Long days out!

This weeks adventure saw me having a very early start on Wednesday morning...In fact I had a poor night sleep or lack of sleep I should say. I set the alarm for 4am but in reality I hadn't actually switched off all night. I was up around 3.30am and making fresh coffee for my flasks and eating my 4 weetabix! Yes 4! What a man!!! I eventually left the house around 4.30 and started the journey North up the M50 to Worcester. I got to the venue around 6.30 am after stopping for a Mcdonalds Mcmuffin and a coffee.

My first swim on the beautiful River Teme

 The light was just coming round and I parked in the field next to the river at the bottom of the syndicate on the River Teme. The section in question run by the Barbel Society. A stunning venue with a private drive and very secluded stretch. I had a walk along the lower beat and found a rousing number of gorgeous swims that i really fancied trying out.

Typical jungle warfare swim on the Teme

I got back to the car and unloaded my kit....took a gentle walk to my first choice swim on the back end of some fast water where the water seemed to drop off and become less turbulent. I started with a rod on the straight lead (3oz) with a pellet hook bait and the other rod with a 100gm blockend feeder and maggots on it. The first 2 hours or so passed with no action at all, so i decided to move down the river a little to my next choice swim.

This swim had a lovely section of deepish slack water after a tree that entered the water. I decided to put out about 6-8 dropper fulls of maggots and 2/4mm halibut pellets and fish a single rod with the feeder and maggots on it. I sat for about 40 minutes and around 5-6 casts into the swim before I was taken quite by surprise by a good bite. A quick strike saw the hook home and it was a good battle that ensued. After a couple of minutes of tussling for the advantage, I was in control and guiding a nice plump 4lb 2oz winter chub to the net. I grabbed a couple of nice pics and put her back.

My first ever fish from the Teme at 4lb 2oz

I fished the swim a while longer but to no avail....It was a case of moving around a little to try and find a few odd fish here and there....I tried a few other likely spots but nothing...Eventually i decided to go back to the car and drive up to the top end of the beat in search of other hidden treasures. I read the parking details on the permit and followed them a bit too precisely as I found myself very very stuck in deep mud in the car park/cow field! After about 30 minutes of rolling the car, digging around the tires etc, I decided I really did need to get a little help from the nearby farm. I trundled over to find 2 fellas loading up a 4x4 and I asked them sheepishly for some help....

Loving using the center pin these days!

They were more than obliging and got me out by pulling the car with a long tow rope. What a mare and highly embarrassing! After about 2 hours of messing around I got back on the bank on the top stretch of the river. I found a couple of swims that took my fancy. I tried a big deep hole on the bend of a wide section,but I just couldn't get myself comfortable and confident. I finally opted to end the day in a slightly faster shallower swim near the car. This produced another nice small chub and a handful of missed bites and unfortunately a lost fish too. I got home around 8.30pm after a long 110 mile drive home tired but happy!

Earning my stripes!

Cold day, margin swim!

A few hours free time jumped up at me today, so I thought that with the cold snap well and truly here, I'd grab the perching equipment and head down my local pool for a few hours chasing stripey's! Now, there's a few special one's in our club water and i'm bloody determined to get one this winter! So, with some red maggots, lobs, dendras and prawns, I ventured down the lake around 1pm in an attempt to earn my stripes!

My good pal Gary was already fishing and with pretty much all the flyer pegs taken, it was just a case of dropping in a likely looking spot for a while. I fed a concoction of CBS fishmeal groundbait, scalded CBS 2mm Halibut pellets, Krill amino compound, shellfish flavour, prawns, sea mussels, worms and red maggots into the margins either side of my swim.

bite time!!!!

The left hand rod fishing with a float rig and lobworm set up, the right hand ledgering a 1/4oz weight free running set up, size 10 CBS Trident hook and a prawn smothered in CBS Krill Amino Compound.

The going was tough and both Gary and I struggled to get the fish going to start with.... We both eventually started to get bites. Gary on mixed bats on the pole catching some roach and skimmers. I wanted to just catch perch so I stuck it out on the prawns for the majority of the afternoon.

My first of the season at 2lb 5oz

My first fish took the ledgered prawn around 2pm and after a great scrap, I was sat admiring a stunning 2lb 5oz Perch! I had a few other very viscous takes that somehow I missed??? Things then died a death!

Gary called it a day around 3.30pm and I was left on the lake by myself. My target margin swim to the right hand side seemed to be the pro active area, so I concentrated my efforts there for the last 2 hours of fishing time.

no 2 at 1lb 9oz

I took a couple of nice skimmers and a roach on the prawns before at last another perch of 1lb 9oz took the bait.

I know there are some much bigger specimens lurking around in there so i'll be back down in the week for another go at the striped monsters!

Post flood sessions!

Following on from the trips down Hampshire to see the family, I decided this week that I was well over due a trip up my beloved river Wye for the day.....I spent a couple of days keeping an eye on the River Cameras and the EA water levels etc and Sunday looked bang on for a fish with the river sitting around 2-3 feet above normal level. Perfect!

chilly start on the Wye

I decided an early start was in order and the alarm was set for stupid o'clock! I got to the river around 6 am to find it looking great, but still very pacy! My first choice swim was still a bit too heavy flowing to hold bottom and I opted to go back to the car and head over the opposite bank, to fish on the tail of the tree line in some of the slacker waters.

Tough day again but a 3lb 13oz chub and two
other 2's made up for the dire day!

I sat for about 3 hours without as much as a nibble and by 12.30pm i'd had enough....another move was on the cards! A quick drive further upstream and i located 2 possible swims to target. The first was a large slack full of snags but a local chap followed me along and he fancied a go for the pike that supposedly lived in there. I obliged and headed to my 2nd choice spot where I'd had an 8lb 15oz barbel from in flood water conditions a few weeks back.

Another 3 hours passed without any action at all. I was beginning to doubt my sanity as darkness fell and the crisp cold air descended on the river bank. I held my nerve a little longer and I was rewarded with 3 chub in succession. 3lb 13oz, 2lb 8oz and 2lb 5oz. Not the intended barbel but in all honesty after such a tough day I was happy with anything!

Hants trip

A bit of free time suddenly became available to me and in light of the wife and kids wanting to visit family down south, I thought it'd be rude not to dip a line in my favorite river the Hampshire Avon. I got down the river around 10.30am after popping in to see my big bro Stuart and having coffee and cuddles with his lovely little daughter. The river was up very slightly but quite fish-able to start with. I decided to fish a swim just below the piles and boat pool and things looked rather good with overcast conditions and a little rain in the air.

The piles swim....wonderful view but it just didn't happen!

I baited up with the usual River Monster Boilie and 4 oz leads etc....I put around 10 droppers full of pellets, hemp and crushed boilies in the dropper and baited up around 10m upstream to compensate a little for the flow. I sat it out in the swim for about 3 hours but all i could muster up was two small eels! I decided a move was on the cards and I headed round the back of my swim into the piles swim and started fishing the large crease/slack in front.

Another 3 hours passed with out so much as a tremble on the tip....I was starting to think things were rather slower than i'd known before when i got a nice pull on the left hand rod. A firm strike saw the hook home and a cracking fight ensued!

The strangest of boilie captures I've ever had!!!!

I thought at last i'd got the Barbel i'd wanted or even a nice Chub but as the fish hit the surface I was gob smacked to see it was a trout of all things! On a boilie???? Got to be the strangest thing I've ever hooked on a boilie!

At just over 7lbs a reasonable one too! I took a quick snap of her next to the rod and reel and slipped her back. I sat it out until about 2 hours into darkness but to no avail. The fish just weren't playing ball.

The next morning I got around to Stueys about 8am for coffee and by 9am we were setting up in the wonderful Compound, great weir. Stuey had treated me to the day out for my birthday, which was a real treat!

The compound swim

We've had some incredible days in the compound in the past but with the amounts of weed, twigs and general rubbish coming down it was going to be a real hard day! We plugged away with feeders, straight leads etc and it just didn't happen....

Very disappointing as Stu was the only one to see a decent bite all day in the form of a typical small compound bream, a couple of dace and a small ST on the maggot feeder.

A typical compound bream on the maggot feeder

I sat it out all day for a barbel, but the fish just didn't seem to be there??? All the same, it was wonderful to see Stuey and spend a day on one of my favourite old haunts. After the heavy days fishing in strong winds and rain, we thought the only way forward was to grab the girls, get a baby sitter in for the kids and go out for a superb curry!!!!

Wye not?

Well, I couldn't think of a better way to finish off the summer season than to go and catch yet more of those awesome Wye Chub & Barbel! I set about another trip up with my good friend Colin 'Taffy' Farnham. Colin's a general coarse fisherman and bailiff for the club and I thought it was about time he felt the pleasures of that barbel pull! We ventured down the river late afternoon and settled in a swim i'd fished a few times now....

Colin's first Barbel of 8lbs

I set Colin up with a basic running 2oz lead rig, 2 foot hooklength and a CBS gravel Leader and CBS Trident size 10 hook with hair rig and one of our 14mm dumbell River Monster Boilies for bait. Colin sat back to await the feeding activity and within 5 minutes of casting in, he was into his first barbel and at 8lbs a reasonable fish to boot!

Not happy with just bagging the one, Colin went on to grab another fine specimen and a cracking fish of 10lb 7oz as well! To top the evening off I even caught a couple and topped it off with a new PB of 11lb 4oz!

Colin and his new pb of 10lb 7oz!

My next session out with Gary proved fruitless and we didn't get so much as a bite! The water was still very low and clear and a good bit of rain was needed to improve matters we felt! I ventured up again with Colin and managed a small chub of around 4lb 15oz and again another blank a few days later....It seemed that things had got a lot tougher in the course of just a few days!

I decided late on the next Monday afternoon to head up and give it a bash as we'd had a little of the wet stuff for 2 days....The river was about 2-3 inches up and carrying a very slight tinge of colour. I set up on a beautiful wooden pontoon with great river access.

9lb 9oz and 10lb 1oz! Get in!

The boat traffic was particularly hard core this evening and i couldn't effectively fish it like i wanted too..... I had to place my rods on the floor and use back leads to keep the whole lot clear of the ever increasingly close rowers who seemed hell bent on pulling my kit in! Anyhow, the traffic slowed up around 7.30pm and just as the first bit of light was failing, my right hand rod sprung into action and proceeded to deliver a nice 8lb 15oz barbel to the net!

Well chuffed, I set the rods up on their rests and within seconds I was into another of just over 9lbs! This looked like it could well be a good night for it! It was! I managed 7 barbel in total and even managed a 9lb 9oz fish and a 10lb 1oz barbel at the same time! Epic fishing!

Joel with his first barbel of 7lb 4oz! 

Gary and I ventured up a few days later to fish the same swim and couldn't buy a bite! Very strange set of circumstances! What was even stranger was what happened behind us in the fields! The electricity mains box attached to a post on the main carriageway down to Monmouth decided to explode around 10pm and huge flashes and explosions filled the air around us! It was incredible to say the least! The bangs were intense and you could feel the pressure in the air from the blasts!

My next trip was with another newbie to Barbel.....Joel Biddle, a good pal and regular carper had shown an interest in wanting to have a go at some barbel too. I took him down mid week for an evening session and he was first up to bag a fish with a lovely 7lb 4oz barbel and then a stunning 9lb 9oz....I had another nice double and a few other fish too!

Well done Joel!!! No2 @ 9lb 9oz!

I followed up the great sessions with even more and by the end of my 12th trip up to the Wye I was sat on 37 barbel and 8 over the magic 10lb barrier! Topped off by a new PB of 11lb 4oz! A great two and a half months fishing  by anyone's standard.

Joel and I decided we'd try a new venue one Sunday and booked in with The Wye and Usk foundation for a day on Sugwas Court near Hereford. The river was up up very slightly and after the long drive up, we walked through the fields to find a lovely swim surrounded by overhanging trees.

New PB of 11lb 4oz!

With it being a one rod each water we decided to fish together for a bit. I went upstream and Joel dropped in at the tail end. He was first to get some action but unfortunately lost his first one to a hook link snapping on a powerful fish.....I was next and bagged a wonderful 7lb 5oz barbel on the center pin, which was a real delight! The fishing was a little slow and despite numerous moves I was the only one to catch with a small 4lb 15oz barbel and a little 2 pounder!

As the light was failing I suggested we tried one last spot by the car, which we had baited earlier that day....Joel made a cast out upstream and mine went under arm just in front on the crease line. In seconds of casting I was into a good Barbel and as I was playing it Joel had a bite as well! Both of us were playing fish at the same time! Hilarity followed for a few minutes but eventually we had a pair of beautiful fish on the bank and some great photos to show for our efforts! Mine went 7lb 4oz and Joel's just under 7lb! A great result.

So much fun!!!

My most recent trip up was a little more intense and I really struggled to be honest! I set up just after first light on a river in full on rage mode! At 14 feet above the norm, it was racing through and pretty much unfishable. I tried a couple of swims on the Monmouth side only to be washed off after a few casts due to debris and inability to hold bottom....

I tried a few hours on the little River Trothy, a tributary of the Wye....No bites whatsoever so I opted to try just the last hour over the far side bank of the Wye. I found a slight slack about mid way along the section and dropped a lead in to see if I could still get myself a fish. I had to use 2 leads on the line, totaling 10oz just to grip the deck less than a rod length or so out!

Time for some water??? you bet!!!

I sat through, trees coming down, weed, dead sheep, a badger, more weed and yet more trees! Unbelievable the stuff that comes down that river when its up a bit! Well, the best part of nearly 3 hours passed and I had pretty much come to grips with the fact I was more than likely going home empty handed when all of a sudden I saw a slight deviation in my left hand rod....when I say deviation i mean something a little different in the rod movement.

Absolute magic! 8lb 15oz of flood water gold!

It was a tough call as the tips were bent double from the flow, but there was just something slightly different about the movement??? I decided to strike...what did i have to loose?

Glad I did though as hanging on the end was an awesome barbel of 8lb 15oz! What a surprise and what a scrap in the amazing flow! Just goes to show that if you stick it out, it can still happen even in the worst conditions!

Continued Wye success!

A week or so later I found myself desperate for the buzz I'd had on the River Wye a week earlier! I just couldn't shake off the buzz that I'd now got stuck with. Another trip had to be on the cards and I was determined to get back up the river and bag a few more bars of Wye Gold!

my first of the 2nd session at 5lb 15oz

The second trip up saw me try a new swim a few fields up from my previous visit and I settled in for what I hoped was going to be a repeat of the previous week. Things started fairly well with a nice 5lb 15oz barbel finding the spreader block before darkness fell. I was feeling exceptionally confident about the evening and after spending the whole of the last week ensuring I had got my tackle and bait as good as I could possibly get it, I felt a red letter evening may again be on the cards?

It was a strange evening if i'm honest and not quite as good as I had hoped albeit I did bag 3 fish including a nice 7lb 7oz barbel and a lovely chub all falling to the River Monster Boilie.

7lb 7oz barbel

The fish were a little bit more spasmodic than the previous week and I put it down to angling pressure as it was a Monday evening and I felt that with the levels of litter that had suddenly appeared on the bank side, it was likely that the place had been heavily fished over the weekend by some less than decent people....God I hate to see litter! Why not just shove it in your bag and take it home?

The third trip up the river was a little more than 48 hours later and my son Thomas had showed interest in wanting to have a go at river fishing and catching his first ever Barbel. Tom is 14 and has caught a few wonderful carp in the past up to 25lb 8oz but he's not an avid angler and usually only comes out a few times a year when the mood finds him. Well, we arrived on the Wednesday night just as it was getting dusk'ish and got set up with a rod each.

Thomas Supple with his first ever Barbel of 6lb 2oz

We fished the same spot as I had on the Monday evening and I put Tom upstream to the place i'd had the 3 from on the previous session. It was some time into darkness before we had our first inquiry. Tom's rod was twitching away and then violently sprung over signalling a vicious take! Tom was quite taken back with the bite and the ensuing battle which wrenched him all over the bank side! After a good few minutes of tussling he was the proud captor of his first Wye Barbel and a prize specimen of 6lb 2oz! Great result and he was ecstatic to be holding such a beautiful fish. He was even more ecstatic when the same rod hooped over again some 15 minutes later and this time he had the fight of his life with an incredible 8lb 12oz barbel! After doing the photos and weighing the fish I let Tom put the fish back correctly upstream facing and you could see how much it meant to him by the look on his face! Great!

Tom with his new PB 8lb 12oz barbel! Well done pal x

I struggled all evening with just a few trembles on the right hand rod to talk about! It didn't matter to me though as I had done what I had set out to do and that was to get my lad into his first Barbel. We packed up enthusiastically and headed for home with lots of talk about coming up together again soon and how much we'd enjoyed each others company.

My forth trip up the following week, was with a good friend of mine Gary Brooks. Gary is an excellent, well accomplished coarse fisherman who's happy to put his hand to any aspect of the sport with very good success! Gary had to date though never caught or seen a barbel on the bank! Well I'd promised him that would change tonight, so I had to deliver! We arrived with plenty of light left and I gave Gary a guided tour of the river and the likely looking spots. A quick chit chat about techniques and swims and we were setting up in a nice wide double swim that would accommodate the pair of us.

Gary made his first cast around 7pm just after a rowing boat had gone through our swim and as soon as his rod hit the water he was into the first fish of the evening! To say the bloke was shocked was an understatement....he just couldn't believe he'd landed on top of a big barbel quite like that?

Gary Brooks with his first ever barbel of 9lb 6oz!

A cracking scrap on his light 1.5lb tc rod and after a few minutes we were looking at the golden flanks of another wonderful Wye specimen and Gary's first ever of the species at a cracking 9lb 6oz! What a way to start proceedings!

Things went decidedly quiet and it wasn't until almost last knockings that my rod eventually got snaffled and I hooked into what felt like a very big fish...

She ripped of downstream at a serious rate of knots and before I knew it I was hanging on for grim death just to insure I'd was still in touch with the fish. I managed to gain some of the 50+ yards of line back onto the spool and eventually she succumbed to tiredness and I netted a fantastic new PB of 10lb 8oz! I was over the moon and it was magic to have my good pal Gary with me to enjoy the moment too.

Another new PB for Keith at 10lb 8oz!