Chubby Boy

With half-term still upon us my little fishing buddy is still accompanying me bank side. This time his order was a Chub, having lost a decent one on the previous trip so armed with a bucket of bronze maggots we headed downstream. 

Again we were feeder fishing but I didn't bank on the volume of tiddlers that reside in this swim. I have fished the swim before but generally with much bigger baits that avoid unwanted tiddler attention and wean out the better fish. Didn't have a clue how many fish actually reside here.

Gudgeon were the main culprits for all manner of twitches, rattles and shakes of the tip and we landed several beauties, another species ticked off Max's quickly expanding list.

Upon retrieval of one of the smaller specimens the rod was nearly wrenched from Max's arms as a Pike snatched it. Unfortunately, despite conciderable careful cajoling the Pike bit through the hooklength before we could land it.

Eventually we landed the target fish, a decent Chub of about two pounds.....

.....resulting in a smiley smug little angler!!

Max's account click here

Parish Games Match

Whilst I enjoy the camaraderie that fishing a team match gives I don't want it to be any more than an annual event. Being told when and where to fish goes against my nature but this year I enjoyed more than ever before. That was mainly down to the fishing. Whilst the majority struggled I found myself in a half decent peg which gave me hope and when I missed a bite first chuck my confidence still grew.

Peg Twenty was my station for the five hours down in the middle of town and I started fishing maggot feeder about two thirds of the way across. Four Perch in the first hour was a start but I was gutted when I lost the biggest at the net, well over a pound it could have made a big difference.
Whilst feeder fishing I fed a line about a rod length out regularly with maggots and for a change I decided to give it a trot. First run through resulted in a Perch and after that followed a procession of Gudgeon.

They continued for the remainder of the match and I finished the day with quite a respectable net full of fish weighing in at 3lb 4oz. The fishing had been tough for most so much so that I had enough to frame in third place so ended up £25 richer. And the team finished a respectable fourth.

Adapting for Success

A beautiful sunny September day and a rare (of late) opportunity for me to spend a few hours by the river. 10am - 2pm is probably the worst time to fish and couple that with a river that is lower and clearer than I have ever seen it before makes for a tough angling session. Still beggars can't be choosers.
I wandered up and down the river looking at all the usual Barbel swims but the lack of fish in any of them forced me into a rethink. Luckily I had a plan B involving maggots and the deeper swims. I just fished for bites, pure and simple, any species would do, wasn't bothered.
In fact I had an enjoyable couple of hours, plenty of action involving lots of these.....

and loads of these....

Oh and a solitary Gudgeon.
Fish of the day was this 7oz Dace that I nonchalantly swung in thinking it was a small Chublet but was over the moon when it turned out to be a Dace.

A pretty decent Dace for the Avon and a fun day pleasure fishing. If I had fished for Barbel I would definitely have blanked. Maybe some anglers would have preferred that but not me, it is more fun to catch something than nothing at all.

Exploring the Upper Avon

The upper Warwickshire Avon in it's more intimate and diminutive form is a stunning waterway winding it's way through it's namesake county and boasting more natural bank sides that are not manicured for comfortable angling. Today Martin took me to one such stretch where knowing the time was never a problem as the church constantly reminded us.
Our tactics were in complete contrast. I fancied a day trotting catching anything that came along, lots of action without discrimination of any species. Martin would bait, wait and try to nail some of the stretches famed big Chub. An equally relaxing style but quite specific.

The run I chose screamed Dace with a chance of Chub. A pacy near bank run that flowed under a fallen willow. I fed maggot and hemp and caught right from the off. Dace followed Dace followed Roach followed Chublet with a few Bleak and Gudgeon thrown in for good measure. I soon built up a steady rhythm of nearly a fish a chuck and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

No monsters but some decent size Dace among them. Somewhere in this river there are some monster Dace but as yet I haven't found them, I will keep searching though.
Lunchtime came and went and I decided to explore some more of the stretch. I found a slower glide and chose to freeline some rolling meat along some overhanging willows. In no time at all I hooked into a decent Chub.

Meanwhile Martin's tactics had come to fruition and he landed four decent Chub. The biggest was this 4lb 5oz specimen which he backed up by a trio of 'threes'.

Mid afternoon and the sweaty waders came off and we retired to the pub for cold liquid refreshments.

Still on my Perch

I couldn't resist another crack at my 'latest' favourite fish the Perch. Again it had to be a river variety, when the cold wet weather arrives(no sign of it yet!) I will target some still water stripeys but while the Warwickshire Avon is in such good condition I will stick with it. I also took a bucket of maggots along so that there was plenty of action. The fish fed well right from the off seeing me land loads of Dace, several Roach, a few clonking Gudgeon, some Chublets and a few smaller Perch.
I also landed a lively Jack and the best fish of the day, a chunky Perch weighing 2lb 2oz. An enjoyable session in this mini Indian summer we are having.

Opportunistic Angling, Monster Perch

This morning I didn't set myself any targets, had no real ambition, I just wandered down to the river with a bucket of maggots and a tin of luncheon meat. I thought I would just catch fish under no pressure whatsoever. I started off in my favourite Dace swim happily trotting away loose feeding as I went hoping for a decent fish or two to come my way.
In the next swim above me was Hank, a friend of the family who has recently been made reduntant and feels that fishing is a good way to spend his now abundant free time. What he lacks in skill he makes up for in enthusiasm and I'd gone along to give him a few pointers. His plan involved swimfeeders and the way he kept losing them, lots of them.
We were building up quite a netful between us catching Dace, Roach and Gudgeon with consistent regularity. None of them monsters but good fishing fun all the same. We were about halfway through the session when I noticed a disturbance by the keepnet. At first I thought a Jack had taken an interest in our captives but on closer inspection I made out a monster Perch that was obviously pretty hungry. Not being the sort of person to miss out on an opportunity, look a gift horse etc I thought I'd like some of that.
I snipped off the hair rig on my Barbel rod and stuck a size eight hook through the lip of a mini Dace.

Float just beyond the keepnet

My keepnet was under a Willow tree which I used as a makeshift rod rest and dropped the Dace by the net in only two feet of water. The bait runner was put on and I left it as a sleeper. I carried on 'tiddler bashing' for a while when suddenly the sleeper rod burst into life and a fish shot off into the main current. I grabbed the rod but within seconds of me doing so the hook pulled-gutted! I dropped it back on the same spot and ten minutes later it went again, this time though I won a short battle but I was disappointed as the Perch I drew over the net was definitely not the same one I saw terrorising the keepnet, I was sure the one I saw was much bigger.

1lb 2oz

The sleeper rod went out again with fresh bait and I continued trotting maggot down the main flow still catching bits and pieces including some quite decent sized Gudgeon. All went pretty quiet and with about ten minutes to go I checked the sleeper bait to find the hook bare so I put on one last Dace. Within minutes the reel screamed as another fish made off into the main flow. I gained control, turned it's head and saw a great swirl that set my heart racing, I was attached to a good fish. Slowly and carefully I drew the fish upstream and breathed a huge sigh of relief as it was forced into the net. I pulled back the folds of the net and knew that this was definitely the one I was after.
Big Perch have been a nemesis of mine in recent years, eluding my considerable efforts so hopefully this 3lb 2oz beauty will break that run of poor results, my biggest Perca Fluviatilis for over 20 years.

3lb 2oz

Back she goes........

There was no need to carry on, I had just caught one of the biggest Perch I have ever heard of from the Warwickshire Avon, job done.

Dace day

It's nice to set off fishing knowing that there is very little chance of a blank, which is exactly how I felt this morning as I trudged across the soaked fields heading for Barton weir. Heavy overnight rain meant the river would be rising but I knew it would be a few hours before it started to affect the fishing conditions. The lower than recent temperatures would not matter either as I was chasing Dace, a fish that will feed in all but the very extreme temperatures.
My tactics were simple....

four pints of maggots.....

one rod, a John Wilson travel avon, easy to transport and light......

and a simple running rigged black cap feeder with a float stop to create a self hooking/bolt effect. Barbless hooks because they are easier to extract from small delicate mouths leaving no damage.

I caught a Dace first cast into the fast water and a steady succession followed mixed in with a couple of Perch, Roach and a big Gudgeon.

I gave up at 2pm, the bites had slowed up, the river had risen three inches, I was freezing cold(must dig out the long johns) and I had just lost my third feeder to an unseen snag.

An enjoyable day chasing a stunning diminutive fish that are very obliging.