Warwickshire Avon – Glassbacks and Glory Holes

Seventy-five years ago, in April 1943, the research chemist Albert Hofmann did something distinctly out of scientific character. Impelled by what he later called a “peculiar presentiment”, he resolved to take a second look at the 25th in a series of molecules derived from the ergot fungus, a drug he had discovered some years earlier and dismissed as of no scientific interest.

As he synthesised it for the second time, it made contact with his skin, giving rise to an unprecedented experience: a “stream of fantastic pictures and extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colours”.

Five days later, on 19 April, he decided to test the chemical on himself under controlled conditions, thus becoming the first person in history knowingly to embark on an acid trip.

Now talking of temporary altered state of consciousness which after all an acid trip is, there is no need for drugs, because after some serious amount of Tryptophan ingested because of the byproduct of consuming large amounts of heart attack inducing stilton cheese, I was having another one of those lucid dreams I experience from time to time. This dream featured a Barbel of gargantuan proportions which was hiding in a out of sight hole only reachable via a tube slide portal which ultimately dictated this fishing session.

You see after suffering a bad back of late due to my ridiculous notion that I could still do the things I used to do when I was a lot younger, port and cheese is one of those comfort foods that gets one mind off it. Not only that but on holiday I stupidly wore flipflops when barbecuing and some embers from the coals spat out and blistered a couple of toes on my right food, as I type this the wound is still open and not yet dried out as it keeps on being rubbed by my shoe. So another annoyance and slight hindrance to go with my bad back. 

As a roving angler I needed to get my back in-particular sorted pretty quick and having suffered sciatica quite bad for a good 6 mths, I needed to get things moving pretty sharpish. Exercise and keeping on the move is the key I found.

So before I’d venture to an area I can fish in to dark, this was double dipping session down an area I’ve grown to love, not only was I after Chevin, I’d also try for a Barbel at last knockings.  

Now the infamous Albuttbarbelbutt was spotted down here by someone likeminded and despite him trying to catch it over a few sessions he went home with this tail between his legs. Although Barbel are relatively easy to catch the big’uns don’t reach that size for a reason, they are generally a little wiser than the plebeians. 

I’ve certainly found in my experience dusk and an hour beyond is the best time for big barbel. I don’t fish for them that often, but when I do, my time must count.

I’d rather not sit behind motionless rods, but rock up for a session when times and conditions bites should in theory be more forthcoming. 

As you know by reading this blog of mine that I plan sessions meticulously usually. So the plan, bait 3 swims with hemp, dead maggots, a few pellets and broken boilies via a dropper, leave it to rest for a while then eventually return and drop in a hook bait for 20 minutes before moving on to the next swim.

The first swim has a large undercut with a nice flow, the second, a wide sweeping bend over gravel, and the third, a deep swim with a hole opposite some stupidly thick cover. The third swim I’d add a little more bait as I’d fish that last before heading home at dusk.

Whilst the swims were resting it was out with the lure rod rigged with a Duo Realis Shinmushi to fish some of the swims that have been producing some nice Chub of late. The problem is you see maybe they’ve worked me out, as they are certainly more difficult to catch on floating bread over the last couple of sessions.

“Oh look it’s him again, ignore the bread for a while chaps”

The floating lure has produced some nice fish in the past and offers something a little different to fish that have become cagey, after not only being caught by swallowing a load of dough, but by their friends telling them to stay off the mighty white before the all clear is given. Fishing is all about confidence and the bread isn’t quite doing it as the minute, so some thinking outside the box a little can get captures back on track.

The beauty of the floating lure I’ve found is that unlike the bread in which the majority of the times you need to feed some freebies to get them feeding confidently, with the lure just one or two drifts down gets the inquisitive Chub coming not for a nudging session but a nailing. They usually give it to the lure properly like Chub evidently do when they feed confidently, they are proper Jekyll and Hyde species remember.

The bi-polar sufferer of the cyprinidaes….

Barbel on the other hand when they get their heads down feeding nothing is going to get them off snaffling the hemp. That’s when they are easy to catch, present a bait over the top of the Smörgåsbord invariably you’d get a take pretty quick. So with the buffet down I’d stealthily drop a ASP Wafter on a long hooklink to try and induce a take from at least one of the three of the baited swims.

The problem with this area is that I’ve not seen hide nor hair of a Barbus since I’ve been fishing it in the new season. Usually I’d spot one or two in the shallows, but none so far which is worrying. I’m sure they are still here, but there are so many nooks and crannies here, that they might well be tucked up out the way without you knowing despite being feet from them. Also the lack of sightings could well mean the likelihood of a lunking lurker.

As per usual I had the stretch to myself, so the feed went in via the dropper in the three swims to target then I fished a few swims with the lure rod. It was very quite indeed with no interest in the lure at all, well until a return back up the stretch to start fishing the baited swims I saw a fish top in a swim shaded by a big willow.

After a few drifts and retrieves down of the lure eventually a Chub came up for an inquiry. This happened a few times till it got bored and the swim went quite. They don't mess around Chevin if they really want something, as the lure has enough hooks on it to hold if it did. Hmmmm, not good.

So the lure rod went away and it was back to the baited swims, a small Chublet took the wafter hookbait quite quickly in the first swim which then went dead. Not even a knock in the second swim and the third, despite fishing in to dusk and half an hour after, no proper bites were forthcoming. So a disappointing session to be honest. The river is still horrendously low but the next session in a couple of days I might venture to a stretch where I know Barbel usually are in residence.

The water temperature is ideal so they should be biting, but as I suspect well in to dark is probably the best chance of a big'un so I might next week venture over to an area I can do just that.

Warwickshire Avon - Otters and Orgiophants

Mick it's 2018, get with the program, there are ‘model’s' earning tons of money that have their backsides in different postcodes, with generation Z’ers that would sell a kidney to look like them. YouTube millionaires making videos of themselves having Nerf gun wars and other such rubbish, full time Instagram users, you what ?, you’re not even on Facebook FFS. It’s the sign of the times. Little 7 year old Sam for example when we touch downed at Birmingham airport after the recent holiday said, “Yeay !!!, we’ll get decent Wifi now”.

Then again I’m a blogger, I’ve my toe in the water I suppose.

One thing I’m not about to compromise and be influenced by though is food, good food on one’s table has been a requirement of mine for some time now. You only have to look at the rubbish the supermarkets put out for those that would rather go down the ‘ping’ route and have someone ‘prepare’ the food for you. Ok to be fair some supermarkets are better than others, but on the whole the market appears to be pretty mediocre.

The problem for me is why would they add sugar to almost everything they stock the shelves with, the nation’s sweet tooth? I’m not convinced, they certainly didn’t ask me.

Obscene amounts of saturated fats, ridiculous amounts of salt and additives and preservatives you have trouble trying to pronounce let alone try to spell. I like cooking though and that might well be the reason why I’d rather make my own than buy a ready meal knowing that I’d only be disappointed.

Zander however they really don’t give two hoots, I did think reading about their feeding habits and rituals before fishing for them that I’d need a fresh supply of bait for each session, but that just hasn’t been the case. I’ve used Roach defrosted and frozen multiple times with that distinctive ‘past their best’ smell about them and smelt which has been a revelation for my canal Zander fishing captures.

To be honest, they would eat anything based on my experience….

Same with resistance, Zander hate it apparently, and yet I’ve never found it an issue. Zander are similar to perch in many ways and are perhaps even more prone to their fellow shoal-mates pinching their prey. If you have ever watched seagulls picking up dead fish from the water surface you will realise why those gulls fly away so quickly. A Zander with its prey caught by the tail must get away quickly to swallow its prey, much the same as the gull.

Zander I’ve found can give storming runs when using a livebait. They may put a greater distance between themselves and their fellows when dealing with a live fish simply because it takes time to swallow. Dropped runs are also a feature of zander fishing. Resistance caused by a lead or a float can be a problem, but in my experience 90 per cent of dropped zander runs are due the fish being really small.

One reason for using for not using large baits for zander fishing is that they tend to be over ambitious when it comes to picking up baits which are on the big side. While it is true that zander can eat fairly large prey fish, when they are attached to hooks, the longer it takes for them to get the bait into their mouth, the greater the chance of a dropped run.

For this session I was up at the deep bit, I was in two minds what to fish for, but with the bait fridge needing to be defrosted I decided to use up the smelt that had seen better days. I’d also have a lure rod that I’d use from time to time. 

The first port of call was the weir, it looked well down, but then to be honest we haven’t had much rain have we. After having the deadbaits out for 20 minutes a load of bubbles came up close in to my right and moved from right to left. I’d seen a Pike do something like this down at the River Severn so I reeled in the left-hand rod so it was in the vicinity of the bubbles to try and get a take. 

 
Within seconds a head popped out the water and looked straight at me, yeap an Otter, and a big’un too, it didn’t hang around long before popping its head back under. I’d seen Otters before down here and also some tell-tale signs that they were here and yeap, they are around. I decided to move up to the deepest area I found on the deeper and put the smelt back out.

Within half an hour after the baits being out and distracted and fascinated by a slug orgy, the left hand bobbin starts to jump and a fish is showing interest. I picked up the rod, took the bail arm off and allowed the fish to take some line. 

When I struck in to the fish I thought, this is defiantly a Zander and a good one at that, it felt a decent fish and it was taking line from the relatively tight clutch. When it surfaced though it was much smaller than I thought it would be, not disappointed because it’s a Zander, a species I’ve grown to love but I expecting something bigger, It went 4lb 13oz on the scales.

I also managed a few small jack pike on the lure but the river despite the fish caught looked lifeless without any fish topping and the flow was well down. I went back to the weir for a while without any interest and dropped in to an area of dead water I’d caught Zander before which appeared about a metre down, zilch.

Warwickshire Avon – Potters and Portmantologists

Sun, sea, sand and untold lack of solitude were firmly the order of the day for the last couple of weeks of the school holidays. Whilst those couple of weeks were enjoyable and on the most part relaxing, days are dictated by the needs of the kids and the appeasing of the family mantra, but it also ,as always confirms I need fishing as part of ones life routine.

As a solitude seeker, I needed my fix you see, to me it’s more than just a personal trajectory for one to take inventory on life, it’s a way of managing those difficulties life brings sometimes. It gets the cogs back in sync again, the wheels turning.

Now the Canaries, a group of seven Spanish islands situated right off the coast of North-western Africa, are blessed with a warm beach-going climate all year round. Unspoilt areas rich with native flora and fauna, such as their wild beaches, mountainous regions, and national parks.Most notably, the islands form a formidable volcanic archipelago.

Their landscapes include four of the highest peaks within Spanish territory and some mightily bizarre yet inspiring scenery, from black sand beaches with soaring cliffs to rugged, red, Mars-like panoramas. The breadth of these landscapes evokes regions from every corner of the planet, and even, sometimes, from others. Each of these seven islands is a completely different world, and adventure, in itself. 

The lack of wildlife, insects and general colour is in complete contrast to where I live, it’s baron, very baron indeed but when something other than a human is around it’s usually something of interest. Cockroaches, lizards and big moths commonplace, as are the stray cats and tatty looking dogs the Spanish culture seems to be happy with. Proper paella excellent and some dishes, such as the above as black as the volcanic landscape, with the contrasting prawns and cherry tomatoes showing up like the litter and rubbish that spoils this unique environment.

This third trip however something I’d not seen before really did get me pool bound with the Wife and kids who were splashing around in the natatorium, in hysterics despite the predicament I was in. Now it was my own fault I suppose because this year’s insect of note was a ‘potter wasp'. Think of a hornet but bigger and angrier looking, not something you’d approach given the opportunity let’s put it that way. It took offence to me cleaning the BBQ grill with a wire brush under a tap as it wanted a drink by all accounts.

The problem was, to hand was one of the kids spades for the beach and a slight, sorry, I’ll reiterate that, like the Tasmanian devil had got hold of it, then again my blog ain't hasn't got quagswagging in the title for nothing. You see, it didn’t like that I was trying to ‘coax’ it away by coming at me like kamikaze pilots against the allied naval vessels.

He was on a mission and he would die trying to complete it….

As I’m smarter than the average bear though, in a flash, a Cruyff Turn which completely fooled and flummoxed it and I managed to leg it away from danger, and I managed to jump in the pool without feeling the sting of this angry Delta Dimidiatipenne on one’s vunerable bits . Luckily it was the last day of our holiday, because it didn’t leave the villa seemingly getting off by being provoked and the fact I manged to escape it's clutches.

So what should I fish for, for the first quick evening session back? Chub perhaps? I’ve enjoyed catching them of late, or maybe a Barbel? 

Hey maybe venture to one of my syndicate waters where I’ve not even wet a line. Yeap you’ve guessed it, with the rod already made up and a loaf in the freezer, the Chevin it was. 

Dusk is approaching quicker as the weeks go by and the river low as it still is, this area is hard to ignore in the current conditions as not only has it produced decent Chub but it is also so damn convenient, so someone who struggles to find free time it’s ideal. 

Autumn and winter is more me for Barbel, Zander, Roach and the like when the water is coloured up I can fish morning weekend sessions for a likely bite, rather than a guaranteed blank.

The waters are still low though, so although I'd prefer to be roving some of the smaller rivers I fish, they are barely more than a piddle.

One particular area that I've only really targeted properly in the winter I also want to try in the Autumn. I'm sure there are Zander around despite being out numbered by the Pike that are here. It's about the only area of the Warwickshire Avon that I can fish in to dark.

Not only the Zander but I'm sure apart from the decent Chub there could well be some Barbel here that I am sure beyond dusk is the best time to target them. So one rod boilie and paste or meat and the other a deadbait.

Anyway back to the session, as the picture shows above here the Chub really are cagey and once one is caught the swim literally goes dead even a chub is retained in the landing net to avoid spooking the small head of fish . They beauty of the stretch though is the ability to fish four or five swims quite quickly, so I start upstream and work my way down, that way the freebies of bread that remain unhindered could well be intercepted by fish further down the river.

Quite a few times now I've heard fish take the bread that cannot be seen which gives me an indication where they are. They had started to work out my tactics mind you, so not fishing for a couple of weeks may well be what I needed to spur them on to feed again. I lost a right clonker, which I'm sure was bigger than the recent 5lber, so before I leave them be till the winter, I'd try and squeeze a couple of sessions in hoping that the other waters available to me improve condition wise.

My roving set-up

If there are Chub when the bread is loose fed there they show themselves quite quick but after a couple of swims without any showing I thought it might have been a wasted trip. The next swim though after creeping in to place after wading myself through stingers a couple of freebies I could see a few fish coming up in the water to inspect the bread and one nudged a piece too. After a good fifteen minutes or so after getting their confidence and them happily taking bread off the surface I put on a chunk as hookbait.

A big fish came up almost immediately but then it must have sensed something was wrong as it went back to the depths. As it reached the tail end of the swim which is only around 20ft long a smaller fish came up without a care in the world and nailed the bait.

It gave a pretty good scrap despite it's size and trying to get in to the platform under my feet but after steering it away from it, it ended up in the net. Not the biggest of fish for this area at 3lb 8oz but most welcome after not fishing for a couple of weeks. The swim went dead after that, and after a few more swims without any fish topping or any interest I decided to call it a day.

A lovely sunset followed quite quick after a vibrant rainbow that went as soon as it came out, it's very pleasant indeed being out in the English countryside again. The temperatures are dropping overnight so I'm sure that will bring more fish out after the conditions are more suited for them to feed. It certainly feels Autumnal that's for sure, after the ridiculous summer we are having hopefully we will get some seasonal normality back.