At last a break!

First of the 2014 season for Joel! Well done mate!

Sunday came around quickly and another river session beckoned me to the River Wye in Herefordshire. I met up with Joel Biddle and his friend Rhys who made the drive down from Shrewsbury to fish for the day and have a good social.

The beat we fished was a new section for all of us and having never seen the place before we were all unsure what to expect on arrival. After a little mess up with the directions and getting a little lost, we finally met up for a wander along the mile long beat.

It was fairly overgrown and there were only a handful of swims in which to pitch up and fish from. Joel and Rhys decided to fish together as it had been a good 12 months since they had last fished together.....they set up on the top of the beat and I opted to fish at the other end in the slightly deeper, slower water.

Joel text me around 9.30am to say he had caught the first of the day at around 7lbs. I had just landed the first chub of the day at 4lbs....things were looking much better for the day! The river had a good few inches extra water and was fining down nicely with some colour in it. My next cast resulted in another chub around 4lb 3oz. This was looking great!

The lads struggled upstream but I was having a good few chub from the 'Rope Swim'. By mid afternoon I was on 8 chub and had lost 2 nice barbel to underwater hazards. I think they were large sharp boulders because the fish seemed to know exactly where to go! Every one I hooked headed straight towards the dreaded snag!

Joel's account for the 2014 season was finally open!!!

I opted to move up 3 swims and try on the back edge of a wide corner swim. which was on the below side of some rapids which afforded some extra oxygen to the river. I plumbed around and found 6ft 6inches at around 3 rod lengths. This was liberally baited by dropper and pellets and left to develop for 45 minutes. I went round to see the lads who had moved a few times and were just an eel up from the earlier barbel Joel had managed.

At last a barbel to break the monotony! 8lb 9oz of pure gold....lush

I went back after a short while to try my newly baited spot. The lads moved into the rope swim I'd been in earlier and were instantly into a small barbel of 6lbs.

A few minutes later I was just starting to nod off in the chair with my finger hooked over the line to feel for nibbles, when all of a sudden the line ripped from my finger and a good fish plowed off down stream. A couple of dicey minutes ensued and after a game of wits I sunk the net under a stunning long beast!

Rhys got in on the action too!

I called Joel up and he came up to do the pics. On the scales she went 8lb 9oz. Well chuffed as it seems like my barbel fishing had taken a turn for the worst!

Joel then had his third of the day and almost straight after Rhys finally nabbed a nice 6 pounder to end the days fishing. Tough conditions yet again but at least we managed a couple of Barbel!

Nothing's in the diary now fishing wise for a bit so I'm not 100% sure what I'll be doing next or where??? Who knows.....