Warwickshire Avon - Brabeums and Brachymetropia

A scorcher of a day, 30 degrees, clear blue skies and thankfully a breeze, you see I had a small window of opportunity to try and winkle a chub or two off the top before the diary makers got their hold yet again.

Now this is a new water for this new season to add to a couple of others I've added. To be fair I fished this a couple of seasons ago but didn't really give it a good so.

A stretch of convenience which you know I like so this was just a reccy really to check out some of the swims and try and winkle out a chub.

The fry was quite unbelievable really in-fact apart from the river Wye I don't think I've ever seen such a biomass. The river was crystal clear and I could see the bottom in a couple of the deeper swims. I'm talking 8ft swims not shallow ankle waders. 

When the Warwickshire Avon is like this the fishing can be very tough indeed but mind a swim with flow, find a swim with cover, chub can often be found.

The problem was the water was so lethargic there was only really two fishable swims. One though was in the shade which was most welcome in these hot conditions. It'd not going to last though, back to normal tomorrow where it will be 13 degrees less 😐 and rain predicted. 

Still the river could do with some rain, lots of it in-fact but when many find it tough to catch fish in these conditions surface fishing for chub can often bring a bend in the rod when others fall by the wayside. 

The first likely looking swim a chub came up to inspect the bread a few times but it was only when I drifted the bread through the middle of the river where the bread vanished from view and a fish was on.

Ok, ok, not a huge fish in the scheme of things but when the only other fish I could see would barely make an ounce this is about the best one could muster up.

With that retained in the net another one of similar size succumbed to the floating bread within 5 minutes of landing his brother.

And that was that !!! another swim I had a few rises but again tentative nudges and inspections without properly taking the bite. Oh well, I shouldn't moan, I didn't blank and straight after this I went for a well deserved pint. (Blue Monkey Brewery's 99 Red Baboons 👌) 

Warwickshire Avon - Panchymagogue and Palmoscopy

We are back, WE ARE BACK !!!!

As much as I've liked the canal fishing, >40 sessions in-fact, it is always a means to an end because I'm not going to lie, the rivers are where ones allegiances lie. Lakes and pools, same thing, just not me at all, but then then this is fishing after all. 

A pastime that be adapted in all manner of ways to suit the piscatorial pursuit participator, with sessions lasting 2 hours, 2 days or 2 weeks. For me little and often works as it has done for years now. A <5 hour session commonplace, a full day a rarity. 

To be fair I could have ventured out for a last gasp session down at'thee canal but to be honest a session up the Hallowed would probably only cut it.

The likeminded you see had been updating me with pictures of 24lb pike and 7lb Tench and with life's pressures becoming a little overwhelming of late a 2 hour session for a slimy bream probably wouldn't have cut the mustard. 

A little like this rum I bought at a recent air show, my previous favourite completely forgotten about.

For a sipping rum, my God, hard to fault when it tickled ones experienced palate, 

Now after a chat with the seller after sampling a few of the other Maroon offering this Premium Caribbean Rum is blended with various flavours including  Caramel, Orange, Beet, Ginger, Rum Spice and a few secrets.

In-fact its the caramel which first hits you and then boy talk about a sensory explosion, this 65% percent oddly hides its alcohol content rather well. A napalm throat burner this is not, but instead gives a nice warming feeling. 

Now to kick things off for this new season catching chub off the top is always up there with my early season approach because at the start of the season when the rivers are low and clear, these most cautious of fish can sometimes be caught off guard with a white surface drifter when surfaces baits are ignored. 

Sometimes slow sinking flake is also worth a go especially when you can see the fish come up to inspect the bait and then shy away and head back to where they came from. 

Now Warwickshire Avon 6lber is my target for this season and I nearly managed it last season when a right old lump made an appearance When it took a lump of spam meant for a Barbus. In-fact it couldn't get as close to 6lb if it tried as it weighed 5lb and 15 ounces, if only I fed more freebies  !!!!. 

The river was stupidly low as expected and crystal clear but the first swim I came to I could see the dark shapes of the chub milling around.

Some small pieces of bread floating down t he river brought almost instant reaction but then with a hook in one they came up to inspect the bread and then went back to where they came from. Not huge fish admittedly but well worth catching.

The key in one swim was slow sinking bread where the bright white colour of the bait could be seen falling through the layers of the later column, and then disappeared from view where a fish had picked it up. 

Displaying its summer colours this one around 3.5 to 4lb and most welcome indeed. In-fact forget barbel, Chub are probably my favourite river species, great scrappers and one of the most interesting of species.

Roving is the key for this sort of fishing and this swim above within a millisecond of the bread hitting the surface a chub had picked it up.

Oddly the first caught was the biggest with the smallest a couple of pound or so. To be fair I lost one at the end of the 2.5 hour session that picked up the bait right at the end of the 30-40 yard swim.

6 fish were landed and a very enjoyable fish day back on the river. It's going to be 30 degrees later so not sure if I'm going to get out because it was very hot and humid for this session and very 'close' but will decide later.

So get out there and give it a go, a loaf of bread and a hook, and that's your lot. Such a simple method and one of the most rewarding. 

Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.39

Well the planned gooseberry picking nearly didn't happen, you see, the last trip out to the canal when I left at 10.30pm I had a wildlife encounter that could have gone quite a bit differently than it did.

You see driving down a single track country lane literally the 2nd road I came to I stumbled upon a bull slap bang in the middle of the road looking towards me. 

I put my main beam on to get a picture of the escapee and then after 20 seconds or so the bloody thing starts walking towards me and then picks up pace heading Jimny'ward with that 'I'm going to ****' you up look in its eye.

Que me having to stoke up the 100 horses and reverse at the rate of knots where I cannot see anything behind me. I know the road reasonably well and luckily it was a pretty straight affair. 

Thankfully 100 yards later he gets bored and stays put, still with his eye fixated on me, so no time to waste so as quick as I could I did a three point turn and got the hell out of there with my heart still jumping out my skin.

Anyway I got to see another day and for this seasons crop I harvested a little earlier than usual before the overnight Gooseberry nicker (Google it, its a thing) turned up to ruin yet another year. 

So to the fishing, well another manic week with all manner of work and family related stuff so this 2 hour session would be most welcome indeed. So another double dipping session where I'd fish maggot on the whip with groundbait and have a Zander sleeper rod out. 

I used to catch some nice Zander here in the past, in-fact 200 yards from the chosen swim I named it 'the deep bit' because well, considering the canal it is on for some reason it was far deeper than the surrounding water. That swim is a patch of its former self though as literally all the cover has been removed and the Zander are no longer there. 

This swim has some nice thick cover though which is a good place to target Zeds. Anyway after feeding some groundbait and maggots I left the swim to settle a little and got the predator rod out with a small roach. After half an hour in to the session the floats bobs and then carts to the right however I pulled the bait out its mouth when tightening up to the circle hook.

What I didn't expect was a few minutes later the float bobs and moves again and this time I've hooked up. After a decent scrap when it took me all over the swim a nice Zed was in the net.

Well worth coming out then, especially when 10 minutes after after moving the bait 5 yards to the right I get another bite but this time hook in to something bigger !!!!

Now this fish was giving me a right old tussle and at first I thought it was a huge Zander because I rarely catch pike here, but no after it surfaced after taking line after 3 decent runs it was a Pike. A good one too and after teasing it in to the landing net it was worth a weigh. A nice one too, a 12lber, however it wasn't going to test my canal PB of 17lb and 8 ounces. 

After I put that fish back the swim went dead. The maggot rod wasn't fairing very well either without a bite since I'd got there. So it was time for a move to another section of cover and do the same all over again. The first boat came through at 8.10am and after an half an hour with nothing on the predator rod out of the blue the whip float buried under and a fish was on. 

Only a small splasher bream though despite it trying to act like a hybrid. And that was that !!! a couple of most welcome hours peace and some sanity restored again, for how long I'm not sure.