An afternoon down the canal

What a contrast to seven days ago. This time last week the UK was gripped by sub-zero temperatures and a covering of snow. Today was a glorious spring day and by far the warmest of the year yet. With some maggots left over from last week's perch session I decided to have a few hours in the afternoon sun. The Birmingham to Worcester canal was the chosen venue. In all honesty, I rarely fish canals these days but I fancied a change and was intrigued as to what might turn up.

I dusted the pole off, it's first outing for quite some time, and set up to fish down the centre of the canal. It was about 4ft deep. The single maggot was dropped into place and a little and often feeding approach was employed. Bites on the canal are not usually difficult to come by but today was different. After an hour, I was starting to doubt there were any fish present. However, in the warm sunshine with the sound of new born lambs not too far away there are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon. I decided to go for a short walk when I noticed a 25 metre stretch of the margins was home to population of breeding toads (I think). As the afternoon wore on I was still fishless. In fact, still biteless. It had just gone 4.30pm and I remember setting myself a 45 minute target. I had still to register a bite I was going to call it a day. It was just so strange to have not encountered any fish after a couple of hours that I had begun to think the stretch was barren and maybe they had shoaled up somewhere else after the cold weather of the last few weeks. Then a couple of fish topped and restored my confidence.

The 11oz roach

At just gone 4.50pm my first bite of the day saw a dace landed. Only a few ounces but more than welcome given the circumstances. Then a steady trickle of roach appeared with the odd small chub and a solitary perch. Things were looking up at last. I then connected with a better fish which turned out to be an 11oz roach. It was in immaculate condition and much bigger then its predecessors.

The hybrid

It was heading for half past six now. The change to British Summer Time afforded me an extra hour of daylight. The sun had dipped now but was causing havoc off the water's surface meaning seeing my float was tricky. The bites continued. It wasn't frantic sport but a bite every so often kept my interest. The float dipped from sight one more time and this fish saw the elastic stretch from the pole tip with purpose. It was a much better fish but what was it? I caught a glimpse beneath the surface and it looked bream like but the fight was anything but bream like. Instead of coming to the net like a wet sack, this fish wasn't going to give up easily. Finally, it was beaten and it silver flanks showed it was a roach/bream hybrid. It was a bit of an ugly work of nature to tell you the truth but it did weigh 1lb 10oz so was a decent fish for the canal. I gave it another 40 minutes or so but the commotion killed the swim and I called a halt to proceedings on what had been an enjoyable afternoon.

The rough with the smooth

I ventured to the lower Severn on Saturday evening. I was in no rush to cast a line as most bites have been coming late on. I eventually settled into a swim just as the rain began. For the next few hours it tipped it down. Meanwhile my downstream meat rod and upstream boilie rig lay motionless. I also discovered my umbrella had a leak to compound what was turning into quite a miserable affair. As 11 o'clock approached the upstream rod took off completely out of the blue. A powerful fish took off towards mid-river before the line parted. Gutted was an understatement. I gave it another half hour before a break in the rain saw me escape feeling very deflated.

I had agreed to take my son fishing the next morning . I have to be honest, I wasn't exactly feeling enthusiastic but a promise is a promise. We arrived on the Warks Avon mid-morning with a view to a few hours until lunch. We used a 4m whip and maggots to catch a selection of species including gudgeon, dace, perch, bleak, roach and skimmers. I had also cast a boilie baited rig complete with a PVA bag of offerings mid-river. This bait had sat undisturbed for hours when without warning it jumped into life. A barbel was on. It took me by surprise as daytime barbel have become thin on the ground in these low conditions. Although not a huge fish it offered me some redemption following the previous evening's disappointment. My son also had an enjoyable morning so it was smiles all round.

Around 6lb or so

Putting in the hard yards

Next Saturday sees me participating in the Wychavon Parish Games on the Avon at Evesham. I have to admit that I haven't fished a match since the 1990s and the reason for that is that it is everything that I'm not when it comes to fishing. However, I'll be representing my village next week so with that in mind I had a few hours on the Warks Avon today in an attempt to reacquaint myself with a few different styles. With the river running low and clear I expected sport to be slow but the next few hours proved to be very frustrating. Bites weren't difficult to get but they were occurring as soon as the bait hit the surface and the culprits were small Dace. As a result, they were lightening quick, difficult to hit and led to me missing more than I hit. Even heavy baiting couldn't see them off so I just had to plough on.

Typical of the size caught

The fish were tiny - averaging three to the ounce. A fish of a couple of ounces was a bonus fish. I ended with 47 fish for 1lb which meant a lot of effort for very little return. I also have to admit to not actually enjoying it all that much. Hopefully, next week's match will be a bit more profitable and I can then return to normality.

This swan managed to divert my attention

On the bank at last

Where has August gone? It seems ages since I last blogged and it's been a tricky month. Fishing has been tough for most over the past few weeks although I've barely made it to the water's edge. A combination of a family holiday coupled with a bug that not only made the flight home a long one but kept me out of action for the following week. Last Thursday saw me finally feel well enough to make a fishing trip. My destination of choice was the middle Severn. I used to fish the Severn a lot between Bridgnorth and Bewdley but since moving to south Worcestershire it's a good hour's drive and I have the Avon, Teme and lower Severn much closer. However, I wanted some bites and decided the extra drive would be worth it.

A typical middle Severn stretch

 I tried to keep my options open. I would wander slowly to my target area, rolling some meat in the streamy runs in the hope of a bonus barbel or chub. Eventually, my plan was to settle in some deeper water and fish two rods. One with groundbait feeder with maggot hookbait and then a more specialist setup cast 20 yards further downstream. I tried several areas but could not tempt a fish on the rolling meat. I must admit this surprised me a little as it's been a good method for me this season and I'm sure the swims contained a few of my target species. However, this was only a pre-cursor for the main event so I finally settled in an area that I fished before. As mentioned, my main attack would be three maggots mounted on a size 14 hook to 6lb hooklink to guard against any possible barbel breakages. My usual barbel setup was prepared on my other rod with a pva bag to entice any wandering fish hanging away from the main feed towards my bait.

I started to get indications quite quickly that some fish were present and after a few missed bites I eventually started to connect with some small roach. This fish were in absolute mint condition and I

A pristine roach

Variety in the shape of a perch

very much doubt they had been caught before. It was quite pleasant to get amongst some fish rather than wait for one wrap around bite that may never arrive. Although the roach were not huge, probably in the 4oz range, they kept on coming before all went quiet. Quite often this can be as a result of a different species muscling in on the feed and pushing the smaller fish away. I also suspected a predator was in the area as I had seen small fish jumping for freedom on a few occasions. Soon after a much more positive pull registered on the quiver tip. My strike met with something bigger than the roach I had become accustomed to, before a nice perch just shy of a pound was drawn over the landing net. A few more similar sized perch followed before the roach returned together with a few dace and gudgeon.

Meanwhile, my barbel rod had not returned anything other than the occasional tremble. I changed baits to two 8mm Source boilies. The bait was recast with another pva bag of pellets. An angler on the opposite bank, some 100 yards downstream had been enjoying some barbel action with four fish already netted. I had to hope that my regular feeding would bring some fish to my swim. Eventually, without warning the rod hooped around. The unmistakable run of a barbel commenced with the fish surging some 30-40 yards downstream despite a tight clutch. Finally, the fish was forced to turn and I was able to gain some line and bring the fish towards me.  An exhilarating battle ended with a fine looking barbel of 7.5lb gracing the bank. It looked a deep fish that I thought may have been a little larger but it was most welcome as it was the only barbel to come my way during the month of August. The next cast saw another positive bite with a nice chub of 3-4lb safely netted. This two larger fish capped an enjoyable session that saw lots of bites and no less that six species caught. Perhaps I should make the effort to drive that bit further more often?