Birthday Weekend on the Severn

As my birthday was starting to approach, I felt that a weekend away would be a nice experience to make for a memorable 18th. What was on my mind, as I thoroughly enjoyed my experience on the Wye back in summer, was to try and tackle another prolific barbel river. I have wanted to fish the River Severn for many years now and I thought now was as good a time as any to take up my good friend Robert Mitchell's kind offer of fishing round his neck of the woods on the Middle Severn in Shropshire. Robert also very kindly leased his land on the river for the annual YouTube Bloggers Match which this year I was unfortunately unable to attend.

Robert's lovely stretch

After packing the car on the night before, I met my dad at the college gates as the plan was to drive up on the Friday. After opting for a fiddly journey with only a couple of hold ups, with the help of my smartphone we eventually arrived after a good solid 3 hours. After quickly having a wholesome meal at the accommodation, the plan was to head straight to the river. With Robert's work finished we thought we'd meet up on the evening to see if we could try and get off the mark with a barbel. By this time it was dark, but as I always say you have to be in it to win it. I met up with Robert at his house where he had kindly picked up for me, some essentials I needed for the Severn. From here we had a nice walk to the stretch, having an enjoyable chat. We arrived at the swim, which was nice to access compared to the dangerous banks of the wye, and even though I could hardly make out the features Robert had explained to me I casted out the feeder for the first time. The tactic Robert showed me was a groundbait feeder (we used 'hemp and hali crush' groundbait) and a nice long fluorocarbon hooklink with a nice bunch of casters glued to the hair. It was a chilly evening compared to how warm it was in the afternoon, but it was certainly nice to have a good chat and learn some new things about barbel fishing. We packed up just before 11pm, and despite on a few casts having crushed casters and some vicious taps, no barbel or chub were to be caught.

The next morning I woke up at 6am and planned to meet Robert at the stretch at 7am. After sorting out some lunch from a local Tesco Express, I arrived just before Robert and admired the beautiful stretch of the Middle Severn before me in the daylight. The stretch consisted of nice bends, a few deeper pools, fast shallow gravelly runs and various far and near bank features.

The River in the dying mist!

When Robert arrived the first plan of attack he proposed was to try one of the methods he uses to trundle baits consisting of a 'DH speci waggler'. We both tried trundling different sizes of meat as well as pellets and despite having a couple of subtle snatches, no fish were to be caught on this method. Although it took a while to get the good control of the waggler, I certainly started to later on improve with my at it. After this we had a nice wholesome breakfast (thanks Robert!) and the next plan of attack was to return to the swim we tried on the previous evening session to see if we could sneak an opportunist barbel on the feeder. A few hours passed with no luck, therefore we tried a scaled down maggot feeder. It wasn't long until bites started to come and we had a few perfectly conditioned dace, as well as a greedy trout! After a few more dace, Robert suggested moving upstream onto the free stretch to ensure that we were covering a sufficient amount of water. After fishing some lovely swims, trying various tactics in desperation for a barbel or chub, it was apparent that the stretch wasn't fishing as well as it could with the high pressure, the temperature drop and coupled with these two factors, the low and clear conditions. As evening started to approach we returned to the swim we fished with the maggot feeder and on the previous evening, as a few evenings prior to this Robert managed 3 very nice barbel so we knew for sure they shouldn't be too far away. I fished feeders into dark, on Robert's suggestion, both on pellets. It wasn't until the last couple of hours left I received a vicious couple of taps and the freespool started to go. I wound down and was into at last a fish that pulled back a bit. It was a nice chub probably not too far away from 4lbs.

A nice consolation

I had another bite just before I had to leave, but unfortunately the chub came off. I walked back to my dad's car feeling absolutely exhausted and a bit beaten up by how hard it had been. Despite this though, it was very enjoyable spending the day with Robert having a good laugh and learning a lot from the methods he showed me during the day.

It was the last morning and I woke up still feeling exhausted from the effort I had put in, and feeling as if luck was not to be in my favour this time. Despite this though, I thought to myself that I needed to get out there to have a chance of getting a birthday barbel. Robert and I planned this time to start on the free stretch, therefore we met at his house and walked down together. After quickly stopping in the tackle shop to get a few bits, we fished the first swim next to the town bridge. It was a lovely looking swim with nice shallow gravels in close where we could wade in our wellies, and a nice slack area in the middle. I quickly got my feeder rod out, and after loading it and putting on a new pellet, on Robert's instruction I flicked it out onto the gravels a rod length out. We got the waggler rod set up again, and after we made sure the depth was correct, it was ready to go for this swim.

Robert reaching into his bag of tricks!

As I was not use to the longer length of line determining the depth, I casted the meat a bit too close to my feeder rod and just as it hit the water and was starting to go past the feeder line to my confusion the feeder rod's free spool started to aggressively go. We both turned around and saw the rod hooped over, "yes, a fish is on there!" Robert shouted as I passed him the waggler rod and pulled into the fish. As soon as I started to apply pressure, I knew from the tell-tale hugging of the bottom and the lunges through the rod that I was connected with a barbel. After taking it nice and steady and gradually tiring it, after one final nerve-racking lunge the fish was ours! Robert and I shook hands, in delight as the ambition for the trip was achieved, a birthday barbel. It was a lovely dark fish and at just over 5lbs, was most, most welcome in these difficult conditions.

The prize, a lovely middle Severn barbel!

Robert took some lovely shots of the fish and it was great to see it absolutely charge out of my hands on release. This proved to be the only fish of the morning, but it was such a great result to have gone to that effort to give it one last go and the reward was sweet!

Off you go!

Big thanks goes to Robert for such an enjoyable weekend, making my birthday treat very special with a birthday barbel, as well as giving up his weekend time whilst he was in the process of moving house and last of all, taking me to such a gorgeous section of river on his land! Check out his Facebook page here, with lots of lovely captures, particularly barbel! May also be worth contacting him regarding information, for those interested in the Severn or catching a barbel for the first time or increasing your tally!

Also thanks goes to my dad for driving me about and coming along with me!

Tight Lines,
Tom