Short Chub Session

The sun was shining and with the river back to its beautiful Winter best, I just had to sneak off for a couple of hours Chubbing. I grabbed some smelly cheese paste from the freezer and headed to a banker swim for Chub. With only two hours at my disposal this was not a session for exploring, just a chance to get a bend in the rod and fix the itch.
The ever faithful Chub didn't let me down. The bites were quite finicky but once I had worked out that I was not going to get big twangs and pulls I managed to hit a few fish. No monsters landed but some good fun in the resplendent Winter sunshine.

Car update: It is still there and is looking pretty sorry for itself, the floods have not done it any favours!!

Trotting the Wye

A day spent trotting for Roach on the glorious River Wye was an opportunity I was not going to pass up. The river was perfect having a few extra feet on, lovely colour and had been fairly settled for a few days.

The day started well with some lovely Perch, Roach and Dace finding the maggots irresistible but then the Bleak moved in in their thousands and absolutely mullered every grub thrown their way.

It was time for a move downstream. Thankfully the Bleak didn't follow and we were able to catch more quality Roach of about a pound, some small Chub and some more Perch.

It was such a pleasure to fish this stunning fish-filled river, I just hope I get to return soon!

Rumours of Monsters

A village pond that is free fishing and has reliable rumours of 4lb perch residing in it. That is something that needs to be investigated and finally I managed to take a few hours away from the business (which is going a bit too well!) and paid a visit. Located in beautiful Cotswold countryside the pond is gin clear telling me that few Carp live there and there was plenty of small fish activity meaning a plentiful supply of food for any marauding big Perch. Good signs.

There are loads of snags to hide in including a fallen Willow that had been down for a long time. 

Having not had chance to visit the tackle shop my only bait choice was some prawns from the freezer. As Martin pointed out via text the Perch would not have seen these before so worm may have been a better bet but I gave them my best shot anyway.

Sadly I think Martin was right (but don't tell him!!) The bait remained untouched. A Carp leapt clean out of the water near the fallen tree and out of desperation for a pull on my string I chucked a Prawn in the direction of the disturbance. Within minutes the float slid sideways slightly and I struck, more in desperation than hope. Surprisingly I was attached to a fish. It was dangerously close to the snags and used all its power to try and reach them. I gave it everything I had on four pound line and my light float rod and thankfully I won.

There was no need to put a weight on such a fish, just admire its beauty quickly and release it back to its watery home. I am not a fan of Carp fishing unless they are stunning, barely fished for and rarely caught stunners like the one above, those I could get used to.
I'll be back and the next visit I will be worm-armed.

One Bite Can Make All the Difference

I'll start this post the same way as everyone else seems to start theirs at the moment: River bank high, chocolate coloured, drop in temperature etc. Fishing time is precious so rather than flog a dead horse we headed to the local commercial in search of the elusive monster Perch that grow fat therein on a diet of stunted fish and left over match bait.
The fishery in question has a reputation for throwing up five pounders but funnily enough there are no photos to verify these massive specimen and I doubt they were even weighed. Anyone who is inexperienced in catching big Perch will no doubt be way out when trying to guess the weight of these fish. I've had a few now and I still never get it right.
The fishing was slow, tediously slow. We blamed the cold, not unusual for this time of year but this has not been a usual year for weather!

It took a good few hours before finally we had a bite, first blood to Martin. A decent sized double figure Carp. I'm not sure why, maybe because the fish was freezing cold but Martin thought he would give it a cuddle. Or maybe he's not been getting much lately!!

It obviously warmed the fish up as it gave a powerful flip and Martin ended up juggling it about for a while and then doing his uncanny impression of Keith Arthur.

Back under control he resumed some serious posing again.

Another spell of inactivity followed before I caught a Carp of my own. One of those fish that give commercial fisheries a bad name. So ugly that I did not even take a net shot. Half it's mouth was missing on one side. the other side not much better, it had three dorsal fins where there should only be one and a nasty sore just above it's tail. It had suffered enough and I felt guilty that I had put it through more!
An hour later, early afternoon the float twitched but didn't fly under, just edged its way away from the marginal tree towards the centre of the pond. A positive strike and it was obvious that this was no Carp as the rod tip jagged about in a way that could only mean Perch. Soon enough it surfaced and the hook which was only held by the tiniest flap of skin thankfully kept its hold. At last we had what we came for, Even though it fell short of the three pound mark by only one ounce I was still overjoyed at my biggest Perch for this fishery and believe me I have fished there many times.

I pulled my usual dour Yorkshireman pose before Martin said something mildly funny to make me giggle. 

2lb 15oz

And then he got all artistic with the camera but to be fair the result below was worth it.

Two more small Perch followed before we called it a day, we were cold to the bone but it only takes one fish to make a difficult day worthwhile.

It's Lovely Down South

With the amount of water around at the moment and hurricane Frank violently battering us,(it took the roof off the kid's playhouse this afternoon-another job for the New Year!) it was amazing that yesterday we were treated to bright blue skies and some sorely missed sunshine. We had to head way down south to find it though.
Our target was Roach and Dace, not the incessant procession of Trout that found our maggots irresistible.

By moving about the river I did find some Dace up to 8oz which were good fun but the Roach were nowhere to be seen.

We carried on into darkness in the vain hope that they might show but they continued to elude us. Scant reward for a tough round trip of over six hours but that won't deter us from returning.

The Avon and the Car: Update

I half-heartedly cast a line yesterday into a rapidly rising Warwickshire Avon. Thankfully it doesn't look likely to break its banks this time unlike virtually every river in the north of England. My heart goes out to those unfortunate folk who will have a pretty miserable start to 2016.

I didn't expect much action but I wasn't there to empty the place, just an excuse to get out and walk the dog really.

The amount of crap being washed downstream was amazing but made the fishing doubly difficult. On the plus side when the water does recede the river bed will be a lot clearer. 

1pm

Car update: It is still there but probably not for much longer if the river keeps rising. Latest word bank-side is that someone lent it to their friend and the chap that abandoned it has not been seen since! It is not fully insured, only third party and the owner hasn't got any money so cannot get it retrieved. Both the police and environment agency were informed over eight weeks ago. The Avon Navigation Trust won't do anything about it but My betting is that will change when it slides into the river and is sat right in the boat lane entrance to the lock.

2.30pm

A Good Move

The initial intention was to fish for Barbel and I set up in the same swim as last week. Conditions looked great, the river was about a foot above normal, had a nice colour to it and the temperature of late has been exceptionally mild for the time of year. Feel a 'but' coming along? As is often the case the Barbel hadn't read the script. After over an hour with no activity, not even a slight twitch I decided a change of tack was required. 

I like to always have a plan B in place as my fishing time is precious and never to be wasted. I grabbed some cheese paste and a pack of Roach dead baits and wandered down below the weir. Dead bait in the margin, cheese out in the flow and finally got some action. A brace of Chub landed both around the three and a half pound mark. Cracking battles in the snaggy swim.

Only one bite to the dead baits but a really pleasing stunning Pike of 11lb 3oz. The move was well worth it.

Struggled to get the focus right on the self-take but rescued what I could on the computer.
The car is still there and getting closer to the river!!

December Surprises

When I made my first cast this morning there was more hope than expectation. Over night temperatures were hovering around 5 degrees centigrade and the river level was on the rise. I decided to play it safe fishing two rods, a 'sleeping' Pike bait chucked along the margin and maggot feeder deployed towards the far bank willows. I settled back preparing to build a swim hoping to nail a few Roach, Dace and maybe the odd bonus.
My coffee flew everywhere when the rod tip almost immediately jumped in the rest, bent down towards the water and just kept on going in a manner that could only be produced by an angry Barbel.  The anti reverse was clicked off just in time to allow the fish some line and the battle commenced. What was obviously a reasonable fish used the strong flow to its full advantage and the 3lb hook-link rendered me fairly helpless to do anything but hang on. Gently and carefully I coaxed the fish back upstream and with an aching arm I breathed a sigh of relief as it slid into the net. A short immaculate specimen that was as fat as butter. Curiosity got the better of me and I put it on the scales, 8lb 6oz.

I thought to myself that it was a one off and so stuck with the light hook-link and size 16 hook but it turned out to be a mistake. It didn't take long before another Barbel was hooked but this time the fish found a snag and with it its freedom.
Hint taken I tied on a new hook but this time using eight pound line. Surprisingly the Barbel were really having it and in no time at all I was attached to another. With more power at my disposal the battle was short-lived and soon enough I was slipping the net under another fat Barbel, this time weighing in at 9lb 6oz.

Normally I would have made the effort to take a decent photo but with a sloppy sliding bank side and a dodgy knee I settled for another 'net' shot rather than risking more damage to my painful joint.
Having never caught a Barbel in December before (I don't see the point in trying) I was made up with the mornings fishing so far. It didn't last though and following a quiet spell the maggot bait was swapped for cheese paste. The air temperature had noticeably fallen and felt much more 'Chubby'. The change of tack worked and a brace of Chub were landed, weirdly both weighed exactly the same, 3lb 12oz.

In between I also managed to land a small Jack Pike to round off a pretty good Winters day by the river.

Morrisons beats Tesco

The conditions were perfect for a days Perch fishing, little windier than I would have liked but dull and overcast for the whole day. 

Armed with plenty of prawns I headed to one of my favourite commercial puddles and deployed the bait under super-sensitive floats. The first couple of hours were frustrating to say the least as the floats dipped and rose, Any strikes were met with fresh air. I thought the culprits were small fish nibbling at the large bait until eventually I swung in an angry little crayfish with a lump of Prawn in its mouth and a size eight hook in its leg.

All morning I had been using Tesco finest prawns and didn't have a fish to show for them. I changed to Morrisons fresh farm prawns and had an instant result. Strange that the fish had a definite preference or was it that they just switched on at that exact time? 

Sadly not the Perch that I craved but at least the rod had had a bend in it from a pretty little F1.

Almost instantly another Carp fell for the bait, this time a Common.

Then finally the target species showed up, the first of four landed in total and the first one ended up being the biggest, weighing two pound on the nose. A decent fish but they grow a lot bigger in there.

I lost count of the number of Carp that gate-crashed the party, they were good fun on light tackle though.

Not an easy self take!!

Tazzy got bored and proved that she is crap at hide and seek.

Chub on the Cheese

The recent drop in temperatures had me reaching into the freezer for some home made cheese paste and I headed off down the Warwickshire Avon in search of some big Chub. My target every Winter is to break the six pound mark (my pb being just short of that). A tall order on the river locally with the majority of the fish weighing three or four pounds and a five being a good fish. I know I could venture further afield to give myself more chance of hitting the target but the satisfaction would not be the same so I'll stay local until I crack it.

I love Winter fishing for the solitude. My only company on the whole stretch was a pair of nearly fully grown cygnets and the now common Kingfisher. Call me a miserable Yorkshireman but I go fishing to get away from people(apart from a few fishy buddies), not to be sociable with strangers.

Miserable Yorkshireman!!

 The fish were finicky but I did manage to land three Chub, all peas in a pod and all weighing virtually the same, just short of the four pound mark. Good sport as always in the conditions.

Still miserable!!

P.S The car is still there!!

Marlcliff Moron

 

There are far too many idiots in this world and sadly fishing has it's fair share. I didn't believe it when Andy told me that someone had driven past the weir at Marlcliff and down to the first peg on the lower meadow but today I saw the evidence with my own eyes. For anyone that doesn't know this stretch of the river there is a car park about two hundred yards upstream for BAA members. There is a lower unofficial car park down by the weir that is not supposed to be used as it is owned by British Waterways but some do. This guy(presuming no woman is this stupid) has driven through that car park across the grass, round the lock arms up a path that is slippy as anything even in summer, around the bend and turned right down to the peg. How he has not ended up in the river I do not know as this is a slippy peg! His car has been there for over a week and I can't see it being shifted for some time to come. 'What an idiot!!'.

Anyway I didn't just go down there to see the car (although a bit of me did!). I had a go at some fishing too. Torrential rain in bursts, gale force winds from storm Barney and a lack of action meant I didn't stay long. For once I think the dog was fed up before me.