Warwickshire Stour – Going bread-handed with the underachiever

The humble earthworm, has spent millions of years evolving amongst the dirt, dead organisms and fecal material, yet weirdly despite the abundance of them, over that time they didn’t put in a little extra effort required to become a snake. It already has well-developed organs, circulatory and nervous systems neatly packed into a successful tubular body plan. Relatively speaking, how much more DNA mutation is involved to conjure up a simple venom gland and a couple of fangs. This lack of follow-through is perplexing and disappointing, to say the least.

Following this gargantuan evolutionary blunder, the earthworm got itself involved in some pretty weird stuff. As a hermaphrodite earthworms wield male and female reproductive organs, meaning that any given earthworm can, and, unfortunately will, mate with another. This process is well described and probably more off-putting than you might think as it involves the formation of cocoons and the mutual exchange of fapple juice. Because of this epic failure to actualise its full biological potential (opting instead to pursue a lugubrious ecological niche eating rotten organic matter, aerating/enriching soil, and engaging in copious amounts of rogerisation ) there was another, smarter, biding organism by the name of Homo sapiens waiting in the shadows for a chance to profit from the earthworm’s poor self esteem and enticing body parts. Ok, a bit of a simpleton but they do have fantastic anatomy earthworms as they have five hearts (well aortic arches) and the ability to regenerate lost segments of their segmented bodies. These are profound features, for sure, but, again, they go to waste wriggling around in a cesspit.

As an angler though, I love them and they would feature in this session….

After an enjoyable trip to the diminutive Stour last weekend I decided to return. (not to retrace my steps for my camera this time though). The section I prefer is off the beaten track and doubt sees another angler for weeks. It’s not for the lazy you see as it’s is a bit of a trek on foot. I’ve said many a times I’m a roving angler that seeks solitude and if it’s just me and the sheep I’m happy, it’s my kind of river. The fish really are in stunning condition and it’s a river with very few predators, well apart from the feathered or Franek. It’s the potential specimen Roach that gets me coming back, the Chub are nice but grow nothing like the Avon fish, they are scale perfect though, even the chunky ones.

Having fished it a number of times now I’m beginning to think that I’m wasting my time feeding liquidised bread by either hand or feeder. I really don’t think it matters too much as bread appears to be such a magnificent attractant, if there are fish in the swim they will find it. The thought I had was rather than feeding ALL the fish with the blended bread and hemp concoction as it was probably causing a Roach melee, fishing a singular large folded punched bait, the larger fish would bully the plebeians out the way and it would be a bit more size selective.

I was pestered by the minnows last time so as an alternative to the bread I also had a few juicy lobworms that I’d halve. Every fish likes the humble worm as the stimulatory amino acids that leak in to the water get the fish looking for the belly filler. Being large it’s a veritable minnow gobstopper so it’s likely to be a half decent fish when the float was dragged under. Talking of float gear there were a few tasty looking swims on the previous session where a static bait would have been an advantage so for this trip I changed to a light link ledger.

There was a slight ground frost and the sky was clear so I knew it might be a little tough. There were plenty of fish still though, just not big sadly, I had the usual suspects chublets, dace, roach and perch. The bread out-fished the worm, the method, well to be honest I'm sure the float would give much better presentation as the bites were half what I had last week and there was plenty of weed on the bed. The Roach give a cracking pull of the tip though, the small knocks were minnows and them wham, the tip would violently head towards the river. In one particular swim I had 10 to 15 fish in quick succession The river was clear albeit with a slight green tinge so I'm sure it also helps that the bread is very visual because of the differing colour contrast. I'm not ready to fish the Avon for Roach yet but that's where I expect to beat 12oz and also pick up a decent Dace. Downstream there is an area that is much deeper, even when the river is low you can find 10ft of water so maybe that's where I'll try next time.

Now I know Martin has been doing well for the Barbel so I might try and squeeze in an evening session next week, I could do with a proper bend in the rod.

Warwickshire Avon - Now that's a Gonk !!!!

A Perch and Zander session yesterday never went well at all but this impressive 6.5" Gudgeon took a liking to a juicy lobworm. It wasn't particularly fat but easily the longest I've caught.

Warwickshire Stour – Ruddy Waters and the Lesney Bread Bait Press.

I just happened to stumble upon this object at a tabletop sale at a local fete, at first I thought it looked an ideal alternative to the naughty step but then I read the lettering on the side. A couple of quid handed over to the rather buxom seller and it was mine, now I knew nothing about it but recognised the name on the side, Lensey from when I was an ankle biter and the colours looked very familiar.

So without a box or instructions I did a bit of lunch hour research….

Lesney Products and Co. Ltd was founded in 1947 by as an industrial die-casting company, their order book was very much up and down however a chance order to make some parts for a toy gun their fortunes changed as when there was a downturn in the market requirement and the company was on a go slow they decided to start making die cast model toys, the first being a road roller similar to the industry leader Dinky’s model. Probably their biggest milestone was the switching to a smaller model road roller that fitted within a replica matchbox, this lead to worldwide, mass market success and what they are most famous for the ‘matchbox’ series of toys.

They didn’t just make toys either, so one of their many spin-offs was in 1954 they launched the ‘Lesney Bread Bait Press’ which was sold and distributed exclusively through Milbournes a tackle shop in Holloway in London. It was designed and realised by Jack Odell who worked there, he was a keen angler on the canals and rivers of North London area. After a year with mediocre sales they launched the second version, removed the Milbo from the die and then allowed everyone else to sell it. It sold pretty well after that.

There are 3 parts to the press, the frame, the butterfly screw and the die. The die has two halves with a pin in each to create the hook hole.

Instructions for Use

Peel off the crust from a sliced loaf, leaving three eights of an inch of bread on the crust (9.5mm). Place bread in the Bait Press and screw down. This will give you two pellets of crust ready with a hole for your hook. On entering the water this will quickly swell to the size of a sugar cube. If a larger piece of bait is required fold the length of crust in two before placing in press.
‘Perfect satisfaction every time’ 

So gadget or gimmick….? Now I couldn’t find any pictures about actually using it, I’m not going to give up on the Jeff Hatt off of Idlers Quest my way with bread folded punch disc method just yet, so is it a worthy addition to ones tackle box or a useful thumbscrew and torture device ?

Only one way to find out….

At this time of year ( the end of summer) the diminutive Stour looks ideal as a Rudd habitat, it’s clear, clean and in many places very much overgrown, there are reeds and cabbages in abundance and the thick weed growth providing those that reside within its waters a natural and conveyor belt of food. It’s my kind of river too as much of its length hardly sees an angler and it meanders through picturesque and tranquil Warwickshire countryside. It’s as close to a Fenland drain as me as a Warwickshire worm whisperer is ever likely to see. It’s been really low of late but a recent few days of rain its levels are up a gnats nadger. Despite catching fish off the top in many of the local rivers I’m yet to catch a Rudd, do they exist in the flowing water of Warwickshire ?

I’m sure they do…, but where….?

I’ve only really fished the Stour in the winter months for Roach and Chub so I didn’t really know what to expect for this session. Travelling light features in most of my fishing these days so the rod was my TFG river and stream donned with a centrepin, a small waist bait bag, a small landing net and a loaf of Warburton’s blue for bait. A small piece of Lesney pressed bread on the hook was suspended under a small loaded puddle chucker, I’d fish this either on the surface or a small shot would naturally drop it through the water if I couldn’t find any surface feeding fish. I watched the weather like us Brits do and waited for a warm(ish) day with a clear sky. Another piece of important tackle was my cocoons so I could hopefully spot some fish, the clarity of the Stour can vary so much from day to day but it's an important tool in my armory. Feed was liquidised bread with a few bits of hemp. The glass test showed the bread swelled up nicely and double folding the bread even more so. Hopefully it would stay on the hook as well as the folded disk method.

If Rudd were being elusive (or if they just aint there) I’m sure a Roach or two would do.

For those that haven’t fished the Stour, the fish really are in stunning condition, the Chub especially, even 3lbers haven’t a mark on them, scale perfect and bright silver. Every fishable swim will have fish and this session was no exception, there are plenty of minnows though and they will still drag under a reasonably weighty puddle chucker. I probably fished 7 or 8 swims with Chub from every one, the Roach were there too with most around the 3 to 4oz range however the largest went 12oz’s, again in pristine condition. The biggest Chub went 3lb 4oz and gave a cracking scrap on light tackle. The bread press, was definitely a gimmick though, far too much faff to be honest and it was no better than tearing some bread off, folding it and pinching it together. It didn’t appear to be more minnow resistant either as they would have it off the hook pretty easily. Far too time consuming really for no real benefit.

So my verdict, a GIMMICK !!!

I like the area of the Stour I fish because it’s off the beaten track, so much so went I got home I realised I’d dropped my camera so went back, retraced my steps and found it. I bet it hasn’t seen an angler in weeks. The half decent Roach got me interested in this little river again and I’ll revisit here in the winter. Oh and the Rudd, nowhere to be seen.