Warwickshire Avon - Rod Rippers and Roentgenography

It's quite amazing what a bit of warmth from the sun can do for the wellbeing and ok, it was windy, very windy but there was certainly a sign that spring was on the way.

The river was on the rise because of all the rain we had overnight and in the morning but having woken after a decent nights kip it was either go fishing, or have a well deserved lie in. So fishing it was and I fancied a bite or two for this trip out as a few blanks now isn't exactly fun now is it.

So chub it was !!!!

I blanked for chub here last time however it is usually a productive stretch and I find with the waters warming and some extra water on the fish can be well up for a feed.

Despite the recent rise of the river it was perfectly fishable so it was just a matter of dropping in to the deserted swims to try and drop on to a fish. I rarely see another angler here in the winter and I still don't understand why because its a lovely roving stretch and often some nice fish to be caught. 

Tactics well, no feed today but bread discs folded in half, pinched and the size 6 hook pierced through it, where I'd quietly lower the bread in to the swims and let the bread visually do the work. 

The clarity was still pretty clear but there was a slight tinge of colour and that would no doubt help proceedings. It felt much milder today and I'm sure early in to next week I might give the Barbel a go as I'm sure they would be up for a feed in much kinder conditions. 

Anyway how did I get on ?

Well the fish bite came within minutes of the bread offering settling to the bottom and that was the smallest fish caught in the two and a half hour session.

Probably a scraper two pounder but the next bite in the same swim came from something bigger and after giving me the run around eventually it was netted. A 4lber, and most welcome indeed on my balanced chub tackle. 

There are plenty of swims to go at here and after returning both fish I went upstream to fish the other swims where I got drop a bait in to.

The river was whirling and swirling but away from the chaos there are places for sanctuary from all the disturbance. There was all manner of debris coming down the river but certain swims are perfect to fish confidently and it turned in to a fantastic and rewarding session.

6 fish caught with one fish sadly lost to a snag that didn't give me an early warning whatsoever as just like that the rod was nearly ripped from the rest and the fish had motored downstream within a split second, doing me over good and proper.

The biggest as pictured went 4lb and 8 ounces and was a proper short and chunky mint fish that will one to catch in the future I'm sure. None of the bigger fish turned up but a really enjoyable session and all is good in Mick's world again. I do love catching chub, up there as one of my favourite species. 

Warwickshire Avon - Twiddlers and Tufthunters

I found the weir out of bounds for ones pike float fishing gear as the river has risen much further up than I thought. There was no way the floats would hold bottom, heck even a ledger set-up would have probably been constantly dragged off line such the pace on the water. 

The plan you see for this short evening session was to fish the weir pool in to dusk to try and catch one of the infamous Zander that live here that until this day I've not spotted one let alone caught one. 

Now I'd been told about Zander swimming in these waters a while ago now but I always believed it was one of those tales that were basically Chinese whispers, but then out of the blue when fishing for chub I foul hooked one when I struck in to a bite with breadflake on the end.

It was only a 3 pounder but confirmed that there were actually Zander her after all. Since that fish I'd caught a few from the stretch now, the biggest maybe going 7 pounds or so but the larger specimens that could well be here haven't succumbed to my tactics yet. 

There are pike here as well though in-fact more often than not its the pike that get in on the act first. I've had a couple or three doubles so there is always a chance of a decent fish if the Zander are not playing ball. But the river was over 8 degrees so there was every chance of catching one, and as we know Zander do like moving around at dusk especially.  

I'd lost a decent fish to a snag when I fished a similar session last season and that fish I didn't get to see, but if it was a Zander, it would have been a bloody good one. Downstream there is a swim that is always fishable even if the river is in flood so with the weir out of bounds that would have to do.

To be fair I caught a cracking pike here recently and the biggest Zander I caught on this stretch came from this swim so at least I washing blind and it had some form.

The swim was whirlpooling though and with a constant stream of stick and debris coming down the river it wasn't exactly easy fishing. The river still had >2ft of visibility so I knew sundown and when the light levels dropped that would be the best chance for a bite.

So a time to chill and watch the floats and try and get a fish on the bank. The wind was bitter yesterday but it actual felt rather mild to be out and with more rain expected overnight and well in to tomorrow there may well be a barbel fishing opportunity. 

There are barbel here as well, in-fact the last barbel I have caught came from this stretch if I recall. Anyway an hour and a half down with only stick bites giving the float attention I was hoping dusk was when my fortunes would change. 

But no, dusk came and went and the witching hour sadly not producing a bobble, bite or a nibble. The margins were full of fry when I switched on my powerful headtorch when I left and even the plundering perch were nowhere to be seen.

Even the chub that often pick up small deadbaits didn't seem to be around and I left with another tick in the blank session tally. A blip hopefully because I'm an angler and I want to catch fish, not sit around twiddling ones thumbs. 

On to the next one !!!

The River Leam - Troughs and Tropophytes

Now as anglers a feature, any kind of feature as we know can hold fish, but some of those features are hidden from view. Take the 'bomb hole' a deep hole at a stretch of the Warwickshire Avon that is deep, very deep, and over the years like I found out, harboured some nice fat Chevin.

Postie Bob knew about that one and put me on the right track, but then out of the blue one of the syndicate members mentioned a 'very deep' area of the river Leam either side of the rivers shallow humdrum. 

So with the river being low, could this also home to some larger specimens....?

...only one way to find out, out with the deeper forthwith !!!!

Now a 4lb Leam chub was ten a penny when Tony Miles was dangling his maggots in his local waters where 5 lbers were possible but in more recent times, those 4lb Leam chub are few and far between, well until recently however, because fellow syndicate member Eric managed to winkle one out to George's surprise.

It was certainly testing conditions when I got there because there was a biting wind and also the 'pump pool' was very choppy indeed. Rivers like this the fish can switch off just as quickly as they switch on and it can be very day dependant.

There were a few fish topping though and George had fished it recently and had managed a couple of nice chub albeit they came at dusk. Dusk was only a few hours away though so I'd stick it out and see if I could catch anything.

Not quite 'bottomless' as some of the syndicate members portrayed 😀 because a few scans of the deeper showed is was around 12 or 13 foot deep where over at one side it was over over 14ft. The deepest bit I could find was 14.7ft, still decent depth considering what is either side of it.

So how to approach it ?

Well Sean had managed a pike here when he used to fish it many moons ago, so I'd have a roach deadbait out as a sleeper and fish bread flake on the hook and some liquidised bread in the feeder. 

Sean ended up catching the same pike three times in the end, and that was back in 2014/2015 so it would certainly be a lot bigger now if it was hanging around.

An hour in without a bite but with small fish topping all around me I did think if bringing a float rod and pinging out some maggots might have been the way to go, but the tactics should produce something bigger and lets be honest, that's what I wanted really. 

Another hour went by and the only action was when a dog walker decided to skirt the rivers edge away from the path and his small white dog off the lead decided to try and get under the pike rod, and in the process took the bobbin and rod with it. !!!!!

I didn't say a word, but just looked at him and my eyes said it all.  With a halfhearted apology thankfully he left and I got back to the fishing. The quiver was bouncing all over the shop most of the session and sadly only from wind and not from the fish, so after removing the pike rod I went for a rove to try and find some shelter.

Upstream there are some lovely looking swims and the depths can vary from a foot to eight foot but after 3 swims down without a nibble on the bread I was wondering what the heck was I doing wrong.

So it was to the pump pool where I'd get both rods out again and fish in to dusk. As I said before there were certainly signs of fish as there were quite a few topping. One even looked like a small bream rolling but whatever they were they didn't want to try the bread on the end of my hook.

Dusk came and went and the chub especially were either not there at all, or just were not in a feeding mood. I should have known the outcome but I stuck it out well in to dark with the torch illuminating the rod top but nada. nothing, zilch.

Two blanks on the trot now, but that's fishing for you isn't it. What to do, where to go, I just haven't a clue at the minute. I'll get out over the weekend though, just need to watch the weather as its a little unpredictable at the minute.