Out With a Whimper

Well my final river session of the season was an anti climax as I bombed out on a decent looking Leam. I intended to wander well out into the woods to reacquaint myself with a swim I'd discovered earlier in the season. It would also get me well away from other anglers.

It all changed when I found no sign of anyone else  at the parking spot, despite it pushing towards 9am. Quite incredible for a last day and on a weekend. It changed my plans for the day and I decided to take the simpler option of a pool about 100 yards upstream that had yielded a few fish earlier in the season.

I gave it the bread mash treatment in three areas and worked my way through them. Nothing doing. Even the banker swim with a small raft failed me and I was getting cold and agitated by the nagging facing breeze.

I gave up on that pool and jumped in the car to head to more familiar territory. I wanted a change though, so I spurned the usual bank and headed for the opposite side of the river and some shelter from the wind.

After two more failed swims I finally found a few fish in a section that I'd never tried before. It saved a blank I guess! More knowledge gained for next season too and I will definitely be back.

Plans are now being hatched for next season and a little scouting mission is lined up for this weekend to check out a different river. I also need to work out some closed season options. For the first time in many years I have no stillwater options on my club tickets. The closure of the Warwick racecourse reservoir scuppered me in that respect.

I shouldn't really have any issues, with seven pools (five offering free fishing) within a 20 minute walk of my front door. Two canals in that zone, further widen the options. I haven't fished any of them for quite a few years, so maybe it's time to stay a little closer to home to see what's changed. Lure fishing on the canal is a likely starting point this weekend. I have never caught a zander by design, so it's time to try to put that to bed.

Finally, I've always been intrigued by swing tips and their potential for sensitive bite registration, but I've never actually used one. The quiver tip is now the main form of tip based bite detection and aside from that, for my legering, I've only ever dabbled in butt indicators and cheap bite alarms which don't exactly thrill me.

While searching for potential new purchases I stumbled on a Shakespeare specialist rod that has a threaded top eye to accommodate a swing tip. For a shade over £30 delivered, I had to take the plunge, as well as grabbing a swing tip from elsewhere. Any excuse for a new toy to play with! I'm sure I'll invent a reason to try it out soon...