Warwickshire Avon - Jolterheads and Jostaberries

Gooseberries have been grown in Europe for centuries, dating as far back at before the 15th century, especially prized as a sauce on roast goose and for making wine, in addition to pies and preserves. However, the name for this berry is not related to the culinary compatibility with a cooked goose.

The name evolved from the old English variation terms for berries: “groser, grosier and grozer.” Ancient medical books refer to gooseberries as “feverberries” with the fruit’s high amounts of vitamins A and C, as well as iron and potassium, to be key to lowering a high fever.

Now the bush in my garden bears fruit year on year and the harvest its harbouring now is ready to pick. Now I've not got a particularly sweet tooth. Savouries are more my thing but I always make a jar of jam or two because, well it's just so easy to do.

Gooseberries are a good source of vitamin C and vitamins of the B group and minerals such as copper, calcium, phosphorus and manganese. 100g of fruit contains only 44 calories. Jostaberry is a hybrid created by interbreeding of gooseberry and blackcurrants.

Gooseberries are also known as "fayberries" because of the ancient belief that fairies used bushes of gooseberry to hide from danger. Cooling properties of the fruit were used during the Middle Ages in treatment of fever.They also contain compounds that can prevent development of certain types of cancer, neurological disorders and inflammation.

Cultivated varieties of gooseberry are targeted by magpie moth, V-moth and gooseberry sawfly. These insects eat and produce significant damage on the leaves of gooseberry. A bush can produce fruit and survive at least 20 years in the wild

Heck they can even be added to Gin, what's not to like !!!!

Anyway enough of the guff, back to the fishing, unperturbed by the disappointing introduction to the new syndicate water, I had a small window of opportunity to visit the water again to see what I could catch. One thing I realised from the last session was just how much I detest being stuck on one fishing spot. I'm a rover, I always have been. Ones restless legs kick in with motionless quivers, and bobless floats and I looking to move.

That's all very well when travelling light but when you've everything but the kitchen sink things get a little more troublesome. Now the storms of late have brought some much needed rain and when I got to the river is was looking so much better than 24 hours before when nothing decided it wanted my bait, well a pike did, but less said about that the better.

The flow was up, a tinge more colour and just looked right. Now again I waited for the thunder and lightning to stop but being able to get bankside really quick is a Godsend. No gates to negotiate, a hop, skip and a jump from car to water. So back to basics for this <2 hour session, a new chub set-up 8lb main line and 5lb fluro hooklink. A link-ledger and a size 6 hook.

With a few lobworms from my wormery tactics cannot get much simpler than that. It would give me a chance to explore some of the swims too. A rod, rest, a small bag and a landing net, that's it. I settled down in to the first swim and positioned my bait near an overhanging tree and started to get indications within a couple of minutes.

There are plenty of bait fish here so assume they were having a good peck at it but then some better indications and a proper pull round I was in to my first fish. That was quick, a complete contrast to the last visit. At first I thought it was a chub but then it sort of gave up and when it surfaced it was a decent bream.

When it was in the net I realised one of the biggest I've caught from the river in a while.In-fact it was only when I checked my records I realised it was a PB by 2 ounces. All 6lb 8 ounces of it, cannot complain at that. Another lobby when out but nothing materialised so I went upstream where it's shallower, narrower and the flow is faster.

I wanted to the worm to bump along the bottom the line dragging it from upstream to downstream hopefully in-front of a fish. Big visual baits like this really can really be enticing to any fish in the area and having witnessed them on other stretches ignoring a static bait, a moving bait can often trigger a response in particular chub, who sometimes can be very coy indeed. 

After a few casts I could see the line tighten which was met with a couple of taps on the tip and I struck in a  fish. At first I thought it was a small Barbel, it was pulling well but when I got it near to me and the waiting net I realised it was a carp. I don't think it knew what was going on till it saw me or the net because then all hell breaks loose.

It bolted off upstream with me hanging on for dear life, the fish taking line at a rate of knots. I then realise it was trying to get in to some mostly submerged reeds with just the odd one sticking out of the water. No sooner as I realised where it was headed it managed to get itself wedged tight. Damn, I cannot lose this now, it's the first river carp I've hooked in a while. 

I pulled out some slack line and went above it and then pulled the line as tight as I dared, it was stuck solid but then it bolted downstream pulling a few reeds out with it. I quickly went back to where it was hooked keeping the line tight as I did so and I was properly playing the fish. So nice to play fish like this on relatively light tackle and a couple of times I thought I could net it, it powered off again.

Still it was tiring and eventually I netted it, oh yes, what a difference 24 hours and a bit of rain makes. That's more like it, a quarry unknown now less so. A lovely dark fish and proper chunky with sadly half of his tail missing after a lucky escape from one of our furry friends with claws and teeth. 13lb on the dials.

From a forgettable session to one unforgettable on the same stretch, I went home happy. Just goes to show how small differences can change things in fishing and that's why we love it.

Warwickshire Avon - A Surprise PB

Despite the river dropping like a stone over the past week the sluice at Lucy's Mill was wide open and the river was like a raging torrent. Luckily there are some slack areas that make a few swims fishable. The river had been over the benches and in the fields, flooded the Rec park and it had been as high as I'd seen it since the major floods of 2008.

The amount of floating debris was bordering on the obscene but you cannot catch fish if you haven't have a bait in the water now can you.

The weir currents seem to vary so a nice slack turned in to white water and after 3 cold wind uncomfortable hours with just the odd tap on the two deadbaits it was time to move downstream to get the sun in my face and to make the fishing session more palatable. Considering the closed season starts tomorrow I'm surprised I was the only angler present. Then again most will be at work, I decided to spoil myself with a day off, as a contractor and the 3 other mouths to feed it was not to be taken lightly. 

The previous week had been a bit of a nightmare with all the family ill so my usual knackered sleep pattern ended up even more knackered, it was much needed battery recharging.

I was after Zander but I like to hedge my bets when fishing so I also bought some cell boilies and some bright red pop-ups and whilst watching the rod tip on the main rod I made a hair rig for carp, swapped the hook-link over and whacked the rod on a bite alarm and sat back for the last hour.

The largest stretch of the Warwickshire Avon I fish..

Sometimes in fishing the story writes itself but as a Polish guy who was just walking past having finished on his phone after previously pacing up and down the bait runner screamed off and a fish was on....

Not the greatest of fights and I was surprised when it eventually surfaced easily the biggest carp I'd caught and a bonus it came from the river. It's not secret the Warwickshire Avon contains carp but I rarely get anywhere near them.

A proper chunky 20lb 7oz mirror and easily a PB, an escapee ? possibly looking at the mouth, however certainly most welcome and being over 20lb a Bruce'y Bonus of 10 for the bloggers challenge, the only bonus of my fairly average season.

Lovely Jubbly....

A 20lb 7oz Warwickshire Avon Carp

Warwickshire Avon - River Carp and Tench in the Trench

It’s not going too well this river carp lark; I’ve fished 5 sessions now so about 20 hours in total. I’ve hooked and lost one, had them fighting over the dog biscuits practically jumping on each other’s backs, fluffed a couple of strikes and witnessed the biggest out of the group a ‘ghostie’ hoover up a large piece of crust that had just parted from my hook in glorious slow motion, previous to that, he had completely ignored it, you couldn’t make it up.

They ain’t stupid these mud sifters…

Conditions need to be right really so it’s taken me a few weeks and a holiday in-between to fish for them again. The problem is unless it’s clear(ish) you wouldn’t spot them, they are amongst the thick lilies and rarely venture out, and I’ve often taken a couple of hours watching through my cocoons just to spot one, there doesn’t appear to be a pattern to them making an appearance either.

They seem to prefer the smaller dog biscuit rather than crust so to try and outwit these crafty carp I swopped the bread for an ET31N enterprise imitation dog biscuit. You secure it with a long hair with a spilt shot that orientates it in such that you can keep the hook out of the water and out of view from wary carp. The biscuit has a raised area that you nip the hook through, very well thought out indeed (not cheap mind). There is a bit of foam coloured matched to the fake bait that fits through the middle of the biscuit, not only is it there for buoyancy but it also can be flavoured if you so wish. I soaked mine in scopex, btw.

I need an edge without resorting to multiple rods and buckets of bait; I was hoping this was it...

This area also looks ideal for Tench, thick with marginal lilies,decent depth with pedestrian pace. I also know one was caught upstream from here in similar surroundings. So to try and kill two birds with one stone so to speak the first half of the session (early morning) I’d float fish for Tench after feeding some chopped worm, red groundbait and a few dead maggots close to the pads within a long trench. I’d fish a red worm and a red maggot of corn on a lift float set-up for a couple of hours or so and then have a sleeper rod out with a few pieces of Rod Hutchinson’s huge corn baits on a hair amongst a carpet of freebies just to see what I could pick up. There are marginal lilypads over a decent length so a bit of the groundbait mix would be added in a few likely spots to try and spot the tell tale micro bubbles that show that the Tench were feeding.

Any one of the target species would be nice.............

So, the above is all very well, but had a bit of a nightmare for the session. The reeds had grown massive since I was there last so lots of the swim I couldn’t see, despite looking long and hard for the carp over the 5 hours session, none were spotted. An angry Swan was in one of the swims I intended to fish and no amount of landing net waving would shift it. The first cast of the float with a worm hookbait was picked up by a Jack Pike that bit and broke the like and the rest of the fish caught were small Perch and Chub, a change to a couple of grains of corn the float remained motionless as did the corn sleeper rod.

So back to the drawing board, I think a Warwick Book is on the cards. At least it was a nice day

Warwickshire Avon - Betty Swollocks and the Wrong C

With the weekend’s river carp session a bit of a washout and the lovely weather returning, 19 degrees warmer in fact compared to a few days ago (34 degrees and too hot for me). For this short evening session I decided to return the lily pad sanctuary to see if the carp were more active and hopefully were revealing themselves. The plan was to use a bait dropper to deposit a bed of maggot, wax worms, pellet and broken boilie in the ‘blinkers on’ swim where the last session I’d spotted a couple of carp and then fish a sleeper bolt rig set-up with a hi-viz corn topped cell boilie on the hair.

A float laid on the lilies with breadflake or lobworm on the bottom would usually be my stalking / exciting method of choice but the amount of small fish attacking the hookbait last weekend was a sight to behold, it was a of non-starter. The swim was chocker as within 5 minutes of the large piece of flake resting on the bottom the greedy little blighters would have attacked it so vigorously it would break away from the hook and return to the surface. A lobworm just resulted in little Perch. The boilie could be left without issue and would be a waiting game.

The main rod was a water weighted bubble float with a highly visual piece of bread crust on the hook which would be coaxed down the stretch amongst  the flow and flowering nymphaeaceae, to try and coax them out chum mixer would be used as loose feed.

To accompany me on the trip my mate Simon was ditched for a couple of small cans of Fursty Ferret...it was f’ing hot and humid one that’s for sure. 

With the bait dropper sorted I set the sleeper rod and went for a wander. This time after throwing some dog biscuits out a few carp were milling about and they even had their backs out of the water, as quick as they turned up though they disappeared. Again wait and watch and they will eventually give their location away. As I was crouching down I even spotted a couple of carp which looked about 7lb literally next to my feet, you’ve have even possibly have scooped them up if you were quick enough.

At 8.45pm with an hour or so left I eventually found a couple in the middle of the stretch, there was a gap in the reeds and also it was less suicidal as it wasn’t as thick with lilies. After a couple of missed takes (me being premature) I positioned the bubble float on a lily pad and watched and waited with my hands under my legs. Sure enough a huge disturbance in the water and a fish was on, it had hooked itself on the weight of the bubble float. This was a decent carp, the water is incredibly clear and it looked a mid double and a dark as you like common, it looked a fantastic river fish. After a few lunging runs I felt I had it under control until it went for a one last dive for cover, I had to give it some gip and then the ‘bang’ the fish was off, you f****** w***** as I threw the rod down. Upon inspection the knot had failed at the swivel, nearest the rod tip. I cannot remember the last time I had a knot failure, a nightmare.

For the last half an hour I moved to the end of the swim and fed dog biscuits and bread. Initially small fish were topping but then a few larger fish had moved in. Again I positioned the bubble float on a lily and waited and watched. It didn’t take long either for a fish to engulf all the bread and a fish was on. It was a Chub, sadly the wrong C.

It was nice to catch it off the surface but being over gunned for a Chub it didn’t have much of a chance. I didn’t bother weighing it but it looked 3.5lb or so. I left with a wet net and another ‘the one that got away story’ to be added to my ever growing collection.

Back to the drawing board. They ain't easy these carp, but I've caught one before so I will spend more hours targeting them. I've not given up yet. Sadly it's going to be next week now as I'm looking after the kids all weekend. Incidentally not even a beep on the sleeper rod. 

Warwickshire Avon – The fleeting flowing piscator

For the first six weeks or so of the new season the banks are notably busier with anglers, it’s usually those fisherman who fish their favorite carp puddle and goldfish bowl and switch to the rivers as ‘it’s what everyone does’ and then they quickly realise it isn’t easy, especially when you have to find fish and heaven forbid, use ones legs.

You want to fish one of the notable Barbel hotspots, forget it….IT will be occupied…..

They leave as quick as they turn up though, so be patient. So for me as an angler that seeks solitude this time of the year it’s an ideal time to visit stretches well off the beaten track.

The area in question is a bit of a trek, well for the modern angler. Even hardened ramblers would need a backpack, trekking pole and Ray Mears in attendance just to attempt it. In reality it isn’t that far to walk but because of the distance involved, the boscage and forna it’s an area that’s largely devoid of anglers. What gets me returning every year though, is the Carp that frequent this thick lily pad sanctuary. They seem to love it here, the problem is it appears to be a short-lived holiday as one minute they are sunning themselves, the next they have packed their bags and buggered off.

They are also crafty and difficult to catch, and as the cover is so thick it would be suicidal to hook one amongst the nymphaeaceae so they rarely venture away from the confides of their self-catering accommodation. I’ve found early morning is best when you can often find them feeding off the top away from the cover but even then the window of opportunity is very small indeed. My approach is simple, a surface set-up with bread or dog biscuit and a safety clip sleeper set-up with a boilie, lobworm or pellet as hookbait and a PVA bag of small pellets just on the edge of the lilies. They are not that easy to spot either, in the past I’ve often spent a couple of hours looking through the polarised cocoons without even wetting a line. It took 15 fishing hours for one fish; I’m hoping my knowledge would reduce that.

So to the session, this is the second weekend where the weather reporters have got it completely wrong, it was like a winters day and also raining. With my float fishing mate Simon in tow a carp was spotted as soon as we got to the first swim, not the biggest and wouldn’t have made double figures, it was also stupidly clear as I could see the lobworm bait on the bottom being attacked by all manner of things. I didn’t want to catch small Perch all day so I switched to a plastic corn topped cell boilie. Every break in the rain I went to try and spot them but it clearly evident they were happy amongst the thicket. After a consolation 4lb Chub The same common was spotted again but it didn’t seem interested in feeding at all. The decision was made to pack up early and upon returning to the car I watched a load of Chub and Barbel feeding in the shallows. I was half tempted to cast a line over the bridge. The Barbel was easily double figures.

With the Wife on a Hen Do the weekend, two trotting sessions are planned....the carp can wait.

Talking of Barbel, nice one Keith, a lovely fish.

Warwickshire Avon Carp....job done.

I've just come back off holiday with the family in Brecon but last Friday morning managed to catch an elusive river carp after a few times trying. Not quite a double, just 9lb 15oz but as it's my first river carp it's a PB.

The venue is slow, deep, full of lilies and is home to decent size carp.

Locating them is the key and after catapulting a few dog biscuits in various likely places I waited and watched. Didn't take long either as they were showing on the surface after an hour or so. You honestly wouldn't know fish that big would be in the area unless you knew. I bought two rods, one a float set-up to fish some bread on the bottom and also a rod with a fox bubble float to fish some crust on the surface.

I wanted to keep the float static, I remembered watching one of John Wilsons programs where he rested a bit of peakcock quill on a lily pad. I did exactly that, a tad crude but a good way of resisting the flow and there would be no doubt when you had a bite. A few carp were grubbing about in the margins so an ideal method. The water was gin clear and there were two ghost carp that stood out like beacons, and one of the carp looked a foot thick, it was massive.

It's a 3ssg float and all the shot was a couple of inches from the hook with a bit of crust on a big hook, what carp could resist.

For half and hour or so not much happened but then you know what it's like, sods law sometimes comes in to play. The Wife rang me up and literally as I answered the float shot under, the centrepins ratchet was singing and a mini tsunami appeared around the now invisible float. The Wife could wait so in the panic the bait bag was kicked over, the phone was thrown on the ground and I was playing a decent carp.

The problem was it managed to take far more line than I liked and it got amongst some thick roots. It wasn't budging. I let the fish settle for a few minutes and eventually it was pulling on the end of the rod tip, it still wasn't budging though and eventually it made the most of it's haven and it broke me off.

I thought that would be the only chance I'd get but with swim disturbed I moved 100ft downstream where I spotted a quite a few sunning themselves. I threw some dog biscuits upstream and they were soon up in the water feeding off them. I gave it a good half hour before lowering in a bait and this time the bread was to be fished on the surface.

I love surface fishing and I've lost count the amount of times I've fluffed strikes. These days I like to use a water filled bubble float and allow the weight of the float to hook the fish, no striking and it's a method that seems to work really well.

I cast the float upstream and it slowly meandered down the river and I teased the line so the float stopped on a lily pad with the crust a metre away from the float. The smallest fish in the swim was more active than the rest and within only about 2 minutes the bread was engulfed and the fish was on.

I had to bully the fish really the swim didn't allow me to play it, so it was on the bank pretty quickly. A decent fight though and a stunning coloured common.

With the weather looking like it's going to be nice for another week at least, I'm planning to go back and try for a bigger one. No better time at the minute and might as well make hay and all that.