Roving for Barbel

Duncan with a spirited barbel, caught from his last swim of the day!

Last week, Duncan Charman and I headed to the river with our minds set on a barbel. We opted to rotate a few swims between us on the particular beat, with opportunistic roving tactics. Having limited hours to put this into practise, it all paid dividends when Duncan managed a hard-fighting and spirited young barbel in the final swim of the day. It clearly demonstrated that keeping on the move increased our chances, as Duncan had also lost a barbel and had various other enquiries on his rod tip throughout the course of the trip. For me, I had one 'bang' on the tip which could well have been a chub's inspection, but the main problem was that the crayfish were more of a domineering influence in the swims. This made 'dropping in' on the barbel somewhat difficult for me on this given day.

The time could not have come better for my next session, with quite a bit of rainfall and overcast conditions. The first swim I had chosen had all the characteristics of a good barbel swim with a nice and steady flow, forming a crease with slacker water and some nice cover. The bait I used was the same as that of my successful trip on the Wye, the West Country Slick Sense hardened hookers. On this occasion, I decided to wrap a bit of matching paste round the bait to increase the scent in coloured water. In the first swim, I lowered my hookbait towards the cover in the slightly pacier side of the flow. All that was to come of this cast was a greedy and rather large Signal Crayfish, although this did not put me off a recast. This time I decided to lower the bait into the crease within the swim. I had a good feeling about it, as I knew if a barbel was home, that a take would be on the cards pretty quick! Around 15 minutes in, right on queue, the line started to tighten before the rod rod steadily whacked round. I lifted into what felt like a rather sluggish fish at first. As I started to guide it upstream, it was then when it woke up. I kept the drag reasonably tight with the tight swim and held the fish as best as I could. When line started to be taken from the spool, I knew I had hooked a barbel. After some fantastic final lunges for freedom, I managed to safely net my first barbel from the river. Following some well earned minutes revival, I put the beautiful fish on the scales.

A lovely 6lb 9oz whisker!

The fish was slightly larger than I initially thought at 6lb 9oz, and was a well built fighting machine! Although this was to be the only fish of the session, it was a real joy to have landed one opportunistically and during the day. It is fair to say that I am certainly looking forward to getting back on the river and putting some time in in the witching hours! Thanks goes to Duncan for his introduction to approaching barbel during the day on this roving tactic.

Tight Lines,

Tom

Back on the Chub!

A lovely little channel for bringing natural food to the chub!

Having recently started a job, my fishing time has been a lot more limited over the tail end of this Summer. As a result of this, there have been only occasional opportunities to get out of town and do some fishing elsewhere. Last week, I met up with Mark Erdwin, who kindly guested me on a very scenic stretch of river. Although the conditions were not straight forward, it was really nice to get out, managing a couple of young chub and plenty of vividly coloured perch. Mark also had a great day, catching a lovely 1lb 3oz perch and a good chub as the light faded. Since then, with a bit of rain and the rivers getting a bit of a flush through, it was time to give a river I had not yet fished this season a try for some of its large residents. On arrival at the river, it was carrying a tinge of colour, but was still rather low. I decided though to give the section a good rove in the time frame I was given.

I started the day off using a decent helping of breadflake, casting it to a few good zones I had come to learn from previous trips on this stretch. There was no luck to be had, apart from one good hit in one of the steadier swims, which was certainly a sign that there were some good chub present that were willing to investigate. After trying a few more swims I arrived at a nice steady run which led to some nice tree cover. I gingerly crept into the swim and pinched on a nice fluffy piece of bread, guiding it gently into position tight under the branches. It was not long until I got a pluck before the tip aggressively pulled round. Hastily, I got the rod tip low and cupped the spool of my reel, knowing it was a proper hit and hold scenario. The fish made a dash towards another part of the overhangs and then wallowed beautifully on the surface, before I gently guided the fine flanked chub to the net. The fish was a scraper 3 pounder which was a nice start to the day, putting a real bend in the rod!

A stunning young chub (3lb)

I was certainly happy to have broken the deadlock, and as many of you readers will know, once you get that first fish you can start thinking of getting that second one with the wind being in your sails. I roved onwards, trying a few of the swims I had tried on this stretch previously, coupled with a few new swims I liked the look of. In one of the spots, I had missed some finicky bites in the past and was determined to connect with one of the wary culprits. Out of the blue, the rod tip whacked over and I struck. A fish splashed on the surface before throwing the hook. I was pretty sure that I had connected with one of the trout, as it was no distinctive surge like that of a chub. After dropping in on a couple of other areas heading back to the car, a lovely snaggy swim caught my eye. The access was not brilliant, but in the event of hooking a fish, I did visualise a plan of landing one. I pinched on another piece of bread and flicked it tightly towards the snags. It was no surprise when I got my first tap, before the rod pulled right round. I struck and hurriedly got the rod nice and low. I felt the chub surge off and held it, depending on the forgiving action of my rod to absorb the power. I managed to get the fish under control, and get to a nice point in the swim to land it, this was a slightly better stamp of chub and it was nice to increase the day's tally.

Such fine colouration on that flank (3-14)

This chub was a lovely brassy one and at just under 4lbs (3lbs 14oz) I was pretty made up to have managed some nice sport on a short session. I did continue to fish until 4pm, but apart from the odd knock, no more fish were to be had for the day, but one thing's for sure, I am looking forward to heading back up for another session!

Tight Lines,

Tom