Natashas red letter session!

Natasha leaning into a double figure Barbel! Go girl!!!!!

Hi guys and girls. What a busy few days it's been here at Nuts about Carp. Lots of lovely bait orders and some new field testers taken on to help with the testing of our new prototype fishmeal boilie. Not much feed back as yet but I'm hoping a few of the lads will get back with some results soon.

My fishing has been put back a little due to my wife being away working for 10 days in Hampshire and of course I'm on household duties and full time parental works! House work, cooking, cleaning, feeding our 300+ animals! Bla bla bla! lol It's been good fun so far but I'm only 3 days in yet! God help us!

With it being the final few days of the children's summer holidays I wanted to do something a bit special for Natasha my daughter as it's also her 8th birthday on Friday too. As some of you will be aware from previous blog entries by myself, she came out barbel fishing for a brief evening a few weeks back and with very little help from myself, landed a stunning Wye barbel of 8lb 4oz.

A life changing moment for both of us. Only her third ever barbel and a new PB of 10lb 4oz!

Well, for the last 4 weeks she's been continually asking me when we could go out again next? I really wanted to take her to my club stretch as I know the average size of the fish far exceeds the rest of the Wye by a country mile. The only trouble being that so far it had done only 4 barbel for me in the best part of 8 trips! Not only that but in reality the whole river had been fishing pretty poor for the time of year. It's a splendid and highly prolific water but the fish have had to endure months of low water and clear conditions that have pushed them into spots that are either unfishable, too weedy to attack or they have just avoided feeding at the usual times.Whatever the case maybe? It's been tough and taking her to my club stretch was always going to be a gamble. Any one who has kids of this age knows that trying to keep an 8 year old interested for more than 10 minutes is almost bloody impossible, so 5 hours of fruitless fishing didn't hold me with much hope for a relaxing evening with her!

Another beauty!

How wrong can anyone be? Well I was! I offered her the chance to river fish or go carping at our local pond and she said she'd much rather have a crack at another barbel. That's my girl!!!! We set off at around 4pm and hit traffic on the M4 from the word go. As you all may know, Newport is hosting the delegates of NATO for a couple of days and the whole area is locked down tighter than a chastity belt on valentines day! There were police officers everywhere! I have honestly never seen such a presence. God only knows what it has cost the tax payer to host this event but I can only image the costs and planning involved. It took a little while to cover the journey but it kept flowing and by 6pm we were making our first casts into the coloured up and slightly more flowing river Wye.

7lb 14oz! Smashing it up!

I opted to put her into a swim that I know is the most likely area to bag one from at present and the only real spot I've had action from this season on that stretch. It's a little tricky to get to as you need to negotiate hideous quantities of stingers and brambles, a high bank with sloping and slippery declines. Not the best or most practical place to take a youngster but I was adamant i'd do my best to put her onto at least 1 fish!

She's not learned to cast yet so I had to do that task for her, but she was quite good at filling the feeder, placing the hook baits on with a needle and of course tying a PVA bag full of pellets. I put the upstream rod about 3-4 rod lengths out for her with a feeder of 2oz on and a River Monster Boilie on the hook. The other went some 20 yards down stream with a plain lead on and a small pva bag of pellets and a boilie hook bait.

It looked as if she was in for a bonanza!

We sat back to await results and after about quarter of an hour the left hand rod was away! In true Wye Barbel style! The spool screamed as the fish ripped yards of line and before I knew it Tash was on the rod and holding it herself! I asked her if she wanted help but she was clear that she wanted to do it herself. I watched from just behind her with my grip tightly attached to her belt as the fish made its merry way around the 6 yard wide stretch of river! I thought she was going water skiing at one point as the fish just kept taking line!

Eventually after some 10 minutes of fight, I netted the fish for her. I looked down and instantly knew she had a new PB in the net. I looked at her face and she was white! She looked gob smacked at the size of the fish, a particularly long one at that too! I set up the scales , mat and camera before lifting it clear of the water. It was a double for sure and she knew it was big! We weighed her at 10lb 4oz and of course it was her first ever double and only her 3rd of the species! We were both ecstatic!

Yet more incredible Wye Gold for Natasha!

After putting the fish back I told her that that fish may well be the only one of the evening as that was how it had been fishing of recent. She was so happy with the one she'd caught that it really didn't seem to matter in all honesty. Within minutes of us putting the fish back and before the left hand rod had been recast. She was into no 2 on the other rod. Another epic battle ensued and after a few minutes of fighting for authority, she won the battle and landed a 7lb 2oz barbel.

The scene was now set and the fish were clearly in the swim in a big way! The rod tip of the right hand rod hardly sat still on the next cast and it was just minutes before the next fish was banked at 8lb 5oz. This was followed by another of 8lb 1oz and yet another of 8lb 10oz! I just couldn't believe the change in the river and her luck that evening!

No 6 for Tash and at 7lb 14oz she couldn't have been happier!

More was to follow and just as darkness set in we were thinking of packing up. I had put the majority of the kit away and I had to get the scales and camera back out for her one last time with a 7lb 14oz beauty! She then informed me she wanted to stop another quarter of an hour and to see if I could catch one as she wanted to do the photographs! lol

I made one last cast on both rods and within minutes I was into a stunning hard fighter. The bank was now pretty treacherous and I kept Tash as far up the bank as possible away from the rivers edge. I slipped a few times so I wasn't keen for her to be near the water. She managed to net the fish for me from above the higher bank area and at 9lb 10oz I was well pleased with my second biggest fish of this season from the Wye.

Even the old man got two nice ones as well!

Whilst packing the rod away and folding the chairs etc away, Natasha shouted out that the rod butt was now in the air on the remaining rod and that the clutch was on over drive! Yet another Barbel was hooked and this one felt pretty tasty by all accounts. A good old tussle ensued and after what seemed like ages I banked my second for the evening at 9lb 14oz. A great result. I would have liked Natasha to have caught them all but she was adamant she wanted me to catch a couple as well. Bless her. I have to say now that despite all other sessions I've ever had, anywhere, with anyone....This tops the lot! What a truly memorable event that I will take with me to my grave!

Go on then, just one last cast! 9lb 10oz beauty!

Natasha is now firmly hooked on fishing and can't wait to get back out there. She wants to catch all sorts of fish too which in my opinion is magic! Can't understand anyone who's never caught all of our British Coarse species wanting to just fish for Carp for example....Very sad in my opinion as there is such a variety of fish to be caught that it's a shame for them to not be experienced due to fashion!

I personally can't wait for our next session together and I know she has ideas on beating my barbel PB of 11lb 4oz and she also wants a 20lb plus pike from the river this year! I know just the place to take her and I can't wait to see how she gets on holding a monster Wye Croc!!!!!!

Tight lines all
Keith x