Today was my first day back at college and grim as it may sound, I have been able to reflect on a fantastic summer from my usual on the rivers for chub, a bit of barbel fishing on fantastic rivers in the South and of course my trip to the Wye, to targeting mullet in a kayak and having some fantastic trips with Duncan Charman including the fantastic night session for rudd and a day on a lovely crucian water.
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| Brace of chub from a difficult roving trip in the Summer |
My first trip after my great family excursion to the Wye was to cover some ground for some elusive barbel not too far from home. With thanks to a couple of good friends, I saw these barbel, which are seemingly invisible during the day. This was done with the aid of a head torch after dark. After trying several trips before with a pellet and boilie approach with little success apart from sighting the barbel on the way back to the car, the next approach was to try maggots. This certainly was worth a shot as plenty of maggots get thrown into this certain bit of river and the barbel in their lies are inevitably going to hoover them up with ease. I rigged up with a maggot feeder fishing with a reasonably substantial feeder rod coupled with 8lb line. I started this particular evening fishing the feeder tight to a bush I took a liking to seeing it as a pretty likely looking feature. After an hour or so past, with the aid of the torch (which never have seemed to spook the barbel on this particular stretch unless shone directly at them) I spotted a couple of barbel together. I lowered the maggot feeder and a bunch of maggots on a size 10 hook in their path. I had a good feeling if the fish were still there, that a take would be likely. Fifteen or so minutes past and it wasn't long until the tip on the feeder rod bounced and the rod arched over. I excitedly picked up the rod and lifted into what felt like a decent weight. The fish wallowed on the surface in confusion, almost unaware it was hooked and with a bit of steady pressure I started to guide the weight towards me. Then it woke up, by which point I knew it was a barbel! The swim was shallow so all it could do was charge off with its agility, which it did and gave me a real run around. After some immense lunges and surging runs with the rod and drag cushioning the fight with ease I managed to finally guide the turbo charged fish into the net. Although it isn't the biggest barbel you'll ever see it was a fine prize for the waterway I was fishing.
The last week or so, I managed to fish a few scattered venues, first being the Dorset Stour. After seeing a barbel in my swim on the zone where the left hand rod was, that suddenly the right hand rod swung round and the bait runner zipped off. The culprit was this gorgeous little Stour chub. I also later managed a lovely coloured river bream which was around 4lbs I would reckon.
I was also lucky enough to be invited to fish the Royalty on the Hampshire Avon, however the barbel did not turn up in the swim I chose and the consolation was another river bream.
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| Avon bream |
The barbel did turn up in the end on one of the venues I knew I had a good chance. With this certain river up and coloured I flicked a crab and cray barrel to a snag and fished on top of a bit of scolded pellet and hemp groundbait. It wasn't long until I had a drop back and had another muscly fighting machine on the end clinging to the bottom with its huge pectorals!
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| 8lb 9oz of pure muscle |
Also thanks to Duncan Charman on the last few trips where I managed a new personal best tench and crucian carp.
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| PB Crucian at 2lb 8oz 8drms |
The final trip of the holiday I met up with Mark 'Chapsout' Lindsay and took him to some of my local roach spots with him managing some absolute stunners to a cracking 1lb 6oz.
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| Mark's well earned prize, a 1lb 6oz beauty |
I also sneaked a cast or two in the end and managed this lovely 1lb 5oz redfin. A big thanks to Mark for coming down and was nice to have some good company for the day. Look forward to another trip soon mate!
Hope all who had a summer break or a holiday had a fantastic time and roll on for next year!
Tight Lines,
Tom Aldous
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