Jacks

River Avon - Alveston. 9am to 11am.

Brian was otherwise occupied again, so I decided to have a couple of hours Piking on the river. The river was in decent nick and is looking more and more wintery with every visit.

Today's approach was going to involve a sprat, wobbled / sink and drawn through the river. The back up was a telescopic rod to thrash a big plug around the river, but it didn't see the light of day as it turned out.

I went for trusty peg 9 which has thrown up a few small Pike this Autumn already and it didn't disappoint. 20 minutes in and I'd banked a couple of Jacks around the 3lb mark. Both fish came close in and it was good fun watching the take happen right in front of my eyes.

That was it for that peg, so I moved downstream to peg 6. Almost instantly I had a take, but the fish slipped off. It wasn't on long and I was fairly confident it would take again quickly. Straight back in and a fish was on again, but the result was similar. This time the scrap lasted about 15 seconds before the fish got off and I thought I'd buggered up my chance.

It wasn't to be though, as it was third time lucky on my next cast - not sure if it was the same fish being incredibly stupid, or perhaps a different fish. It was just another Jack though - slightly smaller than the earlier two if anything.

That was the end of action. I tried a few other pegs and retraced my earlier steps, but nothing else was doing. I had a bit of a comic moment on peg 2 though. I made the cardinal sin of not giving the staging any respect. Wet, muddy boots coupled with damp, slippery staging = accident in the making. No sooner had I stepped on to it and my feet were in front of my eyes. I went crashing down and landed squarely on my back and was left staring at the cloudy sky - rod still in hand of course!

It was more funny than anything and apart from a small twinge in my back and achy little finger, I was none the worse for wear. A few beers and I won't notice a thing.

As I was packing up a couple of unusual birds (for these parts) dropped past. I can't recall seeing any of these on my fishing travels before:

A pair of black swans. I wasn't sure at the time, as one of them appeared to have white feathers beneath the black when it stretched its wings. However, a bit of research shows that they are supposed to have white flight feathers, so it seems they are the real deal.

Blank

River Avon, Wasperton. 8am - 11-15am.

With Brian working this weekend, I mulled over my options on Friday afternoon. In the end I plumped for a short morning session on the river, with Barbel or Chub in mind. I figured that the conditions were pretty good for extracting one of the resident lumps.

I checked out the EA river levels site and it confirmed that the river was just starting to fine down again after the rain earlier in the week. The EA site quite useful for gauging the state of the river and it should come into its own during the winter months. It may have been covered in other blogs, but here's a link in case anyone hasn't discovered it yet:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/riverlevels/120748.aspx

The river was maybe a foot or so up and it looked promising.



















I tried pellets and meat (spiced and plain), but I couldn't get a bite and I royally blanked. To be honest I've suffered many a blank here in search of Barbel, so it's nothing new. I'm never put off from returning though, as I know it contains the fish of a lifetime. One day...

I amused myself for most of the session by watching the plentiful bird life, which are now a lot easier to spot amongst the bare trees.

In case you didn't spot it in the above photo, here's an enlarged shot of a Kingfisher that was working down the far bank and dropped in at my peg briefly.

I hope he did better than me!

Avon Perch pic

Brian has kindly sent me a photo of Charlie's Perch taken from the Avon just over a week ago - a fish of 3lb 5oz.

No fishing for me this week, as I was back on the oche for a change.

Mythe Farm Changes

This is mostly for Jeff's benefit, in case he hasn't seen it:

http://www.mythefarm.co.uk/fishing.html

Season tickets only now, at £60 a pop. Interesting change in policy considering that the numbers of guests showing in the visitor book were a little on the scarce side. I assume they just want to keep things simple and if they have a handful of takers, then it's no less worthwhile than it was on a free for all basis. It's also easier to administer I guess. Or, maybe someone has approached them to make it a bit more exclusive? It's certainly buggered up some late season plans I had in mind!

I'll keep a watchful eye on proceedings for now I think. I quite liked the place, but for £60 I could get myself an awful lot more water elsewhere. It will be interesting to see how many takers they get and whether the part season ticket proves more popular.

The Lagoon

Lanny's Lagoon - 8am to 5pm.

Having looked at our challenge scorecards there were some glaring Carp misses. We haven't spent any time chasing them this year and time has pretty much run out with the temperatures dropping. I'd remembered reading some posts from other blogs about this venue, so I suggested we give it one day to put the Carp points to bed.

As some of you are no doubt aware, two weeks previously it had been a murder scene and the fishery had to close while investigations ran their course. Reminders were clear to see on the way in with posters asking for help. We were first to arrive, closely followed by two more anglers who were also fishing it for the first time. They did start to fish, but left very quickly and we ended up with the whole place to ourselves for the day.

We went for the main pool as it held more species we wanted to go at. Leaves were a major problem though and one side of the pool was largely unfishable. We settled on pegs 6 & 7, with Brian taking peg 6 as it had less trees to get tangled in! He also had the benefit of the feature boat in his swim - the resident bird scarer.

I plumbed up and went for a float approach just beyond the ledge into about 7 feet of water. Over an hour in and I'd had nothing. Brian on the other hand had gone for a straight lead approach and first cast scored a bullseye by hitting the feature boat! No damage was done though and it wasn't long before he had his first fish on.

I was pondering over my baiting plan at the time and he shouted over that it was a Ghostie. Initially I thought he was pulling my leg, but it looked genuine enough to me. It was an ugly looking bugger though and weighed in at 2lb 1oz. 2 points to Brian.

Brian continued to catch a few fish while I was blanking - Hereford in reverse as he put it! I eventually started to pick up a few bits fairly close in on a more regular basis, when the owner came round for his money. We chewed the fat for a while, during which time he said that some fish had recently been stocked from Abbey Fields Pool in Kenilworth. He drew attention to a Koi Carp and an Albino Carp that had gone in during the stocking.

No sooner had he walked away and I was into something better, which I soon discovered was a Common Carp of maybe 4lbs. "2 points", I shouted, "but only if doesn't come off". Why did I say that? I played it very carefully with light tackle, but the size 18 barbless pulled out when I thought I'd got things well under control. Nil points!

Fish were topping all round the swim so I moved up in the water to see what was on offer. Although the ever increasing volume of leaves made life difficult, I started to catch regularly at 18ins deep, picking up a few Crucians to close on 1lb. I didn't need Crucians though, but I know a man who did! The occasional Rudd also made an appearance, but nothing to nick the bonus point.

I kept ringing the changes and a decision to drop back over an area I'd baited early doors, proved to be a very wise move. A decent fish took the bait straight away and again with light tackle I had to play it carefully. I eventually saw the fish and realised it was a pale looking fish I'd tossed a few pieces of bread to earlier in the session when it swam past my rod tip.

Although I was on light gear, the fight went without a hitch in the seemingly snag free swim. When Brian stuck the net under it, we realised it was probably the Koi Carp the owner had stocked recently - something he confirmed when I showed him the photo later. It was a stunning fish of exactly 9lb.

I was no longer bothered about the earlier lost common. I caught some more bits, but nothing else of note, although I did momentarily connect with a lump of some sort. However, all I got for my reward was a big scale on the hook, so it was no doubt foul hooked.

Brian tried for some Crucians but he couldn't find any. He nearly snared a decent Carp though that was feeding on the surface, but it wasn't having his bread.

Commercial Carp fishing isn't my cup of tea, but this place definitely wasn't in that mould. It came across as a more laid back fishery and the woodland setting is quite pretty. I imagine when it's in full bloom in the summer it's even more appealing. Quite a pleasant little place really and somewhere I'd happily pop back to during the close season.

Finally I must give a mention to a session Brian and Charlie had on the Alveston stretch of the Avon last Thursday. They had been texting updates to me throughout the day at work and I was most peed off not to have witnessed the day's events. Brian bagged his best ever Bream at exactly 5lb, while Charlie had a stunning Perch of 3lb 5oz! Apparently it had been pestering him all day, attacking fish on the way in and he snared it with a livebait in the end. Brian's camera was out of action, but there are some photos on a mobile phone that I'm hoping to get hold of.

He also had a couple of small Pike on legered maggot! I suspect they are sitting in wait near the baited area and nailing the prey fish the moment they put up any resistance to the strike. Annoyingly, he lost a small Carp of about 4lb close in, which would have been his first from a river.

Further Wye Adventures

After the stunning experience on day 1, I had a tinge of regret going into day 2. We had opted to fish the Hereford & District AA waters near the town, opposite Belmont golf course. This stretch has a pedigree for throwing up big weights if conditions are right, but reports suggested it can be a moody customer. Today it was in a mood!

Access to pegs was difficult (mostly steep banks), albeit if it had a few more feet of water on, it would actually be a lot easier. We settled on a long double peg that looked inviting enough, but I had a bad vibe from the off.

We tried everything throughout the course of the session (even pulling out the Pike gear), but the fish weren't having it. All we could catch were tiny Dace and Minnows that were plentiful in the margins and Brian decided to fill his boots with the latter to earn a point for the challenge. I forgot to mention on my day 1 report that I sneaked a Minnow out, much to Brian's annoyance. He took great pleasure in ticking it off the list!

Despite only being about 8 miles away from where we were the previous day, it felt like we were fishing a different river. Other anglers trudged past reporting similarly poor catches, so at least we weren't alone. The main excitement was the occasional stray golf ball plopping into the river a few yards downstream. A busy Kingfisher gave some entertainment though and the sunny conditions made for a fairly pleasant day. Just a pity the fish weren't interested!

Next time we won't make the same mistake - we'll go for 2 days on the WUF waters. There's no guarantee that they will fish well, but the whole experience was just that bit more private and special. Although day 2 was hardly a hellish experience, I can get the whole dog walking, gate slamming, "caught anything mate?" experience quite easily on the Avon if I want it.

Wye Adventures

Wow, what a river!

I'd decided to make a trip to the River Wye after I'd read some of the reports on the Wye Usk Foundation site. At up to £20 a shot it's not a cheap day ticket, but for a one off experience it had to be worth a go. Brian was up for it, so we planned a 2 day trip, with the second day being a more leisurely approach nearer to Hereford.

Day 1 was on the Lower Ballingham beat which is between Ross-On-Wye and Hereford. The stretch is just outside the village of Hoarwithy, tucked away amongst some stunning scenery. The approach to the fishery took us up the valley and once we got sight of the river with mist rolling along it, the anticipation started to rise.

We parked up at the end of a disused railway line and reality kicked in. We we basically at the same level as the old bridge and although the river was maybe 20 feet in front of us, it was about 50 foot below us! Having brought everything bar the kitchen sink, we now realised we had to lug it down a long flight of steep steps.

As we had the luxury of Brian's transit van we had chucked in a wheelbarrow to make transporting the gear a bit easier - not banking on 50 steps of course! We carried the barrow down and went back for the rest of the gear. To be honest it probably did us good because it was very cold first thing and the ground had a fair old white covering. The exercise warmed us up and the sight of steam rising off Brian's head was quite amusing!

Having done some homework, we knew that it wasn't going to be easy finding swims that were easily accessible. A walk two meadows upstream found just 2 pegs, so we came back to the old bridge where there was a double peg. It looked shallow though and there were a couple of dozen swans camped across the river rooting around for food, which was likely to make like difficult.

We wandered downstream and found one peg which looked fishable for two with a bit of creative gardening. We decided to give this one a go as it was in an area where the river looked a shade deeper, albeit there were no obvious features. The plan was to give it about 4 hours and if it wasn't producing we'd hop in the van and try the extreme downstream section about 3/4 of a mile away.

I kicked off with a pellet approach, using an open end feeder loaded with hemp / halibut crush / crumb mix. I admit to being clueless with pellets and I've never used them. However, the reports suggested that pellets were the way to go, so I tied up some hair rigs and bought a job lot of halibut and crab pellets.

I didn't have to wait too long for the first bite. The tip flew round, but I quickly realised my mistake. I was using a baitrunner reel and I'd got the settings wrong. The reel was in free spool mode and when I grabbed for the rod, in the excitement I didn't enagage the reel and created a mighty bird's nest on the reel with the freshly loaded line. I had to reel the fish in by pulling the line in by hand, which is not much fun when your attached to a Barbel. I won the battle though and was on the scoreboard with a fish of 4lb 13oz.

The next few hours was just a procession of Barbel. Here's a few of them, starting with the pick of the bunch which was the 4th fish of the day and weighed 8lb 10oz:

This one was 6lb 13oz:

After 10 barbel, things started to slow down. I wasn't sure if it was the now bright conditions, or whether the swim had been emptied or the fish spooked. I switched to maggot and had instant success with a Chub of 3lb 9oz.

Another one of 3lb 6oz followed very quickly and then the Barbel moved back in and I had 4 more of those. The best of them was a long lean fish of 7lb 10oz.

At this point I'd started to do some serious maths and began to realise that I might just break the magical ton for the first time - I was in the high 80s. Frustratingly Brian was on a blank, sitting just 15 feet upstream from me and using the same tactics.

He eventually opened his account with a Chub of 2lb 2oz and there was a sense of relief that he was off the mark, but it wasn't the Barbel we both wanted him to catch.

I pressed on with the maggots and picked up a Chub, then a Barbel and I was now just 4lb 2oz short of a ton. One more lunge on the rod tip as we entered the final hour, resulted in a 4lb 12oz Barbel and I'd done something I never imagined possible. 100lb 10oz of fish from a low, clear river, following an overnight frost. Wow!

I admit to slightly switching off at that point, but there was still a mission to be accomplished - a Barbel for Brian. He manfully stuck it out and went for crab pellet or bust and it paid off. He hooked into a Barbel and I think I played every moment of it with him. He guided it in carefully and it weighed in at 4lb 8oz. Relief all round because time was running out.

Just like buses though, he wasn't done and 2 more Barbel graced his landing net in the next half hour. The last one was the best at 4lb 9oz and also gave rise to probably my favourite picture of the year so far. Barbel, with the moon just poking up over the trees and reflecting in the river. A perfect end to a stunning experience.

It's something we will definitely do again next year. I can thoroughly recommend the Wye Usk Foundation to anyone. There are cheaper options around, but the package gives you a good degree of exclusivity (depending on choice of venue), which just makes the day feel so much more special.

For the record, the full scorecard was:

Sean - 16 Barbel (4-13, 5-2, 3-7, 8-10, 6-12, 6-2, 5-12, 6-13, 6-12, 5-0, 7-10, 5-5, 4-11, 5-4, 4-15, 4-12); 3 Chub (3-9, 3-6, 1-15)

Brian - 3 Barbel (4-8, 3-7, 4-9); 1 Chub (2-2)

A report from day 2 on a different stretch will follow tomorrow (the pub is beckoning me now!). As a taster though, a fair summary would be utter shite! Definitely a case of after the lord mayor's show - but that's fishing I guess.