Blythe

River Blythe 

4:50pm to 6:45pm. 

Overcast. Calm.  9C dropped to 5C.  River normal.

Fished 2 swims.

1 chub. 2lbs+.

Worked from home so I could grab the last couple of hours down the Blythe. 

Managed a chub first cast inside a minute. Meatball doing the trick. Decided to rest the swim and moved down 20 yards for a few chucks. Nothing materialised so I moved back to the starting point.

I hooked into something much better with 20 mins to go, but it did me over in a downstream snag. Thoroughly cheesed off, I pressed on into darkness, but the tip was motionless. 

It went beautifully quiet in those final moments of the season. River flat calm, not a breath of wind. Just the occasional squawk of a pheasant and the hoot of an owl. A peaceful close.

I'm planning to take a breather for a few weeks to catch up on some much needed work at home. I'll return in May for some stillwater action.

Avon (pb)

Warks Avon.

11:20am to 4-15pm. 

Sunny intervals, light breeze.  Pleasant. 15C. River normal.

Fished 3 swims.

A day off work. Just the morning school run to do and I was off the leash. I wasn't sure where to go to be honest. Seriously considered the Anker for a total change, but opted for the Avon syndicate water in the end, inspired by recent efforts of others.

Started by trotting maggots at the downstream end. A biteless hour ensued. Time to wander upstream.

Out with the bigger guns this time with 2 feeder rods. One with meat and the other with maggots. Meat motionless. Maggots sucked only by minnows, one of which kindly hung itself and technically saved a blank (clutching at straws I know!).

I began to nod off and contemplated jumping in the car to try elsewhere. But a walk upstream freshened the mind and I found a couple of swims that looked promising.

I kept a low profile and primed both swims just inside the crease line with pieces of meat. I backed off for 15 minutes before caving in and making a cast. I grabbed the phone for a quick photo. 

And while the phone was in my hand, the tip slammed round. Barely a minute after casting out.

It quickly became obvious that it wasn't a chub. A powerful fight kicked off, but luckily for me and my 6lb hooklength it didn't go for any snags. After a few short runs up popped a barbel and a very decent one too. Straight into the net first time (phew!), which was to be the last service for the net. 

On lifting the barbel, the net buckled and broke. The penny then dropped at just how big and solid it was. I had to lie flat on the ground to reach down and grab the mesh so I could safely lift the fish out.

A clear pb for me. It went 15-2 on the scales, but after deducting 24oz of mangled net, I settled for 13lb 10oz. I gave it plenty of recovery time before it kicked away strongly. 

Was it Barbara, that Mick has been on the lookout for? We'll keep an open mind on that. 

Thrilled to bits with that, as I haven't fished for barbel much in recent years. Indeed the last one I caught was in the summer of 2021! I have a Wye weekender booked for later in the year, so I hopefully won't have another 1,000+ days to wait for the next one!

All being well I'll get out for one last chub smash and grab raid before the season ends. If not, the estate lake needs a little investigation next...

Blythe

River Blythe. 

4:35pm to 6-25pm. 

Sunny, calm. 9C. River normal, clear.

Fished 2 swims.

1 chub. 3lb 3oz. Meat.

Just the one fish. 1st cast. Mental fight. Quite lucky to coax it from a snag or two. Not the longest fish, but solid. 

Blythe

River Blythe. 

3:40pm to 6-10pm. 

Rain shower on arrival, cleared quickly. 12C. River normal level and clear.

Fished 3 swims.

An odd session. 3 bites. 

One strike to find zero resistance. 

Another bite saw resistance and a quick pull out.

The last action was a hook up at last knockings. After a quick tussle I thought I'd got lucky, but the chub did me over in a nearside snag and my lead was flung upwards into the tree canopy above.

Tail between legs, I had to take another blank. 

Blythe

River Blythe. 

3:40pm to 5:40pm. 

Drizzle, cleared late on. 2C. River low and clear.

Fished 2 swims.

Blank.

Miserable effort to match the dreary weather. Best left at that!

Double Header

Part 1 - Estate Lake 

12:40pm to 2:20pm.

Water coloured.

Deadbaited for pike.

1 rod. 

Blank.

Part 2 - River Blythe. 

3:40pm to 5:20pm. 

Fished 2 swims.

2 chub. Meatball. 3lb 3oz and 4lb 3oz.

Estate lake was more of a recce to see if there are any signs of life in winter. And there were fish topping throughout. Just no activity on my exploratory deadbait rod. 

Probably a mistake as the water was heavily coloured. But I wanted to force myself to do something different. I started to nod off, so it was time to leave. 

The Blythe was in good nick though, fining down from much higher levels earlier in the week.

The above gave a great scrap from a hit and hold (and hope!) swim. At one point my lead was dangling like a Christmas tree decoration from a nearside bush, while the chub had embedded itself in a snag below.

With a prod from the landing net in a chubby direction, a deft flick of the rod tip to free the lead and it was game on again. I won soon after, but the end tackle suffered damage and barely held out.  It needed a total change. All good fun though.

Still enjoying these short river sessions. Chub are a real saviour right now.

Blythe

River Blythe. 

3:30pm to 5:20pm. 

Cold (inching towards 0C on leaving), but calm, bright &  dry.

Water quite clear, normal level.

Fished 2 swims.

1 chub about 2.5lbs on meatball.

Wasted lots of time on a recce of a part of the Blythe I hadn't seen before. Interesting, but didn't quite grip me enough to go all in and try it. One for another day when conditions are better suited to it. Returned to familiar pastures for another brief dabble into dusk.

Memo to self: do something different next time! This is getting a bit repetitive. 

Blythe

River Blythe. 

3:10 pm to 5 :05pm. 

Cold (0C), but calm, overcast &  dry.

Water clear, normal level.

Fished 3 swims.

2 chub. 3lb 15oz & 4lb 5oz. Both on meatball. 

All the ice from the previous week had cleared due to temperatures picking up throughout the week. But, it went much cooler again to start the weekend, but being calm, it was actually quite pleasant.

Blythe

River Blythe. 

3:15pm to 5pm. 

!#☆%ing Cold (-2C).

Water a little coloured, normal level.

Fished 1 swim.

Blank.

River had dropped nicely in the week, following severe flooding across the whole county at the start of the week  Cold weather remained  all week though - by far the coldest snap of the winter so far.

Probably madness to even attempt it. Rod rings icing up towards the end of the short session. 

Blythe

In a change of habit for 2025, I'll attempt to post something after each session. Very few words, mainly pictures. 

River Blythe. 

3pm to 5pm. 

Cold (1C).

Water clear, normal level.

Fished 3 swims. 

1 chub at last knockings. 3lb 15oz. Legered meatball.