2 weeks to go!!!!

Mr Barbel...Oh how I've missed our little meetings!

Yep, just 13 sleeps before the big day! If your like me then your struggling to sleep and concentrate on anything other than the impending big day. I've been literally counting down the months, weeks and now the days. I can honestly say that in the last 20 years I've never been so excited about June 16th as I am this year. And it's all thanks to Mr Barbel!

As much as I adore all aspects of fishing and of course my heart has always been with big carp fishing above all....but with the abolishment of the old Close Season along went all the build up and anticipation that came with it. This is a shame in a way as there was always a great feeling on the day before and obviously the day itself. The specialness of the day went out the window and with the availability of coarse fishing any day of the year on still waters so did the excitement.

This year though all is different for me personally. I've stepped away from carp fishing a little in the last 2 years as time has not been available to me like it used to be. Not only that but my health has declined a lot in the last couple of years too and getting about with heavy equipment has become a lot of hard work. The change in angling to more general fishing for other species has made me target certain species throughout the year as opposed to sitting out through winter for an odd lucky bite off a carp in the cold conditions.

Special times with my baby.....well done on your first ever Pike Natasha!

This has also given me the opportunity to discover more family time and realize that my little girl seems to really enjoy being out on the bank side with me too. She's caught a few nice carp now and a few bream, roach and perch to boot. She even caught her first small pike last week! Much to her excitement!

The kind of fish I used to catch as a kid out the Dorset Stour

Pike, Perch, Chub Tench, Roach and of course Barbel have all appeared in my catches throughout the last 24 months and I have to say that I have never enjoyed angling so much! The barbel fishing has of course been wonderful since August last year when I started to venture back out on the rivers again after a long break from them. The reason for the long break was due to a few reasons and the most prominent being that of the lack of fish in many of the UK rivers. Whether it's due to predation, poaching, pollution, poor spawning etc....or a combination of all the above...I guess we'll never really know? All we can do is hope that nature finds a way to stabilize the waterways and that the species that remain find a way to coexist. The pollution issue will always be a threat as we strive as a country to provide heavy industry to survive. The issue of poaching could with the right funding within the EA and Police input etc be dealt with to an extent. Albeit I don't believe that this is a real cause for declines in fish stocks in rivers.

The River Wye....Life giver for me!

For me personally, the River Wye has been the life giver of river fishing and re-lit the spark I used to have for river fishing in general. I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas this year and come the 15th I'll be heading up the river with a mate for a big opening night! It'll be a lovely evening sat by the river watching the sun go down with a nice cold beer. As soon as it's light enough the rods will be out for a new season barbel. So, so exciting! Well, that's about it from me until the big day when I'll report back with hopefully some cracking first day results!

Regards and good luck for the 16th and whatever your fishing for!

Keith