The big day!

The waiting game commenced!

Well, it finally arrived and what came with it was a veritable host of incredible frustration! Joel and I made our way up the river on the 15th to have a good look around and clear a few likely looking spots to fish come the big day. It's amazing how over grown it all gets in just 3 months of peace and quiet! Nature takes back the land!

Looking perfect!

The river looked almost perfect with a good bit of colour still in it and ay 1.3m still reasonably acceptable levels of water too. We sat around all day and most of the night awaiting enough light on the 16th to finally get a rod in the water. It was so frustrating as the river was just calling out to be fished. Our first bit of action came just before dawn on Joels right hand rod.

A steaming run ripped a good few yards of line off Joels reel and before we knew what was going on it had slipped the hook! Joel was devastated to have just lost his first ever Wye fish. A few minutes later and I was into a tail walking double figure salmon which high tailed it across the river at a rate of knots and that too slipped the hook! The day light came and with it came an endless peace that wasn't broken by so much as a nibble....I moved a handful of times to try and find a pod of fish but to no avail.

Do something!!!!!!

Eventually we decided at around 6pm to move to the opposite side of the river and a small swim which had done a fish earlier in the day. This produced one missed opportunity for me in the form of yet another hook pull before we decided to call time and accept a blank for the big day! Exhausted beyond belief, we trundled off back to the car with our tails between our legs and headed home.

After a busy day rolling the following day, I had the urge to go back up and give another particular spot a bash. I rang Joel and picked him up on the way through. We arrived around 7pm to find the river empty of anglers. Out went the bait dropper and a couple of rods baited with the trusty River Monster boilies. I started to get odd nibbles from the off and it felt like a different river to the night before.

It wasn't long before finally I got my hard earned chance and the right hand center pin cranked round and the rod buckled under the pressure of a good barbel....we were both elated to finally see a rod in action! A cracking scrap ensued and eventually a stunning fish was netted and duly weighed and photographed.....

At last a barbel! Hard earned and a long wait! My first of the 2014 river season at 10lb 3oz... Elated!

10lb 3ozs of her sat with her proud captor for a stunning snap in front of a setting sun! What a back drop to my first barbel of the 2014 river season. My 65th fish from the river and also my tenth double too. That was it for me for the night and despite a couple of violent knocks from i'm guessing chub?? That was it.....

Well done Joel!!! His first fish from the Wye at 4lb 14oz!

Joel managed to grab a 2lb chub, an eel and finally a very nice specimen chub of 4lb 14oz! A great looking fish by any standards and despite the fact he was desperate to catch a barbel, I think he was pretty chuffed with his nice Chevin.

Well that's that for now. I'm off down the Bristol Avon on Sunday with any luck for a 48 hr festival of madness and Barbel heaven! Lets hope!

I hope you all had a magical day out and I look forward to seeing all your captures online etc.

Tight lines
Keith
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