Zeds, barbs and Grays!

Stunning autumn grayling

Hi all.

What wonderful weather we've enjoyed this last few weeks! It's been a rather late and dry end to the summer of 2015. The rivers have been on their knees though and certainly in need of a bit of the old wet stuff. I've been quiet all round this last week or so, just enjoying taking a bit of time out from the guiding and bait rolling that has filled the summer period. It's been a wonderful summer with clients all catching some wonderful fish from that awe inspiring venue that is the River Wye!

Mathew talked me into a quick few hours float fishing on Sunday....I'd pretty much decided I wasn't going to go out to be honest as monies been a bit tight this week due to the bills all going out and in fairness with the prospect of 48 hrs on the Severn the next day, I didn't really have the pizzazz needed to get me up and going for either event!

Needless to say, with the weather looking nice and the prospect of a grayling in the net....I decided to go along with Mat and check out how the Taff was fishing. The water was extremely cold, low and stupidly clear! We gently climbed into the shallow margins and made our way up to the area we fancied our chances in.There were small fishing jumping all over the place and it looked like it was probably going to be fairly easy to get one or two to bite.

Mike Lyddon with a cracking Severn Zed!

I was ready to cast straight away and on my first trot through on the stick float and pin, I was into a good pound fish. They scrap so well that even the little couple of ounce fish give a good account of themselves. The bites came thick and fast on the maggot and within an hour and a half i'd had no less than forty grayling to 2lbs and Mathew had managed 25 to 2lbs as well. Great sport!

We decided after such a good little session that it was time to go and try out a new venue and see what the sport there would be like. We walked back to the car and headed to the other side of Cardiff and the little River Rhymney. The stretch looked devoid of fish and very shallow and clear. With the sun up high in the sky I wasn't exactly hopeful of a fish. Well, I shouldn't have been too concerned as my second trot through produced a clonking 2 pounder! What a fish for such a small river!

9lb 2oz boom...just ten minutes into the session!

Mat really struggled to find any fish but I was lucky and spotted a couple mooching around at the bottom of a swim covered in tree growth. I started trickling in a few maggots up stream and after spending ten minutes watching the fish circling the bait as it went down, i felt it was time for a run through with the float. First run produced a stunning 2lb 2oz fish. The next couple of trots did exactly the same and before I knew it i'd had 5 beautiful 2lb fish!

We finished up at around 4pm as I had a bit of bait to knock up and obviously there was the small matter of tackle needing to be sorted for the Severn trip the next day. I woke around 6am and after the quick brekkie stop for a Macdonalds breakfast and coffee. I got on the road up to Pixham to meet Nate Green and Mike Lyddon who were coming up for the day to target the Zander and Pike.

I met the chaps in the car park shortly after 9am and with the usual level of banter flowing we headed across the field to look at some swims. The chaps settled on the area we call the flats as there was a good level of small fry in the area that we all felt would attract the predators. The boys had a plumb around and settled down to fish while I made the coffees and teas. I set my gear up for the barbel some 150 yards up stream of the guys and got all ready for the night. I put out about 30 bait droppers full of hemp, pellets and maggots before heading back down to continue being the tea bitch!

12lb 2oz! Get in....so pleased!

Mike was to draw first blood with a cracking zander of just under 6lbs. Considering the clear, low water and bright sunshine, I think that this was a great capture! Nate and Mike continued to catch a few perch, some nice Jacks and Nate had a small Zed as well by the end of the day too. My friends Chris and Ben ventured down to barbel fish on the Monday afternoon and we sat and had a good chat before Mike and Nate left.

Cracking start to the day!

I eventually got to cast out around 9.45pm and to my amazement, just ten minutes later I had my first take of the session! A proper old scrap as well! The fish fought with dogged determination before succumbing to the net in the shallows of the upper flats. At 9lb 2oz I was very great full to have banked a barbel in the tough conditions. As Chris came up to have a chat and a look at the fish, we discussed the rigs and bait aspects of my fishing. Just as I was about to recast the rod, my left hand one flew into action. This fish felt like a totally different animal and hung low and steady. Felt all the more like a much better fish. Not knowing this particular swim that well bothered me a bit as there are so many no go snag areas along that stretch that it can be difficult to play and finally land one!

Eventually I sunk the net under yet another lower Severn beauty and at 12lb 2oz it was also my second double from the Severn and a new River PB for the venue too. What a result! The night wore on and despite a few odd bream to 8lbs and a couple of fat chub....very little else occurred until 8am.
The left hand rod buzzed into action with another searing take. This was a much smaller fish of 7lb 3oz but the fight was as spirited as the others!

11lb 15oz Severn Pb for Ben....well done pal.

Ben managed to land three while he was there too including a new Severn PB of 11lb 15 and Chris I believe had a 9lb 1oz barbel as well. Great results for us all considering we thought that maybe they had shut up shop.

Tight lines all
Keith x

Getting tougher!

Nice weather for October!

This last few days has been all about toughing it out! The day time fishing on the river Wye has been nothing short of tough with a capital T! My first session was with a very old acquaintance, Chris Tupper aka (Badger) (long story).....we go back many years as we used to fish together in my earlier angling career at a venue called Theale, near to Reading. Chris and I had seen each other a few weeks ago at the social event that we attended and I promised him a chance at a Wye barbel and possible PB.

We finally got ourselves sorted for a day out together and met up around 8am outside Sue's tackle shop in Hereford. We got our tickets and headed down to the river. Things looked bang on to start with and we set up in a swim which has done many great fish for both myself, friends and clients in the past. Chris managed to nail himself through th thumb with a size 8 hook that he'd left in his carryall and I spent a good quarter of an hour removing it with a pair of forceps! Blood and pain followed but amazingly the hook came out and Chris lived to tell the tale!

Finally Chris started to get amongst the fish!

Well, the fishing might have been ace before in that swim but it didn't happen there on this day though. 3 hours in and we were biteless! Not a dam sniff! We moved slightly further upstream to another hot peg and suffered the same plight bar a lost fish to a hook pull. The bailiffs told us that the stretch hadn't fished well on the weekend for the Wye championships and that it was showing signs of shutting up shop.

We eventually made the decision to move down stream and set up an hour later in another of my 'hot' pegs. It was an hour before things started to improve but then all hell broke loose and it was a game trying to keep a rod in the water! First out was a small one of 6lb plus. Chris was over the moon to have caught his first Wye Barbel but I wanted him to bust his PB of 9lb 10oz!

The next fish came at 8lb odd and was swiftly followed by better chunks of 9lb 2oz and then 9lb 5oz! I couldn't believe we were getting closer to his PB by the minute but just dropping short. Things then went very quiet for about an hour and I feared that it was probably all we were going to achieve to catch from the swim. I shouldn't have been too concerned though as his next bite, a very slow ponderous, upstream pull, resulted in a very good bend in the rod and a deep ploddy fight, akin to that of a better fish.

YESSSS! New PB and first ever double for Chris.....10lb 9oz! Well done buddy

The battle was different to prior fish and she hung deep in the water until the final moments of the scrap. I knew it was a better fish and so did Chris. The scales don't lie and at 10lb 9oz Chris was made up to have beaten his PB and finally grabbed his first ever double! Two more fish of 7lb and 7lb 14oz finished off the day with a tally of 7! Incidentally the same amount of fish that Chris had managed all season from his waters! He was totally blown away by the experience.....Well done mate.

I was going to hopefully get out myself over the course of the weekend to see if I could up my figures past the 110 for the season but I had a painful set of Kidneys on Friday and then Saturday we had 2 puppies born, which kind of buggered up mu whole likelihood of getting out myself. I did however managed to get out to guide the lovely Emma Dyer. Emma is a a budding newby to the sport and her other half is paving the way to helping her bag as many different species as they can catch her. I stepped in to help with the barbel though.....

Bob quietly getting on with business as usual! 11lb 2oz! NICE!

The fishing was totally different to the previous session though and after 4 hours fishing we were completely biteless. My mate Bob was just down stream and had 4 to 11lb 4oz but our peg was deader than a dodo....It took some serious hard work to get Emma her first barbel but finally 5 hours in it happened. The take was nothing short of boring and in all honesty if I hadn't have been watching the rod tip intently, I don't think we would have even known a fish was attached??? The bite was just a slight tightening up of the line and then a gentle release before re-tightening again. Emma lent into what first appeared to be weed but then the weed started to move upstream!

The fight was a lot better than the initial bite and Emma had to work hard to defeat her quarry. Some 5 minutes later though, she had a stunning long bar of gold sat in the net ready for her to weigh and photograph. I think she was quite taken a back by the fish and the picture tells the whole story really. A huge smile and another very happy customer! 10lbs exactly! A very bug well done Emma!

Well done Emma! First ever Barbel and it was 10lbs!!!!

Quiet week for me this week now I think....A bit of an opportunity to recover and get my body back into shape. The long hours out, getting soaking wet, eating poorly, lack of sleep and endless driving have taken its toll on me. I will however be back at it next week with a nice session penciled in with Bob again! Can't wait!

Tight lines all
Keith x

Two popped cherries!

Ian Oxley and his first ever Barbel!

Good day folks....

Another great report to talk about again this week. My first is about a days guided fishing I had with Ian Oxley. Ian's been out with me a few times in the past and he's broken his duck with carp, pike and he's been after a barbel for a while now. I promised the guy a trip out earlier in the year but due to work ties and bait rolling etc, we didn't manage to get together for the day.

Well, on Sunday the opportunity finally came about and we headed up the Wye for the day after a big old Bertie for him. Our first choice venue was shut due to a day long match running. We tried another spot which I had a feeling would produce a good fish for him but I thought that it would probably not happen until late on in the day.

I was right about the bites as nothing happened for the majority of the day. We had a few a nibbles early on which resulted in nothing at all. It wasn't much before it got dark that his first chance occurred. The take was nothing short of mental! The line suddenly out of the blue stripped from the spool at a silly rate of knots! Ian clambered down the bank side to get the rod and lent into a very powerful sub like specimen. With Ian being a fly angler, he's used to fast swimming fish, but I honestly don't think he was totally prepared for what came next!

The fight was dogged and determined and after a few minutes of line stripping, kiting, diving and barreling, Ian finally got to see his first ever barbel on the bank. Not a minster at 7lb 5oz but it didn't matter to him as it was his first and a specimen regardless.

I knew there was a good chance of him getting another so we got him back out there quickly. We had to cast around the swim a little for the next bite but this time the bite was a different take. Slow and determined. This fish knew all the tricks and didn't play nice. Ian was forced to keep moving about to stay in touch with the fish which was clearly a lot bigger than his first of the session. After 10 minutes of tussling for position, Ian managed to get his first glimpse of said beast! I think he had his breath taken away as he looked pretty shocked!

Awesome! Ian Oxley with only his second ever Barbel and a corker at 11lb 10oz! Well done pal

I slipped the net under the fish and immediately knew which fish it was. It has a set of 3 barbulles instead of 4. Ian was a gibbering wreck, much to my amusement he then could hardly stand through total excitement. The fish topped the scales off to a very impressive 11lb 10oz! What a fish for his second ever of the species! I think he was in shock for a while afterwards. The way home was full of great conversation and joy. Well done my friend!

What a spot!!!!

Monday came around very quickly and after just 3 hours sleep, I fell out of bed and donned the same clothes i'd worn the day before and reloaded the car. I then drove another 120 miles across to Newbury to meet up with Bob. The drive over was horrible, busy and the water spraying up from the road was no less than horrific! I eventually arrived around 11.15am. We drove over to Thatcham angling to get my guest tickets and then over to the River Kennet. The weather was persistent and after a walk along the bank we realised just how wet through we were.

Setting up the gear in the rain was no less than horrid and after an hour of sweating in my waterproofs, I removed them and sat on the bed to recuperate for twenty minutes. Bob made us a both a cuppa and we discussed tactical approach and baiting up. I then proceeded to introduce about twenty droppers full of hemp and mixed pellets. I then gently swung my 3oz lead and hookbait into the primed spots.

The water was pacey for such a narrow and small river and the 7 feet of depth was full from top to bottom with weed debris and floating leaves. This made keeping the rig still almost impossible. Darkness fell and so did the pair of us. We retired to our beds and both slowly nodded off to sleep. Both of us had to recast a few times and come 1.30am I had almost lost hope of keeping a bait in the swim long enough to get a take.

I rebaited both rods with a fresh River Monster Boilie and a reasonable size PVA bag of boilies and pellets. I swung it under hand out to the two spots again. The left hand rod dropping slightly shorter than my original spot. I then slopped back to bed and tried to nod off. Around 2.10am the left hand rod literally took off! BBBBBBBLLLLLLEEEEEEEPPPPPP!!!! To say it was a screaming take was an understatement! I jumped out of bed and donned my boots and flew into action. The rod was kept low and the fish did its best to stay low and hugged the deck too. Bob came over to do the netting and he had a huge grin on his face as he sunk the net under the fish. I knew it was a good'un by the cheesy grin he'd donned!

I couldn't be a happier man! 33 years I waited! Finally I got my girl! 11lb 4oz Kennet beauty!

We zeroed scales and readied mats and slings and camera. The fish was then given a minute or so of air time. What a fish it was too. Having wanted to fish the Kennet since I was a mere child of 6 and now I was finally looking at a barbel I had caught from there some 33 years later! The fish looked really fat! Not as long as the Wye barbel I had recently caught but this fish had a big gut on it! At 11lb 4oz I was ecstatic to finally have not just a Kennet Barbel but a double figure one as well! Magic, massive thanks to my close friend Bob for hooking me up with the great swim and sorting tickets etc.

Right, thats me done in for a few days! I have some bait to roll and a couple more clients booked in for days guiding this next few days too. Next week will be back on the river myself though and in search of double figure barbel number 14 for the season!

Tight lines guys
Keith x

Elevenses!

Well done Gary! New PB of 10lb 8oz!

Hi all.

Great little spell of late season sun we're having now. It's been great to get out on my own this last week and have some quality time concentrating on my own personal fishing again. Don't get me wrong, I have totally enjoyed guiding throughout the summer, I've made some life long friends and seen many clients land not only their first barbel but also some pretty large one's and personal bests to boot. Now, I intend on spending a little time doing my thing before the weather takes a turn for the worst. A little more on that in a moment though as I have a few paragraphs of  writing regarding another great session I had with a guided client last week.

I took friend and lovely chap Gary Brooks up to the river Wye for the evening with the intention of trying to get him into a new personal best fish. Gary's done a bit of barbel fishing with me in the past and caught about half a dozen fish to 9lb 10oz. We arrived late afternoon and got our gear all sorted and ready to attack the fish head on.

Great results for Gary...top notch fella

Gary dropped onto the two spots I had advised him to fish and I prepped him with regards to tactics, bait and approach for the bigger fish that are present in this particular swim. We had to wait a little while before any action occurred and it wasn't until well after the boats had finished doing their passes that Gary got his first inkling of a fishes presence. The first take was a little odd in that it didn't really do a lot more than just gently pull the tip over in a manner usually fit to that of a large clump of floating debris pulling the line down stream!

Gary picked up the rod and lent into the fish and a good bend in the rod saw us happy that a blank was now not on the cards for the evening. at 8lb 1oz Gary was over the moon with his fish.....I struggled to get so much as anything other than chub bites all night on the right hand side of the swim. Catching 3 of all around 4lbs to a low 5lbs.

Beautiful weather and scenery at Pixham

Next up was another good take on Gary's rod and this one took off like a submarine! Poor old Gar was bent double like his rod trying to keep in contact with the beast. A good scrap ensued and the battle raged on for a good five minutes before the fish succumbed to the net. I knew which fish it was immediately as I had seen it earlier in the month. I kept quiet and flipped the fish into the weigh sling without Gary having too muck knowledge of what was going on! I then informed him of his new personal best barbel which had just tipped the scales to 10lb 8oz! What a fish and what a pleasure to see the fella in such a fantastic heightened state of enjoyment and surprise. Magic!

He managed another smaller one to finish off proceedings and at 7lb 10oz he was again chuffed to bits with his 3 fish for over 25lbs! A great way to finish off the evening.

Just a small one from Pixham this time round

I decided to have a few days off then due to work load and penned my next diary entry trip for Monday. The session soon came around and I aimed the car in the direction of the River Severn at Pixham. I arrived shortly after 2pm to an empty car park. What a result. I decided to do the first night in the steps (peg 3) again and set about getting my kit all sorted for the impending night ahead.

Baits went in and brolly and chair went up. And that was about the end of that! I had a bream of about 6lbs in the middle of the night and lots of bleeps and knocks but no barbel at all???? Where had they all gone??? I decided after mid morning on the Tuesday that i'd move upstream to 'The Flats'. A swim I did well in on my first trip up to the Severn. I decided this time though to fish from the high bank. My reasons were that last time I had lost countless fish to the marginal tree roots and snags in the swim. I figured that if I could get way up high above them, I could at least then apply better aerial leverage on the hooked fish.

It doesn't get much better than that!!!! 11lb 12oz of Wye beauty!

I sat and waited and waited and waited! Things were stupidly quiet. I had a nice chat with Palatrax consultant Rich Shaw during the afternoon, who was fishing just above my swim. He too struggled with just an eel and a small chub in his catches I believe. He left around 12.30am and as he went through the car park gate, my left hand rod roared off! I fought the fish fairly hard and within a few seconds it was up on the nearside shelf in the clear water. At just 6lb'ish it was never going to break any records but it did break the duck and the boredom factor.

I packed up with just the one fish under my belt.....feeling rather hard done by and pretty beaten up, I thought i'd grab the opportunity to drop in on my club section on the Wye on the way home. I wasn't prepared for day style fishing with a chair etc as all I had with me was a bedchair and sleeping bag etc. This meant I had to rough it up a bit on the bank side with a rucksack as a back rest and unhooking mat as a base to park my back side on!

BBBBBBBOOOOOMMMM Another chunk! 11lb 14oz What a session!

The afternoon progressed and I had decided i'd try and fine things down a bit to see if I could grab a rather tougher day time take. The rig consisted of nothing new other than that of an 8lb mono hook link and a size 14 wide gape Drennan hook and 6mm boilie. Things were very quiet for about an hour. I was just contemplating a recast when off zipped the right hand rod. Now, the weed that had been coming down the river was almost intolerable and I had to fish the tips almost under the water to avoid getting into contact with ever loose piece of debris floating down stream. This fish kited hard up and across the rivers flow and I knew straight away it was a good fish.

Playing the fish gently was not an option but I had to be a little on the easy side as the hook and line were a little on the weak side! This worked well and about 5 minutes later I saw my first glimpse of what looked like a truly big fish! In the low light and very orangey coloured water it looked incredible! I gasped when I saw its length and girth and I thought I may well be looking at a new personal best fish! Well, I got her in the net and she looked much bigger than the majority of fish I had seen through out the summer season. On the scales she went 11lb 12oz! My second biggest of the year and second ever biggest barbel! I was ecstatic!

Another stunner of 9lb 10oz!

After returning the stunning fish, I felt the chance of another couple of fish may well be on the cards....nothing could have prepared me for what was to come though! My next fish came just as the light was failing and a small barbel of 7lb 1oz found the net. I put her back and got straight back out onto the fish. It didn't take long and after 2 nice 4lb chub in succession, I finally hooked another big barbel....This one was hell bent on tearing all the line from my reel! Thankfully when the light started to fail I had upped my line and hook size! Bloody good job I had as this mother was giving it bloody everything in its tactical bag! Nose dives, drilling, twisting etc....about the only thing it didn't do was tail walk! Eventually I had her beat and in the net she went....I shone the light down on the fish and gasped at its size! Yet again another big fish lay there looking back at my ugly face!

Moon rising on the possibly the best session i've had on a river to date!

The scales were zeroed and sling and mat readied for the incoming monster! I couldn't believe I was looking at another double for the evening! Well, it was a double and even more unbelievably another over the magical 11 pound barrier! This one slightly bigger than the first at 11lb 14oz! I was nearly fell over with excitement and the next fish of 9lb 10oz that followed was just a blur! What an evening I had had after such a slow 48 hours spent on the Lower River Severn. Just goes to show that despite being linked by the Bristol Channel, neither river has a darn thing in common!

Right that's my excitement done for this week! I'm guiding a mate again this weekend then I'm having a quick session with Bob and Dougie down on the Kennet as it's Bobs birthday this weekend and I promised to go see the old git. He's 50 this year I think???? lol

See you all very soon.
K
x