My first session on the Wye!

My first Wye Barbel at 7lb 2oz

The River Wye has given me some of the best river fishing of my life this last few months! It's such a shame that it took me the near ten years of living in Wales before I found it's wonderful inspiring delights! I eventually succumbed to its allure on the 20th August, a Tuesday evening after work to be exact! I'd been in the unit all day rolling copious amounts of boilies and I just had to get out there and wet a line! The river had been calling me since the start of the season yet I just hadn't found the time or the stimulation to do the required 55 mile drive to the water!

 I'm so glad I eventually got around to it though and after the hour long drive up the motorway I was parked up and removing my kit from the car. The short walk down to the river bank left me with tons of ideas running through my head about how I was going to approach the place and after much research on the river I thought I knew just what to expect, albeit as far as other club members and officials were aware the fishing was pretty tough and very few large fish were present???

The stunning river Wye

Well, I had a point to prove to both them and myself and with a PB just shy of 10lbs, I had a realistic goal in mind of a 10lb + barbel by the end of the summer season....I arrived in the first field and instantly fell in love with the river. A wide expanse of dark brown water surrounded by the most glorious bankside flora and fauna!

I opted for the first swim I came to as it just looked too dam good to walk by! A short drop down the bank and about 6 feet up from the waters edge. I set up a pair of rods with 10lb main line, a running lead rig with 2oz of lead and a medium length hook link made up of our latest coated braid material and one of our size 10 trident hooks. Bait was to be a new boilie (The River Monster Boilie) which I had spent the summer developing for just such an occasion. I made up a small pva mesh bag with some halves of boilies and some mixed size halibut pellets and made my first cast into the middle of the river.

CBS Boilies and Halibuts

The sun was just starting to drop and it's warmth was wicking away behind me...The first 15 minutes passed by slowly as I sat taking in the incredible scenery and before I knew it the left hand rod was bent double with a very powerful fish attached to it! Could I be into my very first Wye Barbel?? Yes, I was! And after a spirited battle I was the proud captor of my first Wye Barbel of 7lb 2oz! I couldn't believe my luck! First outing and I'd got one already on my first cast as well!

Happy as a pig in the proverbial I made a re-cast back to the same position and awaited possible fish activity.....It wasn't too long before things started to again happen. Just as the light was fading and the nuisance canoeists had dissipated, I started to receive small trembles on the rod tip indicating the presence of said barbel!

second fish of 8lb 5oz!

Nothing came of the trembles and after about quarter of an hour I opted for a fresh bait and a recast slightly further out towards the middle of the river. I set the rod down on the rest and just as I let go of the butt, it flew almost clear of the rod rest! I was into yet another incredible Wye Barbel and within 5 secs of the lead hitting the water too!

This was amazing sport! After an awesome fight and nearly loosing her in a weed bed, I netted another incredible Gold Bar!

This fish went 8lb 5oz! I thought that this was probably my lot for the night but I couldn't have been more wrong! The tips were alive all evening and by 11pm I'd taken 5 Barbel to 9lb 6oz and a chub of 6lb 2oz to boot!

Another one found the net! 9lb 6oz

What an incredible evenings fishing and one I'd remember for the rest of my life! I thought I ought to start packing away and head for home, so I started with my chair and rucksack followed by lids on buckets etc.....The last thing standing was the rod, rests and net. I'd just finished all the bits and I was about to pick up the rod to reel in and over the tip went in grand style!

Yes, one more for the session I thought. This fish was hell bent on disappearing down stream and went hell for leather down into the next field!  I hung on and let her have a little line before she eventually stopped and I managed to start gaining back a little line. I took ages to get her back up level with me and eventually I was battling an unseen monster under the rod tip. Suddenly she broke the surface and my headlamp caught the side of what looked to me to be a very large barbel!

10lb 4oz! A new PB 

My heart was in my mouth and I prayed that it would just stay on! After a couple more heart wrenching pulls, I eventually sunk the net under a big bar of gold. I prepped the unhooking mat and scales etc and set up the camera on it's tripod for a photo. I couldn't believe my luck when I weighed her....10lb 4oz!

At last I'd managed to catch a double figure Barbel after 20+ years of trying! I was ecstatic! The fish went back easily and after a brief few minutes holding her upright in the margins, she was off and away at a rate of knots.

What an amazing start to my new water adventure! 6 barbel of 7lb 2oz, 8lb 5oz, 7lb 1oz, 9lb 6oz, 7lb 9oz, 10lb 4oz and the awesome chub of 6lb 2oz as well!

What a chub at 6lb 2oz!
Not what i expected from the Wye!

My fascination with the Wye had commenced and what had started as a relatively basic unplanned trip had turned into the best few hours river fishing I'd ever experienced!

2013 A fresh start in many ways!

Hi all and welcome to my new Blog...... Well, as many of you know I have spent the last 6-7 years chasing shadows around a few of the countries famous pools in search of their famous and tough specimen carp that inhabit them. I've had a tough time and a wonderful time too. I can honestly say that my time spent on the bank has taught me so much that it has not only improved my angling skills but also improved me as a person all round. The highs were obviously the amazing captures and making some life long friendships too but the lows were beyond bearable at times.....The driving long distances (380 mile round trips) to and from my chosen venues was the real killer and the obvious expense involved with running a car to get there and back. Where I live in the valleys of South Wales there is very little quality carp fishing that would excite someone who grew up in the mecca of carp angling, Jurassic Carp Ringwood!

The inspiring and wonderful Crayfish Pool

This meant that i'd have to travel if i wanted to find that kind of fishing again. Well, I have to say it was worth it for the best part and my favourite adventures were up to Horton Complex near Heathrow and the very lovely CrayFish Pool. A 3 acre pool steeped in angling history, containing just 30 or so carp to 38lb+. I spent a couple of seasons on there and after a rather quiet first season with just 4 fish to my name after 46 nights of fishing, I figured I'd have to up my game to start catching a few more of the lovely inhabitants! This I managed to do in my second season on there after having a years break from the place. In that year I put around 100 nights down on the bank at 2 other well known waters for very little in return! I managed just 4 Tench and an eel in all that time and started to question my sanity and of course my angling skills too!

The awesome 'Bulla' from the Cray at 38lb 2oz.
My second capture of the fish in a
3 year period and this time a new PB!

When I returned to the Cray I had around 3 months to get things right before winter stepped in to knacker my angling....I managed to get among the fish fairly quickly on this time though and within tens nights I was started to locate and catch on a regular basis, sometimes multiple captures were on the cards! In short I had one of my best carp seasons to date with 15 fish finding the bank including 7 over the magic thirty pounds and a new PB of 38lb 2oz. I left the venue late October as the water temps dropped and the fishing slowed up to the point of non existence and decided for the first year in ages that I'd hang up the rods through the major part of the winter.

It wasn't until the middle of February and after the majority of the snow and storms had past that I eventually succumbed to the need to get out and dangle a line in the wet stuff! I decided that the long distance angling should take a brief respite as my wallet just couldn't keep up with the expenses involved with the long distance angling! This left just one option open to me and to join a local fishing club near my home....I'd looked into it before but there was very little for a guy with such high expectations of his fishing....what to do?

I spent the colder months fishing for alternative
species from roach and perch to carp on light gear!

Well, I thought long and hard and decided i'd spend this year doing some fishing  for alternative species or targeting the carp in other ways, such as floater fishing or even pole fishing etc...some of the dark arts I felt that i may have forgotten how to do??? It didn't take me long to find my feet and within just 2 trips to a local still water, I had already made some really good friends and started to get a feel for the kind of angling that this year would hold for me. The first part of 2013 was spent doing some very basic match fishing techniques and relearning the finer arts of float, pole and feeder fishing which I had all but forgotten about whilst engulfing myself in the carp fishing over the 10 year period past. This I have to say was extremely enjoyable and reminded me that it's all about much more than just sitting behind my buzzers waiting for the fish to come to me! I could at last start to make things happen in the swim again with practical feeding patterns and using lightweight gear felt so nice after using 3.5lb tc rods and 15lb main lines!

I caught shed loads of carp off the top, pole, float rod, center pin etc and even enjoyed having a dabble at fishing for silvers on really light kit too! It was just heavenly to be just enjoying angling again and not feeling under pressure to catch or being after specific big fish too! Come July I was gagging to venture onto the rivers again after such a massive break away from them and after finding out my club ran a stretch or two of the Wye and the Taff, I just had to choose one to spend a bit of time on. I decided this year I would concentrate on the River Wye from Monmouthshire upstream. This turned out to be one of the best things I've ever done and you'll see from my coming reports how good the rivers been to both myself and numerous friends Iv'e taken to sample it's delights!