River Arrow & Warwickshire Avon - Ammonia and Aichmophobia

There was a decent turn out for my mate Daz's 50th on Saturday where after watching the England versus Ireland rugby in the 6th nations where somehow England were victorious, we all went for a ruby murray. Now I made the mistake of ordering a dish with a three chilli rating on the menu, and a garlic butter naan to go with it. 

Well I say that, it wasn't a mistake because I do like hot spicy curries I always have done, but this exceeded vindaloo chilli levels and was heading towards the phall scale I'd imagine. Even a standard balti was turned up a notch at this restaurant where those that cannot handle any levels of chilli heat at all, like me had a surprise waiting for them as well. Luckily a few beverages before and after help reign back the scoville scale, albeit temporarily, but it was certainly one of the hotted curries I'd had for a while. 

You see the first toilet run in the morning I was soon reliving the nights pleasantries' where not only what went in looked exactly as what came out, where within a split second the house was soon filled with a veritable vampire garlic roadblock, and the spiced pungency of the thick air around Birmingham's balti triangle. (Thankfully we were out in Leamington)

That tub of unopened sudocrem finally got its comeuppance, because let's just say I needed cooling down, the 'sting' from mouth to exit seemingly amplified in intensity as it passed through ones intestines. The positives I could take from it, well, I know not to choose that particular main course on the menu again and it also narrowed down the bait I was going to use for when the river is up again. 

You see when I was fishing the Arrow last I was going to try a newly purchased bait which was some Dark C.K.O. Boosted Cocoon Specials from Vortex baits which I never got round to trying because bread was doing the business. As far as I got was to show them to Nic from Avon Angling where upon removing the lid we both jolted our heads back in unison because the hit was like sniffing a tub of smelling salts. 

Now smelling salts are used to arouse consciousness because the release of ammonia (NH3) gas that accompanies their use irritates the membranes of the nose and lungs, and thereby triggers an inhalation reflex. This reflex alters the pattern of breathing, resulting in improved respiratory flow rates and possibly alertness.

It wasn't just the instant reaction either because that smell (Crab, Krill and Oyster apparently) lingered in the air for a considerable amount of time, and feet from where the lid was opened. Pungency off the pungency scale most certainly, and as a bait for the fish to home in on, it was right up there with the other smelly baits I use from time to time when conditions dictate. 

Anyway with a rare couple of days off work the plan was to fish the Arrow in the morning when it was hammering it down and then the Avon when the rain had stopped.

Well it didn't start well because I missed two unmissable bites on the Arrow where the rod violently pulled round and I stuck in to nothing, WTF. Those bites came on bread and after a couple of more swims without a nibble, I returned to the same swim and sat it out for another bite. That didn't happen obviously 😠

So it was off to the Avon which like the Arrow was motoring up, where already the bridge that connects the two meadows was already a couple of inches underwater, luckily there is an escape route so I didn't need to retrace my steps. 

Anyway the boilie was getting interest straight away in the last swim on the stretch that is usually a sanctuary away from the main flow most of the time. Today it was already boiling and swirling but the bait was being snatched and pulled by a chub in the swim I assume.

The fish didn't hook itself mind you so maybe it was a greedy chublet, even a switch to bread I didn't get to see what the fish was. Bites were forthcoming and all of a sudden they stopped completely so I went on the rove and baited a couple of spots that I would fish towards the end of the session.

In one of those a determined chublet decided that it would like a taste of the boilie and eventually hooked itself the greedy blighter and I felt sorry for it when I swung it in with the barbel rod. I switched to meat at one point where a deep margin had been baited with hemp and pellets at the start of the session but a good hour in that swim without so much as a chub pull let alone a Warwickshire Avon barbel.

Now I'm not one to sit behind motionless rods, each to their own but after almost watching the river rise with my own eyes, I decided enough was enough and after around 6.5 / 7 hours fishing which is a long session for me I packed up fishing early and popped to the pub for a swift pint instead and would reconvene somewhere (no idea yet !!!) tomorrow afternoon and Thursday after work for a last hurrah.

Operation Brazzers Breach - Angels and Divas

It certainly doesn't feel like almost 2 years the day I caught a 1lb 7oz Warwickshire Grayling but there you go, it's there in black and white if you look at that blog post. So I was back before the season end because I fancied trying for another one. 

This is my 6th trip (I think 🤔) and with the trotting gear still in the car from yesterday's session and maggots up for a dunking the session almost dictated itself, especially when I could kill two birds with one stone and drop in to see my mum to drop off a card and some flowers. 

Now In the rapidly flowing upper reaches of many rivers, grayling will often be found living happily alongside the dace. Grayling are extremely sensitive to pollution and are a good indicator of clean, well- oxygenated water. 

Despite having an adipose fin between dorsal and tail, which shows that it is a member of the salmon family, it is considered to be a coarse species by fishery bodies due to the fact that it spawns in the spring and not the winter.

Grayling are fish of contrasts' biting boldly and fighting extremely hard for their size, yet very delicate when brought to hand for unhooking. 

They have an unnerving habit of writhing while being unhooked, which immediately and instinctively results in their being gripped even tighter to prevent escape often leading to disastrous consequences. 

It is far better to try and unhook them in the water. The fighting ability of the grayling is undoubtedly enhanced by its very large reddish brown dorsal fin bigger and almost sail-like in the male which is raised in the flow to produce a large area of resistance.

The silver-sided grayling is a shoal fish and averages around 12oz to 1lb, with fish over 2lbs being very special fish indeed. The chalkstreams of southern England are renowned for producing fish of this size, but not exclusively as very big grayling have also been recorded from both Welsh and Scottish rivers in recent years.

Oh and how can we forgot the county of Warwickshire, yes they can be found there too and only a short car ride away for me which is nice, just don't tell anyone. 

Now Grayling, like dace, feed both on invertebrates on the riverbed and flies at the surface. 

One of the grayling's most endearing characteristics is its willingness to feed even on the coldest and brightest of days even after a sharp overnight frost. They will take small worms, brandlings and maggots avidly. Fish them on hooks between sizes 12 and 18 (for single maggot). 

There can be fewer more pleasant ways to spend a crisp winter's day than to run a float down shallow runs and glides in search of grayling. Loose feeding is often not necessary but will increase the number of fish that can be taken from a shoal before they become wary. 

The only conditions that really seem to put grayling off feeding are high and coloured water. At such times they can be very hard to catch, making it much more profitable to go in search of dace and roach instead. I remember fishing a turbid river Itchen once where a solitary grayling succumbed to the maggot feeder so they can still be caught in the toughest of conditions. 

Anyway the river was lower than I'd have liked but I cannot magic up extra water now can I, but the colour was nice for a bite so I was hoping some fish would show.

What I didn't expect that within 10 minutes I had already lost a Grayling because after a sure bite I struck in to some resistance where the fish came to the surface and wollowed about a bit in plain sight, before managing to bump off the hook Arrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!! Not uncommon with Grayling admittedly but when you are fishing for a small group of fish and the odd bite rather annoying I must admit.  

I manage a small chublet not long after but then a good hour or so without a bite I decided to go and try another swim. Now you can tell it's not fished much down here if at all, because I stumbled upon a phone holder and bankstick that I must have left here 15mths ago. 👀

That swim didn't produce a bite for a good half an hour so I decided to go back to the main swim where after feeding more maggots I managed another 3 chublets. The grayling after the initial lost fish just didn't show at all in this near 3 hour session.

Sadly the curfew came round far quicker than I'd have liked but at least I didn't blank and the new trotting set-up works wonders. The Korum glide line combined with the shallow spool the line comes off brilliantly and it worked that well I'm tempted to buy another Drennan float fishing reel to put on my main 15ft trotting rod for barbel and chub. Anyway on to the next one before the drawbridge comes down.

The Tiny River Alne - Bitcoins and Biobibliography

The phone that I accidently dropped in the River Stour last Sunday was never to be seen again, however the insurance sorted it quickly and a new case and SIM card from EE all came on the same day. 

So 48 hours after the 'incident' and thanks to the iCloud I was back up and running again. I was a bit peeved that I lost £40 in notes in the process but it could be worse my name could be James Howells. 

You see James lost a computer hard drive he says has a fortune on it at the dump has threatened the council with legal action over its refusal to let him dig up the site. 

His hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins was accidentally thrown out back in 2013 and since he has been battling for a decade for permission to dig up the Newport City Council landfill site on Docks Way to find the hard drive and access his coins, which he says are now worth a staggering amount.👀

But despite a tireless campaign, the council have argued that the chances of finding the drive, which James believes is now worth around £225m, are unrealistic.The computer engineer has previously hired environmentalists and data recovery experts from around the world to aid in his desperate search.

Now In 2021, James even hired NASA data experts Ontrack the data-recovery firm which recovered the battered drive from the Columbia space shuttle after it exploded in 2003. James has even offered the council a 25 per cent share in the funds, currently estimated at around £50 million, and has pledged to invest in his community, but that has fallen on deaf ears sadly.

Although I've fished the upper reaches of this stretch of the River Alne I've been fishing over the years I've not been up here for a good while. Well it was back in June I believe when I managed to catch a stoneloach by rod and line and by design. I per usual I didn't have much time but I had some maggots that needed a dunking and I fancied trotting to see what I could pick up.

Now the river finally has had some stability of late because it really has been unfishable over the last couple of months, where just when the water is back in the banks again all of a sudden the heavens open and it is back to being in flood again and spills out into the floodplains.

Just to get a few bites would be nice because the Alne isn't fishing particularly well of late I must admit,  and not fishing this area for a while I was hoping a change of scenery would be of benefit too, oh and when I drove over the bridge recently it looked a great colour. 

I didn't really have a swim in mind, so I'd get there first have a roam around and pick a likely looking swim. There are often minnows here in numbers and that was the concern I'd have even when trotting the fast water, but up at this bit there are gravelly runs that I was hoping would hold some dace up for a feed. 

I also wanted to try out my trotting set-up which was to dust of the 14ft Acolyte and pair it with Korum glide line and a newly purchased shallow spooled Drennan reel. The river has dropped considerably of late and probably a little too much really because well I just couldn't get in to a rhythm in the first swim so within half an hour without a bite I moved to the next swim where I disturbed the resident otter, and after popping its head out it went on its way.

The float was going down much nicer in the next swim however trot after trot after trot and feeding the swim with maggots nothing was showing whatsoever. Not even a minnow bite which is quite incredible for the river Alne. The sun was right in my face as well which didn't help, just one of those wasted sessions really, then again I was limited on time (as per usual) so the Alne was the only choice really.

So yes, the river was dead, proper dead  much like this sheep I assume !! It does explain the wall of ammonia I walked in to a couple of months ago. Anyway with the gear in the car still I might pop back out in the morning. This time at another stretch, maybe even Brazzers Breach, I'll decide in the morning.