Warwickshire Avon - Arch Dukes and Ape Leaders

Some odd weather of late, the ridiculous heat of the August bank holiday weekend and 7 days later not far off upping the tog on the duvet. Luckily for me missus Newey offers some rather large pillows so the change over has been put back for another week or two.

It's been very unpredictable indeed Saturday just gone, the retrieval of some WBAS syndicate signs to be relocated to another stretch of the Warwickshire Avon we have acquired meant sheltering under a tree after a heavy downpour hindered my progress.

You would have thought there would be some colour in the water but no, the Avon is back to being clear again. It can be very tough conditions as the fish in the Avon, particularly the big ones shy away to their sanctuary and cover and rarely venture out.

The bait fish though are in numbers, and seemingly this year putting their wet fingers up out of the water in support of the Extinction Rebellion disruptors.

But let's not dwell on that, as well as the obscene amount of massive slugs I saw the other days and the amount of insect, crawling and flying that dominate these waterways

I don't need to add to my carbon footprint either, I don't need to drive to Manchester to chain myself to a bank, all this is happening on ones door step. Kingfishers, otters, barn owls and buzzards, us anglers are lucky peeps we really are.

So the session was a quicky like lots of things these days. I wanted to fish a swim where I'd seen some Perch attacking some small bait fish. It's a nice deep swim in the main so headed in to dusk I'd pack-up the Perch rod and try and catch a Chub or Barbel.

I scaled down for this trip out and also fished a much small bait on a band.

The larger baits haven't been doing the business but then I think maybe are finding it tough at the moment. A PVA bag of stinky pellets should hopefully attract the attention of a passing fish. These Sonubaits spicy sausage versions really do stink and they also seem to leak off more attraction than other varieties I've found.

The Perch were up for it though and a lobworm picked up three fish the biggest an ounce shy of a pound. You could bag up in this swim with whip and maggot as it was chock full of fish. Mostly small dace but the looks of it but the odd chub and shoal of topping dace among them. I love catching Perch this time of year though because their fins are as red as they get.

As expected headed in to dusk and as the light went, not even a Chub pull on the pellet let alone a Barbel bite. The bait was nicely positioned in between a section of streamer weed too, just nothing doing at all. Heck the canal is looking a better proposition the weekend at this rate, I know where a barbel, yes you heard right, a Barbel frequents too.

Warwickshire Avon - Prorogers and Potwallopers

I lacked a little motivation to be honest for this session, not sure why, The river Ise wasn't that productive but not only that, the countless number of insect bites I had went a little rogue. The itchy bites turning weepy and not only that but my leg started to swell.

The first day back at work where I was sat on ones backside for 8 hours when I got back home I struggled to get my trousers off.

Everything above my sock had ballooned to such an extent that it looked out of proportion to the right leg. The picture on the left was on the Sunday chilling in the garden. 24 hours later it swelled once again and ended up painful to the touch.

Antihistamines, ibuprofen and ice packs applied on the evening after work certainly helped and also after elevating it for a while as well, it luckily was reducing in size as a trip to the doctor might have been on the cards.

The kids not a bite between them which I was surprised at, maybe they have a taste for alcohol which I'd enjoyed in temperatures reaching 30 degrees.

I did consider trying to get out for a Barbel session especially as the nights are drawing in but after getting all my tackle sorted in the end I decided to give fishing a miss during the week. Not a bad thing as I'd been fishing more than ever.

For this short session down one of my favorite sections of the Avon was to fish with Sam and I'll take the back seat. Maggot under a small float and also some lobs under a Perch bobber. The river at the minute is back to being low and clear again which for the larger fish isn't an ideal time to fish. Well certainly when the sun is up and the skies clear.

But fish maggot though, plenty of bites to keep the little one occupied and to be honest it turned out in to an ok session.

One swim produced some of the biggest bleak I've ever come across and the shoal was a couple of hundred strong. In and among the bleak were the odd chublet and also small game dace.

The perch were elusive to begin with but some lobworms drifting in and around the weir pool eventually the bobber started to see some action and within the space of half an hour he managed perch up to 11 ounces or so.

Roving around was the key here and also trying to find swims that were either shaded or had some depth. I couldn't get a look in with the rod and even after a decent pike decided that he liked the look of the bleak on the retrieve Sam did all the playing before it sadly ejected the bait as it was nearing the net.

He had to apply some decent side strain as well and teeth not reaching the line gave him the opportunity to feel what a big fish feels like on the end of his line.

He was gutted when he lost it, but that's fishing for you. Next time we will go tackled up properly for it. So not a bad session to be honest and I quite enjoyed taking a back seat as Sam is turning in to quite a good little angler.

The Tiny River Ise – Flake Faith Pt3.

I feel like I know this little stretch of the Ise quite well now, this our third visit to this rather neglected and forgotten waterway. You never likely to see water much clearer, proper tap water stuff which for angling can be a complete waste of time. The fish out in the open for all to see, the specimens, well what specimens.

The previous two trips  enjoyable because fishing waters new and not in my patch is always good because it mixes it up a bit, especially when you know how much I love fishing small river and streams. At first you wonder if anything is actually swimming in it, because the fish are sitting ducks to all manner of predation if they leave their sanctuary, such the make-up of the water.

But look a bit closer, spend time in and around this type of water, the gems can reveal themselves.

The first evening after the kids stopped pestering "The Turkey' we wandered along the banks of this weed choked relatively pedestrian river to try and catch Barney a fish.

Sam's best mate you see was away with us for this weekend and he wanted me and Sam to show him how to fish. Now he'd fished the whip before on a family fun day, but this is proper fishing, not stocked fish to be seen here, "all wild fish these are Barney, no carp either, that's why the water is so clear."

Simple tactics one float rod, one quiver. Bread, maggots and errrr that was it.

Only a few swims on the section you could actually fish, but there were certainly fish, albeit not the ones I was hoping for.

Now luckily small fish were forth coming and it didn't take long for the float to submerge and Barney to register his first fish from a river. He is a few years older than Sam his best mate, but he was amazed at the knowledge dab hand Sam has with this fishing lark. I've taken him from 4 years old and it's encouraging just how much he listening and just how much he takes in.

"Hey I can tell my school friends I've fished with the legendary Sam and Mick Newey"

Keep the complements coming !!!

After Barney crossed off roach, perch and dace off his list, he wanted a Chub. Now I know these Chub quite well here now. You wouldn't believe the size of them for a small waterway like this, but they are by far the most cagey fish I know.

But as I said before the water like gin, the fish when they do venture out can be seen, and yeap, you guessed it, they are not up to feeding at all.

I had a shoal of 6 or 7 strong swim right up and down the bait without even a head turn, such their stubbornness. They are not stupid and take some coaxing away from their habits.

One of the evenings with a bottle of Inferno in hand I ventured out myself to put some bread mash under a nice overhanging tree so see it would be gone in the morning.

And yes despite the ridiculous day temperatures (>30 degrees) they were up for it. The bread no longer there in the morning, their bellies full.

 
When did they actually feed though, I tried early morning, at dusk and also after the Wife had called it a night, but unlike the last trip out here I didn't manage anyway. But the shoals of Chub were spotted by all of us mind you and after two kingfishers flew by with both kids amazed at the wildlife here, a good Chub probably getting on for 5lb or so, meanders past without a care in the world.

A 5lb pike hanging station under the bridge going unnoticed to the untrained eye, "Wow, I didn't think fish that big would live in here.

Still above the bridge I knew that we might have a better chance. It's much narrower here and a Chub hideout for sure, hopefully because of all the cover over their heads they might let their guard down. But we plugged and plugged away but nothing much more than a couple of ounces was forthcoming.

A short session in to dusk as the light went, again prover fruitless, to be fair I did call the session early, stupidly forgetting to put on insect repellent and I was bitten something chronic.  The kids 0, Mick stopped counting at 35. The mosquitos giving me a proper doing over and I'm still suffering as I type this.

I did manage some larger Roach on the last evening when the kids were whacked out from the days events but the biggest only nudging 6 ounces. The large Roach that were here last time, the ones that I could see under a sheltered swim were nowhere to be seen. There were some good Perch milling around though that enjoyed watching the commotion of small roach trying to get in on the act first.

So with a heatwave, clear water and insects determined to make me pay, the fishing was tough however I introduced someone else in to fishing and that is always a positive. Ben, Sam, Barney had a nice break though. Luckily Pt4. isn't long away, this time just Sam and myself will try to do battle with the bigger specimens that I know are here.

A change of tactics for next time I think, any tips welcome !!!!