Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.69

Not a great start to this reccy session you see on-route to the canal a few miles away out from nowhere a deer, a proper one too, came from my left at considerable speed right in front of my car.

Thankfully I've still got reactions of a fighter pilot because miraculously that audible thud I was expecting never came. Being light the Jimny stops very well and I assume the deer almost hit a stationary car. I could just see it out of rear view mirror where after wriggling around on its back with spindly legs in the air it managed to right itself and went legged it back to where it came from. 

I stopped the car at a safe position went to see I could see it but I couldn't and then looked over my car and apart from a tiny witness mark on a newly cleaned car, there was no damage whatsoever. A lucky escape for the both of us. !!!

For this short session I wanted to check out a newly dredged bit of the local canal which at one time was home to one of my biggest Zander of 9'b on the nose. During lockdown you realise just how shallow this canal is when it went clear because of the lack of boats. Some small carp made an appearance too so with the weather warming up, were there any showing ?

I'd leapfrog some cover for those Zander that reside he, well I say that, I've not caught one here in ages now and it's largely been off my radar because of it. There is plenty of cover near and far bank though so with Bream Bay being given a Duncan Goodhew by the canal and rivers trust I fancy trying somewhere new to get my whatever comes along fix.

So two deadbait rods with roach and like I said where I'd move from bits of cover to bits of cover and then to see if there were any fish showing. I forgot just how nice this stretch is in full bloom but after fishing the whole length of the cover without a nibble or a fish topping looks can be deceiving. 

After heading up past the cover over by some reeds some there were signs of bream feeding judging by the bubbles, and then when one rolled in the middle of the track that only confirmed it. 

So I've earmarked this area for a future session to see if I'm missing anything. There is a nice straggly bush here that provides some cover for fish and then one of the deadbaits was picked up and dropped after being dragged a foot or so I thought I was on for some action.

Sadly not, because despite the water being just shy of a tropical 18 degrees that was the only action I got. The dredging had seemed to increase the depth in the track but in the main it hasn't really made any difference.

It's still walkable from one side of the canal to the other I reckon, but then it still holds some big fish, well it did anyway. There wasn't any boats during my session here which was late evening and to be honest it wasn't as coloured as it usually is so maybe that was the issue for lack of Zander action. Oh well there is always the next time !!!

Warwickshire Trout - River Alne Pt.10

The weather is warming up nicely now, heck I was even in shorts and  a t-shirt last Sunday. The wellbeing boosting glowing embers wakened this weeks drudgery as well, things are looking up blog readers.

Now Thai grilled pork, or mu ping is a simple dish where the thin pieces of pork are marinated in the typical sweet and salty Thai traditional flavours. Soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, mashed coriander stalks, palm sugar, white pepper, garlic and then when cooking on the grill lathered in coconut cream. Sticky rice, and a spicy, sweet, garlicky dipping sauce to accompany it, happy days !!!

Such a tasty dish and so easy to make, give it a go if you like Thai food and BBQ'ing. Decent lumpwood is the key, none of this rubbish the supermarket has the cheek to market it as. The ever faithful Webber kettle still going strong after 10 years+, despite falling apart now like Trigger's broom. 

The main control vent underneath eventually rusted out now always open, but to be honest I've not needed to replace it yet because I rarely had it other than fully open anyway, even when slow cooking pork shoulders. The main grille has been replaced recently but they main carcass, good as when it was bought to be honest.

Anyway with no rain for a good while it was out with the shallow diving Salmo Butcher to the handy river Alne where I've been trying to bank a <3lb trout. 

I've mentioned before I've hooked two that size and lost two that size, mainly because they have taken me surprise and the hooks haven't been set correctly. 

With their kamikaze fighting style sadly as quick as they were on, they were off again. So it's no wild-goose chase this as I know the fish are there I just need some photographic proof to prove the doubters. 

Who would have thought Warwickshire would hold some nice Grayling ? but that was quickly ticked off far quicker than I thought it would !!!! Because I'm the only one of the syndicate fishing it in the coarse closed season the main mans brushcutter has been nowhere near it yet so everything in the past couple of weeks has been growing at the rate of knots. 

I could do with some snow shoes to wade through the long grass and trample down the stingers. To be fair it's only sections of it because the sheep are keeping most of it at bay, it just so happens that the best bit is the lower end where the larger fish tend to show. 

When I got to the river I didn't expect it to be as low as it was, but then with lack of rain recently not largely unexpected with a river like this. When it's as low and clear as this obviously the lure and the fish can be seen quite clearly but after a few swims without even a follow or a hit I knew what the outcome would be before the session ended.

The weir though in nine times out of ten you would catch a trout no problem but yes you guessed it this one one of those rare sessions where it was fruitless. There was nothing doing whatsoever !!!

Off because I did see a few rises too right smack bang in the middle of the oxygenated water. I assume they were trout but then there is some nice dace here so maybe it was those that were showing. I even scaled down the lure and also changed it to a more natural colour. 

So I got back in the car and headed to the top of the stretch where after about the 20th cast in this deeper area, out of nowhere a trout snatched at the lure twice in quick succession. 

I did hook-up sadly and after another similar attempt from the same small trout it never appeared again. Hmmmm and that was that, I tried a few more swims but they were just not having it at all. I didn't see any mayfly hatch on this session but maybe a dry fly is worth a go instead of the lure next time because it will be low and clear like this for a while I'd imagine. 

Transient Towpath Trudging - Pt.68 (Bream Bay)

When I woke up in the morning with a chirping smoke alarm announcing that the 9v battery needed replacing and that dawn was upon us I looked out of the window to a lovely misty scene !!!

There isn't many people apart from me as one of those mad anglers who decided to leave out of their own choice the house as 5.20am to head down to the local canal. But with no boats moving (usually) for a few hours the canal doesn't tow at all which means that float fishing is very enjoyable indeed.

I kingfisher greeted me when I got to the towpath and as I headed up to bream bay I realised just how chilly it was. The car showed 6 degrees and my breath confirmed that.

The water temperature did too as it was only a gnats nadger over 13 degrees which was 2 degrees lower that when I measured on another area of the canal not far from here a few days ago. 

If that wasn't bad enough when I got to one of my favourite canal swims the overly keen bush hackers from the canal and rivers trust have been at it again. 

The cover that has stood here since I've fished it, which is at least 13 years since I started this blog has now been completely removed from the whole length opposite bream bay. The aftermath of the butchers just dumped along side the towpath for all to see.

It was no surprise that the close in float line had little attention until the very end of the session. The reeds always hold fish though and it wasn't a surprise when some noticeable taps on the rod tip eventually the short hook-link did his job and a fish was hooked.

It carted off to the right and I knew it was a bream before I caught eyes on it. There are some decent hybrids here and they fight like nothing else but this was wallowing around and instantly gave the game away.

It had taken a liking to the banded small yellow wafter and banoffee method pellets and made a huge disturbance once it knew it was hooked. Not a huge bream but most welcome after the previous days mediocrity.  

Another fish came on the method feeder soon after but the float rod line was dead even after a couple of tennis ball sized groundbait balls laced with tiny feed pellets. Bream show themselves quite easily when the bubbles start appearing in the swim where they are feeding.

Action was really quiet and I was all for packing up and heading home but out of nowhere bubbles started appearing around the float, and it didn't tale long for the float to cart to the right and eventually sail under and I stuck in to a fish.

For a bream quite a decent fight on the centrepin and repurposed 14ft Acolyte but there was a good reason for that because it was foul hooked in the gill plate. A tough couple of sessions, because that was my lot. 3 hours, 3 fish, and another 3 hours I cannot get back. Still I shouldn't moan a stinky landing net as a keepsake, at least the bream went back to his watery home happier than I did. 

On to the next one !!!