Had a meeting with a new financial advisor down near Studley in Shakespeare country, so took the opportunity to use my Birmingham Anglers Association ticket that I've been hanging onto.
Meeting went on longer than expected so, after popping in to get a much-needed doorstopper sandwich and a coffee at Bruno's Bakery (highly recommended) on the way, it was well after 3 o'clock when I pulled into the parking spot next to the river. Had brought a couple of rods with me - a 7 ft rod for trout spoons, spinners and small plugs and a 6 ft ultralite for jigs and small plastics. Got them both rigged up, pulled on the waders and made my way downstream to a couple of spots that I had fished on a previous visit back in 2021! Despite the recent rain the river was pretty low and clear and in the slower sections I could easily see the bottom, which looked pretty featureless and covered in fine silt, plus there were no signs of fish.
Therefore concentrated on the faster water at the head of the pools where it was more oxygenated and hopefully where the bottom had been kept cleaner by the flow - I figured that if I was a trout that's where I would be. Started off with a tiny "Magbite" 2" soft plastic on a 0.5 g jighead on the ultralite rod, flicking it across to the far bank, letting it swing in the current and then hopping it back along the bottom after it had settled in the slack water. After a few casts, flicking it a bit further downstream each time, I had a thump on the rod tip and after a brief tussle bundled my first wild, Warwickshire spotty of the session into the net. Had a much better one a few casts later that really put a bend into the rod and briefly courted danger in the tree roots before I got it safely on the bank.
Wandered down to the next spot, briefly trying a small Mepps in a deeper section, but just picking up weed and brown goo if I let it drop too close to the bottom. At the head of the next pool I lost a good fish when the hook pulled and was just going to recast when half a dozen juvenile mallard appeared round the corner. As soon as they saw me they went bonkers - back pedalling furiously and thrashing the water with their wings. Thought that was the swim well and truly knacked, so left it to come back to and carried on.
Picked up the odd brownie here and there, all on the soft plastic fished in faster spots. Had also been getting a lot of nips and tugs that I assumed were small trout until I foul-hooked a fat minnow! Therefore changed the spinner for a suitably coloured trout spoon on the other rod, but the deeper water seemed to be devoid of fish. Still, it was great fun using the ultralite, which still had enough backbone to get the fish in quickly whilst enjoying the scrap. In fact the best spotty of the afternoon still had enough energy to unhook itself in the net and then do a backflip back into the river before I'd had a chance to properly admire it! Gave it until 6 o'clock as I was conscious that I had to get back up the motorway to Nottingham, plus I had a sick wife in bed that I'd promised a fish and chip supper to.
Hopefully I'll be in need of some more financial advice and be back again soon.
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