35!.....onward and upwards!

Tough low water conditions!

Good day all! At last I look out of my lounge window here in the hills of South Wales and I see cloudy sky's and rain filled clouds. Not what you really want in the height of summer but if your a barbel angler then you'll understand totally! Let's hope that a few days of it is all that's needed to boost the super low rivers and get the fish spurred into action a little!

Last night was no exception as I once again graced the banks of my club section of the Wye in Monmouthshire. For the first time in over 15 years my wife was able to come with me as the kids are having a 2 week holiday down to their grandmothers house. We had a late start as the wife didn't get in from work until nearly 5pm but after a quick coffee, change of clothes and the 55 mile trip, we were finally sat on the banks of the majestic Wye.

The river looked painfully low and flow was almost non-existent! To say it was like a canal was an understatement and it kind of confirmed my worst fears that in all honesty we were probably wasting our time being on this particular stretch of the river. So far it's been an awkward start to the 2014 season with very few fish coming out from the slower beats and the faster sections only producing late afternoon up until early evening.

Last weekend with Bob on the Luggs section was no different and it was at least 3pm before our first barbel even decided to show up! A long wait when you've been up since 2am!

Marianne was quite happy messing around feeding the small chub fry in the margins with her left over Prawn sandwiches while I made up 2 rods ready for the barbel. The rowing club were out in full force and as usual there were just one or two who refused to give more than a few feet of the river up to the anglers. At numerous points the same 2 rowers felt it was important to come in as close as possible and when I commented on their ignorance I was given nothing but abuse....such a shame as the majority are very polite and happy to share the river with each other.

My first rod was positioned at just on 15 yards as the boat traffic was so busy. The tip was placed down as low as I could get away with and I sat back to sort out the other rod. Within a few minutes of the first rod going into the swim I was into my first solid take! A very strong bite that saw the clutch spinning rapidly. As I set the hook a rower came in right under the bank at flat out speed! I shouted at him to slow up. This caused nothing less than more abuse but at least he slowed up enough to let me lift the line clear of the impending cut off he would have caused.

An 8lb 3oz bar of very welcome gold from my club stretch of the Wye!

The fight preceded to be difficult with many more boats coming through the swim backwards and unable to see the fact I was playing a fish....it has to be one of the only modes of transportation where the occupants are unable to see where they're going???? Crazy! Eventually after a torrid few minutes she was close enough in for me to relax a little. I sunk the net under her and we got all the camera equipment and mats etc ready.

I weighed her quickly and the wife took a couple of lovely pictures before we put the beautiful fish back to fight another day. At 8lb 3oz I was more than happy to have caught one from the less than easy club stretch. I felt there was a really good chance of a few more, so I got both rods back on the money and awaited results.....

Needless to say the results I would have liked didn't happen and a few hours later we were packing up and heading home with just the one first cast fish to show for our efforts. Despite it being a very lovely fish and above average weight barbel for the Wye too, I still felt that the swim could have produced more had the water been a little higher. I'm not complaining though as this fish takes me to 35 for the season so far which is pretty darn good in my opinion!!!

I'm back out on Sunday this week with client to fish at Sugwas Court. It's a lovely stretch that holds many fish up to double figures, so here's hoping we have a good day out!!!

Tight lines all

Keith x

Distant friends!

Bobs first barbel for 5 years!

After a few months of not seeing each other, Bob and I decided to get together for a days fishing on the River Wye in Herefordshire. I booked us both on for the day at a section I fished a few weeks back, where I took 9 cracking fish. Bob's drive up from Newbury equaled the distance I had to travel, so the pair of us arrived pretty much minutes apart....
It looked like it was going to be another stinking hot day ahead, so we opted to fish the lower section of the beat where there is a nice little weir pool section to fish and lots of oxygenated water and of course, hopefully lots of barbel too!

Just stunning!

Things started off very slowly and both Bob and myself struggled to get little more than 1 to 2 inch trembles from very small chub. We persevered with the swim throughout the day and gently built up the level of ground bait, pellets and River Monster Boilies.

Regular casts every 5-10 minutes with a large 2oz open ended feeder allowed a great level of feed to be introduced to the swim. It was almost 3pm before we got our first decent take of the day. Bob had just decided to take a quick call of nature and off went his clutch at an alarming rate! Talk about sods law! I struck into the fish for him while he quickly zipped up!

 

Turbo charged gold bullion!

I was ecstatic that Bob had finally grabbed a chance as it had been almost 5 years since he'd caught his last Barbel form the Kennet. He was over the moon with his first of the day at 5lb 6oz.

Quickly after I was away with one of just under 5lbs. This then culminated in a very quick bite coming almost straight away again after I cast out the next time! The feeder still full and a speedy little 2lb barbel found the net!

Sunset boulevard!

I then lost one on the next cast before things went decidedly quiet yet again. We couldn't have bought a bite with a euro lottery win! It was absolutely dead!  I decided to put out a lightweight 1oz feeder with a long fluorocarbon tail on my new Ray Walton rod and pin which had yet to see it's first barbel....

This was placed on the rest and the butt of the rod was placed on my chair between my legs. I tilted back my chair and shut my eyes for about ten minutes as it had been a very early start that morning at 3am and by now I was starting to feel a little rough!

Minutes later I was just dropping off into a dream state with Bob keeping an eye on things, when I heard Bob shout and then a suddenly brief pain in my gentlemans region as the butt section of my rod flew up and hit my dangly bits! I sat up like a shot and reached to grab my rod as it flew upwards with a barbel attached! Much to the amusement of Bob, I was rubbing my sore balls with one hand and trying to play the fish with the other!

The fish came in at a shade over 6lbs and it looked like things were about to kick off again finally! I had a couple of 5lb fish in succession before Bob finally got his second of the day. I felt sorry for the guy as we were fishing less than a few feet apart and it was my rod doing the business despite the rigs and baits being the same???? We even swapped sides for a bit and it wasn't until we swapped back that I started to get the bites again. Very strange???

As darkness started to fall, the fishing became frantic and another handful of fish came to my rod, leaving me on a total of 8 barbel for the day. Bob was luck enough to grab a third and the biggest for the day at 7lb 8oz.

Well done Bob! Wye gold!!!

Not a monster by any standards but considering the very tough low water conditions, we felt we had done extremely well. We packed away at our allotted time an hour after sun set, happy that we had caught much of what was there to be taken. I lost a couple of fish including a much better one too.

Natashas first Barbel!

Lovely times on the river together...

What a hot few days it's been here in the UK! Wow! I've enjoyed the weather but I can't help feeling it would be nice to see a little more flow and colour in the river. Times have been hard down on my club stretch and just about all of the Wye has fished rather difficultly during sunlight hours. The problem as I see it at my club section is that its on average 6-8 feet deep with just a long straight area of about 1.5miles with no bends, weirs or any real variations in current.

This means that in low water conditions the section is like a bloody canal! This means there's absolutely bugger all oxygen within the water at the best of times. Now, I'm no expert on this and I'm sure that some of you know a hell of a lot more than me on this and have much better explanations for the lack of feeding activity. But, here's my opinion on it........Bear with me on this now......

During darkness the sun is not available to the weed growth within the river, so of course there is no photosynthesis taking place. (Oxygen production through plants..... to those less educated!) When this happens within particular stretches, such as our club section that have zero flow, the barbel and other species are almost dormant. The main bite time is almost always around 3pm onwards until darkness.

Low, clear water...not the most productive of times.

I've been almost totally unable to get bites during the day right from first light onwards until that time. Evenings have been okay up until total darkness at which point the fish again shut off. The weed growth then obviously consumes the oxygen throughout darkness, leaving the fish sapped until later in the day.....I can only put this down to the lack of oxygen within the water. I cannot think of any other reasons?

Anyway, enough of all that mumbo jumbo stuff.....I took my youngest down the Wye for a few hours evening fishing last night and albeit the fishing was rather difficult due to the seriously low conditions, we did find a few odd fish. I started her off with a feeder rig and a dumbell River Monster boilie and we had a cast around the swim for an hour searching out likely looking spots for the fish. It took a little while before the first bite but eventually she got her first ever chub.

A happy girl with her first ever decent chub!

At around a pound in weight it wasn't likely to break any records but she was over the moon with her first of the species. The next cast produced another slightly better one and then things went quiet again for about 40 mins. It was tough going trying to find the fish and bites were very spasmodic to say the least!

Just as the light was fading things perked up a little and she unfortunately lost the first barbel to a cut off on a sharp under water rock. Not to be too put down by it we tackled back up and recast to a spot slightly closer to us. The result was almost instantaneous and before we knew it she was hooked into a better chub of just under 4lbs.

Another cast into the same area resulted in the rod hooping over in typical Wye Barbel style. Natasha needed a little help controlling the beast as it made its merry way around the swim and she did all she could to keep herself from being pulled over at times!

What it's all about for me! Look at that grin! 8lb 2oz Barbel for Natasha.....wonderful!

After about 5 minutes of battling it out for supremacy Natasha finally sunk the net under her first ever barbel! She was so excited when she saw how big it was.....on the scales it went 8lb 2oz. A totally over the moon little miss posed with her trophy. I think she wants to go out barbel fishing again rather soon now!

Keith x

Red letters!!!

Stunning middle Wye scenery!

Hi guys.

It's been a hectic few days in the office! Lots of bait rolled and tons of leadcore cog links made up for customers web orders. Tuesday night I had a brief session on my club stretch of the Wye but it led to nothing but stress to be honest! The drive up was horrific with heavy traffic hindering the journey.

On arrival I armed up and fished the only hot peg on the stretch at the moment. I sat for best part of 3 hours without so much as a sniff! Darkness fell and I started to pack away my kit.

As I was doing so my right hand rod bent into action.....This followed up with me striking into a fish only to have the hooklink snap on the strike! I was gutted! I packed the rod away and with minutes left the same thing happened on the left hand rod just minutes later!

5lb 9oz smasher!

I couldn't believe my luck, 2 lost in a row. I packed away my kit and sulked my way back to the car and drove away in disgust....I got to the road bridge in Monmouth only to find it was closed for the night for repairs and the diversion was through the back roads to Chepstow and a mere 20 miles and half an hour out my way. Un-bloody believable!

Keen to put Tuesday night to the back of my mind I booked a day in for Sunday up at Hereford and awaited the arrival of the weekend. I set the alarm for 3am but didn't get to 2am as I was up and ready to go by then. I grabbed a coffee at Macdonalds on the way through and by 4.45am I was setting up by the river. I have to say probably one of the most picturesque venues I've so far set foot on.

I found a swim at the top of the beat with lots of streamer weed and oxygenated water and set about putting a feeder with some groundbait and pellets into the swim with a river monster hook bait. I sat for a few minutes before my first fish took the bait and I quickly landed a small chub around 2lbs. I looked behind me to see a chap coming towards me with a fly rod in hand and a plastic bag????

An absolute beast at 9lb 5oz I think she was spawned out!

Questioning the guy as I had booked the only two tickets on the beat for the day. He was rather evasive but assured me he was the Gilly for the beat. He then proceeded to set up and fish less than 5 yards down stream from me....I couldn't believe my eyes as this guy tried to cast a double handed fly rod into my swim! And very poorly I might add.

And yet more action!

After about 10 minutes of thrashing the water to a pulp he moved a few yards down. Needless to say my swim didn't even get the chance to start fishing well. I let him carry on down stream and hop scotched around him to the lower section of the beat where I tried a few other likely looking spots to no avail. After about 3 hours of nothing much happening I eventually settled into a swim below a set of rapids.

The wonder gilly had packed up and left for the day leaving me to enjoy the wonderful surroundings. It wasn't until around 11.30am before I finally hooked something worth talking about. A nice chub of 5lb 9oz found the net. A cracking fish for this area of the Wye.

I put the fish back into the swim and made a few more casts into the swim before finally around 1pm I got what I was after.....a cracking bite and a great scrap which ended with a stunning barbel of 9lb 5oz sitting on the mat ready for its photograph to be taken. Joel Biddle arrived just in time to do the pics as he was booked in to join me later in the day. Joel set up just below me and got a feeder rig out as quickly as he could. I was into another barbel quickly after the first and soon I was looking at another 6lb 6oz brute.

No 4!!!!

Joel struggled a little and kept finding sharp rocks which claimed numerous feeders and a ton of hook links. I on the other hand was getting continuous knocks on the feeder and getting a little frustrated with missing masses of bites. I swapped my rig over to an inline feeder. I cut the ends of the feeder to make a kind of method feeder. This had a 2inch hooklink attached to it and a size 10 hook.

My next cast resulted in a very quick bite and another barbel of 4lb 10oz. Things were starting to look like they were going to go well for the day and the poor start was soon to be a distant memory! My next hours fishing was rather frustrating as both Joel and I missed endless bites! I tried numerous rig set ups and different combinations but all to no avail! Very very annoying! I eventually tagged a good fish but lost it too a snaggy tree root on the far bank.

Short link & method style did the trick

After an hour or so we decided to have a move as the bites dropped off after I'd bagged another nice 6lb plus barbel. I walked the beat with my polaroids on and spotted a big shoal of large chub mooching around on the surface a few pools back up river. We had a go at tartgetting them on the float but to no avail. We set up feeder gear and threw a few baits at them only for Joel to bag one before the swim went very quiet.

Another move saw us back up to the top end of the beat again and Joel had a last few minutes fishing the swim I started in where he bagged another nice chub before he had to leave for home. I thought I'd make the most of the last hour or so and ventured back down to the rapids swim to try and see if I could hook what it was that was causing all the grief! I packed the majority of my kit back into the car before travelling with just a few essentials back down to the swim.

My first cast saw the tip pulled right over and another missed strike! Right I thought.....I'm just going to leave the rod out until something hooks itself! I sat with the line around my finger and the clutch set lightly. I couldn't believe how violent the bites were.....almost continuously the rod top was being slammed over but I just sat and waited.....How these fish weren't hooking themselves was beyond comprehension!

The fish were stunning & so was the scenery!

Eventually the line started to come from the spool an I set about playing out a very angry barbel in the gloom of the dusk. Another nice fish of just under 7lbs found the net. What a result 7 for the day!
Light was fading fast and I just filled the feeder as quick as possible to get another quick few casts in. The rig was taken almost immediately by a greedy 4lb plus chub! Minutes later and another very agressive take saw me loose a huge barbel to the far bank snag again.....

Joel found a bit of success with the Chub!

Another rig tied and another fish! This time a cracking 6lb plus barbel found the net and I was 8 up! I grabbed a few snaps and slipped her back before grabbing just one final bite before packing away for the day. I slipped all my kit into the bag and as I was about to reel in off it went with a cracking 7 pounder hanging on for grim death!

What a day it had been! 9 barbel had found the net and 4 chub. I lost count of the fish I missed out on but I reckon I could have caught in excess of twenty fish had I got it right from the off. Such a shame you have to be away an hour after dusk too as it was really starting to kick off as I left. Amazingly the guys further down stream really struggled and hadn't seen a barbel in 2 days!

The darkness fell but the bites kept on coming!!! 3 more fish followed this beast!

I'm going to have an evening out this week on the Taff in Cardiff and see if I can bag one of those elusive chunks! It's done a couple of very big fish in the last week or two including a very large 18lb 1oz barbel! I'm not a huge fan of the venue as it's not my preferred rural venue like I usually fish but needs must and I'm really keen to bust my PB of 11lb 4oz and I think at this present time it's probably my best chance of a big fish!

The Bridge Barbel

Stunning scenery at Kerne Bridge

A late decision to go out fishing Sunday paid dividends for me this week. I checked out what was free on the Wye and Usk Foundation and there were all tickets free to fish Kerne Bridge at Goodrich.I booked two tickets for myself and client Ryan who I'd promised an afternoons guiding too when he arrived at 3pm. After an extremely early alarm call of 2.30am and only 2 hours sleep, it was time to hit the road.

My first of the day

A quick stop at Macdonalds off the M4 for a coffee was in order and finally by 4.15am I was pulling into the car park by the river. It was quite chilly considering the time of year and with 2 jumpers donned I headed for a quick walk around the river bank.

There were plenty of really sexy swims to go at and on arrival in the Bridge Pool there were 4 little otters playing in the back flow of the main pool. This was a little disconcerting as I was dubious as to the effect this would have on the fishing.

I wanted to try and find a piece of water with some steady flow as the club section I usually fish is like a stagnant canal at present and fishing extremely tough. As we all know the Barbel prefer to sit in much faster, well oxygenated water and I couldn't really find any of that here.

Finally the Barbel arrived in the swim!

I settled into one of the Crys above the bridge and set about tackling the swim with feeder tactics and groundbait and pellet in the time bomb method. My second cast into the swim got me a very gentle pull round which I struck at.....this resulted in what felt like I'd hit into the HMS Arc Royal!

Off it went down stream and with reel singing away, all I could do was hope for the best! 30 seconds later I was cut off by the powerful fish on a set of rocks.

At last a barbel!

Whether the fish was a Barbel, Carp or Salmon, I'll never know but the way it went I'm putting my money on a big Salmon. After that I had another 2 hours of little more than a few trembles on the tip.

I decided on a move into the bridge pool and 5 minutes later I was casting around trying a few likely looking areas below the bridge. I took two small chub almost from the off and then it died a death.

I moved back up river and spent 2 hours rolling meat through the likely looking areas before the boats started in earnest. For a Sunday it wasn't too bad though to be honest.....Most were polite and gave plenty of room.

Peas in a pod at 6lb 6oz!

There was the usual ignoramus's that refused to go through the swim at anything other than a snails pace and shout to their mates at full volume but other wise it was quite pleasant.

After I'd finished rolling meat I went back to the static feeder and almost instantly the tip started to rattle away. Next bite resulted in a nice chub around 3.5lbs and this was followed up by another of a pound or so. Then things went a little pear shaped and the eels moved in to plague me! One after another engulfed the bait and rig!

Not small one's I hasten to add either! Some were a good 3-4lbs in weight. After 5 of them I'd had enough and retreated up the bank with packed up gear to the car. I got my bed chair out flat with legs folded and threw it into the back of the car with the seats folded down and this made a very comfy bed for a few hours shut eye.

 

Ryans first of the day....

I awoke around 3.15pm and got myself sorted ready for Ryans arrival. I got the gear down into the Bridge Pool where I felt was our best chance of some action from everything other

than Anguilla! My first cast went across the pool to the faster water where I'd taken the chub from earlier in the day. I sat back and went to grab a pack of pasta from my bag.  As I looked down I could see the butt of my rod vibrating???? I looked up to see a scary bend in the rod and a barbel powering off upstream! I set the hook home and settled in for a great scrap in the powerful deep water.

Thick and fast they came!

 A few minutes into the fight and I heard a whistle come from my right. Ryan was stood watching me play the fish with a big smile on his face. Great timing really as he was able to do the pictures for me. At 6lb 6oz it was an average pea in a pod fish for this area of the river, but with the back drop of the gorgeous architecture of the Kerne Bridge behind it made for a stunning photo.


Ryan went for his gear and within 10 minutes he was setting up just above me for the afternoon session. In the ten minutes he was gone I managed a 4lb chub and then hooked into another gold bar! This time 6lb 4oz! Another stunning fish. Ryans hands were shaking with excitement as he tackled up and I bagged yet another chub!

This was starting to look like it may well turn into a good session after all! Within a few minutes Ryan had his first fish of the day, a small chub. His next cast resulted in a barbel of 6lb 2oz and a great scrap!

BOOOOMMMM Get in! 9lb 6oz of prime Wye Gold!

This set the president for the rest of the afternoon and fish after fish found the back of the net for both of us. As the light started to fade away the fishing slowed a little but I managed the biggest barbel of the day around 8pm and at 9lb 6oz it was the second largest for the season so far!

My next few cast resulted in a couple of awesome chub as well. The biggest of these going a fantastic 5lb 4oz! Great fish for this area of the Wye.

The light slowly went and so did the fish. We packed in around 11pm happy with the results for the day. 9 barbel, 13 chub and 5 eels! All quality fish as well! Very pleasing results from a river that in all honesty is suffering in places due to the severe lack of flow and colour.

I'm hopefully out Wednesday night with Joel for a few hours up the club stretch again. Fingers crossed there will be a few chunks willing to feed! We could really do with a little rain up there now to spice things up a bit to be honest. Just a couple of inches would make a blinding difference.

























By the way the fish are feeding on the Wye, I can only put the feeding times down to photosynthesis from the weed during the bright sunlight, producing the rich oxygen required to spur the fish on to feeding. Hence why the first part of the day has been poor fishing and so has the normally very productive last light part of the day. The best feeding times seem to be mid to late afternoon which tells me that it's probably all down to the weed and D.O. or lack of!

Last minute success story!

A beautiful warm evening on the Wye

With the end of a very busy day in sight, I made a late decision to hit the river for the last few hours of the day. I ventured up to Monmouthshire around 4pm and after grabbing a fatty burger from one of those unhealthy fatty fast food outlets. On arrival I decided a walk of the whole stretch was in order.

After about 45 minutes of wandering around I realized that there are almost no areas of any real flow or oxygenated water on the stretch. This makes swim choice rather hard when the water level is exceptionally low and flow at an almost stand still.

I decided after all the exercise that the best and in fact only real option was to fish the 'going' swim. I'm not a lover of fishing the spots everybody fishes but with such a lack of flow it seemed the best option. At least the spot had seen plenty of bait in the last few weeks and if the barbel were going to be anywhere on the section, then here seemed the best bet.

On went a 2oz cage feeder on the upstream rod, with a 3 foot hooklink of Katran Fantom fluorocarbon to a size 6 CBS Trident hook and an ever faithful River Monster Dumbell boilie.
Almost instantly the nibbles started. As things hotted up I set up my down stream rod with a 1oz lead and a 12 inch hook link with the same bait and hook link as the upstream rod.

After about 15minutes of waiting, I had a recast on the upstream feeder rod. Then as I sat back the down stream rod slammed over! I struck into fresh air! Dismayed, I reeled in to find that the hook link had parted just above the hook. Annoying but not unusual for the Wye unfortunately. I re-tied a hook on and flung the rod back out.

7lb 2oz and a great start to proceedings!

Seconds later the upstream rod flipped around and the 1.75lb test curve was bent to the max by an angry Barbel! Despite the serious lack of water flow, she still gave a very good account of herself and took a good few minutes to defeat. At 7lb 2oz a great start to the evening.

My next opportunity came about half an hour later but I think it was a chub as the tip pulled over hard and sprung back with no more indications.

The downstream rod was next to go around 9pm and the center pin spun on its ratchet......click, click, click,ccccccccccccclick!!! Away we go again!

Another great scrap ensued and before long stunning Wye barbel no 2 was in the net! 8lb 9oz of pure gold was held up for the camera and I couldn't have been more delighted with the fact that despite the river having zero flow, zero oxygen and I was in the 'over fished' peg, I'd still caught 2 lovely barbel!  Things went decidedly quiet after this and despite numerous casts I only managed a small chub around 4lbs, before calling it a night.

8lb 9oz and a great way to end proceedings!!!

At last I think the fish are waking up on our club stretch...whether or not other swims will now start to produce there or not, we will have to wait and see!

Tight lines all
K
x