Warwickshire Avon - Gobemouche and Gormandism

Sam's interest in fishing can waver at times but then he has other interests like most kids his age. 6 years in to his fishing he is still on a steep learning curve and when he got hold of a freebie whip from Angling Direct with a pot of soft pellets and a pole float he was eager to try it out. 

The soft pellets I somehow left in the bait stash "stupid daddy" however we had a pint of maggots and this pedestrian area of the Warwickshire Avon has maggot munchers in numbers. 

For this short evening session we would be joined by Nic from Avon Angling Uk and his youngest daughter Jasmine for some simple no frills fishing. The colour can vary considerably here and oddly it was coloured up one side and gin clear the other.

Some haphazard maggot throwing got the fish feeding and it didn't take long for Sam to get the first bite. A succession of tiny fish to start with, bleak and small rudd who were almost taking it off the surface but Sam's idea to deepen it up to get to the bigger fish worked a treat. 

What kid fishing doesn't like to see the dip of the float and here because the water is static almost its an impatient float anglers dream. 

He got use to the whip pretty quickly but then there isn't much you can get wrong is there. I thought I made a hash of unwinding the pole float at first but the veritable birds nest unravelled itself  thankfully quite easily. 

Casting was a pain for a little fella as he had to stand up every time but then when seated a flick of the wrist was almost as accurate, so that method was used almost exclusively.

Some decent rod benders succumbed to the red maggots with perch, rudd and a hybrid offering some fighting spirit.  The hybrid especially with Sam having to follow it down the river.

I never got a look in however when the bites are coming thick and fast its nice to see Sam enjoying himself so much. 

I've been tasked to take some friends of ours kids for a fishing session in November time and certainly for beginners a whip is a great way to catch fish. You can see why the method can often be match winners on rivers as fish to hand certainly increase the bait in water time. The 2 hours went quick, this was a fun session and Sam thanked me for taking him when I was tucking him in to bed.   

Warwickshire Avon - Swingers and Swoopstakes

A heavy shower that lasted ten minutes came out of the blue but luckily I was watching it from my living room window. You see after dinner I was twiddling my thumbs to go fishing or not but despite the threat of further rain I thought yeap might as well, I'll only regret it.

The small group of barbel I'd stumbled upon could wait till I could do a morning session as I wanted to relive Sunday morning session and take my time with heavy feeding and this time scaled down stout tackle.

This section of the Warwickshire Avon despite its strict curfew changes considerably when the light goes.  Luckily I only live ten minutes away and the access is good to this particularly picturesque section of the Avon in Bards country.

The river really is gin clear and low which is evident in the match results just how tough it is with no one managing anywhere near double figures in the latest match. 

However those motionless rods can often jump in to life when the two patrolling barn owls show themselves and the bats become active. The problem is this stretch doesn't have the numbers of barbel it once had but as its home to my PB it will always be on ones radar.

The banks were quite down the bottom end with an angler in the peg I wanted to fish who had been there at 2.00pm and only had a couple of eels. The bailiff and his dog had similar ideas to me and would be off half an hour after dusk and he was on the end peg but was biteless when I spoke to him. 

I settled in a swim that wasn't match fished the weekend a rather overgrown affair but nothing that couldn't be sorted with my size 10's. I had an hour and half with baits in the water and after a couple of tentative plucks it was only when the sun disappeared behind the hills the proper bites started.

There are some good chub here but the foot long sharp pulls I knew what they were likely to be and that was chublets. 

The last half an hour really was quite ridiculous with the right hand rod receiving the most attention and despite using long hairs the inevitable happened. Yeap near packing up time the culprit of a Barbel esk bite as a small swinger chub that so determined to get a feed it had hooked itself and went on the run. 

Not going well is it, not only the chub are getting smaller but the Barbel are elusive as ever. The action really did hot up come sun down so I think the syndicate stretch may well see some attention soon because at least there I'm not in control of the law creators and can fish with my rods with nightlights and a head torch can be worm without fear of losing ones membership.  

Warwickshire Avon - Oligopolies and Oligophrenia

I'd stupidly left my rod rest and bankstick down the river the evening before, and as it was an expensive Chub stainless steel one I had to return the following morning to retrieve it.

I've left stuff plenty of times before over the years but I really did think after a quick scour around I'd manged to get everything. Oh well these things happen.

I was quite a pleasant morning and the predicted rain never materialised throughout this 4 hour session. This would be a roving session to try and spot some fish but an hour in things were not going well at all and the chub were basically not up for anything.

Drifting bread over their noses never got a reaction, in-fact in one elevated swim the bread actually sent them into hiding and the chub would head back to the thick cover.

The river is gin clear and low though so not unexpected especially when in these conditions they can be very cautious indeed.

For this session though I had some manky maggots and past their best hemp so one of the nettle wading through swims I dumped around 2 pints worth in a swim I'd seen Barbel before and would return in an hour to see if they were showing themselves.

A good rove around fishing bread on the bottom and the top bought a few nibbles and one proper bite which I missed it was a very tough morning on a usually productive river.

I could see the bottom in most swims where I could see the off perch and dace milling around but that was it. A river devoid of fish assume all in hiding somewhere.

So I returned to swim I pre-baited and sure enough the group of 4 barbel I'd seen before feeding on the free offering. Amazing to see because I don't get to see this very often. I was transfixed for the next 2 hours watching them basically moving around an area the size of a garage floor confidently feeding.

Now I wasn't really prepared properly if I was brutally honest. When I got a bait out the meat was ignored completely even 5mm pieces, maggots brought small fry and small worms brought small perch and dace.

I had some plasticine to try and disguise the line by pinning it down but I'm sure they could see it. No fluorocarbon hooklink either just 8lb mono so that didn't help. In the end a change to a tough size 14 hook with a single grain of hemp eventually brought some interest and the line went tight twice with no fish on the end.

The biggest looked a double the middle two around 6 or 7lb and the smallest maybe 5lb. For ages I watched and was memorised how none of them were hooked. Being preoccupied by them I didn't see a chub get in on the act and that put a pay to the Barbel because after that was hooked and disturbed the swim they never came back.

So after some tips from better anglers than me a visit to Angling Direct in Redditch to buy a few bits and pieces I will return but much suited to the conditions. Some 8lb flouro a size 12 hook and a small 5mm banded pellet to try again for them. I'm sure they could see the plasticine too so a stone weight as well to try and make everything hidden the best I can.

I just hope they are still around as it was all very frustrating. Sam was with me and he went away happy because he got a free whip  which we will try out this week sometime, he also bought a £1 lure using his own bankcard, he's growing up too fast. 

I know they have got a bit of a monopoly going on but I have always had great service from Angling Direct and this new 'superstore' in Redditch is also open on a Sunday which help, they literally have everything an angler could want.