Manor Farm, Wasperton

A last minute arrangement saw me join a couple of mates for the afternoon on the BAA stretch. I only took one rod, a Fox quiver tip, a chair and some bits and bobs. We met up at the bottom of the meadow next to Leamington's main stretch. I'd fished near the propeller on several occasions and liked the look of the water lower down.
The other two were already tackling up in the shade of some trees so I dropped in almost next to the hedge separating the two Clubs' waters.

As expected, the Avon was clear and slow here. I spread some elipse pellets just over the nearmost weedbeds - almost mid river - and fired a few 10mm boilies and halibut pellets downstream just shy of the far bank for a later chuck. A 1.5oz cage feeder was all that was needed (indeed I imagine I could have got away with a smaller one) which I filled with some smaller pellets and plugged with Hemp & Halli mix. After some interest from small chub the sun got serious and I envied my mates sitting under the trees! I changed the length of the tail and the number of pellets on the hair but it wasn't until 4 ish that I started to see some movement on the tip.

Instead of chub it was bream that had taken a liking to the pellets. I ended up with 5 nice-looking fish to 4.5lbs, all of which were a lovely dark colour and were in really good condition.

As the sun finally went over the far bank and as I had to get home earlier than usual, I tried the "boilie line" in case some of the larger chub or barbel had decided upon an early tea. No such luck.
While I was packing up, I trod on something which I'd mistaken for nettles which surrounded the platform, but then got a strong smell of mint - reminding me of this weekend's BBQ - and I realised that there was a huge bed of the wild stuff going right into the river at my feet.

So a nice little expedition prior to the weekend at Anchor Meadows.  Look forward to seeing you all then!

Catfish Question

The last time I managed to get out was 7th of this month. The reason for lack of activity is that upon finishing that session I loaded all my gear on to my shoulders and, when I was climbing the relatively easy bank, I managed to tear my calf muscle. Ouch and double ouch. It was like a bolt of electricity had shot through my leg. Luckily the car was at the top of the bank so I didn't have far to walk.

Driving was a doddle but when I got back home I hobbled the few yards to the front door. The doc said all I could do was rest it. A tubi-grip bandage and some Aloe Vera heat cream was all I've been doing since. (OK, I did venture out to Wasperton for a couple of hours one evening but managed to pull the damn thing again on a relatively straight forward swim so I learned my lesson! If I want to enjoy the weekend at Anchor Meadows I'll have to be sensible.)

The point of this post isn't to evince sympathy (!) but to ask if anyone has any tips on a catfish venue within 30 or so miles from Banbury. Catfish are a species I've never fished for and never caught and recently during this enforced inactivity I've been trawling the net for all things angling and fell upon quite a few catfish sites. (Makes a change for the usual Google searches!!!!!!!)

I've seen the Pitsford Lakes site, near Pitsford Res. and it seems a likely spot.
http://www.fisheries.co.uk/pitsford/index.htm
Anyone fished there? Or anywhere else they can recommend?  Claydon isn't TOO far for me but the walk from the layby from what I've read puts me off in my invalid condition.

I'm enjoying all the Blogs and am envious of your time on the water as well as your successes.

Avon at Harvington 5.7.11

I couldn't get on the river for an overnighter at Barford as the farmer had a big herd of frisky bullocks in the fields and my mate (who knows the farmer) is rather suspicious of things bovine. Wuss! So I met him at Harvington for a pint and some grub. Only problem, both pubs in the village don't open for lunch on Tuesdays! The landlady of the first needs people-facing skills as, when I knocked on the door, she looked blank and said "What d'ya want?" I thought it was pretty obvious. Still we found a more welcoming hostelry - The Bell at Salford Priors - a mile away and had a great hot steak sarnie and chips.

We had planned to fish the island at Anchor Meadows (to do a crafty recce before the BIG weekend) but all the pegs were taken, and not only by fishermen. Some had chairs and rod pods set up, obviously fishing themselves - spooky! Maybe the people on the other side of the lock who were sitting around having BBQs and beer owned these set-ups? Heaven forbid that they had merely put their gear there ready for the evening! Germans and towels spring to mind.

So we drove downstream, along the golf course, to what I think is part of Manor Farm's fishing. My mate had fished matches along here several years ago and assured me it was stuffed with chub.

We set up about 3 ish and struggled, like the other four anglers nearby, to get a bite. I went from 4 ft long mono hooklengths with size 14s to short braided hooklengths . I tried pellets glued to long hairs, boiles and meat, all to no avail. The strange thing was, on a couple of occasions, a large drilled pellet and a chunk of meat had disappeared when I wound in. No indication of a bite and the bait stops were of a size to ensure that the pellet etc stayed on. Not sure if there are any crays on this stretch?

I noticed that there were hundreds of minnows at my feet so I decided to feed them a little Hemp & Halli mix to build them up a bit. Then I remembered my nice new Fuji was made for such underwater magic so I screwed the camera adaptor on to a spare bank stick and, having set the self timer, gently lowered it into the river.  Here's just one of the great pictures I took.

Of course, having a monstrously huge black space ship descend into their world, just a few inches above their heads, made them do the most sensible thing. They instantly buggered off!


By about 6 I started to pick up chub like peas in a pod. All around the 1.5 - 2lb mark.

My mate packed up around 7 having blanked but I stayed on til dark. I started to get more confident bites (to be expected as the light levels dropped) and finished just before 10 with a nice healthy looking fish of 4lb 7oz

It fought more like a barbel than a chub so I was slightly disappointed but it was in nice chunky condition so I can't complain. Also, while relaxing during the fishless afternoon, I watched families of long tailed tits and some reed warblers (?) messing about in the reeds each side of me as well as several fly pasts by the resident kingfisher. All in all a most enjoyable trip.

Teme at Cotheridge

Met up with a mate at the bridge at Bransford for a bacon sarnie. It was a "soft" day and we decided to drive up to Cotheridge where you didn't need the mountaineering skills of Joe Brown (showing my age?) to reach the swims. The last time I fished this beautiful river was when I was still living in Birmingham. I'm afraid the price of petrol now makes me look at the mileage as much as the location. Still, some time back on the Teme was too much of a pull to resist.

We got to the car park to find it completely empty. Early result. Deciding to go upstream we found several likely-looking spots and we settled just above and just below some shallows.  On my opposite bank there were some fallen trees with the branches looking particularly inviting - too inviting as it turned out.

I bait-droppered 5 or 6 helpings of small pellets and hemp across to the far bank before setting up a 1.5lbs TC Fox Duo Lite.

Initially I had a 2.5ft soft mono hooklength to a size 12 baited with 4 small elipse pellets superglued to the hairs. There were a few plucks on the tip which I put down to small chub, but with hindsight could have been larger fish mouthing the bait before dropping it. By about 9 ish I hadn't had a decent bite and was starting to get a bit concerned as the sun was almost coming over the far bank. The "killing zone" was still in shade however. I experimented with fewer and then more pellets on the hair and eventually had a real animal hoop-over of the rod. Although I was on it within a millisecond (liar, it was more like 2 seconds), I failed to wind down quickly enough and the fish fled into the safety of the tree branches. Now I regretted not having a braid hooklength. I held the fish with the rod having a bend I'd never witnessed before, not only due to the branches but the pulling of the fish. Through the grating of the line I was still having a fight with the fish. When I gave a little line it took more, when I wound back to stalemate it just sulked. 4 or 5 minutes of this pulling back/sulking got me nowhere. I walked down the shallows and pulled at different angles but to no avail.
I decided to give a few yards of line and pour a coffee, last resort. I think the chub - must have been, the way it went straight for the branches/roots - decided it had had enough fun and managed to place my hook nicely in a very thick branch. To say I was pissed off was an understatement. I had no control over the bloody thing and would have enjoyed seeing and weighing it.
The flora and fauna kept me sane during the middle of the day.

I watched a lovely green dragonfly take a smaller flying insect just in front of my face and settle on my left happily muching it.

During this time I managed a few chub up to 3 or 4 lbs and then, just before deciding to pack up, did the only thing I could do having just bought a camera "safe to 5 metres depth".  I chucked it in the river at my feet! Actually I placed it gingerly, not knowing if it was capable of taking a whole 4" of river without blowing up. Unfortunately by then the sun was over my head and this is the resulting photo.

I lovingly wiped it down and took a couple of normal shots just to make sure. And when I got home. Happy to report it's still working, as it should with all the sales hype.
Definately going back to this river soon, or as soon as I save up the petrol money!

New Camera

As some will know I buggered up my trusty Sony Cybershot by leaving it underneath soaking wet waterproofs and nets in the car a few weeks ago. I corresponded with out techno guru and photographer extraordinaire aka Jeff but decided against his advice -will it come back and bite me in the bum later?- and opted for one of the new(ish) Fuji XP 20s.

Not in a one of their blingy colours but "sensible" black. Waterproof to 5m (essential for me!) although if I dropped it into that depth I'd never find it, Shockproof up to 1.5m, freezerproof down to -10 and dust and sandproof. So far I've just used it for eBay pics and I'm happy with it. There seems to be lots of improvements over my 4 or 5 year old Sony, only to be expected. A useful feature is that it senses what type of photo you're taking so, for example, if you take a photo at 5 or 6 ft away and then get up close for an arty-type close up, the camera puts itself into macro mode.

The only thing I'm waiting for is a volunteer to go underwater with it to take some pics when I'm landing a big barbel later this week on the Teme. Any offers?

Highs and Lows of Car Boot Bargains

So, last weekend I picked up a 16' Browning float rod for the princely sum of £8 (knocked down from £10). I thought it would be nice to have for the canal or down the side at some little pond, particularly as I'd already sold my last similar one on eBay last year.
Having read Joe's last post about catching a few silver bream I decided to give his secret location a go. Arriving about 8 this morning I mooched about the site checking out the 3 lakes/ponds on offer. First of all I chatted to Bob who apparently comes down from Lancashire every year for a week or two in his camper van - must be good then! Then the owner turned up. I mentioned that someone had posted on the internet about catching silver bream last week with his daughter. I was quite surprised when both of them said, "Oh, you mean Joe?". The element of stealth and secrecy had obviously gone out the window. So much in fact that while I was setting up another angler turned up and said "Oh, are you in this silver bream contest then?" Apparently the other two had told him about my dastardly attempt.  I explained that it's not a contest, rather just a few people trying to catch various species. Anyway, he showed me photos of some of his catches including a nice chub.
Back to the actual fishing. I set up on the Silver Pool where the target fish were caught by Joe. Using 6mm pellets I had fun catching crucians, baby carp and one lovely bright red and white koi. None bigger than 1/2lb but welcome anyway. No silver bream. Around midday I moved up to one of the larger pools which apparently contain a mixture of species including good size carp and perch. Here I put out a light carp rod with a method feeder (God, this Spicy Sausage method mix is REVOLTING!) and continued with my new float rod. A 2 lb hook link with a size 14 barbless hook went out against the near reeds. I had some small roach on pellet but no interest from the larger fish so changed over to prawns. I started to catch a better size of roach, only up to 3/4lb but in lovely condition. This was a first for me, picking up roach on prawn. The carp rod remained particularly motionless. During one of the many showers my float dipped down and stayed so. Tightening up I realised I was into a carp. The 2lb hook link made me be particularly careful but the centre pin kept me company with beautifull music. The 16 footer hooped round into a lovely arc and luckilly the carp didn't seem to want the tree roots and kept out in open water.After what seemed like ages but probably was only 10 minutes I managed to bring it close to the net. During all the fight I was proud of my light touch but literally as I slid it over the net....CRACK, the top section snapped. At that moment a rhyme from my junior school days came into my head:
"I'm a boy scout, I don't swear
shit a bugger arsehole I don't care"
The carp was a smashing torpedo-shaped common of 9lbs 5oz. I almost forgave it for the fight it put up. You can just see the snapped section by the reel.

So, no silver bream, an enjoyable morning catching small interesting bits and an afternoon of mixed fortunes. Finally, I reeled in the method rod only to find a 1oz roach hooked fairly having gone for a 10mm pellet!

1.6.11 Jubilee

Gradually getting back to banks after a layoff. While I'm waiting for the rivers to open up (can't believe it's only a couple of weeks to go!) I thought I'd try Jubilee as I've not fished there for quite a while. From September last year until the Close in March I'd been happy getting my bum kicked by the upper reaches of the Avon.

I was sure Jubilee opens at 7am so, on the dot, I pulled up by the gate to realise it's 6am. First mistake. Still, I could only see 3 or 4 cars parked so I shouldn't have too much difficulty in swim choice. Island or Horseshoe? I'd spent a lot of my time at Jubilee fishing on Horseshoe and always fancied a peg on Island which was either taken, or more recently, dangerous-looking. I have to applaud the working parties over the closure weeks, they have repaired or replaced a number of platforms as well as tidying up (not shock-and-aweing) the bankside in general. The peg I wanted was the one in the corner between the 2 lakes. It has the point to its left as you sit. I'd noticed fish cruising very close in on previous trips. Also I was facing the island if I fancied its margins.

 The point swim was occupied by a couple of chaps in their early 20s (?) who were obviously trying to outdo each other in the "who speaks loudest" competition. Also they were getting rid of an over-optimistic amount of spod mix - very acurately I must admit - to the island margin. However, they weren't too happy with where their leads were landing as they continued casting and re-casting. Added to this they managed to thrash the water under their feet with god-knows-what. (I didn't see them land anything while I was there. Mmnnn, wonder why?) To finish this Victor Meldrew rant, the cherry on the cake came later in the afternoon when a 4oz (poetic license) lead landed just next to the willow on my left. I politely asked if they weren't satisfied with their half of the lake and did they feel that a cast into my bit of the swim would increase their chances of a fish. Or words to that effect. At least the one who cast it/was bored/was showing off his skills apologised and went back to doing his Danny Fairbrass impersonations.

I'd tied up some sexy-looking chod rigs so was looking forward to trying them out. I re-read the "manuals" and carefully lassoed on pineapple pop ups. I had a few short sharp dinks on the buzzers and thought "must be working". Reeled in after 30 minutes just to check. No boiles! Re-attatched new pop ups making sure that the floss was really tight and cast back. Same thing happened again! After the third attempt I decided that these chod rigs aren't all they're cracked up to be. Nothing to do with my cack-handed attemts to attach pop ups.

So both rods had normal bottom baits now, one with a piece of sinking maize tipped with floating corn, nicely balanced - and the other with a Source boilie again tipped with corn. Each had a PVA stick of a mixture of crushed halibut pellet and source boile. The boile rod had absolutely no interest but the yellow-peril combination attracted the resident bream population. I finished with 8 up to about 5lbs all of which were unhooked in the net so I came home relatively stink-free.

A very pleasant day out in the sunshine. I shared my food with the duck families and was rewarded with a lovely couple of sandy-coloured ducklings playing around my rod tips, ducking (sorry) under them seeing who could knock them without the Delkims sounding off. Eventually when the larger of the two managed to disturb the buzzers it went back past the tip pecking at it as if to say "stop it".

So I left "Danny" and his mate to that end of the lake and drove home.