A Bit of a Hike

I wanted to start off the fishing day by arriving fairly early in the morning to explore the wild looking upper limits of the Saxon Mill stretch starting at a place called Dropping Wells and then working my way downstream swim by swim and ending up with a bit of guaranteed roach fishing

Another Notch on the Bedpost!

It's my birthday today, another year older and, ahem, wiser...?

Judy woke me up at four in the morning with a basket of presents all to do with my fishing welfare this coming winter. A thermal base layer, socks and a pair of Barbour fingerless woolen mittens to replace those eaten by the dog last year, a set of four rechargeable handwarmers, a packet of wine gums and best of all, a sausage roll....

A New Book for Winter

Waters at the Saxon Mill...
I bought the Warwick District Angling Association book on Saturday...

I've been poaching their Saxon Mill stretch for months and truthfully meaning to get the book the whole time but every trip to the tackle shop has seen me arrive either sans card and not enough cash, or with card and cash but forgetting to ask for it as I concentrate my mind upon the important business of choosing hooks, lines and sinkers. Better late than never

A Short Diary of Quitting the Weed

Day 1. Fishing for roach on the Avon. Light headed but not a problem, in the dark I have the curious feeling that there are floodlights lighting up behind my head, I turn around and the effect vanishes only to appear once again as soon as I relax.

Levels falling...

Giving up the fags...
Yesterday morning I awoke and decided to do two things with the day; go fishing and give up cigarettes...

So, as I write this account of the events of yesterday I am into my 28th hour without my usual fix of nicotine and actually doing OK, it does not hurt, I don't want a fag, I just feel a bit spaced, and that's all.

Blimey!

I went out last night, after roach with worms, to see if anything would happen as a weather front approached and hit the West Midlands. I have only fished the canal once in similar conditions and it was

No Light, No Bite?

Keith and I had a discussion via email, a discussion about bites after dark, from roach and perch to be specific. Sage advice culled from the Internet said, we both agreed, that both these species do not, or at least do not like to bite well after the sun has sunk beneath the horizon.

All Creatures Great and Small...

A near blank saved at the last...
Come on now, own up, who nicked all the fish?

It was a toss up on Saturday morning where to fish for the day, heads the Blythe and tails the Avon. Flip a tanner in the air and it falls head side up, so Blythe it was

Pumpkins are Easy!

Despite beating 200 hopefuls in the Greyhound's annual 'guess the weight of the pumpkin' competition for Halloween by predicting its weight to within an ounce of its actual heft of 46 pounds 15 ounces (and winning a gallon of beer!) I still have some trouble estimating the weight of fish. Pumpkins are easy, they are a dead weight, but fish are hard because when they appear out of the water they are not only alive and kicking but when large enough have an aura of magnificence around them that makes them appear bigger than they actually are!

Perhaps if there was beer involved I would do better ?

Blood and Slime!

A crack at the Stratford roach...
Winter is in the air and the roach season is about to start, if it has not already done so...

Keith has to nab one over a certain weight for his fishing competition and also try to beat his zander target too, so we went down to fish the Stratford town waters opposite the theatre last Tuesday night in pursuit of both. I was after roach only so set up two feeder rods and fished bread on long tails