Udderly Rubbish !!

Apparently in the 80's Manor Farm, Luddington on the Warwickshire Avon was used as a venue for the Angling World Championships, I've tried this stretch a few times before and I've always wondered why it's devoid of anglers ? especially as it has produced some big Chub and Barbel.

The Veterinary Science Laboratory based in Luddington doesn't help I suppose, it's staffed by migrant workers who obviously fish the swims from the evidence I've seen, make-shift rod rests and dumped cans and rubbish. The walk across the meadow is like a pilgrim to Mecca, or in this case the migrant workers walking to a Car Boot sale or Stratford town. Jan Porter even found a 20 meter gill net along this stretch that was removed by the environment agency. I challenged two anglers last year with crude tackle and no licences, they just packed up and left, probably to return after I had left. It's not somewhere I'd fish an evening either, I'd not feel comfortable. 

The meadow is sometimes full of cows so as I experienced today you might well have an audience behind your peg too. Not exactly quiet creatures either are they, humping like Bonobos and peeing for England.

I'm not exactly selling it to you am I :)

Anyway I fancied a change of scenery to be honest so with a Barbel set-up and a small lure rod I went for a bit of an explore and tried a few swims. A few chub knocks that was it, after being snagged in the sunken wier again I moved to the couple of pegs downstream of the big weir. I've caught fish here before, nothing to write home about though.

The peg I fish is quite small so you cannot really fish two rods, not a bad thing I suppose. There were certainly plenty of fish in the swim, small dace, bleak and blenty of minnows. I had lots of small Chub knocks and towards the end of the session I had a whacking bite which somehow didn't connect to a fish. 4 hours and fish less I'm not used to this and I won't be returning here in a hurry.

Bream me up snotty...!!

With the 'brook' out of sorts with lack of rain I went to the reservoir yesterday evening for a few hours, the intended quarry was the crucian carp,some old and big'uns in here that occasionally show themselves and I've still got the big'un pictured in my mind that I lost when it was foul hooked. Foul hooked you say, well if I landed it then should I have taken it as my PB ? I'm not sure.

My favorite peg was unoccupied when I got there, only two other anglers present, a Dad and his two sons and also a carp angler I've bumped in to before a couple of pegs down from me. It's still low, very low and the blanket weed seems to be getting thicker.

For the first hour hardly any fish moving at all and not even indications on the float. Bait was scopex flavoured sweetcorn on a size 14 hook and I chucked in a couple of balls of groundbait that contained hemp and some tiny pellets. After an hour the fish started to top and a couple of crucians launched themselves out the water and I received my first crucian bite, sadly it bumped off on the strike, and there the crucian action ended.

The carp angler came for a chat and informed me he had prebaited my swim with some pellets to try for the carp later on. With the bed of pellets and my groundbait the bream had moved in and probably bullied the crucians out the way. The swim was fizzing and must have been full with them, as soon as the float entered the water it was moving all over the shop.

If I had a keepnet I might have netted them as it was a bite every chuck, the average size was a couple of pound and a decent weight would have been made pretty quickly, when they are on the feed there is nothing stopping them.

After about the 10th bream in 1/2 an hour I decided to call it a day. I'm out tomorrow morning somewhere, any hot spots please let me know as I haven't decided yet and I've been lacking some decent fish of late. :)

The Zandavan Rollover Indicator

Big Perch, Eels and Zander are well known for not liking any sort of resistance, I think it's the change in resistance more than anything. After trying various indicators in the past, bobbins, drop-off indicators and also making some of my own too, they just didn't seem to work that effectively. Certainly Eels and Zander are on my must catch list this year, Eels I might try and the Zander and Perch towards winter.

As I fish rivers in the main, it was the adjustability that was the biggest issue, how do you account for different flow rates and still fish with an open bail arm? that's why I thought I'd give a rollover indicator from Zandavan Productions a try.

When a taking fish raises the indicator the ball bearings will roll along the tube and past the pivot point at which stage the indicator lifts off the line and, as such, there is no point of increased resistance. I was a bit sceptical at first but they really do work.

The weight load bearing on the line can be adjusted to suit the conditions and the balance action has been carefully calibrated so that the indicator will roll over and lift off the line whatever weight loading is applied.

The indicator is very easy to set. It lies on top of the line which is simply tucked under the bent end claw to be held in position between the claw and the wire line-stop. To obtain maximum sensitivity, it is best to position the rollover indicator on the rear rest so that the end claw is aligned below the reel.

They are not cheap at £18.99 each but for it's sum of parts, I'd say it was good value. One thing I will do though is the U shaped pivot wire doesn't stay in position that well once the arm has been fitted, so I think I might araldite it in. 

To accompany the rollover indicator I've also bought myself a Delkim bite alarm, it detects bites by vibration and not by a moving roller, it certainly helps when fishing an open bail arm as in many instances the moving line doesn't give enough drag to move the roller. I had that exact problem last year I was fishing a sleeper rod for Perch and was using small deadbaits, out of the corner of my eye noticed the light bobbins doing a merry dance but not a peep on the indicator. Like the rollover indicator the sensitivity is adjustable.