Warwickshire Avon – Tits and Tintinnabulation

I’d say 5 to 8 hours is about my limits for a day’s fishing, ok, maybe it doesn’t help as a suffer of restless leg syndrome as I find it difficult to stay to one spot but….

a 24 hour Barbel session, you what !!!!

TWENTY FOUR HOURS !!!!

I saw it on a forum the other day and find it hard that some people put themselves through that pain. I assume bite alarms, bed chairs and bivi’s are used, because when do you sleep FFS…?

What do you do when you have to ‘drop the kids off at the pool’

And believe you me, I can have up to three bowel movements a day.

Shower and a wash, yeah, enlighten me….

As much as I love fishing these long sessions are not for me, that am for sure. Ok maybe I can see the appeal if you fish for huge French mud sifters and you coincide it with a holiday where sun is guaranteed as are the many barbecues. As I suppose the social aspect if you’re sharing a swim with a mate, would be pretty good as I enjoy a weekend away from the family from time to time.

But 24 hours sat in one of the swims I fish, not a chance. I’m a fishy philanderer at heart, a room by the hour sort of man.

Dayuse.com for those with more nefarious pursuits.

I’m more a wait for the ding, and then finish by the bell at the end of the 6th round.

Yes you’ve guessed it, and I'll say it again, long stints are not for me.

So with some water on, with a little tinge of colour this was a quick after work session (2.5 hour) at an area a little away from the well trodden but an area that I suspect is a transitional route for the Barbel where especially when the water is up the much needed limbo turns in to a tail flick meander.

I largely discounted it after fishing a few times and only banking a small Barbel that nearly ripped the rod off the rest and a couple of chub at last knockings, but a sharing of info from a fellow club member, my hunches were ruffled again.

As with many of my posts and sessions, preparation is involved.

So rods made up, pva bags, even hairs baited.

A quick hope over the meadow, settle in the swim.

The water looked lovely, 5 or 6 inches on with a nice colour to it, to be honest I should have had some deadbaits with me as it looked ideal for Zander. With rods out for an hour with the odd pluck and pull eventually headed in to dusk the rod was getting attention. I'd love to know what was going on under the water because the left rod was moving to a rhythm and then eventually

WHAM !!!

It eventually hooped over and the tip was riverward, I fully expected to connect to a fish because it was such a characteristic Barbel bite, but wtf, I didn't connect.

Bait back out, damn....

With ten minutes to go and adhering to the club rules the right hand rod goes and I'm taken off guard, this time with the bank slippy, I've gone arse over tit and banged my backside on one of the wooden steps cut in to the bank, arhhhhhhh !!!!

The Chub barely scrapped two pounds and I'm car bound with tail firmly between ones legs. I bumped in to two club members just leaving and they only had Chub so at least wasn't just me that blanked for Barbel.

This weekend I'm on family duties, need to get more fishing in, especially during the week, so venues might have to change and an area I can fish in to dark will be on my mind.

Warwickshire Avon - Floats and Flibbertigibbets

I went to the Warwickshire Avon this morning.

I caught a Barbel on the float.

The end....

Warwickshire Avon – Albuttbarbelbutt and Autothaumaturgists

It’s a long story so I won’t bore you with it, but during a fishy related bedtime story the mysterious and biggest Barbel in the Warwickshire Avon which has eluded me so far has been nicknamed by 6 year old Sam as the infamous,

Albuttbarbelbutt !!!!

Albuttbarbelbutt

Now Albuttbarbelbutt has been spotted by me sometime ago now and more recently by someone I bumped in to from a club water we fish. You see, because of an additional book for the season, he had strayed off his patch and found himself in waters very familiar to me. So with the river low and clear as it is, he had, like I tend to do, went from swim to swim to check out the contours and features of the river as it will be of benefit when the waters are up.

Bed mapping if you will.

Holes, deep runs that sort of thing.

One particular swim where I have fished from time to time for winter Chub, the nameless spotted a Barbel of brobdingnagian proportions calmly going about its business.

Albuttbarbelbutt, bold as brass, right there.

Having seen this mythical creature with my own eyes, it’s nice to know someone else has seen its unmistakable silhouette, after all, seeing is believing.

"It was massive"

"sadly motionless tips after trying for a few times"

Since the sharing of information I fished it once since, and remained biteless, but this short evening session, I was here in to dusk, if it’s around, I was hoping to tempt.

To be honest any Barbel would be nice here, for starters there seem to be less of them now, but not only that, the ones that I have caught here in the past have been a good stamp, culminating in my mediocre PB of 11lb 11oz's.

It’s a decent size swim with no pressure, so two rods, upstream rod a 18mm Mainline Spicy Crab wafter, the downstream rod a Hinders Barbel Bomb Chunks, both with PVA bags of freebies, also a scattering of small boilies.

I've had success with big baits for Barbel especially when trying to avoid the Chub, so these are my standard fodder to be honest.

So three quarters of an hour before dusk the rods go in....

Nothing much happened till the isotopes and bats were prevalent and then the Chub moved in to the swim, these are not quite the Poka-Yoke rig I developed but bang, tug, twang the baits were getting attention but nothing properly doing.

Then 10 minutes before my leaving time as don't want to take the pee, the left hand rod does the three confident pulls before usually the rod hoops over and it's a Barbel but this time it didn't get past the pulls, hmmmmm.

With one rod retrieved and packed away a few taps develop in to a bite and a fish is on.

Sadly a small Chub that got my landing net wet, the little ******

I'll be back, as Arnie said....

No I haven't been drinking, well no more than usual anyway.