Warwickshire Avon – Donnybrooks and Dimmets

There was a melee in this swim prior to dusk the other week, things with fins holding up their knives and forks banging on the dinner table expecting to be fed. And fed they were, sadly there wasn’t a thank you in return and I left not only with a load of deadbaits consumed but despite the service I provided they left without giving me a tip, the tight gits.

I wasn’t going to be as accommodating for this session though because I only had one rod for starters, and that rod would have a sting(er) in its tail. You see the runs I left unhindered with fish taking line when the rod was lifted, the line through fingers going taught and line being taken, as soon as resistance was felt I could actually feel the fish (assume Zander) actually dropping the bait, frustrating indeed especially when club rules dictated the finish time just when it was getting interesting.

Single hooks usually work well with Zander but I was hoping a little rig modification would allow me to see what was feeding on the free meal I provided.

I’m not a food bank after all, unlike the other mouths I feed, I wanted something in return this time. So a couple of traces were made up with a small treble hook a couple of inches from the large single to help snare the deadbait ejectors.

With the temperatures and recent snow melt, rivers doing what they are doing, I wasn't expecting much.

The possibility of river eel, carp and a tench went as soon as that happened so the end to the season has all been a bit meeehhhhh !!! to be honest, shame really as I was getting out on the bank as much as I could of late, but even I've been put off with the recent weather, which has been some of the worst I've know, especially the artic winds which have been ridiculously cold even for me to put up with.

Were these small schoolies nibbling the bait or a wise and conditioned big'un that was good at bait nicking ?

Now best laid plans and all that, and you know how much I pre plan because the river had risen Saturday and was over its banks on some of the stretch. So the swim I wanted to fish unfishable I had to move downstream a couple of pegs and fish for what would likely be biting. So it was out with a Barbel rod as well, the river was well up and chocolate brown so a big piece of garlic spam one one rod a roach dead on the other.

The amount of debris bombing down was bordering on the ridiculous so I was casting every ten minutes or so but eventually all hell breaks loose after 3 hours in to the 4 hour session a fish has picked up the bait. It gave me a cracking scrap too in the flow and it was trying to get under the sunken platform. Eventually landed though and a welcome 6lb 8oz Barbus. The two other anglers bankside were biteless when I left. Certainly tough conditions and no more bites came.

The water was 7.1 degrees when I left and with the river starting to fall its going to be good conditions for Barbel for sure when the season comes to a close. Probably the toughest and hardest winter I've fished and to be honest mediocre results too.

I've fished more than ever though, and so may it continue.

Warwickshire Avon – Shot-Clogs and Stamp-Crabs

Snow, snow and lots of it, to be honest I think we survived the worst of it in the Midlands looking at some of the other areas around the country had been affected. Still enough to prevent me getting in to work on the Friday mind you. I’m out the door at 5.40am you see and the main road in parts was blocked due to the drifting snow from the boarding fields.The drive back on the Thursday evening took twice as long due to the conditions of the roads, so no surprise really.

So back to bed it was, mulling over when I would manage to get out again. Not so much the cold because not got a problem with that, I've got the gear, but the juggle of time with the diary makers.

A drive out later we’d caught the tail end of the clean-up and boy, we’d certainly had a decent amount. It seemed very localised though and in small pockets because other area fared better, some much worse. The artic temperatures had put a nice surface layer of ice at the above weir section of the Alne at Wotton Wawen. So certainly a tough end to the season for use fisherman. With the big melt starting on Sunday realistically with some rain and also milder (relative) temperatures Friday looked a reasonable day to try and fish for something.

So where then, I had considered going back to the Blythe for a go as the Chub seemed to be in decent numbers there the first time I went to it, but not so much the second, but then the draw of my usual Chub haunt was pulling on my fishing strings and I just HAD to give it another bash. 

You see despite the results of mine and others for Chevin down here being mediocre of late, because of the fish watching their backs from predation most likely with a little more colour in the water, maybe it was worth another go. "Yes Mick but we hear those stories all the time, it's usually a load of wives tales and waffle" I've seen those with fir and feathers with my own eyes this season though and the capture of a fish with a big raw chunk out of it, why would they hang around....?

The swim looked cock on....

Talking about giving it another go, the match Anglers didn't fancy it down the Ivel as I saw this the other day. Hmmmmm all very familiar.

The Ivel Winter Open, which takes place annually on the River Ivel at Biggleswade, has been cancelled because organiser the Ivel Protection Agency says stocks are too low to guarantee anglers who pay fees to take part will catch many fish. The decision was made after a recent pairs match during which only five minnows were caught.

Graham Inwood, the IPA’s vice president, told the Comet: “When you’re asking people to pay £10 or £12 entry fees and then shell out money for bait, you need to expect that two-thirds of them will catch something, but at the event the other day only about four out of 14 people caught something.

“The Ivel isn’t a match river anymore. We used to run events up here 25 years ago with 250 people taking part but we might get 20 people turning up for this festival.

“You can still catch bigger fish in the river but it’s the silver fish like roach that have gone.”

Mr Inwood says he puts the decline in fish stocks down to an increasing population of cormorants and otters which prey on them. He said: “It’s not the quality of the water, that’s probably better than it was, but the cormorants are very protected and whilst the otters are a good looking animal, they are predators” 

So simple tactics as per usual here for this session, a roving approach and simple drop and plop the cheesepaste. The sort of fishing I love to be honest, but then you know that don't you if you're familiar with this blog of mine.

Were the Chub going to play ball or would I be returning to my car with tail between ones legs again.
The drive there the roads really were waterlogged so a decent amount of rain overnight meant I knew it would be tough.

The little brook was motoring through and chocolate brown. This eventually ends in the river but even upstream of the exit it was just as coloured. It's just a matter of finding some slack spots though, leaving the bait for 15 minutes and then move on. The river was rising whilst I was there, in-fact it must have come up nearly a foot in the 3 hours I was there. The water temperature was on the increase though, 6 to 6.3 degrees so I'm changing my plans for tomorrow.

Barbel it be, so after 3 swims without a bite I returned to a swim I fished first but this time left the bait a little longer and sure enough a proper good bite and a fish is on. I knew it wasn't the stamp I was after straight away, but a welcome fish all the same in testing conditions.

3.8oz and shows that there are still some reasonable Chub here, just maybe not the quantity.

Warwickshire Avon – Muckspouts and Mumblecrusts

All Hail the King !!!! the soft cheese triangle, the kids three-sided parcel of joy that can be spread on a piece of toast, a ryvita or as I did woof it down before bed to abate a noisy belly.

The snack that has been filling kids lunchboxes for ever and a day, such the popularity of this soft cheese.

Skimmed milk (water, skimmed milk powder), cheese, milk fat, skimmed milk powder, stabilisers (citric acid, sodium carbonate), milk protein, whey powder (from milk), inulin, emulsifying salt (triphosphate).

Hmmmm nothing standing out then to give me one of my most vivid dreams ever, this wasn’t the blue cheese variety that the Laughing Cow lot do either, just the bog standard one we all know and love.

I nearly got on the phone to the Vatican to get a practitioner of the dark arts over such as The Sacred Order of Saint Michael the Archangel-Order of Exorcists to up the tally of the 500,000 requests for exorcisms every single year to fight against demonic possession.

Bunch of weirdos....

Now whether my mind was open to such an event who knows but picture this, all of a sudden in a room, a man appears around 40 years old who starts a conversation, then his speech starts to slur, he then turns to his left and there appears to be a puncture wound in his neck, with bloody thick and gloppy slowly running down his neck.

He then collapses to the floor where I put him in the recovery position. Then his neck wound has got bigger but the gloopy blood has changes to a greeny pus colour that starts to leak out of his mouth too.

He turns to me, lifts his head and reveals his two fang like teeth. Then the proper stuff happens, veins starts to bulge and pulsate, his skin starting to go translucent with a shade of vibrant green beneath.

He turns, his eyes squinting, pupils just about visible, then within a split second, his eyes rotate 180 degrees and fully open, glowing white. Then both his palms flat on the floor he’s lifting himself up, his body with ridged body popping articulation, he stands legs rigid, looks directly at me then tilts his head back so far it’s now hidden from view.

Then the swearing and cursing starts in demonic fashion, gradually getting louder and louder then suddenly Whammmm !!!!!, his head is back again, this time….

….I awake bolt upright, “wow, that was a good’un”

I’ve enjoyed lucid dreams for some time now and to be honest, and sometimes I induce it on purpose, cheese especially the blue stuff triggers the reaction. So the dreams are very life-like and hard to distinguish from reality. Vivid dreams in narcolepsy apparently may be related to differences in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

It looks like I’m one of those that can enter REM sleep at sleep onset shortly after falling asleep, making it possible to dream vividly even during a brief nap. Frequent night-time awakenings are also common in people with narcolepsy, and if the person wakes up during or right after REM sleep, they are more likely to remember dreaming, and the fitbit I’ve got with its sleep tracker mirrors that theory.

Lucid dreaming, or being aware that you’re dreaming during the dream itself, apparently is more common in those with narcolepsy and that’s where I like to exploit the state my mind is in and steer it in the direction I’d like. If you know you are dreaming, that’s where the out of body experience really does kick in.

It looks like I’m one of those that can enter REM sleep at sleep onset shortly after falling asleep,

 This recognition might occur in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is one of the few areas deactivated during REM sleep and where working memory occurs. Once this area is activated and the recognition of dreaming occurs, the dreamer must be cautious to let the dream continue but be conscious enough to remember that it is a dream.

Anyway back to the fishing, so this session was up at the deep bit, the theory was with the water still cold with the fish not moving about as readily I’d leapfrog some swims and fish a couple of deadbaits and maybe get lucky and drop a bait in-front of a hungry fish, being up to 15 to 16ft in places too as the river is up, the shoal fish likely to be huddled in this sort of environment. Zander I’ve been finding don’t particularly revel in the cold like the girls of Newcastle, so if there was any possible chance of catching one it would be on a deep stretch such as this where the have room to stretch their fins and look out upon on the moving audience.

To be honest I wanted to try out some drop off bobbins I'd bought recently so this would be a good time to try them out. I hadn't swims in mind, just likely looking holding places to try and intercept any fish lying on the bottom trying to keep themselves warm. The water temperatures rising the river settling so it was a good of time as any to give them another bash before the season ends.

So enough of the pre written preamble Mick, get on with the session.

It was a cold morning with plenty of mist cover, the river 5.5 degrees and around a foot of visibility, travelling light it quite easy to get in to the swing of things, 20 / 25 minutes or so in each swim then move on. Baits roach and smelt one in the near margin the other far.

So the 2nd swim produced a fish, only a 3lber but welcome all the same, a proud fish hence the array of fins he was determined to show off when it was being held. Sadly that was the lot, no more bites, no more fish. But then that's Zander fishing for you, the highlight, well probably the breakfast.

I've two Chub session planned, also one for Zander and a last gasp Barbel to go for before the season end.

Crosses ones fingers.....