Warwickshire Avon - Trapped Nerves and Traumatology

I seem to be falling apart at the minute, tendonitis mainly because 3 years of working from home mostly and always behind the screen has taken its toll. Almost tennis elbow I suppose where pain in my elbow spreads to my arm which can ache most of the day. I've busted a gut of late and suffering for it as the keyboard bashing and the mouse twiddling has come back to bite me big time. 

A Gyro ball seems to be helping as well as stretching and using an ice compress and also swapping to a vertical mouse, so I'm not ready to ring the medical peeps just yet even though thankfully being a permi now I can go private. 

But then out of the blue a twinge in my back before I went to bed I woke at 4.30am with the most painful sciatic pain that I haven't felt for years and years. 

I've learnt from experiencing it for a a horrible 6 mths where I had to use a kneeling chair and to seek the services of a chiropractor , I need to keep mobile if I can. 

So that's exactly what I did, pacing up and down the living room, starting from a slow shuffle to a normal walk over the space of a couple of hours. Thankfully sitting wasn't too bad so with some CAD to get ticked off for this week I dug out Ben's 'Slothy' hot water bottle and was logging on to the first meeting at 7.30am with one of the Chinese suppliers. 

By midday I was lagging and was umming and ahing whether to break out the Buckfast that has been stuck in the booze cupboard for over 4 years. Some alcohol to ease the pain off and some caffeine to perk me up, it was tempting I must admit and having sat there half an hour looking at it, certainly a slippery slope, so nope I put it back and took some ibuprofen instead and refilled the 'Slothy' and didn't join the lit of the 'lockdown drinkers' 

Luckily my trapped nerve eased itself up throughout the day so much so I decided to go fishing. I'm hoping it is a one off and if I avoid the nettle jumping, stream wading and wardrobe jumping for a few days hopefully I'll be right as rain again !!!

Anyway (stupidly) I decided to go up to the top of the convenient syndicate stretch this time where the water is a bit pacier and I could park behind my swim and after fishing a few swims for chub on bread I'd settle in a swim and fish for a barbel. It didn't take too long to catch a chub either a 3lb nearly did me over in a featured filled swim when as the bite developed it bolted straight under some cover.

A couple more swims nothing and with the nerve getting trapped from time to time I wasn't exactly enjoying it so I decided to return back to the swim I caught the chub from and fish in to dusk and beyond for a barbel.

There was a lovely sunset all is good in the world again but that was the excitement over as the barbel rod apart from one small chub pull there was no action at all. My back by this time really was telling me what the heck are you doing so I left half an hour after dusk with another barbel blank. 

As I'm typing this I didn't have a very good night at all my trapped nerve protesting against the evenings angling escapades. Will I get out the weekend I'm not sure because I think my body is telling me "what the heck are you doing !!!" 

The Tiny River Alne - MOT's and Morphinomania

The tiny Suzuki Jimny SZ5 is 3 years old this weekend and the car was booked in for a MOT (passed with flying colours) so that meant I had to fold the rear seats back to their original position, and also refit the rear head restraints.

The seat are down 99% of the time but you realise just how small the boot is, a small bag and a couple of trainers and that's you lot.

Not an issue for me but 4 up in an off licence ram raid you'd be looking for the cigarettes and blackjacks and not the bottles of vodka. It suits me perfectly though and hence I've still got hold of it because it is still worth more than what I paid for it believe it or not. Also unlike many modern cars still has the character of old, like a familiar mistress you want to become reacquainted with.

There is a 4 door hybrid on the way apparently so who knows that could well be its replacement as even though I rarely fill the boot with tackle, some extra space wouldn't go amiss.

I fancied getting out with my new lure set-up though however I had a curfew sadly so it sort of limited the options somewhat, so the convenient Alne was chosen as it's the closest river to me and also offers some predator potential.

The Alne was low as expected and to be honest when I got bankside seemed a little out of sorts. Not only gin clear which is unusual for the Alne but lots of still and stagnant looking swims, and even some Algae around, which as we know consumes nutrients from the water along with dissolved oxygen causing negative effects on the ecosystem of the river. 

Literally the first chuck of the shallow diving Salmo minnow lure with trout colours I had a hit, however I didn't realise I had a fish on the end till the lure broke surface and there was a fish hanging on for dear life. 

A tiny chub not much bigger than the lure decided to show it who was boss and regretted its decision when it saw ones ugly mug. Oddly no more bites in the weir swim where at one point somehow I managed to get the lure caught at the back of my t-shirt and needed to disrobe to remove the crankbait affliction. 

With the countdown of the sessions firmly kicking in I had to get on the rove the find the fish however at least I christened the rod albeit in rather lacklustre fashion.

I fancied a trout though but it was clear the way they were hitting the lure they were not properly on it. I reckon I had 8-10 proper hits with no hook-ups and a similar amount of follows. At least the other predators were up for a snatch and I caught some nice chublets and even a rare perch for here. 

The lure has a completely difference action to the Hornet, from a Tasmanian devil to almost a lethargic dace like action moving from side to side, in a tantalising fashion.    

I just couldn't work out how I didn't manage to land any trout though, because many would have felt the sharp trebles I've no doubt about that. So an odd session really but a few bites in a lovely quiet environment and the new setup was a joy to use I just need to test it on bigger fish now.  

Warwickshire Avon - Hornets and Honorificabilitudinity

You do wonder 🤔 sometimes don't you with us anglers, you know that next piece of fishing tackle that we must have to add to your armoury, that takes over the internet searches for the next few days, where we cannot rest until it's ticked off, and done and dusted. 

Now for me sea fishing a handful of times throughout the year you wouldn't think I would need a dedicated tripod for ones rod, but that has been most recent purchase. 

A little like my barbel fishing I prefer using one rod these days because of been in a calamity situation one than once and vowed never to do it again. 

So my mission with a trip coming up at October half term was to track down a single rod tripod. 

Ok I could have probably cobbled something together that 'would do' , but they are not "that expensive" I said to myself, and "I work hard enough" so that was the justification, not that I needed one mind you. 

Anyway a little like the Warwickshire Avon, when I fished Saundersfoot Harbour last time, the bites came thick and fast when the light levels dropped and then amplified once more, when it was properly dark. 

The problem was my rod was inadequately supported much of the time and it was a compromise basically. So after a few days of hunting (ok slightly exaggerated) the Fisheagle 1 Rod Extending Match Tripod 120-195cm seemed to fit the bill and around £30 all in with p&p not exactly expensive when many spend that on a takeaway for one these days. 

Fast delivery too and when the Wife literally forced me to go fishing when I got home from work as she wanted an peaceful evening watching what 'she wanted to watch', I was headed down the Warwickshire Avon for some fishing. I'd set the tripod up to see what it was like and then fish an hour in to proper dark for a barbel or glutenous chub using a boilie and a large PVA back of freebies.

I arrived at 7.30pm or so with the Jimny sporting a new Windscreen thankfully as the crack was right in my vision line and not exactly a pleasant drive. Not just a simple swap these days either with modern cars as the various cameras needed for crash prevention functions, road sign recognition etc etc needs calibration, yeap even on the little Jimny. 
 

Anyway the tripod looked just the ticket, been fully adjustable, stable, robust and still relatively light despite how chunky it is. It also packs down nice and neat within seconds and easy to carry which is what I wanted really. 

Anyway to the fishing, the other delivery waiting for me when I got back home after the busy day was Jeremy Wades river monsters book, a grand total of £3.21 including p&p off of Ebay which is quite mad really considering how thick it is.

A bit apt too as this new stretch of the Warwickshire Avon to me has over the years produced some big barbel. Well barbel to beat my PB of 12lb and 14 ounces anyway. I'm still learning the swims but this peg 'Dave's Favourite' last season seemed like a good one to give a go in.

With the bait out the rod top was motionless until a good hour past dusk with the torch illuminating the rod tip and the first fish was a determined chub of around a pound that hook itself despite the long hair. 

Soon after that some proper foot long chub pulls and after slack lining to try and catch one of them, I decided to reel in and add some paste to the boilie for some added attraction. What I didn't expect was a pike of around 5lb to grab the boilie on the way in and go off on one all round the swim before after lifting it towards the net luckily it dropped off. 

Hmmm great, not exactly what I expected for the session and after that pike no further bites. The swim seemed largely lethargic and maybe not the best location for barbel at this time of the year so the next session here I think I will fish a swim with more pace and and a harder bottom. 

This smash and grab session suits my style at this time of the year when dusk is getter ever closer and closer and for post work sessions ideal for the way I like to rack the sessions up, little and often works for me, the daily grind in the back of my mind, for the time bankside anyway. The journey back home was eventful as a close encounter with a stupidly large hornet thankfully was outside the car not inside like I originally thought it was, phhheeeeewwwww panic over, heart rate restored !!!