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!