DayBream Believer

Saturday 27th March. College Pool - Sean & Brian. 9am to 4-30pm.

Occasionally during an angling year, you get sessions where things go perfectly to plan. Fish that were seemingly uncatchable on previous visits become hell bent on eating anything you put in front of them. More importantly, it's even the right species of fish that's playing ball - the one you set out to catch. These sessions are all too few and far between but every now and again your turn comes around.

For once I'd done a bit of thinking the night before - it's amazing how seriously you can start to take a challenge when there's a curry at stake. Food is a great motivator! I figured that the only species in College Pool that could set a stiff target for the rest of the year were the Bream, Barbel and Perch. I haven't really had any luck in the past with the larger of the resident Barbel or Perch, so the Bream were to be the target.

The pool was empty when we got there, which was a nice surprise. Maybe everyone had headed to Jubilee for their opening day - fine by us if they had. I arrived at the peg and the first job was to mix up the groundbait. I mixed up about a bag of some exotic sounding groundbait and added in some hemp and caster. In went about 8 "cricket balls" into an area about the size of a dinner table a couple of rod lengths out into 17ft of water.

This is the point in the day where I did make a screw up though. I had only brought one float rod with me - the trusty 15/17 ft rod. I knew that the area I'd baited was a little too deep to fish the float in a semi conventional manner. If I'm fishing close in here I often fish it stick float style using the 17ft option and back shot it to sink the line. That's OK in up to about 15 ft of water, but it gets awkward beyond that.

I opted to fish the slider instead using the 15ft option. It was also a chance to test out a home made waggler I'd made during the week. I set up the slider rig perfectly and went to cast out but the stop knot jammed in the rod rings. Looking closer at the rod now, I realised that it just wasn't cut out for the slider, as some of the rings were just a bit too small and prone to jamming.

Lesson learned though and it was back to square one and out came the 2ft extension. The only problem is that it has a ring in the middle of the section, so it really was back to square one. Although I felt stupid for wasting so much time, I wasn't overly bothered because I was expecting it to take a while for fish to settle over the groundbait - that's if they were going to settle!

As there was no wind to contend with, I set up a float rig stick float style and left out the backshot so that I could fish at full depth reasonably comfortably. After 15 minutes of inactivity, I took the chance to set up the feeder rod, but as I'd introduced a load of bait already, I opted to set it up with a small lead. I also rigged up the bite alarm so that I could continue to stare out the float that refused to budge.

Meanwhile on the next peg Brian hadn't had anything yet. He'd gone for two feeder rigs - one for pellet and one for maggot. He'd fed in some floating bread and a Carp or two were beginning to take an interest towards the end of the pool. He went for a walk to check it out, with a view to winkling one of them out later on.

As so often seems to be the case, the message seems to get back to the fish - Brian has left his peg and that's the all clear for the fish to move in. One of his rods crashed to the ground and I looked over to his peg. I wasn't sure if it had simply just slipped off a rest of whether there was a fish on, but I rushed over to check it out. Sure enough, a fish was on and I started to play it before handing over to Brian.

He got it under control fairly quickly and landed the first Carp of the season - a Mirror of 4lb 15oz. A new species and a bonus point on the board, although I'm sure there should be a rule for sharing points in the event of a joint effort!














A few minutes later it was my turn to get in on the action. The alarm went off and I connected with a fish that gave a distinctive lazy thud. It was a Bream and a decent one to start with of 5lb 8oz. 2 points back in my court for that one, to even the honours on the day.

Things went quiet for a while after that and I was left cursing a missed bite about an hour later. There was no need to worry though as a succession of fish then obliged at regular intervals for the rest of the day. I ended up with 8 Bream - all of them taken on the feeder rig. The roll of honour reads 3lb 9oz, 4lb 2oz, 4lb 8oz, 4lb 9oz, 4lb 13oz, 5lb 1oz, 5lb 8oz, 6lb 5oz. The latter is a personal best for me.

6lb 5oz Bream













Although a very pleasing session, it doesn't quite match one I had there last year when I banked 12 bream for approximately 60lb. Oddly though these are the only 2 sessions I have managed to catch a Bream on the pool - very much all or nothing for me!

Brian didn't manage to add to his tally, although I think he spent about half the time sleeping. At one point I even fired a rolled up piece of bread with my catapult and hit him perfectly on his back. He didn't even stir!

He did have a go at the Carp feeding on the surface when the sun came out for a while. I think he's been watching too many of theose Matt Hayes programmes though, as he seemed to be engaging in a bit of jungle warfare to get into position.

As is often the case, sod's law comes into play. If there are 2 similar looking pieces of bread to be had, the Carp will uncannily slurp down the one without the hook. If there are 3 pieces of bread, it will slurp down the 2 without the hook. And so on... That was pretty much the case here, as I heard a few moans and groans that the Carp were extracting the urine. There'll be plenty of chances to make amends though.

A Hard Dace Work

River Avon, Wasperton (Saturday 13th March) - Sean & Brian. 11-30am to 6pm.

In true Scrooge style I'm making no attempt to flower this session up. I hadn't been feeling at my best all week and I finally gave in to a stinking cold over the weekend. With what's left of my my mind now firmly planning the gambling assault on Cheltenham, this will be brief - not least because there isn't anything to make it remotely exciting!

We started off down on the weir section. I'm not sure why I frog marched Brian all the way down there even now. I think I just fancied it because it's an area I always fancy might throw up a big fish - and big fish were clearly Brian's intentions for the day with his baiting approach. Ball it in man!

Anyway, nothing doing after a couple of hours so we decided to make tracks back towards the car park swims for the last few hours. Again it was tough going, but I winkled out a small Roach and Dace and started to get some positive bites on my worm rig on the lead. Nothing was connected with though and then it all petered out again. Brian was blanking but I did witness a definite series of sharp pulls on his Pike gear that sadly didn't develop into a full take.

As the light faded my swim kicked into life and the last half hour was a bite a chuck, albeit not the most positive bites I've ever encountered. I ended up with 5 Roach and 6 Dace, the latter extending the challenge score to a mighty 8 points (for what it's worth at this stage of affairs!). We bumped into Keith (Warwickshire Avon Blog) on leaving the water, so it was finally nice to catch up with a fellow blogger on the bank. I'm sure I'll catch up with everyone else soon enough.

With the rivers out of the way for 3 months, the attention turns to the stillwaters. For me that means a Ryton Tench campaign (and anything else it may care to throw up). The Tench fishing can be hit and miss, but if you catch it right, then the rewards are there. I had several 5lb+ fish last year, but couldn't crack the 6lber. This year....

I also need to get down to Snitterfield a bit earlier in the year too. That one could be key for the Crucian honours!

Thoughts are already turning to the next river season though and we're already talking about possible new venues to compliment the Leamington book. I'm aware of the obvious club books such as Birmingham, Warwick, Stratford (have held them all in the past), but is there anything else out there?

There's obviously a fair bit of the Avon from Rugby down to Stratford, but very little is documented on tinternet it seems. I know of Plough AC (near Ryton), Barford and there seems to be a Stoneleigh based club with waters also covering part of the Sowe. However, I don't know if any of these clubs are actually accessible.

If anyone has any info on club stretches north of Stratford, I'd be interested to hear about them. I realise some clubs probably require strange handshakes and a rolled up trouser leg to get a look in, but it's still nice to know where I'm not welcome!

An Anker of a Day

Rivers Sence & Anker (Mythe Farm) - Sean & Brian. 9-30am to 5-15pm

At long last we finally got to try out the delights that Mythe Farm offers. Although there was a sharp overnight frost, it was a stunning morning with not a cloud in sight. The first job was to sign the guest book and to try to glean a bit of info from our host. However, he wasn't a fisherman and so all he could do was to point us in the direction of the river. To be honest, that was good enough for us.

There's always something special about tackling a new river for the first time. On this occasion it was even better as we had 2 rivers to explore, peaceful surroundings and no-one in sight! Does it get any better we thought?

We meandered our way through to a large meadow and eyed up a few pegs along the way. Some of them clearly required a bit of jungle warfare so we carried on until we spotted something a little easier to access to kick the day off. We settled on a kind of S bend in the river, myself taking the upstream bend and Brian taking the dowstream one.

To cut to the chase, it produced nothing. Early optimism had now dwindled into the reality that this might be a tougher nut to crack than we had thought. I set about hatching the next plan. A good walk downstream was in order, to locate the point where the rivers meet - King Dick's Hole.

What a glorious looking hole it was too. There were a few likely spots and one area looked to have nice bit of extra depth to it. I was sold on it so I wandered back to get my gear and Brian.

Spot the Brian!














I continued with a feeder/lead approach, but as things were again slow, I took the chance to get set up a shallow float rig with a centre pin. I reeled in the feeder rig to discover something attached to the end of the rig. Was it a twig, or was it a leaf I thought? Then it appeared to flap around and it was definitely a fish. More importantly for the challenge, something different - something very different. It was a Bullhead and the first one I've ever caught.

Bullhead














Sorry about the crap photo, but they aren't the easiest thing to photograph. Another point for the challenge though.

Brian had now sized up his swim and deemed it fit for the predator treatment. It didn't take too long for him to get amongst the action either. He shouted across that he was getting a slow take on the deadbait and sure enough he connected with the fish. I moved into action grabbing the scales and camera and set about scrambling over to his peg. Sadly, I had to abort the mission as the Pike won the battle after a brief scrap.

Brian was gutted and from what he saw of the fish, he felt it was a definite double. It left a bitter taste in the mouth and many expletives were uttered over the next few minutes. I think Brian even contemplated chucking himself in the river.

I had no luck whatsoever in my swim and while Brian had missed a few bites, we failed to bank anything. I had taken a brief wander upstream to test out a fishy looking swim, but it also failed to produce. I arrived back in my peg to discover a group of kids had invaded the far bank and were intent of fishing.

There was no question of them asking if they could fish directly opposite us - they simply decided they were going to fish and to hell with whoever was already there! It was time to call it a day in these swims. To be honest the kids probably did me a favour as they helped to force me to try other swims.

I made my way back upstream and found a couple of decent looking runs. I settled on a peg near to an overhanging tree and with a nicely sheltered run down the near bank. It wasn't looking good after a biteless half hour, but I kept feeding it and hoped for the best.

Eventually a bite came but it was very finicky and I missed it. I quickly cast out to the same spot and within a minute another similar bite occurred. This time I did connect and I was into something that was giving a spirited fight in the fast water. It was a Chub and one that needed a check on the scales. It went 2lb 8oz, so although far from a specimen, it nudged up the current challenge mark for that species by half a pound.















The action didn't exactly take off though, but that one fish at least helped to make me a lot more positive. I continued to feed the liquidized bread and eventually got some further reward when I hooked into another fish that felt fairly decent. It briefly looked like a Chub, but then I started to doubt it. Was it a big Grayling I thought? Dream on! It's going to be a Chub isn't it?

It then hit the surface and a big grin appeared on my face. It was a Trout - the first one I'd ever caught in this country. I had caught them before as a kid many years ago in Ireland during a spot of poaching. I didn't realise we were poaching by the way - my dad just got his rivers mixed up - well he's sticking to that story anyway!

Anyway, back to the present and a fine looking Trout of 1lb 11oz was in the net. Another species and a further bonus point for the weight too.

The day ended shortly after 5 and by then it was starting to get a bit cold and we were glad to get back to the relative warmth of the car.

We'll definitely be back for another go - almost certainly next season now though. In hindsight we probably weren't mobile enough on the day, but it's all part of the learning curve.

Slab Happy Charlie

College Pool, Wasperton - Sean, Brian & Charlie. 9am - 4pm.

With Brian having a free day, I took the chance to use up some time owed to me from work for a Friday session. It was pretty obvious early in the week that the river would be out of sorts, so we opted for College Pool and were joined by Charlie.

The worst of the overnight weather had gone through by the time we arrived and was showing signs of clearing up. It was still pretty fresh though. Thankfully sense prevailed and we chose 3 pegs at the far end of the pool with the wind firmly behind us.

The pool was looking a bit healthier than it did towards the end of last year. The water level seemed to be dropping quite a bit over time and some of the impecably well kept pegs had been left perched quite a few feet above the water line. Today was different though and the level looked to be about a foot up from where it had been.

Those who know the pool will realise that an extra foot of water probably means having 15 foot of depth at the end of your rod, rather than 14 foot! I recall the first time I fished the pool many years ago. Setting up with bog standard waggler tactics I set about plumbing the depth and quickly gave up the ghost when my 13 foot rod was clearly a long way short of the mark! At that time I hadn't discovered a pole or the slider method, so fishing on the bottom was leger only in those days.

These days I have my secret weapon - a 15 foot rod with a 2 foot extension. It's a perfect tool for for this pool, albeit it's a bit of an unwieldy beast when the wind is gusting around like it was today. I had 15-16 foot of depth at the end of my rod and i fished it pretty much pole style with one of my medium sized home made avon floats, with all the weight at the bottom end. Slightly crude maybe, but in tricky conditions finesse sometimes has to go out of the window. Actually, finesse isn't a word you'd generally associate with my fishing, so these conditions were perfect!

This character isn't Brian














The session started slowly with all of us struggling for bites. Charlie and I had balled it early doors on a close in line with the hope of getting some bream action. Brian opted to fish a bit further out and balled in on a different line. After about half an hour I opened my account with a small roach and the action (if that's the right word) picked up from there. Bites started to pick up and I kept the feed trickling in and the fish seem to respond to it. I had a few more roach and perch over the next hour or so.

Meanwhile Brian was also having some success and proudly shouted over to claim a highly prized perch. For someone who doesn't care much for perch (doesn't like handling them), I've never heard such enthusiam for one of the little critters (of which there are thousands in this pool!). Anyway it was game on and a point on the challenge scorecard.

A call of nature was in order and on the way back I had a chat with Charlie, who was on a blank at this point. Charlie is actually a technically decent angler - brought up fishing in the Black Country on the Severn and Teme. He can tie tiny spade end hooks by hand in the blink of an eye, which is one of my ultimate measures of ability. I take the easy route using a hook tyer!

Anyway, while chewing the fat his rod tip gave a sharp tap. I immediately dismissed it as a line bite, being the optimist I am. Then a 2nd tug was followed by a more solid pull around and he was into something proper. It became obvious it wasn't one of the resident carp or barbel - you tend to know when you hook those! It was one of the bream they introduced last year and it wasn't long before it was in the net. A decent fish, it weighed in at 5lb 2oz.

The next couple of hours saw us all banking a few more fish of no great size, before things slowed down considerably after lunch for no apparent reason.

"If you want the rainbow, you have to put up with the rain"

There was a moment of excitement when Brian came wandering over, clutching a rudd he'd taken on bread. "Gotta be half a pound" he claims. So, we put it on the scales and they read 7oz. No bonus point! Still, another new species for Brian.

Charlie had just wandered away from his peg momentarily, having seen no action for a long while. While talking to me he spots his rod tip doing a merry dance. "There's a fish on mine", he says, "but it's only a small one by the look of it". Casually, he wanders back in antipation of a tiny perch on the end and looking at the rather tap, tap nature of the bite, I subscribed to the theory.

He lifts the rod gently and it just arches over as he connects with another solid fish. It's another bream - not quite as big as the previous one, but more than welcome at around the 4lb mark.

All in all, a pleasant day's fishing and there was no hint of a blank in sight. Maybe things are looking up! I must admit that I'm itching to get on the river before the season closes, so it's fingers crossed that things settle down over the next few days.

I have decided to apply a bit of leniency with the challenge rules and Brian's 7oz rudd will be given bonus status, on the basis that it did warrant a check on the scales. As a result he now levels things up at 4 all.

A Welcome Chub

River Avon, Wasperton -Sean & Brian - 9am to 3pm

After a relatively dry but chilly week, we decided to head for the river which we expected to be in decent nick. It looked like a good plan when we arrived at the far car park with no-one else in sight. The river looked perfect and we headed off over the stile and into the fields upstream of the swan's neck bend.

We settled on 2 pegs we had fished at the back end of last year. On that occasion I blanked and Brian banked a couple of pike of 7lb and 9lb. I think Brian sniffed a chance to get a Pike on the scorecard, while I was happy to plunder chub, bream, or anything really.

I thought I was doing well to get my pike rod in action before setting up a float or feeder, but I was still a long way behind. Brian has become very adept at getting his predator gear into play and this session saw him blooding a new bite indicator. Gone was the trusty rag and in it's place was something that I'm sure came off a keyring, or maybe a dog lead. Anyway, the theory looked good.

Sadly, the fishing wasn't good and despite various attempts between us with deadbait, maggots, caster & bread on float and feeder, they weren't having any of it. The wind was also getting up a bit and aside form making presentation awkward, it was bloody cold. A move was in order - down to the swan's neck bend to get the wind behind us.

Looking upstream















Looking downstream














I hadn't bothered to set up a float in my previous peg due to the downstream wind, so I kicked off with the feeder, with the pike rod in the margins. Confidence was much higher in this swim - if nothing else, because it felt 10 degrees hotter!

20 minutes of inactivity had me reaching for the float rod. I was keen to test out my new centre pin and this swim looked perfect for the job. Using one of my homemade avon floats I trotted through at about 6ft deep with double maggot on a size 18. With inch perfect control I teased the float around the swim like a master. Well, I let the flow take it all round the swim and tapped the reel every now and again to slow the float - it looked like I knew what I was doing!

Suddenly the float dipped on that first cast and I was attached to something proper.

A spiritied fight ensued, which saw the fish diving into the snag beneath my feet. Needless to say it was a chub and I had a bit of a dilemma when things went a bit solid. I could just see the fish (snagged), but with a 2lb bottom I couldn't bully it. The solution - in with the net, taking fish, snag and anything else in the way! It worked though and a pristine looking chub of exactly 2lb was banked.















Not a monster by any means, but very welcome and a bonus point for the challenge. Optimism was now high and we pressed on with renewed hope for day. Bizarrely that was the only fish from those pegs. Despite throwing everything at it, we didn't have another sniff. Brian even unleashed his secret weapon - crabsticks, but they too didn't work. Crabsticks do have one advantage over smelt though - if the fish don't want them, Brian hoovers them up!

Challenge score:

Sean 4
Brian 1

Scorecard (other species will be added if caught):

That's what a fish looks like!

College Pool, Wasperton - Sean & Brian. 8-30am - 3pm

The plan was to give the river a go if it was in a decent state, but with the pool as a back up. A quick glance over the bridge at Barford confirmed my thoughts. It was pushing through, with that unappetising drinking chocolate look about it. Probably OK for the die hard Barbel fanatics, but not for us, so off to the pool it was.

Peg choice was a pretty simple affair on a chilly, foggy morning, with a nagging cold breeze. Throw grass in air, watch where it goes, determine wind position and thus locate the most sheltered pegs. So, we went to the left bank a couple of pegs down from the car park - pegs neither of us had fished before.

Anticipating the usual bottomless peg, I set up the trusty 17 foot rod, so that I didn't need to fish a slider or the pole. I don't like fishing the pole here because I've been smashed up with a big fish too many times before. I opted for a positive groundbait approach - well I had some groundbait open and figured it might as well be used! A few balls went in, laced with casters, into about 12 foot of water, in the hope of getting the Bream going.

All was quiet - the silence only broken by a group of 9 swans gatecrashing our solitude. A bit odd really, as I'd never seen a swan anywhere near the pool before. They didn't hang around long and soon headed off.

Swan Pool
















Then a moment of excitement, as Brian watches his float dip under. In total disbelief he can't remember what to do and the bite is missed. Not to worry though, as he soon had a small roach safely tamed and his account was opened after his 3rd successive blank. A further roach followed it soon after and I was still blanking.

Eventually my moment came though and a small roach kickstarted my campaign. One of the other anglers popped round for a chat and we ended up reminiscing about days gone by on the pool - the good old days when the place was full of chub. I pointed out that since rejoining Leamington abut 4 years ago, I hadn't caught a chub from the pool. He returned to his peg and bugger me the next fish was chub of about 4oz. Speak of it and thee shall catch it!

Brian rounded his roach tally up to 3 and I extened my species count with a tiny perch. It all went very quiet after that, with only the sound of Brian's occasional snoring (and boy can he snore), interrupting the peace! A day rarely passes that Brian doesn't fall asleep on his peg and we weren't to be disapointed today. Both of us finished up cold.

The challenge

Inspired by other blogs, Brian suggested we start a challenge. So, it's going to be a simple points challenge, with 1 point gained for each different species caught throughout the year. Each species also has a 1pt bonus available for the heaviest of that species, meaning the bonuses could to and fro throughout the year. I refuse to try and weigh the biggest gudgeon or ruffe though! So, bonus points are only available for fish over 8oz. Only days where both of us fish together will count to the challenge.

Current Scores:

Sean 3 (roach, perch, chub)
Brian 1 (roach)

No bonus fish yet!

All the gear, but no idea!

Coventry Canal, Sutton Stop - Sean & Brian. 9-30am - 2-30pm

It was touch and go as to whether I ventured out this weekend, but a midweek call from Brian, convinced me it was a good idea. The forecast was spot on - cold overnight and cold all day, but with some pleasant sunshine.

A local session on the canal was in order. Having read about a local match being won a couple of weeks earlier with 38lb (taken from a heavily iced up stretch), along with excellent back up weights, I was cautiously optmistic. Big mistake!

Brian, fresh from an excursion to the PDC darts in Purfleet the night before, was keen to get amongst the Pike and Zander. On arrival the canal was iced up by the car park area, but was OK down by the marina entrance. We strolled down to check it out and were a little put off by a cold facing wind. However, a passer by mentioned a 12lb Pike coming out of there recently and that sealed the deal. The wind suddenly seemed to go away with the promise of such fish!

The Marina














Tactics were much the same as those employed in the hugely successful Ryton double blank the previous week. A Pike rod each and a float rod each for a maggot approach.

Dancing on Ice














That's all there was to report in terms of the fishing. Apart from a few badly placed casts and snagging the odd bit of ice, nothing really happened. Skating ducks and the occassional loony passer by, helped to while away the time. A couple of religious sorts made an attempt to convert Brian, but like us, they failed miserably to catch their intended quarry!

For me this is all getting a bit serious now. Since chucking in my PDC darts membership last year, I spent the money I saved on fishing gear. Christmas and my birthday also swelled the coffers. A new rod bag, rods, reels and seat box have emerged, yet I can't seem to catch a single fish. Actually I can't even buy a bite this decade!

We'll see what next week brings and I'm hoping the ever reliable Avon will be back to a sensible state so I can plunder that instead. If Carlsberg did blanking, they'd definitely be in touch with us for advice!