JUNE 16TH BABY!!!!!

Nice little bit of crucian fun

Hi guys!

Well, it arrived and it went, just like that! Quicker than a speeding bullet! Its been rather busy as usual in my household this past week again. With the onset of the fishing season commencing and a lot of bait rolling required for customers, I confess to being a little late getting all my own kit sorted for the big day.

However, I did manage to get a few hours fishing in with my good friend Colin 'Taffy' Farnham at a little club lake on Thursday last week. We only fished the morning due to work and family ties etc but we caught shed loads of small crucian carp, tench, roach, rudd, bream, hybrids and even a few mirrors and some perch. In all a very enjoyable few hours spent with a good friend.

Craig with a stunning common he took off the top!

I also grabbed a very brief 3 hours with Lewis, Craig and Mathew down at another club lake on Sunday afternoon. We were all on floaters and managed a few nice carp to low double figures on mixers and bread. Great company and great giggles were had as usual. Lewis is currently on a serious mission to revamp the Nuts about Carp website with a host of really cool new features, a new feel and much improved webstore etc. Many thanks to him for all his hard work! Legend!

So, on to the big day then! Sunday was a late night for me and i hardly slept a wink whilst the wife was at work....Then Monday was uber busy with rolling and getting kit ready for the 16th. I knew i'd need to be up stupidly early as it was likely to be incredibly busy on the river bank, so the alarm was set for 1am Tuesday morning.

Despite heading off to bed at 4pm Monday afternoon, feeling totally exhausted....I just couldn't switch off at all! I lay there and lay there and lay there......and lay there! It just wasn't happening! Then around 12pm I eventually fell asleep only to be awoken an hour later by said alarm call. Oh, how rough did I feel?

What a great way to start the 2015 fishing season off! A brace for Jason and I!

I got up and got the last few bits of required kit ready, donned clothes, brushed teeth with eyes shut whilst yawning and then fired up the motor for the hour and a half drive to Hereford. The drive up was a nice leisurely affair, which I sort of somehow did with one eye open and a very strong Macdonalds coffee in one hand. It was all going swimmingly until I hit Monmouth and found that the council had road works on the A40 and the diversion took me about 18 miles out of my way!

Bloody numpties had shut the entire road and all and sundry were having to take small A roads to Ross and Hereford and the M50. This made me 20 minutes late and put a bit of a damper on the start of the day!

No 2

I arrived in Hereford around 4.15am and met up with Jason who I followed down to the car park by the river. We were 4th in the car park and followed 2 other blokes off down the bank. We traipsed across the very wet grass in trainers and 15 minutes later arrived next to the river, which looked stunning. Despite the wet feet and back pain from the rucksack and too many leads and feeders in my bag, I got set up reasonably quickly next to Jason and we set about putting some grass down on the bank around the swim as the mud was thick and very slippery. By 5.45am we made our first casts of the new season.

We had a couple of odd nibbles and around 6.10am I had the first one on. A really solid bite and a great scrap ensued. After a few minutes a stunning Barbel found the net and at around 6lbs I was chuffed to have caught one on opening day.....something I don't ever recall doing in my life time???
As I was unhooking the fish in the net, Jasons rod hooped over and he was also into a little barbel of 4lb 8oz. We decided to have a brace photo which turned out great!

1 of three nice chub I managed

Things continued to improve throughout the morning and despite Jason loosing 2 fish to hook pulls, he landed 2 barbel and I managed 7 before things slowed up a little in the afternoon sun, which was relentlessly hot! I decided to try and grab an hours snooze on the grass behind the swim in the shade but my mobile was hotter than a cooked kebab and calls kept flooding in from mates. I gave up on the idea of snoozing and went for a wander around the river bank on a fish spotting mission.

Mathew rang me and he decided he would come up and join Jason and I for the evening at Hereford instead of the original plan of me packing up and driving down to Monmouth at tea time. This proved to be no less than a perfect plan and at 4.30pm Mathew arrived in the car park. We left Jason in the original swim and headed slightly further down stream to a nice gravel spit on a corner in the river.

They kept on coming!!!!!

I'd put a few pellets and some pieces of paste in the swim earlier on and I'd seen a few fish turning on the gravel afterwards. We did 2 hours in that swim and had just a missed chub bite to show for our efforts. Jason packed up shortly afterwards due to ill health and we decided to go back over to the swim I had started the day in with Jason.

Incidentally Jason managed 3 out of there including a stunning fish of over 8lbs. I put Mathew in the downstream spot where I had taken my 7 fish from earlier in the day and I dropped into Jasons spot slightly above. The rods were baited with the ever reliable River Monster Boilies and out they went. It was less than 2 minutes before my rod slammed over and I passed it to Mathew to play it out.....It looked a cracking fish of well in to low double figures.

Well done Jason,,,,,,

Mathew was a little unsure of how to use my front drag Shimano reels and despite playing the fish impeccably he lost it to a hook pull half way through the battle. Great shame as it looked like a really good fish.

I recast and as the lead hit the water Mathews rod slammed into action. The fish ran around like a scalded 5 year old child! We netted it and despite it being a mere 4lb 8oz it fought like a demon! Happy days for Mathew as it was his first of the season. Things progressed well through the evening and despite my side of the swim being almost dead, Mathews continued to produce some stunning barbel. He finished up with 4 in the net as the light started to fade away.

Still on 7 fish, I was contemplating packing away, when all of a sudden my tip flew over and I pulled in what felt like a chub or eel to start with??? Certainly didn't fight very barbel'ish....I sunk the net under a barbel which I was confused about a bit but then I realized i'd finally got a bit better fish as all the others were peas in a pod around the 6-7lb mark. This beauty sat in the evening sun for her picture and weighed in at best of the day weight of 8lb 12oz. Very pleased with that for the first day.

I finally managed a better on of 8lb 12oz....What a great way to start the season off!

Mathew shortly followed up my capture with a fish that fought strangely similar and as I sunk the net under it I knew it was something a little bit special! Mathew looked at me and we passed a glance of surprise and excitement. He carried the fish up the bank to weigh it and photograph her. On the scales she went exactly 10lb 1oz! A new PB and first ever double for Mathew! He was so excited he started dancing around the swim...lol I couldn't contain myself and laughed at his happy antics.

Mathew had a great evening after work

We had a chat with the bailiff shortly after and it turned out that our day excelled way past that of anybody else who had been on that area that day. Many had spent the day biteless and fishless. So to sum up I had 8 barbel and 3 chub, lost 2 fish.....Mathew had 5 barbel and lost 1 and Jason had 3 barbel and lost 2 as well. A great day with great friends! One I will remember for the rest of my life!

Last night I went back up the Wye with Taffy to our club stretch at Monmouth and despite sitting it out for as long as we could, all that we caught were two chub of around 4 and a half pounds each. We hardly had a bite! The boat traffic was relentless as ever and the Rowing club were the worst they have ever been down there.

Despite continuously calling the rowers to inform them of our presence, they still came in too dam close! On boat of four men in their 60's crashed through our swim and proceeded to be very rude about us being there. They just seem to refuse to share without conflict. Needless to say they got back just as much abuse from myself and Taffy! Not on!

Absolutely made up! Mathew O'neill with a new PB 10lb 1oz Barbel on 16th June 2015. Well done mate 

Right that's my fingers worn out from typing and my brain fried from a serious lack of sleep and food intake. I'm off to replenish on all the above before I crack on with more bait orders.

Tight lines all and I hope the start of the new season has been kind to you all!

Regards Keith x

Barbel society conference

Well done Natasha!!!!

Hi everyone, not long to go now for all us river enthusiasts eh? Just a week of waiting left before it's a manic let loose day of enthralling  barbel chasing! In hindsight though it will probably be a poor show of fish as it was last year for me....The reason being I suspect last year, down to poor water levels, late spawning and low D.O (dissolved oxygen).

I just found the fish hard to come by for about the first month of the season and I started to feel like i'd made a huge mistake getting myself so deeply hooked back on river fishing. Last close season I was truly mortified to have to reel in for the statutory 3 month break but after such a poor end to the season I found myself not really missing it too much this year.....That was until I went to the 20th Anniversary Barbel Society Show in Warwickshire yesterday!

Let me start off at the beginning of how it all came about.... For those of you who've not heard, my daughter Natasha caught 7 barbel last year in 2 short evening trips on the River Wye. First session she had an 8lb 14oz fish and then on the second trip she managed 6 fish including a double for the first of the evening at 10lb 4oz. No mean feat for a 7 year old! She played the fish all by herself for which we had a lovely video off to prove her captures.

Well, short story long, it was noticed by a few people in the know and one particular friend Bobby Baker of the Barbel Society felt that the capture warranted a reward and certainly some kind of acknowledgment. Just the week before the show I received a link to the BS facebook page with a host of pictures of Natashas fish that had been uploaded by Bobby with a view to them being put forward for the prestigious Dave Mason award for the Best Fish Of The Year 2014/15.

Natsasha's amazing fish of 10lb 4oz that won her the runner up spot for the 2014/5 BS Dave Mason Award!

There were numerous high profile anglers and alike commenting beneath and it appeared that she was a popular choice for the award. Well, we drove the 160 miles up there on Sunday to the show and we weren't disappointed....We were made very welcome by all the members, committee and old friends alike. In fact I have to say one of the warmest welcomes I have ever had at a fishing meet. It was great to catch up with Peter Reading who i'd not personally seen for over 10 years and despite both of us being slightly greyer and balder, I don't think either of us has changed much! lol

3 legends in their own right! Natasha with Dave Harrell and Des Taylor!

Natasha was given a cap by top bloke Rob Hilton who does all the editorial stuff for the awesome BS magazine and we met further top notch guys all who made us feel very welcome. I had a great 20 minute chat with a chap called Christophe, who has created a wonderful bait distribution system which is the likes of nothing I've ever seen before....very clever. I will be testing it out in the coming weeks and then putting it up on the Nuts site for you lovely guys to get your mitts on!

Natasha and I picked up some great bargains including a cracking second hand Drennan 1.25lb tc Series 7 avon/quiver rod for a stealand the awesome 'Barbel' 'A lifetimes addiction' book by Trefor West (signed) for a bargain price as well!

Steve Pope, Bobby Baker and Pete Reading

We then went to see Des Taylor and Dave Harrell doing their thing on th big stage and both were not only very entertaining but also very informative and a lot was learnt from both of these incredible legends of angling. Both chaps found time to have a nice picture with Natasha too, which I was extremely grateful to them both for as was she. Top fellas.....I particularly enjoyed Daves talk on float fishing with a waggler for barbel, which is something I have to confess i'd never considered to be a useful or effective presentation, but it just goes to show how wrong one can be as he's done so well on the technique! Something I will be putting into my angling from the word 'go' this year on the 16th June!

After the talks I quizzed Dave about the length of line he fished over depth for his float fishing and it came to me as quite a shock that he suggested coming very slightly up off the bottom....this seemed alien to me for barbel fishing as it would be any bottom feeding fish like grayling etc.... But thinking about it, he's spot on. I mean lets think about it now. The more the feed trickles into the swim, the more the fish become occupied on feeding on it. There becomes jostling and competition for food and the fish will start to rise up off the bottom to gain the edge over the competition and get the feed first. Just as happens with carp etc in the lakes. Great thinking and again something I intend on trying this year.

I've now set myself a bit of a goal for 2015 and that is to try and land a double figure barbel on the float, something I've never done before. I got close as a young lad fishing on the Dorset Stours Throop fishery with fish to 9lb 10oz but never caught anything bigger than that on the float. Another great goal to hopefully aim for.

Who'd of thought a little common would spark a controversy?

We then sat back and listened to Peter Wheat who is just a pleasure to hear talk. A wealth of knowledge, a gentle old man with a huge love of the BS and of fish all round. He then brought up Natasha's fish and asked her to join him on the stage in front of literally hundreds of people. Well, to say she was shocked was an understatement...but she did really well and politely conversed with a member of Barbel angling royalty on her capture of her said specimen fish. He then told her that she hadn't won the trophy but she had won a very special prize of 2 days guided by Dave Mason himself on a private stretch of the wonderful River Teme! Both Natasha and I were totally shocked and in awe. A huge cheer went up around the hall and lots of applause as she shook everyone's hands.

Not long to go now!

We received countless congratulations after and are still receiving them on Face Book etc now. Thanks must go out to all involved, Dave Mason, Steve Pope, Peter Wheat, Peter Reading and of course the very man who put her forward....Bobby Baker, cheers my friend, I think I may owe you a pint! x After the show we received a few other goodies for Tash which included a rod and some tackle items as well. Thanks to all that made a special effort to make both of us welcome and to those that voted for Natasha.

I've not done a huge amount of fishing this last week due to having lots of work on but I did have a few hours free on Friday afternoon to visit a local club lake and try to grab a couple of fish off the top. I managed about 7 fish before landing a nice low double common just a yard from the bank. I grabbed a quick picture of her and slipped her back into the water.

Tight lines all and I hope you have the most wonderful start to the 2015 River Season
Much love
Keith x