3rd time lucky!

The brumder with his new PB of 10lb 10oz! cracking!

Evening everyone! I write this now with a coffee in hand and very heavy eyes! It's been an incredible week or so with more amazing captures and great friendships formed! I start off with a quick evening session that Mathew and I had on the Wye last Saturday evening. We were a little bit late setting off but managed to get into the swim we wanted. Things were rather quiet on the canoe and rowing club side and it looked bang on for a fish or two....

Mat went below me in his favourite spot and I decided to prime my usual area with the ever faithful River Monster Boilies! It took a while before things started to kick off and Mathew was first to get into a nice fish. The bank side being quite high up and with the water levels really down, meant that one of us was going down the slippery, wet bank side to net the incoming beast! Roll the dice and guess who?

10lb 2oz and double no 9 for 2015!

Yeah, bloody muggins here had to go down first! I managed to get down without too much grief but Mathew was another matter. I think he managed to end up in every position known to man and mud. He was up to his knees in silt. Much to my continual heckling and amusement.

A pair of ripped waders and a very muddy Mathew later saw him land 5 fish for the evening including a new PB of 10lb 10oz. Very pleased for the guy to be honest as he's worked dam hard recently and had very little time or money to get out and fish. Nice one pal!

My side of the fence produced 6 Barbel including my 9th double of the season at 10lb 2oz. Couldn't be happier with my results this season and facing down the barrel of my hundredth barbel of the season was a sight I was looking forward to. I left that evening on 98 and with the prospect of 2 nights on the Severn at Pixham to follow on Monday, all looked good for me to break to ton up.

10lb 11oz..my first Double from the River Severn!  10th double of the season and took me to 99!

Monday arrived and so did the weather! What a pile of crap....The wind was gale force, the rain torrential and my will to live had gone. I had to really motivate myself to pack the car and leave in such horrific weather conditions. Needless to say the 100 mile journey up to Kempsey was a slag and the roads were terrible. Visibility down to nothing in places and of course just about everyone and his dog were kicking out of work and driving like knobs to get home.

My 100th barbel of 2015! What a season!

I arrived eventually around 6pm to be greeted with an empty car park and just one single guy fishing the day in peg 3. Incidentally the peg I wanted to fish....No problem though as after a nice chin wag with the bloke, a super young fella called Ben, he told me he was leaving shortly and I could drop in and get set up. Top fella! We had a really nice chat whilst I got my bivvy up and rods ready for the night and another of my good friends turned up to pick up his bait order. Jo stopped until nearly 10pm chatting and after Ben had left we enjoyed much coffee and banter.

My first bit of action came just after 2 am and I failed to land the fish through a hook straightening out???? Not a thing I have suffered from in a very long time? With the unknown reason for the hooks disability I re-set up and made a cast back into the inky darkness. Minutes later I was yet again into a very powerful fish.

A beautiful evening on the Severn at Pixham.

The fight was nothing short of nuclear sub like! She pulled the line to an extent I'd not seen from a barbel before! After a torrid battle I eventually landed a stunning barbel that tipped the scales to 10lb 11oz....at last after 2 trips of getting so close to the double, I had finally done it. My first double from the River Severn....Well pleased with my new found glory I tried to get some rest. That wasn't likely to happen though as the bream and barbel had other ideas....

I managed to land 5 bream to 7lbs, 5 chub to 4lb 9oz and another 4 barbel to 9lbs as well. The second night was relatively quiet in comparison and with just a bream and a chub making an appearance, i managed to finally get a bit of shut eye before heading home on the Wednesday morning.

Things started well for Andrew

Wednesday afternoon was a mere blur in the week as I had to clean up all the wet and muddy gear from the 48 hr session, roll bait for clients and prepare food, bait and tackle for the guided day I had booked for the Thursday with Andrew. Needless to say that the car also needed a bloody good clean inside and out as it smelt like a whores boudoir! Will everything finally achieved by 10pm, I settled down for some dinner and checked the conditions for the day to follow....all looked pretty good.

I met up with Andy Pilcher at his house in Cardiff around 9am. It was a bit of a late start due to him having to do school runs etc but we grabbed all that was needed for the day and headed out up the M4 for the 70 mile trip up to Hereford and our chosen venue for the morning. On arrival around 11am, it became clear that the river was stupidly busy and everyone and his mutt were fishing at our chosen beat. Never mind, we ventured the 3/4 mile across the fields to the spot I wanted to place him, only to find it was taken. Thankfully the swim just below was free though and despite it being a little tight, I knew it held a good stock of fish.

Top man! A cracking Herefordshire gold bar!

We sat and talked rig and tackle, bait placement, casting and of course the all important fish location etc. Anrew made his first cast into the swim and after 10 minutes made a second chuck which resulted in a nice chub of around 3lb 8oz. The barbel were a little shy to start with due to bright sunshine but we need not worry as they obliged within the hour and Andy was into his first of the day at around 4lbs. The feeder techniques started to work well and after 2 hours of fishing Andy had landed 4 cracking shoal sized barbel to around 6lbs....all on the feeder.

We decided to make a change of venue as the day wore on and headed down stream an hour to our other chosen venue which contains much bigger fish but less quantities. Things started well with the going swim being free of anglers. The boat traffic was heavy but time was on our side as it was still very light. The weed was a bit of a nuisance as it had been in previous sessions but we persevered with it and just as the light failed Andrew got his first hit. It wasn't the most spectacular of takes but It was clear from the moment it was hooked that it was a chunky fish.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke! 10lb 8oz for Andrew Pilcher. Well done my friend and I hope there's plenty more to come.

The fight lasted a few minutes and despite a few very powerful runs, Andy had her under control quite quickly. I knew the moment i netted it for him that it was a good fish but until it went on the scales I kept quiet. At 10lb 8oz it was his second ever double and having only ever caught a maximum of 2 barbel in a day, we'd managed a decent quantity of fish too!

More gold bullion for Mr P!

We were both ecstatic with the fish and Andrew spent some time lovingly returning his prize. The evening proceeded to produce another 2 fine specimens of over 7 and 8lbs. A great day that I'm sure neither of us will forget in a hurry. Well done pal x

Right that's it for me for this week, I have a fair bit of bait to roll in the coming few days and some rest and recuperation required too. I may be out for an evening next week but nothing is as such penned in yet. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Luv ya
K x