Warwickshire Avon.: Please Repeat That.

Before and after I set about single-handedly disposing of my my company's assets I'd been doing a spot of fishing.

The story of each trip has been lost to time as it's been a while since I've posted on here (must try harder).

As such I'm going to throw out a few photos and themes maybe you could just 'imagine in' the gaps for me. If I just focus on the positive bits and you intersperse a few blanks and hours of staring at motionless bite indicators that will sum things up nicely.

Trotting the Canal.
I went back to the Grand Union for a few hours before Leamington Angling's AGM. The water was constantly on the move and I soon became frustrated trying to get my sensitive float to hold bottom in the tow without it being dragged under.

After a short while I had the revelation of taking off the bottom shot completely and letting the float move along in the current, sometimes left to right, other times right to left. I carried on trickling in maggots onto the central area and soon started to get bites. I ended up with three skimmers and a couple of perch. Going with the flow was far less frustrating than fighting it.

Trotted canal Skimmer.

Can't Catch Tench.

I've visited Hardwick / Smith's at Linear fisheries twice now to try for a decent tench.

The first trip I caught four carp to just over nineteen pounds. Lovely fish in lovely surroundings but not the intended target. Meanwhile Dai Gribble was on another part of the lake and he had a dozen tench in a morning with four nines amongst them. Talk about localised though, his mate was fishing the next peg was struggling as much as me.

Second trip out I couldn't get anywhere near the swims I wanted as the place was rammed and so settled into Dai's swim fishing replica Dai's methods. Not a sniff all night. I was up at four thirty in the morning and undertook a dawn bivvy move to try and get closer to where I thought the fish were but royally blanked.

Joe makes it look so easy!

Here There Be Monsters.
I did a night at a midlands gravel pit in search of monster cats but they didn't come out to play. Exciting fishing though, casting out half a tin of meat coated in various stinking glugs and powders and watching the rods.

During the daylight hours I had fun catching a bag or roach on the wand. Lots of fish but none over eleven ounces.

One Fifteen Snitterfield Crucian.
I caught a one fifteen Snitterfield crucian.

One Fifteen Snitterfield Crucian.

Floater Fishing at Snitterfield.

Whilst floater fishing at Snitterfield reservoir a fifteen ounce roach took my bait, bizarrely increasing my challenge score for the species.

Floater Caught 15oz Roach.

Later on in that session I recaptured the grass carp I'd had last month but this time weighing twenty one pounds ten ounces. A new pb and another bizarre improvement of score.

21lb 10oz Snitterfield Grass Carp.

Insert Fish Here.

Another Repeat, This Time a Bream.
On the Grand Union again and greedily hoping for an even bigger silver bream, I only went and caught the same fish as before. This time at one pound fifteen ounces. I now refer to this fish as Berlusconi when I'm talking to myself or shouting and throwing things at passers by out of my bedroom window.

Seen it all before.

I Like Mowing Grass

I didn't fish for a week before the new season. I'd become tired of stillwaters and half my mind was already on the river.

To quench this thirst I borrowed one of the club's petrol strimmers and took to cutting out as many pegs on the Avon as humanly possible in the time available. It was a good excuse to spend a few evenings by the river without the mental burden a rod sometimes brings.

Very satisfying.

A Cat At Last.

I fished on the opening night of the season and caught a twenty five pound ten ounce catfish.

I was fishing for a bite rather than specifically for them and it picked up a trimmed down single boilie on a two ounce running lead on my barbel rod. It gave me a very good fight!

I'll gum you to death.

25.10 Catfish.

I Haven't Caught a Barbel Yet.
I've had a couple of tries to date but am yet to open my barbel account on the Avon. I've had plenty of chub and bream and so am confident in what I'm doing, I'm simply waiting for a barbel to come along and make a mistake.

The best chub so far is this four pound thirteen ouncer from Wasperton.

4.13 Wasperton Chub.

Catching these two chub in quick succession on a centrepin whilst standing in the water were the most enjoyable fish thus far.

A Pair of Avon Chub (biggest 3.12).

Elron's Quest.

The idea of catching a big eel is intriguing me this year. Big eels appear to be mysterious creatures, both few and far between and inhabiting some strange places. Big eel anglers appear to be clinically insane, devoting ridiculous amounts of time to finding / catching them with apparently scant reward. We'll see how I get on.

This baby eel was one of two caught recently during my first ever session devoted to the slimy things.