The Tiny River Alne - Drakefords and Daceatoriums

Well not a good start to the morning you see I went to the boost the heating for an hour and the digital programmer was dead, proper dead. Hmmm....I go downstairs to find that for some reason the power had tripped. Reset the trip switches and....

....sorted, fires up no problem, well I thought was all good until Sam pointed out that the garage door was open a couple of foot WTF !! On closer inspection the cause of the power tripping was all to see, you see some scumbag had cut through one of the outside security lights cable and obviously forced the garage door open somehow. 

Now my fishing chair was on the floor so I assume that was dislodged and hopefully dropped on their noggin.  Thankfully nothing was stolen or damaged from what I can see. That was the only the 2nd incident in 15 years but still very concerning, luckily my TFG River and Stream was still there. 

I've had to add another couple of security measures just in case they come back, hopefully they have looked what's inside the garage and that was good enough. 

I've actually left the whole garage door open for 3 nights by accident and it's such a quiet area and not had any issues. 

Anyway to get that fishing fix I had such a short window of piscatorial pursuitablity available to me I did wonder if I should bother or not. But the Alne has been pulling at ones angling strings of late and such is the convenience I might as well seize every opportunity I can.

That 12 ounce dace I caught may not be huge in many specimen anglers books, but for me fishing where I do, it was a clonking dace especially when there could well be some even bigger ones milling about.  

Apart from a handful of syndicate matches throughout the year I've got the stretch to myself, which means especially when certain swims are earmarked I know for sure there isn't going to be anyone in it. Now the 'daceatorium' swim not only threw up a nice fish for me, but one of the rare anglers I bumped in to here outside of the matches, said the match was won on that peg, yeap you guessed it with decent sized dace added to the winning seat box frequenters tally. 

Now with the fish hopefully getting back to some sort of normality having had to deal with not only flood water but also chilly water too, so I was hoping I would fair better this time in purist of these larger silver darts. Now this swim offers some shelter away from the flow, where right out in front of you it's almost static, so this time I decided to scale down a little and fish a pole float rather than a feeder. Some groundbait with a few maggots as feed and either bread or half a lobworm on the hook.

I was hoping fishing more match style might suit the intended quarry a little better and also concentrating feed around a tighter area was another change of tactic. What next live baiting with minnows ? Various angling literature I have mentions live baiting specifically, method in the madness ?

To be honest there is plenty of minnows here that's for sure, so that may well be worth a dabble in a future session if traditional tactics are not forthcoming. Now draconian rules here either and meddling Mark Drakeford's to worry about, so I could give it a go. Incidentally some roads in Stratford-Upon-Avon are now 20mph, I had two cyclists pass me the other day like I was standing still. I was in the Jimny after all to be honest they could probably muster up more horsepower. 

Anyway not happy that I got out far later than expected with Sam missing his bus meant that I was a good forty minutes later than expected. I had to get back in an hour and a half so not exactly a huge amount of fishing time,

It was clear from the first cast there were minnows in the swim and despite using a size 12 hook in the time I was there, I must have caught 5 or 6 of them and also a small gudgeon that despite the size of the bait, were determined to it in their gobs. 

I couldn't believe how much the water had changed since I was there last. Not only was it back to it's normal colour but it had dropped considerably and the water felt cold when mixing the groundbait. A quick measure, yeap it has dropped a considerable amount from 16 to just over 10 now.

I alternated between worms and maggots and the bigger fish were just not showing at all. The sensitive float picking up any indications from the minnows in quite a visible fashion.

The dace and chub for that matter just didn't seem to be in the swim. The problem was with my cerfew time (Wife going to Yoga) getting ever nearer I was hoping with the light now starting to fade, that the bigger fish needed to show up sooner than later.

And one did, you see the float slowly drifted from right to left and eventually dripped an inch so I decided to strike. Then all hell breaks lose because the fish on feeling the hooks bolted off downstream as a rate of knots with me trying to restrain its initial run. After turning it, oddly headed towards me and then turned and did another powerful run where this time the trout launched clear of the water, where the next bend of the rod it came off !!! 👿

I've mentioned before I've hooked and lost decent trout down here and this was another one of those. I've caught them to 2lb here but the more elusive bigger fish are easily twice that. 

2lb River Alne Trout - Warwickshire

So this was another one to add to the big trout lost tally (story of my life !!). And sadly that was that, you see after making carnage in the swim and with the light almost gone nothing else showed up apart from the pesky minnows again. 

After packing up and the rather lacklustre walk through the field back to the car all over a sudden to my left a noise in the thick grass where an otter was disturbed legged it past me straight in to the drink where at one point it was probably only 8-10 foot away. 

A decent sized one as well, hopefully the same one I saw the other day, however that one was more inquisitive where after popping its head up beside some lily pads, it proceeded to swim towards me and eventually went back under the water and made its way upstream. 

The Tiny River Alne - Death Bridges and Deambulatory

 A rather later start than expected this morning, but with rubbish sleep the night before I woke up at 7.00am rather than my norm which is usually an hour before that. With the recent rain the Alne had risen to over 2 meters in height which would mean it would be teetering over the banks in places, however the Alne drops like a stone so it would be perfectly fishable for this 3 hour session.

Usually when it's coloured the Alne fishes far better than when its clear and especially with some ectra water on. One big problem though with a frost overnight and the daytime temperatures plummeting would the fish be up for a feed ?

It was certainly a rather pleasant morning when making my way through the sodden grass through to the first swim. When the sun rose above the trees thankfully it warmed up a bit because it was rather cold initially I must admit. 

'Jacks' peg was the first port of call for the groundbait feeder approach where bread and lobworms were going to be used as bait secured to a size 12 hook. Usually fish are on the baits straight away but it took an age to get the first sign that there were fish in the swim.

Use maggots in this swim minnows can be a nightmare, however what I didn't expect was after loads of tiny rattles on the tip an unfortunate imposter decided that it wanted to get in on the act. My PB dace of 12 ounces came from this swim however after an hour or so fishing alternating the baits I only had one proper pull and that was it.

So there was only thing for it and that was negotiate the bridge of death to get to the other side of the river where usually the fishing is more productive. 

Again an hour fishing not even a single tap in this swim, the fish just didn't seem to be there or, up for a feed, hmmmmm...So I decided to dump the chair back in the car and get on the rove where after another 4 or 5 swims I was scratching my heads.

Still what a lovely morning though and it's not all about the fishing now is it. Once the sun was glaring down it lifted my spirits even though the fish were not up for playing ball.

In the end I decided to finish the last half an hour in the same swim where I started where after one proper pull on the lobworm, the recast brought another bite within 5 minutes where this time I connect in to a fish.

I initially thought it was another decent dace but it went mad when it broke the surface where a small trout revealed itself. Damn it !!, not what I was after but at least it was a blank saver.

Not even one of the vibrant coloured ones that reside here either, a washed out one that could do with some sun like I was enjoying. That was my lot sadly where I'm sure the drop in water temperature would kill the sport. 

Hopefully with some more settled condition the fish will get accustomed to their new environment and get back to feeding and getting back on the munch. On a positive note at least we now have some colour in the water, that's most welcome I must admit. 

Warwickshire Stour - Bread Eaters and Breastsummers (River Roach PB Content)

I must be getting old, you see after munching my way through some pork scratching and a couple of copper red brown ales, I signed up for the mild and pie evening in the adopted local, where 4 1/2 pint different mild's will be accompanied with a proper beef and ale pie with a dollop of mash.

For £15 quid I thought it was a no brainer !! The Wife rolling her eyes to ones demise in to full on coffin dodger. Still I'll be still be raving it up in a month for 3 days and nights, I'm not quite there yet, well I don't think I am anyway.

Whilst I was enjoying the ramblings of the Landlord I decided there and then after looking at the river levels I'd venture to the Stour in the morning, as when it's up find a slack often a bite is forthcoming.

Now it's quite common in London to see geese flying overhead or swans. Along the Thames right into the heart of the City herons now stalk the shallows and various wildlife bodies tell us that owls roost in Parliament Square while kestrels hover above the Commercial Road.

Anywhere in the vicinity of London's bigger parks can be relied on to produce a bit of overspill wildlife and reports of duck wandering across Kensington High Street with their ducklings coming along behind them are not unusual.

However, a local newspaper (1893) once carried a report of a far more surprising wildlife encounter in Kensington. A gentleman was walking home from work one autumn evening. He'd got as far as halfway up Kensington Church Street when he was struck by what he described to the newspaper reporter as 'a terrific blow to the side of the head'. In fact the bump was so hard that it knocked the man out and he had to be taken to hospital.

One of the witnesses who'd helped the injured man into a local house where brandy was administered described a circumstance that almost certainly accounted for the knock-out blow. When the witness had run up to the man who'd been knocked out he spotted a large fish lying on the pavement nearby. 

Being a fisherman he knew that this was not the sort of fish one buys at a fishmonger's. It was in fact a roach, a common British freshwater fish, but completely inedible. The witness told the newspaper that at first he could not understand how the fish came to be lying in the street, but in helping the injured man to his feet he did not immediately have much time to think about it. 

But as he assisted the man in removing his coat he noticed something very odd indeed. The injured man's head and the shoulder of his coat were dusted here and there with fish scales. The scales were without question from the dead roach that had been found at the scene.

When the newspaper compiled its report on the incident they quoted a professor of zoology as saying that the man was almost certainly felled by a roach dropped by a passing bird, possibly a heron or cormorant.

Curiously, the paper noted with glee, the injured man - who made a full recovery - was called Mr Chub. Now oddly Mr Chub didn't factor at all in todays session because swim after swim after swim trying to find some slack water, those swims that looked like they would give a bite didn't. It was properly cold overnight and a beanie was needed when I got there at dawn . The cars thermometer said 5 degrees, and I could full believe that, so quite a contrast to the mild weather we have been having. 

What I didn't expect that the only bite I had was from a lovely old warrior of a roach that actually is my river PB going 1lb and 9 ounces on the scales. It came from literally the only proper slack on the whole stretch, where after pre-baiting with some mash, half an hour later after 10 minutes of lowering the bread flake secured to a size 6 hook meant for chub, a few taps of the 1 ounce quiver tip I lifted in to a fish.

It came to the surface quite quickly and was amazed to see a decent roach break the surface. No match for the tackle and it was soon in the net, but wow what a result I didn't expect that. 

I rarely catch roach on this stretch, chub being the main species but it just goes to show drop a bait in the right place and you can be rewarded with fish like this from time to time. Totally unexpected and this is why we love fishing, you are often surprised with the luck you get from time to time.

So 5 or 6 swims, one bite and one fish....!!!!

It had plenty of filling out to do as well so come brass monkey time, maybe nudging that magic number. Well maybe not, but still I was happy with the morning roving session, a decent amount of vitamin D and a smile on my face when I left.