Warwickshire Avon – Convenience and Chasmophily

So the early start and the short commute to work is dark, very dark indeed and with the night’s drawing in, well it’s dark at 9.00pm now after all, it’s heading towards the season I really enjoy, Autumn and Winter. By far the most productive seasons for me, but not only that, the banks are far quieter.

More my thing you see….well apart from my SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) which will no doubt start to kick in forthwith.

By the meteorological calendar, the first day of autumn is the 1 September and ends the tail end of November. The meteorological seasons consists of splitting the seasons into four periods made up of three months each. These seasons are split to coincide with our Gregorian calendar making it easier for meteorological observing and forecasting to compare seasonal and monthly statistics.

Then there is the astronomical autumn which begins the third week of September and ends on the third week in December. The astronomical calendar determines the seasons due to the 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth's rotational axis in relation to its orbit around the sun. Both equinoxes and solstices are related to the Earth's orbit around the sun.

Solstices and equinoxes are considered to be the astronomical transition points between the seasons and mark key stages in the astronomical cycle of the earth. In a year there are two equinoxes (spring and autumn) and two solstices (summer and winter). The dates of the The Equinox and Solstice aren't fixed due to the Earth's elliptical orbit of the sun. The Earth's orbit around the sun means that in early January, the sun is closest (known as perihelion) and in early July it is most distant (aphelion).

On the autumn equinox, day and night are of roughly equal length and the nights will become increasingly longer than the days until the spring equinox when the pattern is reversed.

It also marks the time of year when the northern hemisphere begins to tilt away from the sun resulting in less direct sunlight and consequently the cooling temperatures. They were certainly evident yesterday, with lovely clear skies it was 7 degrees when I headed out whilst everyone else in the household was asleep.

Got to put something worth reading in my blog haven’t I….

So with the drop in temperature and limited post tea bank time I fancied a convenient swim with sanctuary and with some form.

Nooks, crevices and crannies this swim has it all, the thing is, it’s nice and handy and idea for a quick after work session, as hardly any drudgery is required.

From front door to rod in the water in less than 15 minutes.

As it has feature in abundance, pedestrian pace and plenty of shady cover, it is home to all manner of fish and after the capture of a Barbel on a sleeper here recently when after Ruffe, it’s not just an ‘If Carling did….’ swim for those fish blessed with teeth.

Seemingly a go for all….

Double dipping is therefore the key for this swim to cover all bases, dead on one, boilie bait and pva bag of freebies on the other.

What will turn up I wonder….?

That’s the good thing about this small stretch it really is a lucky dip.

The thing is what can I expect for a two hour session, a 10lb Zander at big Barbel ? well yes that would be nice but I have to be realistic, they are not waiting to climb up my line.

Not a good start, traveling really light as I do I had to nick the ring of the lucky 8 key ring as I must have lost the clip swivel on the ledger stem on-route. Oh well seemed to work anyway.

So with rods out in to dusk the odd tap and nudge on the boilie and nothing on the deadbait, a dead in winter here usually they jump on it but this evening all very quiet.

So at last light 8.45pm I'd packed the boilie rod away when the deadbait has some interest, the bobbin rises and the rod tip is visibly nodding.

I struck in to the fish and it was clear it was a small'un, yeap a small Zander around 3lb that was quickly unhooked and sent on its way.

So with the nights drawing in and this venue strict on fishing past dusk I might have to switch to another venue not a million miles away where fishing in to dark is allowed.

Warwickshire Avon – Tip-offs and Tumultuary

Sometimes you have to act on impulse and after I bumped in to some fellow club members checking the pegs and preparing for a match, a chance conversation got me abandoning my plans and changing the targeted species altogether.

So the gudgeon session with Sam as previously planned turned in to gudgeon AND Chub and the intended dedicated chub session was now carp….

You see the chance confabulation and exchange of pleasantries put light on an area I’d walked past before but never considered fishing, and I’m not sure why either as what was revealed to me made absolute sense, it really did.

A stunning misty sunrise over Warwickshire

So with a specific peg mentioned and Carp up to terramorphous proportions, I was off on another mission impossible.

The story was that the owners of the substantial house that backed on the river had a couple of offspring of the mud sucking persuasion who used to cast to this thick area of nymphaeaceae that extended over a decent length.

Now having witnessed a group of carp clambering over each others backs to get at the dog biscuits I’d deposited at another thick area of pads on a stretch a few miles downstream. I was eager to see if there were any carp in this area too.

The problem was, not a millions of miles away I’d also bait a nice layer of boilies, pellets, corn and hemp down at another swim at a recent barbel blanking session.

So…

The plan (because I always have one, as you know)

Was to add a little bait to the X marks the spot peg at session commencement, fish the initially prebaited swim for an hour where I’d dump my gear off, and if biteless move up to the cloak-and-dagger and fish the remaining of the session.

Now, for a bit of double dipping, I’d also have a Zander set-up that would be deployed after using the deeper to find any feature that might provide a hide-out. The deeper would also give me an opportunity to see if it would pick any bigger fish out by surveying the area that was new to me.

To be honest, I’ve spent £200 notes, got to get some use out of it….

I didn't think Carp of great size lived in the Warwickshire Avon but having caught them now to 20lb after only really a handful of sessions they are they to be had. A fellow but now retired blogger also sometime ago sent me a video of a huge carp milling about in a swim I fished for Barbel, certainly an eye opener as I'd never seen one having fished the swim quite a few times.

Obviously location and patrol routes are the key and I was hoping this sharing of information was the hot spot I was after.

This was the first of many a few sessions, who knows....

The last apparent hotspot given to me by a DEFRA backed cormorant cull'er resulted in a couple of blank sessions, well for the carp, not for the Zander where the deeper highlighter a trough which turned out to be a predator hideout as Pike were also caught.

So enough of the guff, did I catch anything....?

Errrr No !!!!

A big fat blank, not even a couple of liners or even a bream, in the three pegs I fished. (Last gasp deadbait in an area where I've had some decent Zander)

Weirdly even the deadbait rod remained biteless, which is very odd indeed, especially at this neck of the woods where not a stones through away I've had pike and Zander.

Conditions are not ideal that's for sure, maybe it was the depth, who know 9ft here, so 4 less than this relatively uniform stretch.

So back to square one, this time I'm headed to an area that has been good to me in the past and I know carp have been caught.

I wouldn't say desperate times but after the loss of a decent chub, I could do with a bend in the rod.

Warwickshire Avon – Gonks and Gastrophilanthropists

Cheal’s of Henley is a fantastic fine dining restaurant we visit from time to time, and ok, some of the food is a bit fancy and dare I say it pretentious for some, canapés, amuse-bouches and petit fours proceed or follow with the various courses. However despite the more delicate and incredibly well presented plate(s) we always leave with full bellies and obviously well lubricated.

If it’s not your thing however, there is always something for the banausic palette, the freshly cooked and warm bread rolls and soda bread with two different butters is something so simple but pleasurable, and a second load to be despatched is only a hand raise away.

Simple pleasure in life, nothing wrong with a that….

A desert wine or Glass of Port after the cheese to finish, it’s an evening that gives me so much satisfaction, well only after I put my hands over my eyes and punch in the numbers with my imaginary headwand when the bill arrives.

We are only here for a visit, I keep telling myself, life’s not a dress rehearsal….

I was planning on fishing bread for Chub on a sleeper rod, whilst Sam and I targeted the resident Gonks but I’d probably get more bites than my peripheral vision could cope with so it was out with the more refined

So for this session it was out with the Michelin Stars….

I’d some steak left over, and having caught Chub before using it, I hoped the bites were less frequent but more violent.

Sam had his fishing rod complete with a float setup to drop down the edge, bait well, stupid question really, a maggot or two.

The morning sun up, the sky clear when we got to the river it was gin clear and I knew the fishing would be tough. We fished 3 four swims in the end luckily some fish were caught.

Gudgeon, dace, perch and bleak all fell to maggot on the float rod and the last swim with a chunk of steak cast the bait to it was tight to the far bank cover. It didn't take long either.

Tap, bang, wham the rod hooped over....

Strike, hmmm I didn't connect to the fish.

Again, the steak tight to the cover.

Tap, bang, wham the fish was on. With all the side strain I could muster the Chub was snag bound, I could see his flanks int he water and it was a BIG chub, sadly after a seconds the fish was off, the 4lb hooklink breaking below the knot on the quick change swivel.

Damn, could well have been a PB beater.

Despite another piece being in the same place, no more bites.

Sam left satisfied with another species to add to his list, I left with the tail between my legs.

On to the next session, carp and zander me thinks...