Warwickshire Avon - Cadillacing and Caduceators

I had one of those days today, ones motivation was lacking a little with work and I was generally feeling well a little bit bluuurrrrhhhhhhhhhhhh. I suppose working from home where my backside hardly moves from the office chair ain't going to help especially when the weather is very nice indeed at the moment.

So what to do, well looking forward to another fishing session later certainly helps so yeah bugger it, I'd add another session to add to the growing list. This time though a proper smash and grab session as I'd arrive at 8.30pm or so where I'd bait one swim with some hemp and small pellets and then fish a boilie and a small PVA bag of freebies in to dusk.

I had planned to fish this venue yesterday but with a few others having the same idea bizarrely, because usually I have this place to myself, so even if there were others there when I got there I'd still find a spot to fish. The Avon is very low and clear at the moment but there are some nice feature packed swims here that hold barbel. Not in great numbers but enough to keep me interested.

Its predominately a gravely bed and in most swims when its this low the bottom came be seen but there are plenty of hiding spots here where the fish can tuck themselves away, but also there are swims with depth which also adds to the intrigue because I'm sure the bigger fish only show themselves when they are confident they cannot be seen. 

This stretch had always been on my radar because  a good while ago now me and a fellow member who also fishes another stretch I do spotted a colossus barbel on this stretch. Sam nicknamed it Albuttbarbelbutt for whatever reason and lets be honest a fish a scale above the hoi polloi that reside here deserves a distinctive name given to it. 

Now this barbel of brobdingnagian proportions never succumbed to mine or the aforementioned anglers tactics sadly but the fact that this is the biggest Barbel I'd seen in the parts of the Warwickshire Avon I fish, this stretch has always remained dear to me especially when it also was home to my first 5lb Warwickshire Avon Chevin.

And that's part of the problem here, yeap the chub. You know I love catching chub they are up there with my favourite species but not when I'm targeting Barbel they are not. So again a chub pluck resistant bait is required for this session so I'd fish a discrete dumbell hardened hookbait on a hair rig.

The water is gin clear literally and when I got bankside I went for a nose and those swims that I saw Barbel in last time were devoid of fish, in-fact I didn't see anything bigger than a few ounces. Still  wasn't here long so I bait dropped one swim and left it rest a while before putting the rig out.

Within minutes of the rig settling I was getting chub pulls straight away but I sat on my hands until eventually the chub hooked itself. It fought like a wet lettuce but then I was fishing my barbel rod. Still a 4lber so at least not a blank even though not what I was after.

But that's where the excitement ended because despite fishing in to dusk and until the light had all but gone apart from the odd small pluck it was very quiet indeed. So much so I might give the barbel targetting a rest for a while because it doesn't feel the right conditions at all at the moment. We need some rain to liven things up a bit. 

Warwickshire Avon - Pitchforks and Piscicapturists

Suppose I cannot think of many fish I'd caught over the years that is worthy of the Angling Times but I'm in this weeks issue with the 11lb 8oz canal Zander I caught on the Grand Union in Warwickshire at the end of the closed season.

My blog posts in the closed season over those 6 years have very much been groundhog day and I'd admit that, because well they have been quite honesty, hands up I apologise !!! and because of that my resolve had been tested plenty of times.

Now as someone who works in the automotive industry where my resolve has been frequently tested over the years, luckily my latest job I'm enjoying again and I'm looking forward to getting this very interesting current project I'm working on in to production, more of that later.

The change over to electrification over the last few years has been quite dramatic and a visit to the Festival of Speed the weekend only amplified that with the countless new EV cars on display for you to buy now and the cars that were canned silently it up the Goodwood hill. 

I'm not in to cars like I once was but even I found some of the noise from some of the combustion engines really quite unforgettable, and probably something I'd miss when these EV's get a foothold with the push for electrification from all and sundry.  

Despite their increased carbon footprint in production, over the lifetime of the vehicle their benefits can be quantified and the zero emissions from the tailpipe and their silent operating have benefits in all manner of ways. 

An interim step to something else ? quite possibly !!!!

You only have to look at Zoox the on-demand autonomous ride-hailing company, the future right there, well for cities certainly, hydrogen well there are plenty of those running in our roads already.  

Now a DC powered EV is the fastest up Goodwood Hill these days not something powered by raging horses, the  performance of the EV hypercars and those now in motorsport frankly quite ridiculous and this evolving tech has only really been recently adopted remember. 

Anyway I was there to see a concept of a car I've been working on that will realise production and its only when you're involved in the packaging of the motors, batteries and all the charging systems, invertors and its electrical management systems you realise just what a change it has been to an industry that really hasn't changed much since crashworthiness and safety became a thing. 

Luckily I work on interiors so I've seen little change if I'm honest well apart from the additional electronics to integrate  and package protect for and the drive towards more sustainable materials which is a whole other subject altogether. 

 

Oddly I was involved in Modec an EV van from Coventry that was launched at the wrong time in a recession 13 years ago and sadly 6 mths in to production with sale figures considerably less than predicted and a failed joint venture with a company in America the company folded. 

Yet in 2021 Arrival based Banbury with effectively the same product won't be able to make enough of them and have investors lining up because of the spin-off vehicles that can be delivered from its scalable platform(s) and technology. Now I suppose apart from boilie and hair rigs for carp fishing and maybe carbon rods innovation within fishing has been largely uneventful. 

I suppose one exception carp fishing the industry plaudits will be singing its praises where camping is a very big part of it now and specific products that didn't exist before have be designed and developed since the increase in bivi dwellers to that went with the growing numbers of carp anglers there seem to be growing in numbers these days.

I'm not knocking it, far from it because I can see the appeal if it wasn't for the fact I find it hard to concentrate with an hour without a bite not hours or days on end which can feature when your fishing pressured waters where the anglers can tell Big Bill from Chunky Bob. Lockdown had made the country as a whole enjoy wanting to enjoy green spaces more and fishing clearly is a pastime that offers than in spades. 

Anyway back to my own fishing chunky Boris and his oppos were seen in this section of the Warwickshire Avon I've been fishing and despite dropping a bait on their noses they just were not interested in picking up the bait at all. 

The bait was rolling perfectly along the gravel bottom too but nah, you ain't catching us today my angling friend. 

The chub were up for a feed though so this short after work session I'd bait an area with 2 pints of hemp and pellets in to a swim I could just drop the bait dropper down in Z and then I'd leave the swim rest for a while whilst I'd try and winkle out one of two of the chub downstream. I'd return to the pre-baited swim where I'd fish a small pellet over the Smörgåsbord in to dusk to see if they would be up for a feed. 

There are plenty of hiding places here so the thought was when the light started to go they may well venture out and their guard may well be let down a nadger. I could see them so they could see me and I'm sure much of the reluctance to feed was because of that fact. They didn't seem to be spawning anyway, well nothing that stood out, pardon the pun.  

Enough of the planning, how did it go ?

Well best laid plans and all that because a stretch I've usually got to myself had 4 cars already parked up. Ok there would have been a swim or two available so that wouldn't have been an issue but I had a specific swim in mind and if that was already taken ones mind would be out of kilter and that wouldn't have been good at all.

So 5 mins down the road another stretch that has barbel in residence and here they don't really show until the sun sets and the light goes. The middle car-park was deserted so I was surprised to see a guy just packing up in the area I was going to be fishing. He'd blanked for the afternoon in a gin clear Avon using big baits so certainly tough conditions as expected.

But chub can still be caught in the pacey water where they intercept baits. Bread on the surface was actively ignored but slow sinking bread was the order of the day and I managed 3 chub of similar size in 15 minutes the swim up from where the guy had been fishing only a short walk away.

Two more swims were devoid of fish and I didn't have my waders with me so the banker swim was never fished. Some hemp went out in the final swim and I went for a wander before settling down and chilled for the last hour. 

To be honest it was fairly quiet until curfew time then a proper bite developed and a chub was on. Only a splasher which called time to the session. Enjoyable nonetheless because I love sight fishing for chub but the barbel remain as elusive as ever. 

Warwickshire Avon - Maschalephidrosis and Maritodespotism

Thirteen years of marriage apparently (its engraved in my wedding ring), its gone so quick as I remember the wedding day like it was yesterday, quite incredible really how quickly time has flown by so me and the lovely Wife celebrated in style by managing to get a babysitter (thanks Rachel) and we went to a local pub that has been cooking some Thai food as well as the usual pub offering. 

The tiger prawn toast really was quite special and the main event the lamb massaman was packed with flavour and the meat fell off the bone.  The drink was flowing and I thought I'd have woken with a thick head but far from it, I woke at 6.00am and felt as fresh as a daisy so only one thing for it, chub fishing. 

Ok very much groundhog day I suppose but in the summer months I love this sort of fishing especially when you can see the fish you can catch. 

Or not catch because I spotted quite a few barbel but they were not interested in feeding whatsoever. 

A trimmed down piece of spam right in front of their noses time after time nothing. They were as cagey as the chub though and wow there were a couple of lumps in this area. 

In one particular swim where from an elevated position I could see one chub that would have quite easily beaten my PB. 

Unlike the other chub it wasn't interested in the bread drifting down the river but occasionally came out from under some thick cover in to the main flow where it revealed itself.  

It was so much bigger than the rest it was unreal, a PB beater for sure but these older and wiser chub don't give up easily do they.  Its nice to see fish of that statue here because come winter when they are at their biggest I know at least one area that could potentially bank me a Warwickshire Avon 6lber. 

There is no better time to catch them on the Avon because over the past couple of years they just seem to get bigger and bigger. A 5lber which was the monkey on my back now a distant memory. 

After one fish was caught the whole swim within seconds would be devoid of chub and they didn't appear again a good while after. They are so cautious and cagey in these conditions but that's part of the appeal, the chase suits my roving approach. 

I got through half a loaf of thick bread quite quickly but they really did need to be confident before they could be caught. The water is gin clear and just the line laying on the water can get the chub bolting off back to their cover. 

I managed to catch three though and one that I bumped off that hovered up a piece of meat meant for Barbel. The biggest exactly 4 pounds so not massive but when they are a dark and coloured as they are in clear water I love catching them whatever the size.

I think the key is to use balanced tackle so put those 2lb TC barbel rods away and use something more suited to the quarry....

....the fight chub give is so characteristic and the biggest really did give me the runaround but with a decent hook hold it was quickly put in its place. 

So there is Barbel here then, better try for them then hadn't I !!!!!