Child's Play On The Avon

 Following the successful short trip to the River Alne the previous day we were off to the Warks Avon on a sunny hot early September, Sunday afternoon. I started in a weir where I had loads of chub last time I was there earlier in the season, but today was different and I knew it would be harder, much harder. So it was I couldn't buy a bite on pellet running the float though and if I trotted maggot it turned out to be all dace and bleak.

Moving on we found a nice spot in the shade but with many walkers and dogs going by it was far from quiet being so close to the path. It was also full of more tiny dace and I didn't have enough bait to even try to get through them so off we moved once more to the next meadow downstream.

The final spot was in a wheat field, thankfully it was more peaceful although I could hear people swimming near the car park and the occasional resulting ripple would make it's way to our position. There was however less small dace here and less bites in general and I managed a few nice roach and perch.

Being in among the rushes with no wind about meant it was mighty hot and I'm not sure either me or the missus were used to it given August was so cool. The heat actually got to us a bit and we left mid afternoon after both agreeing the shade of a pub garden and an ice cold drink were much more appealing.

As the cold drink(which tasted so good) and a nice meal were consumed in a pub garden overlooking the river in Tewkesbury, the hot daytime fishing was in the back of the mind although at the time I think we both wanted to jump in the water. Summer will soon be over and days like this will be fond memories even if the fishing in hard.

The following day was the return journey from our short stay away, it was to another part of the Avon we went even though I knew it would be hard again. So did everyone else it seemed as we were the only car in the car park which meant I could actually get on the weirpool for the first time ever. The water was like an aquarium and I could see down a good few metres, although only dace could be seen, I hoped for some nice roach trotting pellet but had to make do with a less than massive chub.

It mattered not as it was lovely in the shade on such a day, a good place for the first coffee of the day. With my caffeine levels topped up I tried maggot again and once more it was all tiny dace and bleak, the weir pool was very scenic though and it was nice sitting by the rumbling water before any thoughts of heading home entered our minds.

With the whole stretch to ourselves I decided to try the only other shady spot downstream to get rid of the maggots, hoping there would be less small dace but once more they were everywhere in the main current. I had never seen the Avon this low and clear and In my new spot I saw a perch right below the platform swimming around, in a small bit of sunlit gravel about four feet below me. I had to try for this 'non dace' and as my maggot approached the giant stripey (it was about 2oz) one perch turned in to half a dozen as they appeared like little soldiers from their bunker, they were hardly sergeants more like cadets and I too felt like a kid fishing for them under my rod tip.

The missus actually said I looked like a child, squatting astride my stool which was sideways to avoid the legs going through the gaps in the platform, well that was my excuse anyway as I watched perch after perch take my single red maggot near the bottom.

It soon turned into a fish watching exercise as the way the perch sucked each maggot into their huge puffed up mouths was a sight, every now and then a slightly larger one would follow a hooked fish and I hoped to see something really big and striped, a real sergeant, emerge from the shadows but it never did. 

After half dozen fish even the small perch got slightly cagey which I found interesting, I watched my bait get followed on several occasions, the perch just drifting with the current almost alongside the maggot, then once in the shade of the tree my float would go under, this happened quite a lot whilst all the time I was also feeding midstream to keep the dace away. The perch would also take the bait from all different directions although by now I was only getting them in the dark shady water under the tree.

It was fun fishing like a kid, despite being not the sort of fishing I'd travel hours to fish it was a laugh for a short while before a hot drive home. By now my cap was on back to front to shade the sun from my neck as it breached the canopy, I cared not for looking cool as feeling cool was better even if I did look like a kid once more. I caught 28 perch plus a couple of roach and better dace with the rest of my leftover maggots going in to feed what was left, lurking in the dark depths under my platform. 

A simple morning's fishing on the Avon that was just child's play.