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

Return to the River Wye...

Rods out!

At a week or so's notice, my dad ran an idea past me. His partner suggested a day's canoeing on the River Wye, and at the same time there was potential for me hitching a ride for a day's fishing. Hastily, I started to check out potential fishing locations around the area and with the help of a reasonably local and all-round fishing guide, Kenny Parsons, I organised myself a permit. As the day of the trip neared, Kenny was kind enough to impart his knowledge of the stretch specifically and gave me a key area to target. I have to admit, I did start the day with a very pessimistic outlook leaving late and having to pick up lunch en route as opposed to doing so the night before, so the time of arrival was around lunchtime. I was rather disorientated when I arrived, but after having a quick chat with Kenny on the phone, who reassured me I was heading in the right direction, I was soon in the right area.

On arrival at the swim, I mixed up my 'hemp and hali crush' groundbait and assembled all the necessaries. Once I was happy with the consistency of the groundbait and had tied myself an ideal rig with a nice and long fluorocarbon hooklength, I was ready to make my first cast of the day. Admittedly, it was not quite on the money, but as I placed my rod on the tripod (which I borrowed courtesy of Simon Daley) I felt a lot calmer and ready to focus. My choice of hookbait was the slick sense baits from West Country, which have a very pungent smell and renowned for catching big barbel consistently, which certainly gave me confidence. I had literally got to the point where I was tying a hooklink up on the other rod and I had a good bang on the tip. My adrenaline levels hit the roof. As I was going to start the whipping of the knotless knot for the hooklink, the rod suddenly smacked over with a 3ft twitch and the tightly done freespool started to zip off. I lifted into a definite barbel. The fish went straight upstream and hung nice and low. The muscular lunges were unmistakable as I started to bring the fish under control. With the Wye consisting of many boulders, I knew I had to keep the fish's head up as best as I could with the perils of getting cut off. It was fair to say my adrenaline was going through the roof as the fish approached what I call the deadly region, under the rod tip. After some amazing wallows and nasty dashes for the depths, I had my first barbel of the day safely reviving in the net. It was a definite Wye PB and a stunningly proportioned and coloured fish, a pure powerhouse! I gave the fish a good few minutes to revive whilst setting up all necessaries for getting a quick picture and wetting and zeroing the sling. After quickly getting a few snaps and putting her on the scales, I waded out and held her close until she was ready to kick off.

A fine proportioned barbus (6-7)

What was to follow after this was heaps of canoeists! Including my dad and co. After having my rigs taken out by people on canoes twice and losing a chub, I re-tied a couple of hooklinks. After getting the downstream rod out and a fresh bait going in, I sorted out some fresh baits. Both rods were soon back in action. As I was tidying a few things in my tackle box, I heard my freespool absolutely scream off with the rod buckled over. Another barbel was on! After another incredibly powerful series of lunges a stunning barbel topped. After several sprints and wallows on the surface another powerhouse was in the net.

Another stunningly proportioned little powerhouse!

I continued casting on a fifteen minute basis to keep building the swim with the feeder and within the second cast in this cycle, the rod knocked aggressively. I picked the rod up and knew I had a chub on. The fight was certainly spirited for the heavy tackle and it was great to have landed this one. After taking a quick shot, I continued the cyclical routine of building the swim with the feeder. At this moment in time, the canoeists were coming in short bursts and were starting to die down by the time I had an hour to start packing up.

Nice to see rubber lips make an appearance!

Just as I was starting to think about packing up, I decided to have one more recast. This cast was on the money and I knew I was in for a good chance of another bite. With the confidence boost of putting a fresh bait on, I sat and waited whilst the feeder was working the magic with the cloud of attraction. Shortly after getting my other rod out just upstream, the downstream rod absolutely buckled over and line started to tear out. I lifted into another barbel. Like the first one, this fish hung low in the middle channel and really lunged about with all its might. Another amazing fight under the rod tip was to follow and after some fantastic wallows on the surface, the third barbel of the trip was in the net. At 6lb 1oz, it was a nice barbel to have landed at what was the first proposed time I had to pack up.

Another absolute muscle machine (6-1)

With what already had felt like a great trip, considering I had been there for the afternoon, I did not pass by the opportunity given to me by my dad to carry on for another hour, despite the fact I was already effectively packed up. After tying a new rig up and taking care to put on a nice fresh bait, I casted another feeder which went straight on the money in a bomb of feed. Just as the feeder settled and the rod was placed on the tripod, I watched the tip. With the canoeists now gone, it was a great opportunity for maybe another fish to make an appearance, I thought. Right on queue the line tightened with the rod absolutely slamming over 3 foot twitch style! As I lifted into it, I felt a good weight. But as I started to apply pressure, it felt as if I was wedged in a boulder. I wound a little and pulled the weight upstream, it started to move! It was then that I knew I may have hooked something perhaps, a bit more substantial. The fish made a dash upstream, using all its body mass. I applied as much pressure as I could, as there were many potential nightmares with the plentiful boulders in the river. The fish would not show itself and remained effectively clung to the bottom. After some heart-stopping lunges towards deeper water as she neared, the vortex of a good fish emerged. The line continued to weave vigorously as she neared, and my feeder started to swing into view. The typical shark fin soared on the surface and a large mouth emerged, before wallowing and tearing line out of the drag. After some very nerve wracking final lunges and dives, a good head popped up to the surface before being safely netted. I could tell with the way this barbel filled the bottom of my net that I had landed a new Wye personal best and certainly a fish that could even tip my own. I managed to find a perfect place to revive her whilst I sorted out my scales and photography equipment. As I gently carried the barbel to the sling it felt a fair bit heavier than the others. When I put her on the scales, I looked in disbelief as I saw the scales swing straight over 10lbs and settling on 10lb 4oz. 'Wow', I gasped as I gently carried the fish back into the water and rested her again. Once the camera gear was all sorted I managed to get a few decent shots of this fine creature!

What a way to end the session, a new PB Barbel at 10lb 4oz!

After sorting out the final shots, I waded out and waited for the fish to confidently kick a few times. She did so rather quick, and what a sight it was to see such a stunning fish disappear back into the depths of this stunning river. The time had now come to start packing up and shortly after, setting off for home. It was an enjoyable session all-round and thanks goes to my dad for the transport and his partner for organising the canoeing which gave me the opportunity to fish! Thanks also goes to Kenny Parsons for giving me a great insight of tactics needed and imparting his knowledge of many years of pioneering on this magic river, which really helped with the little time I had on the day itself.

For those that don't know Kenny has a guiding service where he is bookable for a day's fishing for many of people's desired species! His website is definitely worth checking out here:
http://www.kpanglingguide.com

Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous

Unfinished Business with the Prince of the River

Both rods out in the witching hour!

Over the last two seasons, I have been lucky enough to get a taste for catching barbel, and it has been amazing to have caught them from four different rivers. On a kind invite from my friend Simon Daley, there was potentially a chance to catch my first from a fifth river, the Hampshire Avon. On the last session I did on the Avon with Simon, he managed two stunning barbel to just short of double figures, which certainly showed in the flesh what the fishery was capable of. After an early start, Simon and I journeyed up to Christchurch in order to get our tickets for the Royalty Fishery. We hastily acquired them, before whizzing our way to the river bank. Following this, we propped our gear down and had a look around, admiring the plentiful cracking swims the fishery has. Simon pointed out a stunning swim to me with plenty of ranunculus cover for the barbel to dart in and out of and some lovely gravels which looked a perfect zone for barbel to 'ghost' about.

After introducing some bait, I casted the first rod out, whilst Simon set up and baited a nice swim upstream which also had some thick ranunculus and gravels where he had caught a fair few barbel before. I set up a rig which would be nicely pinned down to the river bed, in these clear conditions, with a supple hooklink and a couple of pellets on the hair. I had one rod flicked upstream, and the other flicked downstream between the weed, which gave me confidence I was covering both bases. Just as I had settled down on my seat and had just helped myself to my first biscuit of the day, the upstream rod's tip jolted as if the rig had been dislodged and absolutely tore line off on the freespool. I picked up the rod, and felt the pure muscular lunges of a barbel on the end, as I watched my line jolt in a zig zag motion going downstream. This fish absolutely clung to the bottom as I tried to apply pressure to keep it away from the thick weed. I retained this steady pressure, and managed to deter it from making a further rush. It remained deep and charged upstream with pure muscle, putting me through the mill with its sheer strength! I patiently continued to exert pressure, and the tell-tale shark-like fin soon graced the surface, as the fish turned and lashed back towards the weed - I always find this part of a barbel fight the scariest! After cupping the spool, as the fish had its final lunges, the stunning barbel graced the net. I couldn't believe the beautiful colours as I revived her in the net, an absolute stunning golden flank.

After some well earned minutes of revival and quickly unhooking the fish in the water, Simon had made his way down to my swim: "you didn't muck about did you mate?", he exclaimed, smiling. To say I was chuffed was an understatement, as this was my first barbel of the season and first off the Hampshire Avon. After quickly weighing the fish, which was an ounce under 6lbs (5-15), Simon kindly took some lovely photos. After doing so, I rested the fish once more before it had retained its strength and was ready to swim back strongly into its hideout of the ranunculus. It was really exciting watching the barbel swim back into the crystal clear water, as I have rarely been able to see this in the daytime before, and Simon remarked the sheer camouflage of the barbel against the gravel, as we both watched the stunning fish disappear into the weed.

Lovely golden-flanked barbel (5-15)

After freshening the baits on both rods, I flicked both rigs back out. Just as I was tidying a few things in my rucksack, my downstream rod absolutely whacked over. I scrambled to the rod before it had the chance to pull it off the rest! This fish charged straight upstream and attempted to make several dashes to the thickest beds of weed in the swim. Luckily with my reasonably substantial tackle in these weedy conditions, I was able to put a brake on these runs. After several more sprints, a lovely little barbel popped up to the surface. After a few final lashes on the surface, I safely managed to find an opening in the weed to land the barbel. Simon kindly did the honours with the camera again, and the young barbel was soon ready to dash back into the cover, after a few minutes of revival.

Little powerhouse in lovely condition!

It was a thoroughly enjoyable start to the morning, having managed my first two barbel of the season and off a new waterway! The rest of the morning, henceforth, seemed to be a lot quieter, with the sun starting to come out. After a few hours, Simon and I decided to go and look for some chub. I had been seeing the odd one about throughout the course of the morning, and it felt as if it was now time to see if we could tempt one. We arrived at a run with some nice depth and a slack at the far side, where we started to introduce some bait. It was not long until they were taking a few competitively, which meant it was perfect time for Simon to introduce his free-lined bait. As expected, action was pretty instant, with Simon receiving a snatching take. He struck sharply and connected with a decent looking chub. After a couple of surging runs, the chub was resting safely in the net. I was amazed by the sheer size of it out of the water: "looks a good five" I said, excitedly. At 5lb 9oz, it was a cracking chub for anytime of year, and what a way to have caught it!

A cracking summer chub (5-9)

The rest of the day certainly proved to be difficult, with the sun still high and it also seemed nigh-on impossible to avoid the plentiful dace which were picking up our pellets. Between us we must have had more than a dozen dace, chublets and we even had a roach each when switching to 10mm boilie barrels. As the sun started to descend, it was lovely to see a pair of terns diving in the twilight, with the odd salmon or sea trout crashing clean out of the water! It was nice to get back out, after several days stuck indoors.

Big thanks goes to Simon for inviting me for another shot at a Hampshire Avon barbel and imparting his knowledge of the stretch, as well as his knowledge of the barbel present.

Tight Lines,

Tom

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

Final Roundup of an Enjoyable Summer

What a summer it has been!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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...

Barbel Fishing First Attempts and Summer Chub

The first trip saw Ryan Hayden and I heading to the banks of the Hampshire Avon in search of some larger chub. The conditions were against us with the sun up high in the sky and the final results were some small chublets, baby barbel and 'bootlace' eels. It's so nice to see a burst of small barbel on the Avon and hopefully these fish will flourish and grow into one of those famous double figure fish!

Barbel taken of trotted maggot

On the same evening I decided to try a local Thames Tributary for the night after the barbel and plonked a couple of rods in subtly with a nice build up of food through the swim with a bait dropper, my choice of hook bait was a Sonubaits Spicy Sausage Oozing Pellet. It would have been such a relaxing night with the gentle trickle of the river and the call of the barn owl, but this was ruined by the numbers of nasty mosquitos. As the light started to prevail, I woke up and watched the barn owl gliding overhead as I started to reorientate myself for where I was! I noticed there was plenty of dew on the ground and knew there was a chance of finding some slugs to try for some of the chub residents. I reeled in both barbel rods knowing after my baits were completely gone that I had been crayed to pieces and perhaps had not put enough food in. It wasn't long until I found some slugs and I was almost instantly into a nice chub, not a monster by any means, but pristine condition!

Pristine chub on free-lined slug

Venturing later in the day to another stretch of this small tributary of the Thames in search of another chance of barbel, I started again with my mind still on chub managing three nice fish, biggest possibly 4lbs or so. Even though I did try for barbel in the afternoon, my swim was gatecrashed by a jack pike, and coupled with the heat levels I felt it was time to call it a day and quit whilst I was ahead...

Best chub of the day on free-lined bread

Thanks for reading and tight lines,

Tom