanser before we ordered our food for the evening and we got onto eating the warm poppadoms and the various dips, when out of the blue my phone 'pinged' literally as my nihari lamb chops starter turned up (tasty but I'd have liked them spicier) and the waiter put down a dish of dry ice, yes really !! . The dry ice was all very dramatic at first but fizzled out like my fishing has been this year. 👀. All very Insta !! (no I haven't got an account !!).

Anyway the ping to disturb putting the world to rights was a WhatsApp message on the syndicate group from George who was fishing at the Untrodden had caught his biggest ever chub EVER, not just from the Warwickshire Avon where he managed a 5lber recently after years of trying.  This latest one went 5lb and 15 ounces and had beaten his long time PB off the Hampshire Avon which went 5lb and 12 ounces. 

A cracking fish and I no doubt will think George will get that six pounder next with the way his chub captures have been going recently, as he is definitely on a bit of a purple patch and in-fact he actually caught another PB from the River Leam after 13 years of trying, however I'll leave that for him to tell you on his blog 🤞 . The season is running out though and I've still not had a barbel for ages, even though we know there are some on this stretch to be caught. 

I have decided to get myself down to the Wye though before the season end because the weather looks fair for a few more days before the temperature drops again as we head in to next week. Sooooo little time and so much to do. I also fancy trying for a pike here before the drawbridge comes down, and George fishing meat, managed a 7lb pike on the same session. 😀 

I'm going to make changes in the new season to explore more waters and cast my net wider however this stretch will no doubt still factor in, because well, it's like our own little utopia away from prying eyes, and there just happens to be some nice fish caught to boot. It helps that I'm the closest as well, and more often than not, I've got it all to myself. 

Anyway for this session I decided to give some pimped up spam I've had on the go for a while.  Astaxanthin powder, phall curry powder and some garlic oil to hopefully tickle a barbel's tastebuds, which has been in and out of the freezer more times than Buffalo Si's deadbaits to that the flavours infuse ☺. 

Whatever happened to garlic spam anyway ? despite me and others writing to Hormel Foods Corporation they are yet to appear on the shelves again. I'm sure their share price would jump if they only took heed of the cry of help from me and other maggotdrowners. 

My standard pellet  / paste wrapped boilie approach doesn't seem to be working of late, well for the Barbel anyway, because all I seem to be catching is chub, chub and more chub. 

I've huge confidence in fishing with meat, in-fact most of the doubles I've caught and also my PB have come to the spam (other brands available)

I like catching chub as they are probably my favorite species because I catch them using various methods and they do seem to feed all year round from the hottest of days, to the coldest of winters. 

Anyway as per the norm here of late, a short session after work where I'd arrive before dusk and fish an hour in to dark which would be around 7.30pm. 

Two rods for this one, meat on one rod and boilie and paste wrap on the other with some pellets pinged in initially to get any fish in the area grubbing about. I decided to venture up to the area where I spotted a big'un and set one's stall out. It's a swim of features and if I'm going to meet something to put a decent bend in the barbel rod, it's a creature of habit I was hoping for. 

Anyway enough waffle better get fishing !!!

Well the river had that grey colour like these floor tiles and I knew I would be lucky to get a bite, and Nic was out trotting maggots on the Avon in a couple of decent swims earlier with not much to show for it. I've fished it enough to know it is likely to be bust rather than boom and after getting the rods out heading in to dusk without even a chub pull in to dark would likely be no better.

Sure enough dusk came and went and I gave it a good go well in to dark but nothing materialised whatsoever. The fish were definitely putting their fins up and to be honest what I should be doing, so with the wind picking up I decided to head home and get one with the fishes with this rather nice stout.