Warwickshire Avon - Bombardments and Bordellos

A stretch of the Warwickshire Avon primed by Nic of Avon Angling Uk and ready for a carpet-bombing bombardment of multiple intended targets. Bread, deadbait, worms, maggots you name it used in the quest to pinpoint the quarry. A bread and big meat approach for me, with a deadbait added in to the mix come sundown.

Nic would be employing a similar approach, one light set-up the other heavy, this an area familiar to him despite not fishing it for a good while. A couple of large hairy things with teeth manning the sentry post in recent times and being out in the open isn't for a fish anyway, a good idea to be honest.

In more recent times though I'd managed to winkle out some nice fish despite not catching the Silver Bream that I needed to help maintain my lead at the top of the Bloggers Challenge River leaderboard. I'd caught some nice Roach, Chub and Pike over those 5 or so sessions but twice I had hooked something that outgunned ones armoury.

There were certainly big fish here still despite the apex predator being just a load of fizzing underwater bubbles away. The previous sessions weirdly no bream were landed and yet this is an area known for bream.

It's relatively deep with a uniform bed you can see why they would like it here. Also a previous syndicate stretch sadly we had to relinquish, not far from here some specimen silver bream turned up that might have been some of the biggest ever to come out of flowing water if only the capture realised the significance.

I'm sure there would be some surprises that would crop up in this session because I'm sure there are still some gems to be had here, but also it was Friday the 13th, dubbed the ‘unluckiest day of the year.’ And let’s face it, there could be some truth in that claim, with today falling at the end of a particularly tumultuous week in which the coronavirus situation has acutely escalated leading to an emergency government meeting.

It may seem to the media the end of the world as we know it, but we'd fish to catch.

So enough of the preamble how did we get on !!!

To be honest it was a lame affair indeed, bites were hard to come by and Nic was the only one to bank any fish at all. Maggot and bread brought bites but nothing wanted the large lump of flake I was offering. Even in to dusk where things were looking up because of some interest from small fish nothing materialised. A pull on the meat rod by a chublet I suspect, and even when I put the smelt out later on in the session, nothing wanted that either..

When the dew on the unhooking mat was showing a frost, yes really, it was time to make a move. Very disappointing indeed but I'm sure there are still some gems to be had here, we just chose an off day do come I suspect. 

All very odd because when Nic had put some bait in earlier there was fish topping. Nothing we could have done they, we did our best on the river in front of us.

We'll be back.

Warwickshire Avon - Ettringite and Ecstasiate

Alpine Ibex are big mountain goats that live among the peaks in the European Alps where predators cannot reach. They occupy the steep, rocky terrain above the tree line between two to three thousand meters above sea level.

But they can’t live there at all times, because there is no food up there. During spring and summer, the Ibex live among the conifers and the meadows where there are plenty of grass to feed. Before the first snow falls, the Ibex has to fatten up and build reserves to help see them through the Alpine winters. Once winter arrives, the Ibex retreats to the safety of their homes in the clouds.

Like many herbivores, the Alpine Ibex lacks salt and other essential minerals in their diet which they can’t get from grass. So the Ibex has to seek out natural salt licks. In springtime, when salt requirements are the highest, the Ibex can be seen licking rock surfaces for leached salts.

Dam walls are another precious source of salts and minerals. Dams are composed of concrete, and concrete releases a calcium-aluminium mineral called ettringite as part of the curing process. Up to twenty percent of hardened concrete is composed of ettringite.

Only the Alpine Ibex can exploit this resource. Being excellent climbers, the Ibex will climb the sheer vertical face of the dam’s wall using the small protruding boulders as foothold to lick ettringite off the wall’s surface. 

The Ibex can scale such great heights because of their soft, split hooves that can grip any surface like a pincer.

Slap bang in the middle of the red zone of a COVID-19 outbreak the Cingino Dam in northern Italy, not far from the Swiss border, is one place where you can observe the Alpine Ibex’s gravity-defying stunts, but it’s not the only place. This behaviour is exhibited at other dams in the region.

Now in similar vane a huge chunk of salty spam can get the nervous Barbel Barbus out from its hiding place to seek out the meaty belly buster where a boilie may well be ignored. 

You see to recently a fellow blogger recently caught a massive Warwickshire Avon barbel of huge proportions. I did know they existed in the river, because I've seen a couple of colossal fish up close when I've been fish spotting in the summer.

But sadly they haven't thus far managed to put one on the bank, let along hook one. I can only imagine the feeling when the scales went past the seemingly unattainable and continued on its trajectory. 

My best fish 12lb 14oz's still a scale below what can be achieved if you put the effort in. Winter is the time to capture them as they are at their biggest, the banks are quieter too which suits me, because I prefer to fish on my own in general.

Meat or Spam is one of those baits there is always in my armoury because it's such a reliable bait for a big Barbel, and for the short sessions it's easy to chuck a couple of baits out and sit and wait for that bite only a Barbel can give. They just seem to love it, they really do.

So with the winter close season on the countdown I was down at a convenient stretch of the Warwickshire Avon to try and winkle a fish out in the two hours I had before dusk fell and I had to vacate the swim. Rods made up, baits out, chair unfolded.
Baits are big they always have been for me, no point having a canape buried in the hook, it needs to be a full on pig-out for me. 

After picking up a load of plastic bottles that the high waters had left I hunkered down for the session, the wind was gusting to such an extent there were white peaks on the water and on occasion the rod was taken off the rest.

As the sun started to set the resident owl came out earlier than expect and right out in front of me as it kissed the far bank, and went from left to right to try and spot any prey to target. Stunning creatures, they really are.

There are two here that I always see every time I fish in to dusk, a little like the fish that swim here, sundown is the time to see them, the time they start to move. Such graceful birds, they are up there with my favourite species, I love seeing them, doing what they do.

Anyway as dusk approached out of nowhere a bite came, the rod tip heading riverward and kept on going. I was in to a fish, oh yes !!!!  but hmmmm this ain't pulling back like a Barbel would. Damn, yeap a gluttonous Chub, which played on a Barbel rod, not exactly sport.

But still a fish I suppose. Now I quickly unhooked and released the fish and got another bait out but sadly nothing materialised before I had to go. I suspect if I fished in to dark things might be different but sadly this stretch I've not got the option.

 I need to have a think about the new season because I've spread myself too wide me thinks, the 'bomb hole' for instance I'm sure there are gems to be had but I've just not fished it enough. Two more sessions planned before the canal beckons, despite the water levels getting in the way I've had a pretty good season to be fair. 

Warwickshire Avon - Ontology and Onychotillomania

With the household still tucked up in bed I left at sunrise to try and winkle out a chub or two. It was a very chilly wind but when the sun started to rise it was very pleasant indeed. With a sign of spring in the air I love mornings like this, the world asleep, fishing on my terms.

With the river closed season fast approaching I'm trying to squeeze in as many sessions as possible and luckily this section of the Warwickshire Avon is a mere 10 minutes away door to door.

Such a mild winter, with hardly any frosts this area has been largely out of bounds because of the flooding. You see when the frosts are hard and it's crisp under foot I love it down here.

Usually I've the banks to myself and for a roving angler in the main this is my kind of stretch where, when the conditions are perfect you can catch multiple fish. Snags and cover abound the Chub like it here because of that, as they have a few escape routes when succumbing to an anglers hook.

The river had risen overnight but it was still a nice colour and here it is a matter of roving around and dropping in as many swims as you can during the session.

Bites come quick if there are fish in the swim so after fifteen minutes with a motionless tip it's time to to stop biting the nails and it's time to move on to the next swim.

I usually start at the top of the stretch and work my way down but for this session I started at a banker swim which right at the end where the rivers gets much wider.

Just off the main flow there is a tree that as fallen in to the river causing a nice bit of cover and sanctuary, but just away from the snag there is a lovely bit of slack water as well. Even when the river is motoring through usually this is one of the handful of swims that can still be fished.

The quivertip was being blown all over the shop but when a fish picks up the cheesepaste there is no question it is a bite. A bite came quick, probably less than 2 or 3 minutes after the bait settled and a chub was on.

A first I thought it was a good fish but I think the fact it went straight out in to the flow might have disguised its statue. It gave a decent fight to be fair but when I saw it in the net there was no need for the scales.

Now I thought I was going to be on for a good session but oddly it never materialised. In-fact that was the only bite I had in the four hour session. Swims where I usually get a bite or two were dead and even two that I prebaited never produced.

But that is fishing for you, it's surprising just when you think you're in for a good day you are taken back down to earth with a bang.