Warwickshire Avon - Trotting and Transmigrationism

'The Beekeeper' brain out movie with the Wife, some wine and an openfire, where to go, what to do ? Well the Avon looked a perfect colour and level for trotting and I fancied trying for a pike too, so a bit of double dipping was planned down at the deserted stretch of convenience.So a smelt out on a running rig and then my 15ft rod, with Abu closed-faced reel and a large drake stickfloat. 

Bread mash as feed and then a 10p piece of bread flake on the hook. I don't trot enough because when I do I really enjoy it, but I am a roving angler at heart to be honest. There was a good 2 foot of visibility for this morning's session where a moving bait would probably the way to go to temp a chub in to feeding. 

Now because of the milder conditions this week the water temperature had rocketed to 8.2 degrees and it felt that when I handled the first fish. You see within minutes of casting out the smelt when I initially started to feed the swim with bread, a couple of bleeps on the alarm the bobbin jumped in to life and the rod top was nodding. 

Only a small jack but most welcome all the same !!!

Anyway I got another bait out and got on with trotting feeding small bits of bread little and often. It didn't take long to get the first bite either but I sadly pulled out of the fish within a few seconds. It felt half decent too so sad to lose it but at least I knew there was some fish in the swim.

The next bite came 10 minutes after that lost fish when the float buried at the end of the swim. Quite a decent fight too on the float gear but it was soon under control and safely landed in the net. 

Only a 3lber but it had a great chunky frame to it with a proud bulging belly. I retained it in the net and was looking to catch another one but one problem !!!

You see, this dangly branch was getting in the way on almost every trot and no matter what line I tried and how much I mended the line, I got snagged up from time to time which was becoming very frustrating I must admit. 

I had the weed rake and long rope in the car and I didn't think about that until after the session so next time I'm there I'll try and remove it. Anyway despite the frustration I gave it another hour without any more fish so decided to try another swim.

A couple of swans and a cygnet had turned up and they were hanging around, probably wondering when I was going to feed them some of the bread I suppose. They liked the look of the bread so much they followed me up the stretch 🦢😐to the next swim. There used to be a huge willow here that hung over the river like a canopy but it mysteriously was removed and lots of the other cover on the stretch. 

I've my suspicions...🛶

Anyway after feeding mash (whilst the swans were feeding in the reeds) for ten minutes to allow the bread drift down the water column the first trot down the float buried as it skirted past the remains of the willow.

I struck in to something solid and knew straight away it was a decent chub. It gave me one hell of a fight too, when it tried to get in to the roots of the tree first, and then the reeds after I managed to steer it away from the roots. 

The 15ft rod taking up its lungs and eventually I managed to get the fish in to the main river. The river was quite pacey though and I didn't want to drag it through the boiling and turbulent water, so I picked up the net and moved 10 yards to my right when the bank had collapsed but I could get much lower to the water, albeit with mud half way up my wellies.

After an epic battle I eventually teased it in to the net with the hook just nicked in its top lip. Not quite 5lb but it went 4lbs and 14 ounces on the scales. A rather nice fish I must admit !! Anyway nothing else in that swim, and nothing in one more either. The smelt as well, that didn't have an interest after the jack pike. An enjoyable session I must admit and the closed faced reel performed well today, so my faith in it is restored for now anyway.

The Tiny River Alne - Biscoff and Bisociation

The Battered Husband Syndrome, described in an issue of the British Clinical Journal, made frightening reading. The author was disturbed by the way a lot of husbands, who spend their working week in soul destroying sedentary office jobs (puts one's hand up), launch at weekends into wild uncharted seas of manual labour and active pursuits'.

'The unskilled in perilous pursuit of the unusable', is how he described the activities of these poor lads. Doing things like digging the garden, cutting the grass, weeding, servicing the car, chopping wood, building bookcases, hanging wallpaper, laying bricks and painting things.

The injury rate, apparently, is alarming. And the nature of the injuries from hammers, axes, saws and dangerous things like that, horrifying. Cracked ribs, broken limbs, cut shins, aches and pains in the back and arms. To name but a few. Not to mention what happened to husbands like the noble loony who tried to paint a wall while standing on a tea trolley.

Those husbands who stop doing good works and turn to active sports involving balls-football, cricket, golf and hockey-do not seem to fare much better. They have a tendency, apparently, to stop 'these missiles with the bare hands, or with their heads, or their knees or their genitals'. Nasty !!!

Those whose injuries are not severe enough to warrant a trip to hospital just can't wait for Monday morning when they can get back to work and away from it all.

'Now see how lucky you are,' tell the wife, 'to have a husband who puts the welfare of the family first and does not indulge in these dangerous pursuits. 

Who instead, out of pure consideration for his Nearest and Dearest, takes himself off to the peace and safety of the river bank or the pub (which I did today and had a nice pint of stout.)

No matter how much you long to push a mower, pick up a trowel, saw, chisel or paintbrush, you fight down the impulse for the sake of the family. As breadwinner, you could not possibly risk falling off a speeding tea trolley or stopping a cricket ball with your thingies. (Knees and that. See above.)

No. It is a tribute to your selflessness, your lofty ideals, your innate capacity for self-sacrifice, that you deny yourself these pleasures. 

And instead spend the weekend in quiet and solitude, preserving your mind, body and knees for the weekly struggle to wrest a modest crust from the flint-hearted employers of the Concrete Jungle.

Eh, lads, you should be proud of yourselves.

There was once an advert for an insurance company under the heading "The Great Lover'. Which showed a little, bald-headed bespectacled twit, brandishing an insurance policy and surrounded by his adoring family. He cared, you see. What the advert didn't stress was that the poor bloke had to pop his clogs before they could collect.

You, I would respectfully submit, are the new breed of Great Lovers. By clearing off for a quiet dangle every weekend, by keeping away from serious injury or sudden death, you are ensuring your continued survival and earning capacity.

In years to come, when you are sitting in front of the telly, still sound in wind and knees, with the plaster falling off the walls, the roof caving in, the car rusting away on blocks in the garage, and the grass blocking the light from the windows, your adoring family will look at you and say, 'Dear Dad... he did it all for us. Or something like that.

Anyway if you've not switched off already I fancied a try up the Alne for a chub or a dace for that matter. A bit of roving would be nice because WFH from the last couple of days I'd put a dent in my plan to walk an average of 10k steps over the full year. 

I managed that last year and this year thus far it's going well to be fair. I did think about trotting with the sun being out to try and draw any fish out but roving it was because, well a snag filled river like this often in these conditions is the best way to approach it. Bait a few swims as you head up the river and then fish them on the return.  

These are the sort of swims I fished but I was running out out options as I headed down the stretch to where the deeper swims are. The weather was lovely mind you, the bit of sun was rather nice. It was blowy though so the quivertip was being battered all over the place. 

Before the bridge of death did naff, all, I disturbed 3 herons, yes 3 👀 so maybe I should have tried a bit harder. Anyway probably about 6 or 7 swims fished without even a nibble, hmmm not good. The Alne is rarely this light green colour but I was sure there was a chub to be caught, as it looked good for a bite using bread.

And I was correct because the 2nd swim in the deeper area ten minutes after the flake being out in one of the prebaited swims a decent pull on the tip that sprung back almost immediately, was followed up with a pull that kept on going.

It knew it was hooked because within a split second of feeling the fish on the end of the line it was trying to get in to some tree roots. I felt the line grating at one point and thought I was lose it but thankfully I managed to bully it away from the snag where I quickly landed it.

Not a big fish maybe 2lb but welcome all the same. What I didn't expect was another quick bite in a similar looking swim, where fishing tight to some tree roots that spread out in the water another chub was on within a few minutes of casting out.

This one was putting up a better fight and sure enough after a dirty old battle it was safely in the landing net. This one a minter, and heading towards 3lb I'd imagine and after a slow start it came good in the end. That was my lot, I thought heading up to dusk another bite was on the cards but that was it. Almost 3 hours fishing, two bites, two fish, seems to be the way at the moment.

River Blythe - Doggers Gates and Dontopedalogy

Where to go for that fishing fix for a quicky post work before darkness arrives ? I was working from Horiba MIRA (formerly the Motor Industry Research Association) you see and the Anker isn't far away, this free stretch (Google says so) looks like it might be worth a dabble with the trotting gear and maggots. Any blog readers recognise it ? and if so, worth fishing this river stretch of two halves ? A nice meandering river on one side, a monstrous industrial estate on the other 🙈

To he honest the footpath looks well trodden probably from the constant stream of landmine creators ,and as a self confessed misanthrope probably not the right stretch for me, however the only fish picture I can find from this stretch was a rather nice plump roach, and looks a nice un too !!, so it would be rude not to try it, wouldn't it. 

Anyway for this session that might have to wait until I do more half-hearted research, so with the tackle in the car and belly loaded up with a MIRA canteen spicy Goat curry, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Some fishing first then I'd go and visit my mum a couple of miles down the road. Now it certainly doesn't seem like over a year since I was last fished the Blythe but apparently it is, looking at my last blog post from this small Midlands waterway.

The 'doggers' gates thankfully were left open that early evening when I negotiated the road back after catching that chublet just before 'when those things comes out at night'. I'm sure my Kingfisher Blue Jimny would have had some curtains twitchings I'm sure, because it stands out much like those that participate in the illicit 'pastime' that has blighted this small community (upset the posh people that live here basically.)

Can I just go fishing please, I don't want an finger pointing my way !! "See, I've got some maggots and a fishing rod !!"

Now as with many British river SSSIs, (A Site of Special Scientific Interest) sadly physical modification to the watercourse and the riparian zone has impacted the functionality of the River Blythe. As a result, the River Blythe SSSI is currently in an 'unfavourable no change' condition, due to physical habitat modification, namely weirs, dams and other flow obstructions, and invasive non-native species. 

Oh and the fact the water companies use them as sewers that won't help now will it, you see Top of the Poops has some grim reading and a reason why I rarely visit these pages where the 'Consent to Discharge with Conditions' is all there to see as it just depresses me if I'm honest. You would think a small waterway like this would be off the radar for the Severn Trent Tyrants, but no sadly not. I looked up the Tiny River Alne too, 'cus that won't be on the list now would it', same story here as well 💩

A stones throw from where I was fishing for this session HS2 will be a nice blot on the landscape adding to its woes too because a 475 meter viaduct will be built over the floorplain at Hampton in Arden and will cross the Blythe changing its outlook for ever. 

Anyway when I got to the river it was very clear indeed and probably a good foot or so lower when I was here last time. The problem was the bridge swim where I caught the chublet from the last time was probably not much more than a foot and a half itself, hmmmm.

A quick lead about the bush to my right was slightly deeper so I primed that with some bread slop and then fed the main swim with small amounts throughout the session to allow it to drift down.

A fished around an hour and a half and the last forty five minutes of that with the torch illuminating the 1 ounce quiver tip but sadly not a sausage. I was expecting at least a bit of action but there was nothing doing whatsoever on the bread or cheesepaste.

Even the snag swim to my right didn't produce and it looked perfect for a bite as it was next to cover and a nice slack away from the main flow. I could have stayed another half an hour or so but I think the outcome would have been the same. Oh well, on to the next one.