A Few Days on the Famous River Wye

Well oxygenated water, perfect looking barbel run!

After a very enjoyable holiday with my father and brother in Scotland, we headed back down South to assemble some barbel tackle for a few days on the famous River Wye. After a day at home resting up from the very long journey back home from Scotland, we drove up to Hereford to get a spot of lunch and to buy some bait and tackle for hopefully some Wye barbel. On recommendation from friends, I visited Woody's Angling Centre on the tail end of Hereford to get a bit of advice. After collecting a few heavy duty feeders, ground bait, terminal tackle and pellets, Woody himself told me what to expect from the stretch and what kind of tactics to tackle the fish, also what I'd be up against.

The first section of the stretch at our accomodation

We arrived at the accommodation and made ourselves out home. I firstly chose to look around the river and I could tell instantly that I was going to be faced with a hard week - the conditions were low and clear, there were canoeists passing by regularly, people swimming and also dangerous banks. I decided at this point the best bet would be to to fish early morning and evenings into darkness. With polarising glasses and a cap I scanned the water and tried to find an area that would take my fancy. I picked out a nice looking swim which had some depth and catapulted a few pellets in to hopefully draw some fish in. After a tasty stir fry dinner, my brother and I left the groundbait aside on the first night and chose to fish paste-wrapped leads onto a pellet hookbait. We fished right until 10.30pm and just as we were starting to put a few bits together to pack up, my brother's rod pulled right round and was starting to get pulled off the rest. My brother picked up the rod excitedly and the culprit was a nice chub to start off the trip. After a quick unhooking we watched the chub swim back into the clear water.

The first swim, would love to try this in Winter for pike!

After a short early morning session in the morning with no success, later on in the day, my father and I went for a walk covering the entirety of the stretch included in our accommodation. The stretch was lovely consisting of spots with back eddies, the odd shallows and rapids, and some nice slack pools where I'm sure large predators would be lurking. After a day of getting our bearings around the area, visiting Hay on Wye and Kington near where we were staying, the mistake I made for the next evening-into-dark session was to go back to the same spot, when it was obvious that the fish were unlikely to be there again. The final result were a few small chub.

On the next day, I woke up and fished the peg right at the top of the stretch with a nice deep channel after a charming bridge, with back eddies running off into shallower water. I had read in the guest book that a few barbel had come out of this swim, so was hopeful. I spent several hours regularly casting the feeder trying to build the swim, but unfortunately didn't have a single bite.

A very scenic swim!

From this moment I felt I was really doing something wrong therefore I thought I'd talk to a few of my friends with some experience of fishing on the Wye. They said to me to target the shallow areas where it starts to drop off due to good oxygen levels and natural food coming down to them. I found a nice accessible swim which met this criteria, which was much safer than the two swims I had already fished. After stirring up a nice ground bait of 'hemp and hali crush' and throwing in extra hemp and crushed boilie, my brother and I arrived at the swim just after another wholesome dinner. I had already baited the spot in the afternoon, therefore was confident a few fish would come in after putting some food out. We started off fishing one rod on small pellets and the other on a slightly bigger bait, a boilie barrel. After a couple of takes on my brother's rod from minuscule chub, we switched his rod to a big bait also. After 9 o'clock past us by, my brother was starting to lose hope about the swim we were in as nothing seemed to be bullying the small fish out. My dad had now come down to see us, seeing how we were getting on, and sat with us as the light faded. It was just as I noticed that it was almost time to wind my rod in and recast that my brother and dad were shouting that my rod was going. Although it was only a few violent plucks, it was obvious a fish was on the end, so I picked up the rod. At first I was convinced I was into a chub, as I was pulling a decent dead weight, but just as I start to apply some pressure the fish absolutely surged downstream with the reel ticking away as it took line, "think this could be a barbel" I said excitedly as I tried to slow the fish and hold it away from the snags which I knew were on the right of me. The fish was staying awfully deep and after a fair bit of pressure to stop it from finding the snags, the classic 'shark' fin broke the surface and after a few powerful lunges I finally managed to steer the fish into the waiting net. After a few well earned minutes of revival, we all admired the barbel as we had all hoped one would make an appearance in the few days, and for my dad and brother who have never seen a barbel in the flesh before, they were also very excited. After a few quick snaps, we watched the barbel disappear into the depths in the lovely clear water with the torchlight.

Not a particularly large barbel, but a nice start!

Time was starting to get on now with no more enquiries on the rods since the barbel, but just as time was getting on for recasting my brother's rod, I turned around and saw my brother's rod getting pulled off the rest and all he could do was grab the butt. A fish was hooked. After what seemed to be a good fight, a pair of grey lips popped to the surface and my brother had a decent chub in the net! I looked at it in the net and told my brother that it certainly was a personal best. At 4lb 6oz my brother was absolutely made up and even though this fish was a bit of a veteran it still seemed otherwise in good condition. We fished on to just after 11, but had no more joy, therefore decided to pack up.

4lb 6oz Veteran

The next morning, we were still very tired after all the travelling we had done from Scotland and the fishing on the later nights, that we decided to sleep in and try to hit the fishing hard in the evening. After a nice day enjoying the pleasant views from the Black Darren near the village of Turnant, I headed straight to the swim we fished after the walk, and introduced some groundbait.

About to refill the feeder...

After having a tasty lasagne, we rushed back down to the spot and casted our rods out. It was a very quiet night, until just as the light was fading, my brother had another ripper of a take on his rod with the rod absolutely arching over. We could tell instantly he was into another chub, but it was strange the fight had literally no character until right by the bank it lunged a couple of times. As I netted it I could tell, it was a big summer chub, and at 5lbs on the nose my brother was absolutely over the moon to have caught what many people would see as a specimen chub. After a few quick shots we watched the big chub swim into the depths with the torch. It was very nice to see it swim off resiliently and ready to fight another day. That was the only result to come of the evening but certainly helped my brother go to sleep with a smile on his face.

A new personal best at 5lbs exactly

I woke up early the next morning and headed out on my own, as my brother was fast asleep. I chose to try a new swim which was on my mind on the stretch. After a fair bit of a walk, I arrived at the spot and filled up the feeder for the first time. I casted it out and noticed I actually had brought the other rod with me in my quiver and all I had to do was clip a feeder on and I chose to try a smaller bait, my choice being Sonubaits S Pellets. After I filled up the feeder and hair rigged a couple of these pellets, I flicked the rig upstream near a nice treeline. I quickly tidied up my swim for a few minutes whilst letting the rods fish for themselves. I then looked up and saw the rod I had just cast out knocking away and a fish was clearly hooked. I picked up the rod and made contact with what I thought was going to be a decent chub, but as soon as I saw the line moving around vigorously and being taken off the reel, I knew this was another barbel. Keeping my cool, I patiently played the barbel in the flow with the rod beautifully absorbing its lunges and with a bit of steady pressure against the fish staying deep, I managed to steer the barbel into slacker water, with the rest of the fight being under the rod tip. The fish gave all it could and all I could do was have the drag set and cupping the spool to stop it from finding a snag close in, and eventually it was in my waiting net. Over-joyed to have landed another barbel in these hard conditions, I revived it in the net and phoned my brother who had now woken up and asked him to come down and do a quick photo or two for me. After giving the fish good time to get its breath back my brother kindly came down and took a couple of nice shots. After doing so, I gently lifted the barbel back to the water in the net and let it get its breath back. It wasn't long until it was starting to kick and it swum strongly back into the depths. My brother joined me for the rest of the session in this swim, but sadly there was not a bite more to be had.

Lovely looking little barbel to end the trip

The evening and the final session of the trip saw us hit the same spot as I had the barbel in the morning, as I introduced some bait when we were about to leave and was hopeful that my brother would maybe in for a chance of a barbel. My brother had three vicious takes in this session, but again the chub had seemed to have gotten to the bait first or the barbel had not made an appearance. Nevertheless the chub that were had were over 4lbs and all like peas in a pod with stunning colouration and build.

The landscape is idyllic!

It was an enjoyable week on the Wye and even though the fishing was far from straight forward in low and clear conditions and battling canoeists during the day, I had certainly learnt a lot and my brother certainly enjoyed himself and was really getting into the spirit of the holiday which was fantastic to see and to have beaten his personal best chub twice was certainly a great result. Even though he didn't manage his barbel, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy the few days on the bank and it was a joy for me to share this time with him. Thanks also goes to my dad who helped this trip happen for me by booking the house, organising nice walks and things to do during the day and being very patient with how the fishing had taken up time during the days.

Tight Lines,

Tom

Think it's fair to say Nicholas had a good few days too...

Remedy for Mullet Madness

Mullet have always been fish I have had a fascination for, due to the way they can be seen in various numbers cruising around harbours, mariners, jetties, estuaries, creeks, as well as near piers and even though I’ve had times where I could see many, I have never been able to tempt any. I only recently learnt that there are two types of common grey mullet in the UK, the thick-lipped and thin-lipped variety. I had only tried so far for the thick-lipped variety that can be tempted with bread and various baits presented on the bottom, which they can scavenge on. The thin-lipped variety however are less interested in the bread and prefer spinners tipped with a harbour ragworm on the end to follow and grab. No one seems to know why this turns them onto feeding, but when you have the right scenario or window of opportunity, it can be the most effective way of catching vast quantities of grey mullet.

Knowing I hadn’t caught one, my friend Paul Greenacre, who has recently discovered how to catch the thin-lipped variety of mullet consistently, very kindly invited me over to a local estuary of his, to fish in the harbour on kayaks (Paul kindly let me use one for the session). I took the train on a grey day down South to meet Paul at a nearby station. The journey was quick and it wasn’t long until I was in the car with Paul heading to the tackle shop. After quickly getting some supplies including ragworms and Aberdeen hooks to present them on we were underway on the final leg of the journey to the harbour. We arrived on a quiet public slipway to launch on the estuary and after learning the special rig for these mullet; we were soon out in the harbour paddling away on the kayaks.

A fair few boats in the Harbour!

As we started making our way towards a fair few boats parked in the harbour, we saw plentiful swirls: “look at all those mullet” said Paul excitedly. Shaking with excitement myself after getting organised into a good area to start casting around with the spinner and rag, I flicked in for the first time of the day. The blade of the spinner was working beautifully through the water and on Paul’s advice of a slow retrieve I felt very helpful indeed. Just as I was about to lift for a recast I felt a thud and I was briefly into a mullet but unfortunately I didn’t set the hook right. “That was instant” I exclaimed to Paul as he grinned and told me to thread the ragworm up the line slightly to expose more hookpoint to set the hook better. Exactly the same point on the second cast I had another take and was yet again battling a mullet briefly but this time, the headshake of the fish threw the hooks. Amazed by this instant action I quietly pledged to myself that I would set the hook on the next take once and for all. Paul was just beside me and although he had not had a take as of yet, he had interest with mullet following his lure presentation but swirling away last second as he would lift the worm out of the water. I had another flick in and earlier in the retrieve this time I had a nice snatch and was into a mullet. Although it topped quickly, it suddenly woke up and having my drag already set was certainly the correct move as it went off with pure agility and unbelievable acceleration down deep giving a great account for itself. I was on a light mainline so could not afford to give the fish too much stick and after going on a lot of runs and trying to snag me on a nearby rope several times I managed to guide the mullet into the net. This wasn’t a very big fish maybe topping just over a pound or so in weight, but I was so happy to have caught my first mullet and was profoundly thanking Paul as we revived it. We took this quick shot and it was brilliant to see the fish gain back its energy quickly and go back to the depths with a “whoosh”.

First ever Mullet!

As I threaded a new ragworm onto the hook, Paul was now in to a mullet of a similar sort of size and even though he was on a more sensible heavier setup and could give the fish more stick it still stripped line and gave a very nice bend in the rod indeed. Paul efficiently netted the fish after being towed slightly on his kayak and after a good revival for the fish we took another quick shot.

Paul's first of the day

It wasn’t long until Paul was into another fish and this time it was a slightly better fish, which certainly would not give up and during the fight, I meanwhile managed to catch a single little school bass in the channel behind. After what seemed like an arm-aching fight for Paul he was displaying triumphantly another nice mullet for the camera.

Paul's second!

After this, the fish either backed off or learnt to ignore our lures for the time being. We moved out of the estuary to a bit of more open water in a pool, which Paul referred to as “Mullet ally” and for the record Paul has managed large sea trout from this area on his spinning outfits in the past year in the kayak. After paddling about, chatting to Paul and avoiding boats, I eventually had a hit on the drift near a boat parked in the mariner. This was a fish which felt better as it didn’t show instantly and it was a question of keeping in good contact with it in the open water by cupping the spool whilst it stripped line and catching up with it efficiently. Paul drifted over just behind me and saw the fish pop up, “that’s a better fish Tom” he said excitedly as he assembled his net ready as I continued to battle the fish really running me around and shaking its head. After what felt like a long battle the mullet’s head popped up and I calmly guided it into Paul’s waiting net and as we revived it I couldn’t get over how thickset it was, like a chub! “This could go over 3 Paul”, I exclaimed excitedly. Paul handed me a nice weighing bag, which I quickly wet, and we put the fish on the scales. The fish went 4lb 1oz, which to me was a fantastic bonus as I was already happy with what I had caught, and a good personal best thin-lipped mullet. We took a few quick shots and it was yet again good to see the mullet swim off resiliently.

Personal Best Thin Lipped Mullet

We drifted around on the tide for another few hours managing a few more turbo-charged mullet in the pool, we noticed time was getting on and I needed to get a train at 5.37pm, that it was time to gradually make our way back to the slipway. On our way back, we both noticed a few swirls from some mullet near where we had started and with some time left we spread out and presented our spinner and rag cocktail towards a channel between some boats – this was awkward with the tide and therefore was difficult to stay in one good position. It wasn’t long until I noticed Paul was hitting some good mullet with him having two in quick succession. At the worst timing possible one of my reels had gotten into a ‘bird nest’, but with a few mullet I saw swirling about I took my rod which was meant for if I saw any thick lipped mullet and put and tied on my spinner and rag rig for a chance of another thin lipped mullet. It was not long until I felt a thud and although I only saw a small mullet top at first, this fish was certainly determined and absolutely ripped off with my 6lb line and started to tow the kayak in awkward areas; having to paddle away from boats and play this fish on a carp waggler rod, you can imagine the challenge involved here! After being town around a bit longer on the harbour, struggling to keep control of the fish and kayak simultaneously, I managed to eventually guide another nice mullet into the net. This fish was no more than 2lbs but was absolutely spotless and just as I was about to release it, Paul smiled over to me and said how nice this was to end the session on. I agreed and I thought much as we’d both love to carry on that all good things come to an end and we had promised our families that we’d be back for a certain time.

Paul kindly drove me back to the station and we were both grateful that the weather had turned just as we’d gotten back in the car. After saying my thanks I headed back for Winchester. It was a very enjoyable day on the kayaks and thanks goes to Paul for lending one of his kayaks, showing me one of his local spots and for putting me on some fine thin-lipped mullet sport. For those who watch my YouTube Channel and have not seen Paul’s films, why not check them out here.

Tight Lines,

Tom

Fishing for Bars of Gold with Duncan Charman

On a kind invite from none other than rudd expert and specimen angler, Duncan Charman, I was on the road to one of his classic rudd waters where Duncan has taken fish to over the mythical 3lb and magical 2lb mark. We arrived at the lake at around 5.30pm with Duncan informing me the swim he wanted to fish was available. We hurriedly brought the stuff over and started setting our rods up. I couldn't believe the size of the lake, it was a lot larger than I had imagined. After wading out and spodding a particle mix with plenty of maggot to hopefully draw the rudd into the area, we set up all our rods with short hook links and feeders on a helicopter rig setup as Duncan had introduced me to before. I used 6lb mainline and a 5lb 14oz Preston Powerline Hooklink; this was due to the fact that there are a fair few tench in the lake and this tackle gave us a chance to stop them. Duncan slightly tweaked the rig by adding pop up characteristics as the rudd's mouth is upturned and will not easily take off the bottom. It was now time to cast out the rods and wait.

As it was starting to get dark, whilst I was sorting out the mess of my swim, I noticed my bobbin had dropped to the ground and slowly ascending, I gently tightened into the bite. I felt a good weight on the end, as I waded into the water and could see Duncan smiling as he also waded in with the net in his hand. "Looks like a good rudd mate" he said as I kept in contact with the weight of what felt like a good rudd, shaking with excitement as he told me in this lake they are likely to be 2 pounders! As the rod was far out it took a while to come in. A few minutes of pure nerve-racking action and a huge gold bar popped up. On its final bid for freedom, ir started trying to get back down deeper. With a bit more steady pressure the fish was in the net, "that's a 2" Duncan said as I breathed a huge sigh of relief that the hook stayed proud. I looked in the net and saw an obvious personal best - a stunning bar of gold lying there filling a decent amount of the net. After reviving the fish we weighed it and it was my first ever 2lb rudd at 2lb 8drms. I waded out and gently placed it in the keepnet on Duncan's instruction and got my rig out straight back into the same sort of area, hoping there was more than one rudd there.

It wasn't long again until I heard a single bleep on my alarm and see my bobbin drop and then rise, another fish was on! Feeling more confident at playing these fish I kept in good contact and after another decent length battle, another good rudd was in the net. "Could be another 2" Duncan informed me as he put another quality rudd on the scales and this one was dead on 2lb which again I was absolutely made up about. Shortly after placing another fine rudd into the net and the light had now gone, Duncan's alarm bleeped and started to come to life; gently picking up the rod, Duncan was now into a good rudd himself. This fish was putting up greater resistance and we knew it would be a good fish. After what felt like a steady and intense scrap, the biggest rudd of the session was in the net. "That's a good 2 Tom,” he said, as we put it on the scales and at 2-7 this was a great result, with this being the biggest of the trio of 2s. Not long after Duncan placed his fish in the net, his alarm woke up again and he was into yet another good rudd. This was again an interesting fight and another low 2 was in the net.

Duncan with a quick shot of his 2lb 7oz Rudd before release

After a storm passed, we both got our heads down and apart from two strange takes on Duncan's rod, one of which mysteriously snapped his line and the other a good rudd coming off in the margins, it was a nice quiet night at the lake. I woke up at about 4.30am and gradually started to wake up and re-orientate myself after what was actually a good night's sleep. Just as I sat on the end of my bed chair after having a quick sip of what remained of my drink my alarm bleeped suddenly and hit the top of the rod violently, I was yet again into a rudd. The fish was agile and was staying deep and I was hoping that my hookpoint would stay proud. All I could do was stay in contact with the fish and it wasn’t long until another quality rudd topped and accelerated violently to the right to try and slip my hook hold. After a few painstaking seconds of the fight on under the rod tip the rudd was in the net. This fish was certainly a personal best looking heavier built than the 2lb 8drm fish I had earlier on in the session. At 2lb 4oz I was over the moon with this fish as a Personal Best and with big rudd, which are true being scarce, I was thrilled by the session I had had.

New PB of 2lb 4oz

After this time was running short so and there were no more fish to be had, but a huge thanks to Duncan for taking me on his local rudd water and putting me onto a few absolute colossal rudd! It was a very enjoyable session and if any of you reading would like to have a go at this with Duncan, you can spend a day with him by contacting him on duncancharman@icloud.com and checking out his website and Facebook Page!

Nice bag of 2lb rudd, thanks for a great session Duncan!

Brace of 2s

Duncan's 2-7 going back!

Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous