Small Brook Fishing Pt.11 – Barrow Pigs and Bitch Boobys

Streams and rivers originate in a variety of ways, though the vast majority begin life as trickles of water emerging from springs or boggy ground. Springs are associated with chalk or limestone rock and their water is generally rich in calcium carbonate and other minerals resulting in an environment in which the aquatic flora and fauna thrive.

Rain-fed streams on the other hand, and those which begin life in areas of acid rock or marsh, generally show a low mineral content, making life a tougher proposition both for the plants and animals present.

In their upper reaches, streams are usually descending a steep gradient and as a consequence are at their fastest and clearest and carrying high levels of dissolved oxygen. Because of the altitude the water is usually cold.

In rain-fed rivers, the water level, rate of flow and temperature fluctuate wildly at different times of the year. In the upper reaches the river bed is usually stony, sometime rock-strewn, and weedless, and the food supply is restricted to small creatures such as insects and worms which are blown or washed in to the water from the riverbank.

So although the high oxygen levels are a good thing for the fish, the environment is uncomfortable, the food supply poor, and the fish do not as a rule grow very large. As the rain-fed river continues on it's downstream journey, tributary streams will begin to join it, so swelling its size.

The countryside through which the river runs will also begin to mellow. Flow begins to slow and as a consequence, the river will start to meander back and forth across ever-widening flood plain.
In this deeper, steadier, less turbulent flow different varieties of weed will gain a hold.

In fairly clear water weedgrowth may border on the luxuriant, a situation exacerbated by agricultural fertilizers, such as nitrates that are leached from the surrounding fields during wet weather, and phosphates from domestic products such as washing powders which find their way into the rivers through inefficient sewage works. Invertebrates, which form the bulk of the fishes food, will be varied and in plentiful supply.

Now high glows caused by winter rains can still make life uncomfortable for fish and other forms of life below the surface, with bottom gravel and silt beds being shifted around unceremoniously. However shelter can always be found somewhere.

With the bigger rivers a little out of sorts after the ridiculous amount of rain we had dumped on us recently a trip to a little waterway was in order and get back to simple fishing. A pint of maggots and a float basically. The fish don't grow that big here but some of the dace come proper winter weill be heading towards the pound mark I'm sure of it.

Nothing that big was caught during this short morning session but in one swim in-particular it was a bite every trot down. As per usual I didn't get a look in with the rod but to be fair I don't mind as Sam loves fishing these sorts of waterways as do I.

A stoneloach remains elusive thus far but we have caught all manner of species here, a stream where most would just walk on by. In-fact I doubt if anyone else fishes it. Why would they ? there is F1 carp to catch isn't there or the Xbox to play. I lost count of the fish caught, lots of bites from minnows as well so the dinky float didn't stop dipping throughout the session.

One swim produced a gudgeon which fell off, then a roach, then a dace and then ended with a small trout. What's not to like about fishing like this, and yet we are seemingly in the minority....?

My mind is still on Barbel, so hopefully I'll get out again soon to try and put the species to bed before targeting a proper'un.

Warwickshire Avon - Scrag-ends and Scratch Platters

Figuring out exactly what happens after a bunch of pigs are brought into a slaughterhouse and before they leave as a depressing pallet of Spam tins is near impossible. But evidence suggests that the meat in Spam is a combination of pork shoulder and ham, a leg cut preserved by curing, errrr yeah, ok....

....I know is Sam likes the scrag-ends pre fishing session, and Barbel like the big lumps, what's in it, God only knows.

Now as with most processed meat products, concerns about what goes on in the slaughterhouses that produce Spam are warranted but then pork manufacturing in general I suppose.

You see in October 2007, the Minnesota Department of Health was notified of 10 patients experiencing unusual neurologic illness who worked at a swine abattoir in Minnesota. It was reported that patients experienced significant sensory symptoms including numbness and tingling as well as limb weakness consistent with polyradiculoneuropathy, and was initially referred to as progressive inflammatory neuropathy

Now described as sensory predominant, immune-mediated polyradiculoneuropathy. Among those that had been evaluated in a health care setting, cerebrospinal fluid protein was elevated in the absence of pleocytosis and several had evidence of spinal nerve root or spinal cord inflammation on MRI . The illness appeared to be associated with working in the plant and was unlike previously described occupational associated illnesses.

The plant employed 1,300 workers and slaughters >19,000 pigs per day. The patients worked in the warm-room, the area where hogs are eviscerated and initially processed. Seven patients worked at the head-table, the area within the warm-room where skin, skeletal muscle, and brain are removed from severed swine heads with jet washers or something like that.. Two shifts, each employing 200 workers, operate in the warm-room, with 35–40 workers at the head-table during each shift.

Makes you think what your about to put in your mouth doesn't it !!!!

Then again I've eaten brain in the past whilst visiting the Far East, waste not want not and all that, it was rather nice if I recall with an interesting texture.

Look, I can appreciate a slice of Spam. Hell, I even crave the stuff from time to time. But the facts are, Spam is loaded with carcinogenic meat, brimming with sodium and laden with a preservative that could have deadly side effects. Spam boasts virtually zero important vitamins and minerals.

I will say, however, that while Spam has a seriously bad reputation for being some kind of disgusting mystery meat, the sad truth is, most processed meats are just as tampered with. So I guess in that sense, Spam might not be as uniquely gross as you thought, but that says more about processed meat in general than about Spam specifically. The best course of action is to keep your Spam intake to a minimum, which should be easy enough considering you probably thought eating the stuff was weird to begin with.

Ok a little copy and paste the above but ones fishing sessions have been a little like that of late with mediocre results where the Barbel are concerned. You see the last season fish an hour before dusk in certain swims I was almost guaranteed a bite. Those that packed up before Sundown without even a sniff of a Barbel during the day were cursing the fishing, but give it another forty five minutes the rod top would have gone from stationary to nearly being pulled in as soon as the bats appeared.

Most of my Barbel fishing sessions were less than 2 hours and always headed in to dusk. My biggest fish of 12lb 14oz picking up a huge piece of garlic spam as a resting barn owl was watching opposite. So what's gone wrong I wonder, 6 or 7 sessions without a Barbus that to be honest when you locate them are not that hard to catch.

If I look at my blog though most Barbel I fish far are not until October onwards when the water starts to chill the bigger fish in need of a feed. But then I'm of similar make-up once the weather turns parky. You see out goes the cold salads, Greek yogurt and fruit and out comes the homemade curries for lunch. Stick with the salads I'm always looking for the next snack.

The fish are no different they will generally feed when they are hungry especially with coloured water when they are not having to watch their backs all the time. They have to get on the food as soon as they find it as well, if more rain comes their buffet could be washed away and wouldn't want that would they. 

Anyway back on track, with the local rivers been heading over their banks the levels had finally started to come down which meant that I'd have more time to hopefully keep a chunk of spam in position. Just one Barbel would do for the minute just to register a score on the Bloggers Challenge Scoreboard and I'd fish in the winter when a proper lump would most likely appear.  

So enough of the guff, anything doing ?

Errrr straight to the point sadly not. When I was parking up two anglers had been there for 8 hours and not had a touch in an area I was headed for, so that didn't bode well for a start. The river was the highest I'd ever seen it but the colour looked good for a bite. I found a nice swim with even pace and put the rods out. Both large lumps of spam and a paste plug both covered in a liquid attractant. After 40 minutes in the first swim without a touch I moved downstream to a similar swim and this was where I'd stay in to dusk.

As the light was starting to go whilst I was attending to a call of nature the right hand rod received a bite, a couple of pulls and and then a fast twang. A Chub me thinks and sadly with an imposed finishing time that was all the action I got. I think next time I'll cast my net wider and maybe gear up for Barbel and Chub this time at a stretch that is home to my biggest Chub and also by one time PB. I couldn't do any worse than I have been doing anyway.

The Tiny River Alne - Dry Boots and Dog Otters

A scotch bonnet pepper may sound timid, but it is nothing of the sort. It’s one of the spicier peppers (100,000 to 350,000 SHU, same as a habanero) that you may potentially find at a supermarket, especially in geographic areas high in Caribbean residents.

Now as a chilli consumer I should have known better when making a beef and tiger prawn curry the other day, you see I didn't wash my hands nearly enough and after rubbing ones eye within seconds I was in pain from the chilli oil that was now in ones eye. 

I've done stupid things like this before but for some reason after washing my eye with water it took a good while before I could open my eye, a wet wipe in the end seem to do the trick but boy it was painful.  

So Why the Caribbean? Because this is THE pepper of the region. In fact, if you say you want a hot pepper in most of the Caribbean islands, the scotch bonnet pepper is what you are handed. Scotch bonnet is used in all sorts of Caribbean cuisine, including the well-known jerk chicken (or jerk pork).

Now for me it's a hot chilli that I don't have post curry adverse reactions too, in the morning ones regulatory passes without issue, that cannot be said for other varieties of chillis, some just don't sit right in my stomach.

The shape of this famous pepper is what inspired its name. In shape, the pepper with its squashed look appears like a Scotsman’s bonnet (called a Tam o’Shanter hat). Simple as that. Nothing else reminiscent of Scotland about this pepper, but it does have a name that’s hard to forget. It has other names, too, including the Bahama Mama, the Jamaican Hot, the Bahamian, and the Martinique pepper

Scotch bonnets run between 100,000 to 350,000 Scoville heat units . The hottest possible scotch bonnet is potentially 140 times spicier than the mildest jalapeño you may find (around 2,500 SHU). That’s a lot of heat. So despite all its scorch, there is quite a bit of heat above the Bahama Mama.

So for this quick morning session I was on the banks of the river Alne which is a 3 minute drive from my house. The fish may not go big, well the fish I've caught anyway, but there is solitude here in abundance and up till now, I've not seen another angler.

There are some good chub here to be had though and despite their statue they give a good scrap. 

Simple tactics as well, I walk the stretch feed some liquidised bread in some likely looking chub holding spots and then on the return fish the swim using a large piece of bread flake.

Now the river can rise at a ridiculous rate and as I type this the river is likely to be in flood. The amount of rain we had last night enough to make it un-fishable where as when I fished it, in areas you could see the bottom. 

As I was making my way up the stretch having already banked a 3 lber I hear a disturbance just down from me and then something large on the bank opposite. It was a huge otter, easily the biggest I've seen on the waterways I fish.

Its tail was huge and it entered the water and was patrolling the margins causing a huge wake and bubbles in the process. I followed it upstream and managed to get this photo, sadly not of this apex predator itself but just goes to show whats lurking in small rivers like this.

I did mange 5 chub though and this one in-particular gave such a good fight it deserved to have a trophy shot. I fish fairly light for these fish and luckily all the fish I caught were in tip top condition. The larger and slower chub may not avoid the clutches of the otter though, only time will tell I suppose but at least there are some fish still hanging around despite their back watching.

A note for next time, pack your half wellies, the moan grass went to thick quite quickly and my walking boots ended up getting soaked and my socks acting like sponges. My trousers acting like wicks and were soaked through as well, Luckily only a short 2.5 hour session but I won't make the same mistake again.