Warwickshire Avon – Feeders and Flash Panney’s

My last trip down this stretch of the Warwickshire Avon was quite an unproductive one initially, not only were bites hard to come by, but even after catching a couple of Pike I quickly realised just how little I know about this new to me water. So what better way to find out what’s lurking than by fishing a maggot feeder for anything that swims.

There are obviously bait fish here in abundance, hence the Pike and Zander presence, but also the depth, which was around 5 or 6 feet in many of the swims appeared on the face of it ideal for a good roach or two. You see not a million miles away I found a bit of a hot spot on the Avon with similar depth, that basically was chock full of roach. They were always there when I fished it and despite not being down to the stretch for a couple or three years I assume they are still there now to be caught.

This would also be a bit of a double dipping session as a predator would also be fished for from time to time using the same tactics as I used to save a blank which was on the cards here last time. Yeap, a deadbait tantalisingly suspended under a float to try and attract the attention of a waiting Pike or Zander. In one swim the river swirls and twirls and sort of creates a bit of a back eddy so one drift of the bait through the swim is never the same.

There was certainly no need for livebait given the two Pike caught and one lost in such a short period of time. At least I’d try and manage a Pike if the maggot feeding fish were not forthcoming, and I was hoping they would, as the plan was to try and map out what exactly is going on here. I’ve not taken the deeper down yet to scan the depths and bottom because I’m sure there are some fish holding areas I didn’t know about yet.

I’ve been caught out recently being undergunned for Pike so I decided to make up a dedicated Pike set-up rather than manage with my Zander rods. Ok the Zander rods might be fine for a double figure fish, but something bigger could well be too much of a tackle tester. I prefer single hooks for Pike so those stayed, but the rod was beefier and the wire gauge increased. Also the potentially weak part of the set-up which was the large quick stop I usually use, was ditched for a large Gardner Kwik Lok Swivel.

You’ve got to be confident landing a fish whatever your target or whatever the fish potential and I wasn’t, hence the change that I made for this session.

Mick, back on track please, how did the session go?

My God, I don't think I've ever fished the Avon so tough, there was a match upstream of me and I could hear the occasional shouts from the seat box frequenters,

"Hey Dave, you had a bite yet ?"

"Nah, nothing doing, not even a sucked maggot"

After an hour in the same swim where I'd caught Pike from last time and without a bite on maggot feeder even after balling in a couple of balls of groundbait I decided to go and have a wander on the stretch and fish a deadbait in likely looking predator holding spots and do a bit of leapfrogging. Again not even a nudge or an enquiry.

The bit of the Stour I can fish looked very low indeed but a good walk up the stretch gave me an idea of some nice swims I can fish in the future. Certainly lots to explore.

So lots of walking and not a huge amount of fishing, so the last hour was spent in the same swim to where I started, again nothing doing, no fish topping or moving. The river was certainly in a mood.

"Dave, anything ?"

"Nah, not a sausage, I might pack up early"

So a rare blank. but I like to keep a record anyway, despite the post of nothingness.

Warwickshire Avon – Gnashers and Gnathites

I stumbled upon this article again recently, that did make me laugh, you see a police force's e-fit of a burglary suspect has been mocked for its resemblance to the Cheshire Cat which famously appeared in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, while others were reminded of the acid tripping psychedelic 1960s cartoon rockers the Banana Splits.

Warwickshire Police published the mock-up of the toothy fugitive on Twitter, but his super-sized grin attracted more hilarity than help. It drew a wave of comparisons to wide-mouthed cartoon characters including Zippy, from 80s kids' TV favourite Rainbow, and Batman villain the Joker.

The force said it had "anticipated the reaction" to the image.

It posted its appeal in a bid to trace a man wanted in connection with a distraction burglary in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The accompanying image showed a suspect sporting a black beanie hat, five o'clock shadow and an impressive set of teeth which saw one user dub him Mr Gnashers.

Internet users with clearly nothing better to do were chomping at the bit to reply to the post, which has been retweeted more than 1,000 times.

Apparently the incident happened in Stratford-upon-Avon between 14:00 and 14:36 GMT on 5 February 2018.

Police said two men claiming to be from Orbit Housing tricked their way into a flat in Hertford Place, with one distracting the occupant a woman in her 40s while the other searched the property. 

The thieving gits left with a quantity of cash.

Warwickshire Police confirmed the e-fit was real and had been created based on a description provided by the victim. The force said it hoped the extra attention would help catch the criminal faster and….

….Mick Newey from Stratford-Upon-Avon said thanks for reminding me to try and catch some huge mouthed Chub as he’d neglected this stretch for a while.

So yes after a very cold but oddly dry and frost free night  I was back trudging once more, one of my favourite stretches of the Warwickshire Avon to try and catch a chunky Chub or two. It’s a great stretch to fish in a cold snap as it’s a rovers anglers river, none of this sat in one spot lark, which, when it’s cold certainly tests ones extremities.

Bread as bait with liquidised bread as feed, could I winkle one of the chunky Chevins that live here out from the low and clear river. They are always even more cautious than they usually are, but use some stealth and consideration, one or two usually comply to give a bed in the rod.

Now I baited 5 swims with some bread and then started at the top and worked my way down, a small chub took a liking to my breadflake almost straight away, probably on the drop it was that quick, it's a small river though so once it's disturbed even if you retain a fish in the landing net usually that's it. The next swim a cormorant catches sight of me, make a mess of the swim and flies off,

Arrrrrrrhhhhhhh !!!!

So on to the next swim, again a fish took it on the drop and a proper pull round on the rod I connected in to nothing, another piece on, again the 1oz quiver pulling round confidently after a couple of minutes in the water.

Now this happened 4 times or so and the last time I struck and got caught in the rushes. Giving it a tug it eventually came out, so breadflake back on, again in the same spot and let it drift down.

Now this time though I connected in to a fish and then all hell breaks loose, the fish is trying to get under a raft with me hanging on for dear life. The 1.25TC TFG River and Stream rod bent double and  I'm quickly feeling undergunned. The hook is tied on  direct to the 6lb Maxima through, so no weak link having had issues in the past, but one last gasp run for it, the hook pulls out of the fish, Damn !!!!!

It felt a cracking fish as well and having caught my PB and plenty of 4lbers here, this was well up there, maybe beyond on what I've hooked before. After the lost fish I quickly got another bait out but no fish were forthcoming, even when I returned to swim before I headed back.

So three further swims fished and one small Chub caught and eventually something to take a picture of a nice, 3lb 6oz fish that liked again a big piece of bread. To be honest with it low and clear as it is I was suprised I managed to catch a few, just goes to show a bit of feed and also being quiet and stealthy can pay off.

It's on the second Chub down here I've lost to a hook pull, it must have been a good'un such the doing over it gave me, but hey, this is why we love fishing, what was that on the end of my line and I must come back here and fish again.

Warwickshire Avon - Cobwebs and Cagg Magg's

I saw figures from a report the other day which came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration where we have managed to lose more than half world’s reindeer since the mid-Nineties, the reasons for decline apparently were hunting and climate change.

We have lost 2.6 million of them. Not lost as in temporarily mislaid, but lost as in dead. We’ve managed to lose more than half the world’s reindeer since the mid-Nineties. The population is down from 4.7 million to 2.1 million, a 56 per cent fall.

The great problem in the reindeer’s life is the most obvious: cold. The Christmas story about them bringing us gifts from the frozen north might lead you to think a reindeer’s life in the freezer is straightforward. It is nothing of the kind: reindeer are very special animals and wouldn’t survive for a moment if they weren’t.

Their crucial adaptation is a circulation system that keeps their blood warm with remarkably little expenditure of energy. It’s a piece of stunning natural engineering and it’s contained in the nose in the form of a highly efficient counter-current heat exchange system. Reindeer noses contain a 25 per cent higher concentration of blood vessels than those of humans for this purpose, enabling them to warm the polar air as they breathe it in.

Now if only the Zander down this neck of the woods had an adaptation like that, you see they have been suspicious in their absence of late, but then the levels and the temperatures have been up and down of without any consistency and like all fish they take time to get used to conditions. 

I'd got a Westin Zander lure gift pack for Christmas and I wanted to try them out to blow some of the New Years cobwebs out. The yearly Newey Curry night was attended by even more friends this year so we had a proper houseful which meant not only more food as each guest brings a big pot of curry, but also it was more rowdy and more drink was brought and consumed, even the kids managed till midnight which is a first. Likely to be a yearly occurrence me thinks, however I may need a bigger house.

I had some success with Pike the other day by suspending a deadbait under a float in some oxygenated water and having success with Zander in the past in a weir pool I'd have set-up with me as well.

With the whole upper stretch to myself I started in the weirpool and there was encouraging bite quite quick which sadly didn't develop past a couple of tugs. Of inspection of the bait, there was the tell-tale Zander stab marks, but despite fishing the weir hard with the lure and having a deadbait out for another hour, no bites were forthcoming. 

Hmmmm, not good, so I headed down to an area that is usually quite productive as it provides a haven when the river is in flood, again nothing doing. So this is getting desperate now, up to the deep bit, yeap you guessed it, not even a nibble, so last gasp saloon, up to the upper pegs which provides some nice snaggy marginal swims with overhangs to put a deadbait and usually gives good sport on the lure.

Sure enough after a couple of casts, BANG !!! in to a fish, I knew straight away it was a Jack but at least it gave a spirited fight and avoided a blank. Another 3 Jacks came all from the same swim although from different areas but again, the Zeds were nowhere to be seen. 

I'm struggling on the Zed front now, ok there was at least 1m of visibility and colour helps, but even in the deep bit, I've not caught one in a while. Maybe the syndicate stretch needs more attention especially when the river colours up a bit.

That is unlikely to happen any time soon though, a proper cold spell is on the way.

2018 and was pretty good for me, I finally got the monkey off my back and caught a 5lb Warwickshire Avon Chub and also I caught my Barbel PB of 12lb 6oz's. Targets for 2019, well the canal Zander quest will continue and I want to spend more time fishing the little rivers and streams that really do float my boat, even though the fish are not likely to be huge. Oh and maybe improve my Chub and Roach PB.

Tight-lines all for 2019 !!!!