Small Brook Fishing Pt.4 – Flat heads and Fartleberries

At least she was attempting to clean up the mess I suppose, in clear view a huge ‘shart’ had tainted her rather hairy and now visibly bedraggled Rough Collie. The predicament she was in, is one of the reasons why I’ve not got a canine friend for the family despite the earache. You see, apart from another mouth to feed, I know for a fact once the novelty had worn off, it would be me walking it, me filling the poo bags, me paying the vet bills,

The easiest thing to do would be to dangle his backside in the cut whilst holding his collar and then using a cupped hand drench his derrière, easier said than done I suppose because this wasn’t a small dog, neither was its excrement of propulsive proportions. Plastic bags, wipes and kitchen wipes littered the towpath where she was stood, ‘please ground can you open up and swallow me whole’. Sam pointing and sniggering did help because I don’t think she expected anyone to around this quiet part of leafy Warwickshire.

“Morning, nice morning isn’t it ?” (Walks through a wall of stench)

“Errrr, yes it isn’t it”

I asked Sam where he wanted to fish the weekend and after going through the venues, “The Brook Brook”, “The Alne Brook” and “The little Brook” he settled on the latter. He remembered that he caught some minnows here just by dangling the float in the margins with a single red maggot, and as long as he is getting bites he doesn’t mind staying a little longer than he normally would if we are struggling for bites.

He gets restless just like I do !!!!

I’d caught some Bullheads when I fished here on my own and it was a species that he wanted to add to his catch list, as well as a Stone Loach and Stickleback which should be here judging by the gravel bottom and clear water. Decent Dace and small trout I’d also caught here which considering it’s a tiny tributary it’s got a surprising amount of fish in residence that happily call it their home.

Now the finned dwellers, lurkers and sprinters of our rivers and streams are as varied and fascinating as any wildlife on dry land in my opinion.

The Bullhead with a gaping mouth and fan-like pectoral fins, the bullhead, or miller’s thumb, lurks beneath stones and is a fearsome predator of a small stream, despite being only a few inches long.

It was the Stone Loach I wanted to cross off my list just like Sam because a report I found online showed that there should be some in this small brook. A small, slender fish, the Stone Loach can be found feeding on the bottom of clear rivers and streams, often burying itself into the gravel or sand. It feeds on small invertebrates, such as mayfly larvae and freshwater shrimps, especially at night when it uses the 'barbels' as whisker-like sensory organs around its mouth to find prey.

Could we catch one on rod and line I wonder !!!!

I've always wondered the British recorded for the species as I assume most are caught with a net and not by design.

Tackle well, Sam had his float rod, I had my little wand rod with a link ledger and small hook. Both with red maggots as bait.

Now I did think the brook would be low but not this low, easily the lowest I've seen it and clear as well, upstream and downstream of the little holding pool you'd be able to walk across it with the gravel clearly visible because it's receded so much. I did think about going somewhere else but we stuck to the plan.

Bites were forthcoming though, mostly from minnows but we managed a couple of brownies. Dace nowhere to be seen and after a Bullhead that was clinging on fell off from hook to hand it was time to call it a day. Even a trip to the 'The Brook Brook' was dismissed by now bored Sam, so a bit of wasted trip as despite getting back quite early, there probably wasn't enough time to get the tackle together to try and go to somewhere else. Even getting bites he wanted something other than minnows to be biting.

That's the problem with these small waters, the window of fishing opportunity can be very small indeed. The Alne I checked this morning it little more than a trickle, Bahhh !!!

Winters on the way though, hopefully the levels will increase to add some colour and the fish can start to move around in confidence again and we can have a go at the specimens and ickle fishes that these small rivers and streams hold.

Warwickshire Avon – Blag-artists and Bletherskates

I’ve always been an advocate of back to basics fishing, the bare minimum of tackle, the simplest of baits, tactics of forgotten years, those minutes and hours of dispositional autonomy. You see deep interest in one’s own thoughts has always been a big part for fishing me, not only because of the solitariness it brings, the provider of the peace I must seek, but it’s the fact that it culminates in, well generally nothingness.

I don’t think about anything when I’m fishing that’s why, not one iota, nothing. It’s odd I suppose, but after a three hour session, rods packed away, engine fired up, not one of life’s ills has manage to enter one’s noggin and it’s only when I’m homeward bound, where the mind starts to get active again that just how therapeutic those hours have just been spent.

If it could only be made in to a drug to be taken, then please take my money !!!!

It’s difficult to explain to a non maggotdrowner or those anglers that would rather join the bankside circus and the noise and hullabaloo that goes with it. Swap acid for angling, maybe I’m on to something, it realigns the neurons, kiboshes the anxiety and suppresses the melancholy.

Dare I say it but maggots are a way to seek mindfulness, you see once they are gone it helps to maintain a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens.

Those quiet waters, meandering streams in open fields, bubbling brooks, turbulent tributaries that make up most of my fishing have now increased to an indescribable amount of much need bank trampling. As a fully paid up syndicate member of the WBAS the crossing of paths will be limited to the local likeminded, but not only that, waters so suited to my fishing, for next season I might have to exclusively fish the syndicate waters.

Basically I‘ve left myself to much to go at again !!!!

Want to join the Warwickshire Bloggers Angling Syndicate? Well apart from the strict voting system to get past, you’d have probably already been asked to join by now, it’s a small group and will remain that way.

How about large bulky brown envelopes Mick ?, don’t ask me, ask George Burton the patron, he keeps and maintains the exam papers. Oh and Sean from Off the oche down the river who had been putting lots of effort with little reward, he needs a mention too.

It’s the River Leam and a small section of the Warwickshire Stour I want to get my teeth in to as I’m sure there will be some surprises to be had. The problem is, both need some much needed water such their levels and that hopefully won’t be far off now we are in autumn and headed towards winter where some precipitation will be forthcoming, the colour changing.

So for this session it was down to a section of the Avon where even a smidgen of rain has an effect on the levels. This session would be a little different than of late as I’d have some lobworms with me this time in addition to the bread.

If there is ever a bait that often provides instant reactions it’s the humble lob. It’s natural looking after all which for a cagey Chub but here especially in one particular swim when the levels are up a bit and there is some colour, some decent Perch are usually laid up in their smoking chairs.

A wriggly worm though usually gets them shifted off’fa it and again bites are usually quick, very quick. I’d usually use a link ledger set-up for lobworms, but as I’d use some floating bread from time to time, the simplest way is have a hook straight through and a shot pinched on the line which you can be removed when you want to fish the bread.

The chub have been a little wary of late though down here so get the shotting right, not only would it sink the worm but you can get the bread flake to sink slowly to try and offer a different presentation to the cagey Chevin.

So this morning session this is what I love to do whenever I get he opportunity, no bankside vans, bivi's, books or trolleys to be seen here, back to what fishing is all about in my opinion, yeap the basics.

There was a little bit of frost when I got there at dawn and throughout the session I had the stretch to myself. Lots of roving required as always but the fishing was tough. The river had dropped considerably from the last time and it was very low indeed. Even the Chub in the usual floating bread swims were not playing ball. The swim I had earmarked for the Big Perch is only any good when it's up a little and a tinge of colour. With the clear skies too, it was proper tough, at least the first fish was a nice Roach.

It's nice being out though this time of the year, kingfisher activity, mist coming off the water and a warm rising sun. Eventually the perch started to bite and I had around 20 or so albeit the biggest only went half a pound or so. I decided to sit in one swim for half an hour and eventually a small Chub decided to take a double lobworm bait. The last  swim I headed to was the weir, which again looked out of sorts, after 15 minutes without even a nibble I headed back,

One thing I did notice this morning though, is the cormorants appear to be back, there were 7 in a group and then I spotted 2 others on their home.

Warwickshire Avon - Big Barbel, Baboonery and Bass-bins

"Dad, turn the volume up !!!"

Sam nodding his head to a psytrance mix with annoying beats of repetitiveness, the Wife rolling her eyes.

"We'll take my car next time !!!"

A recent trip to Ibiza to Pacha with Sven Väth and Solomun playing loud progressive beats boarding on techno pace confirmed my love of the genre and the sound system in Pacha similar to Twilo in New York, you could get a full body massage just standing a couple of feet from the speaker.

I wonder if little Sam will be in to low frequencies and the volume of air movement that goes with the territory like I was, even though he's only 6 years old he wants me to take him to the White Isle.

The second car I bought when I was a youth was a Storm Gray Metro Gti and it was kitted out with some decent kit, but then looking back it was probably why it ended up being nicked and stripped of it's sound system of ridiculous proportions.

I had money to burn at the time, that was the problem and ICE got addictive, it really did. My brother was the same until a MDF parcel shelf he fashioned-up with two 12" drivers mounted underneath, however when they nearly decapitated him when he had to make an emergency stop and it became dislodged. 

Those quickly went for obviously reasons, and he like me replaced it with something boot mounted that could be easily restrained .It basically matched the booming heart of my system at the time, a homemade and calculated dual bandpass enclosure that housed a 12" Cerwin Vega woofer and in addition I also had 6X9" drivers in the rear quarter panels covered in acoustic cloth for disguise.

The amount of air it shifted literally took your breath away, those mix tapes I used to make and the electronic music I used to fashion up had a medium that showed the frequencies off down to the lower ones you can feel rather than heard. 

I suppose the problem was, ok on a plus point my Mum and Dad knew I was arriving for Sunday dinner a good mile down the road, but being so loud, the local toerags knew despite me hiding everything out of sight it wasn't rocket science that I had something special that they wanted. To be fair I enjoyed it for a good while before that fateful day that still lives with me till this day. 

Yeap, it was nicked !!!!

Not only was the whole system stripped but the car was found abandoned in a school car park in Birmingham after it has been ragged and raced to it's eventual death. No reverse gear, a misfiring engine and despite me driving like I stole it from time to time, exploring it's lift off oversteer moments a little too frequently, I never managed to kill it like they did. With 99k miles on the clock it was still driving as well as it came out of the factory, it was my pride and joy, it really was. 

The amp required to drive something like this was a quarter the price of the car, and obviously the wiring has to be upgraded to deliver the current the system required.

Looking back it was madness, not only the amount of money I spent but also how loud I used to have it. It was a hobby after all though, and be suspicious those that don't have hobbies, because everyone needs an interest of some sort. 

For this short session of my current pastime I was back out with the big hitters. I decided to venture down to the lower reaches of this particular stretch that I know does contain some nice Barbel and I'd not fished for a while. I don't fish for them that often but at least I know they are there. So the plan was to fish this particular area I had earmarked with a big bait. A huge piece of GARLIC spam would be positioned in the swim and I'd sit back and wait. I find it difficult doing this as I'm a roving angler at heart, but sometimes needs must.

I managed to track some down on Ebay and now have 7 tins of the discontinued proven Barbel catcher. Should last me to the end of the season anyway, jobs a good'un. Fishing is all about confidence and I'm as confident using this for Barbel more than any other bait. 

Now like an ample blossomed lady walking through a packed Nanjing Road in Shanghai, a bait this big is a veritable head turner and something a little different than the humdrum, a crowd stopper so to speak and often can get a bite when another bait would be ignored. The large hook is pulled through the meat with a large baiting needle, turned 90 degrees so it grips one side of the meat. Although spam is relatively tough, it's not when you need to get a line and hook through it when a fish picks it up.

The official car-park was full which services the pegs I wanted to fish so I had to drive to a car-park much further away and walk down. It's a decent walk too and after passing quite a few other anglers on-route I thought I was wasting my time. Luckily the area I had earmarked was free so I settled in the downstream peg and got set-up, you know me, I like to plan ahead so if I couldn't fish where I had intend to, then I'd have probably gone home. 

Anyway the sun was beating down and after an hour without a bite it was becoming uncomfortable, so after a wander to the next peg up to try and seek some shade, I decided to move. 

The swim just looked right, I got that feeling that us anglers get when we know, yeap, fish would like it here. There was a much better pace here, downstream is much deeper where the waters have carved out the bottom, but although shallower which probably doesn't suit a big fish, there was a clear visible crease which looked ideal to place the bait. I use a centerpin in the main for my Barbel fishing and casting of any ain't all that, but this was in clear reach of the Wallis cast I use. 

With the bait positioned I sat back to enjoy the peace. I often turn up an hour before dusk for my Barbel sessions so after another 45 minutes went by without a nibble I knew this hour left when the sun starts to go down will be make or break. It was an odd sunset, the sky opposite was a muted orange haze and behind me the broken cloud made it a visual treat. Fish started to top, the rod top now having the odd tremble where small fish start to attack the bait. 

Dusk, or the end of civil twilight according to my app was 19.28 so I needed to be off before 8.00pm, with the long walk back I thought I was on for a blank, but then things got interesting with the fast countdown dusk. The odd tremble turned in to a pull, then another, and another, and an inch pull turned in to a foot, and them, Whammmmmmmmmm !!!!!! the bite is ridiculous the centerpin ratchet caught off guard.

A fish is on !!!!!!!!!

It powered off downstream and was staying low and I knew instantly it was a BIG Barbel, It was hope and hold for the first run that the hook didn't pull as I had to use both hands to try and restrain it, but eventually I felt like I was getting on top of it. I managed to turn the fish and was teasing it upstream without rushing it. It was staying low but then as it got closer it broke the surface and I saw the size of the fish, it was massive. It went on another run that needed abating but then like a lot of big Barbel do it put it's fins up and decided that I was on top.

Turned again and headed towards me it's head comes out the water and I safely netted it. Letting it rest for a while I punched the air in celebration with a big "YES !!!!" A quick look at my watch, 19.25 so down to the wire as I'd be packing up now looking at a blank if I hadn't had this fish. That's fishing for you though, and why we love it.

So after resting it and packing up I've not lifted it out the water, on the mat I'm now looking at the biggest Barbel I've ever seen. I've a dedicated Barbel weigh-sling which fitted like a glove. 

So the scales go 12lb and 6 oz's and I've smashed my PB, "Go on my Son !!!"

Looking back at the photos quite a distinctive fish in a couple of places so hopefully we will meet again when it's got it's winter coat on . Now the front camera on the iPhone has had a software update recently where the screen goes bright white and glows when the photo is taken but I wasn't happy with it, so outcomes the stupidly bright LED portable floodlight that Danny has seen in operation for a better low light shot albeit it makes the sky appear black in most of the shot, still light left if you look at the left of the pic. Problem it's probably a little to bright hence the glow, oh well, hopefully a better pic next time I catch it.

I love it when a plan comes together !!!!