Robins Love Cheese Paste

Well it wouldn't be Christmas without a Robin pictured on a rod, scrounging maggots or in this case a lump of cheese paste. It kept us merrily entertained during a slow period. 

Max and I were back down by the Warwickshire Avon, the lad legering the aforementioned paste and I trying to lure a toothy creature on a Roach dead bait. 

A resounding three-nil victory for Max with a two pounder (above) and two three's (below) both weighing exactly the same 3lb 2oz.

A new pb as most fish are when you are just beginning your angling journey. I did manage to hook one small Jack but it spat the hook before we had chance to land it.

Happy Sunshine Boy

By the time we got to the river it was already late morning, the sun was shining and felt lovely and warm on our backs. I had intended to would wander upstream towards the weir but Max liked the look of the car park swims so we dropped into the first one and it proved a good decision. 

Within minutes the quiver tip rattled and he landed a small Dace. Only the one rod out so I kept myself amused with the camera while the lad fished.

Fellow fisherman

'It was this big'

 The boy likes to talk and talk, mostly about fish and whilst I prefer a bit of peace and quiet I am not about to curb his enthusiasm.
It didn't take long before another fish found the red maggots to its liking and with some skill Max landed a new pb Chub weighing 2lb 9oz. He played it beautifully avoiding the nearside vegetation. With the hook removed I showed the boy the contents of the fish's mouth, he was amazed that the greedy blighter had literally hundreds of maggots down its throat.

A decent Chub that was followed very next cast with a cracking Perch. He has now started to realise that some fish cannot be bullied and need a bit more gentle persuasion- a valuable lesson.
I was nearly as excited netting these fish as Max was catching them and the winter sunshine really shows them off.

Not a lot more action followed and we soon left just after lunch, a satisfied gillie/photographer and a content angler.

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

More Max Fishing

My blog is in danger of being completely taken over by a small boy whose passion for angling is showing no signs of waning. He has however started his own blog now, check it out.
Thursdays (cut short by the weather) afternoon session again at Willow Farm was highlighted by Max's first Carp. A pretty apple slice scaled Mirror that led him a merry dance. Max float fished maggots while I plonked a prawn down by the lilies to give us a back-up option. The Carp picked up the prawn and made the boys day.

His next session was scheduled for Saturday but we gave storm Brian a wide berth and postponed until Sunday morning. The wind was still blowing a hooley so we kept the rod tip as low as possible while feeder fishing maggots. The swim took some getting going but after an hour or so the fish started to oblige.
Ever since our first session Max has had a weird obsession about catching an Eel. I have told him that the time of year meant that it was unlikely and that the numbers of Eels are not what they used to be, trying to soften the blow of disappointment. Well I shouldn't have wasted my breath. We had already landed a quality netful of Perch, Roach, Dace, Chublets and the biggest Bleak I have ever seen, when the rod bent over and stayed bent over. Max laid into the unseen adversary, I thought he was attached to a decent Chub so imagine our surprise when an Eel appeared at the net. Excited high fives followed. It was not going in the keepnet so we weighed and photographed it and put it straight back.

Max insisted he was going to hold it for the trophy shot, he obviously had no idea what is involved in holding an Eel. His expressions speak a thousand words.

Eventually he got it under control.

And it took him about half an hour to get the slime off his hands.

Posing with the biggest Perch of the day was much easier!

Max Bagging Up

Max has got the bug bad. All he has spoken this week is going fishing, different species, places to go. He has always had a passion for animals but that has now transpired to all things fish as well.
This week I planned an action packed morning to add further fuel to the fire in his belly and to give him more experience of casting, playing and also unhooking some fish for himself. As sad as it is a commercial would be the best place but not somewhere catching pasties and mud pigs. A silver pool like the one at Willow Farm was ideal, plenty of bites and a lovely variety of silver fish.

First cast a decent Roach and he insisted the camera came out to record the historic moment. Several more followed along with some decent sized Silver Bream and a few dainty Perch.

When he started to get the hang of things it gave me an opportunity to get the camera out and take some action shots.

A quick learner it was a joy to hear his squeals of delight when he got a fish on.

Biggest fish of the day was this 2lb 2oz Common Bream.

Pleased as punch with a quality netful of Silvers. Back on the river next time....

Childhood Enthusiasm Rekindled

Picnic by the river, Max enjoying his ham sandwiches on his first ever Pike fishing trip.
It was hard work, several swims in different stretches, Max's patience started to wain, it is not easy to keep a seven year olds boredom at bay when the fish won't play ball. We tried slow stretches, under willows, dying reed beds, deep holes and shallow glides., every spot that looked likely. Moving swims renewed the lads enthusiasm each time but without results. Eventually we ended up on the edge of a weir pool.
The dead baits remained untouched still so a change of tactic to sink and draw and on the second cast we finally got a take. It was not a monster (thankfully) as the adrenaline got Max in a bit of a panic but with a little coaching he did enough to get the fish to the net. A perfect predator in miniature was bravely held up for the camera and my relief was immense. He was so buzzing with excitement he asked to phone his mum straight away, he couldn't wait to tell her he had caught his first Pike. I had forgotten what that sort of excitement was like but it came flooding back, I'm still buzzing on his infectious enthusiasm. He had the camera out the bag before I even got into the house and the printed photo is pride of place by his bed-until the next time. I gave him a book and now he wants to catch a Catfish- or an Eel-or a Barbel or a...
Wouldn't we all love to be at that discovery age again?!