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

Virgins and Koi Carp???

Boom...first cast success for Dave 10lb 7oz!

Yep more virginity's taken this week...Client and good friend Dave Brooks had never seen a barbel on the bank let alone caught one! Well, that is from a river anyway!

This week had been a long time coming for Dave as we'd planned to do something a long time back but never got around to it.

I picked Dave up around 5pm and we headed up to Ross and a regular stretch that I inhabit...I got the rods ready for him and pointed him in the right direction with regards to where to fish and we got started.

The water was well down on the previous week, where flow and weed debris had really hindered the fishing. Boat traffic was at a low and with a little colour still added to it, the river looked spot on for a bite or two! I commented on it's good looks on arrival and I wasn't proven wrong either! Dave's first cast landed spot on the money. It was only a few minutes before the left hand rod hooped over into action. Dave was a little taken aback by the initial first run and unfortunately the hook pulled.

Another 10 pounder! What a result!

Feeling a little disappointed Dave recast and sat back to await a possible second chance....He didn't have to wait long at all. In fact less than a few minutes passed by. The same rod flew into action and Dave jumped on it...The fish went ballistic down the middle of the river. A good few minutes of fight ensued and Dave just couldn't believe the power of the fish.

I sunk the net under it for him and it was very obvious it was a decent fish. On the scales it went 10lb 7oz! What a great start to his barbel fishing career! First one out and it's a double! Result! The next fish came just minutes later and at 7lb 3oz it was a little bit smaller than he'd become suddenly accustomed to! This was eagerly followed up by a much better fish of 9lb 10oz and another of just over 7lbs.

They just kept coming for Dave

A small chub seemed to signal the end of all the action and we decided to think about calling it a night....I started to pack away the majority of the kit. I'd just folded the chairs up when the left rod hooped over. Dave sprung into action again and another chunk fought it's head off! Despite making its way into a large snag on our left, Dave played the fish out really well and we prodded around with the net handle to free the fish up. It was worth the effort as it was another 10 pounder! Not just his first ever Barbel but 5 of them in one evening including 2 doubles! Fantastic result and an evening that neither of us will forget in a hurry!

I have had little time to fish myself this last fortnight but I did manage 3 brief morning sessions on a 2 separate club lakes. The first being a very nice weedy pool which gets almost no angling pressure at all. On arrival it became apparent that there were a few nice commons in there. I spent a good four hours walking around and around. I eventually found 2 fish to cast at and managed to get both to take the bait. The first being a stunning wild common of just over 14lbs and the second going about 8lbs.

Beautiful and wild as ever!

The next morning I went over to one of the clubs more commercialized pools. I've had it in my mind that I wanted to finish my time on there with 3 particular fish that I wanted to catch. 2 Ghosties and a chubby, scaley mirror.

I saw all 3 on the first mornings stalking but I just couldn't get them properly feeding in amongst the other smaller commons that were smashing their way through the mixers on the surface. I took 5 small fish to low double figures but none of my A-list fish.

The following morning was a little warmer and a trip back over the lake saw the fish ravaging the feed yet again. I spotted one of my target ghosties on my right. She wasn't really feeding heavily and looked  rather nervous. I waited about 15 minutes and kept the feed going in. The fish built up more confidence in that time and I watched as the ghosty came cautiously in to the feed zone. I resisted the chance to cast at her and let her keep feeding a bit longer. The guy opposite was getting interested in why I was leaving it so long to cast as he'd taken 3 or 4 already from off the island.

Job done....Koi from heaven!

I finally felt it was time to have a go at her and made a cast about 10 feet to her left and slightly behind her eye line. To my amazement she turned and went straight for the bait...Before I knew it she was on! What a scrap I had, for a low double she fought so hard!

Finally after 10 minutes she was in the net and mine..Result! I had a bash at the other 2 fish I wanted but neither was having an ounce of my bait! Hoping to have a 48 hour session back up at the River Severn on Monday as long as the weather holds for long enough!

Tight lines all
K x

Lots on!

Lewis in action

Hi everyone...It's been a few weeks since my last blog entry, mainly due to a very busy diary. Full thankfully of bait rolling and lots of fishing! Can't ever complain about either of those! Well, where to start?

My first entry must be to tell you all about a days guiding with a lovely chap called Lewis Seaborne. Lewis has become a good mate over the last few weeks and after finally getting it booked up, we hit the river for his guided day out on the Wye. Lewis had never fished a river before let alone hooked a barbel! This was going to be an interesting day to say the least, made only more interesting by the fact that the river was on arrival, up by almost a meter and a half!

8lb 3oz for Lewis

The section I took him too is already a fast, shallow beat and the added water made things just a bit more difficult when teaching a total river novice. The water was carrying a lot of weed and debris and the flow was almost unfishable. We managed to hold the bottom of sorts in the nearside crease and 6oz of weight on the feeder kept it still enough for enough opportunity for a bite or two.

Things started very slowly and despite trying our hardest the bites just didn't develop....We spent the morning discussing a plethora of techniques from feeder and float tactics to marker work and feature finding. Finally around 12.30pm, the river had dropped a little and Lewis got his first chance of a fish. Unfortunately it was short lived and we had to pull for a break as the line got totally snagged on an underwater feature that was immovable...A few minutes after re-rigging and he was into another chance. This time it didn't go begging and his first ever barbel found the net! At 3lbs it was never going to set the world on fire but it did however get things moving and release some of the pressure for us both!

Lewis with his first ever double figure barbel from the Wye at 10lb 4oz! Well done buddy!

Things started to become a little more fluent and another good handful of fish started to find the net before we called it a day at the venue around 6pm. Lewis had managed 6 from the day and to be honest, with the conditions that the river was in....that was a fine result! We then upped and moved to another section of river for the evening and I promised Lewis that there was a much better chance of getting in amongst a few slightly bigger fish. Well, I wasn't proven wrong and after just quarter of an hour in the new swim, Lewis had his biggest of the day at a tadd over 8lbs! The guys was over the moon and it showed.

Things went a little quiet for an hour and around 8'ish as the sun was dropping behind the trees, he got another chance of a fish. This one a smidge over 6lbs. Feeling a little let down after loosing a much bigger fish, some twenty minutes later....we were thinking of calling it a night. I'd already started to pack away the majority of the kit, when all of a sudden the right hand rod flew into life and I watched on as Lewis bent into a very powerful barbel.

The line flew from the reel and the rod whistled under the strain. It took a good few minutes to subdue the fish and finally a quick glance in the net told me all I needed to know....On the scales I gave him the news....'Do you want the good or bad news first Lewis?' I said....'Well, the bad news is it ain't 11lbs! But it is 10lb 4oz!' I watched on as his jaw dropped....We both laughed and the pleasure on his face told the whole story. What a result. 9 for the day, his first of the species and a double as well! Well done Lewis!

Nice one Bob x

The past weekend has been a bit of a blur for me and a drive down to Berkshire saw me meet up with a load of old mates from my days spent on the Theale complex some 8 to 10 years ago. Some of them i'd not really seen since that time! We fished a private venue for 48hrs and despite having a wonderful time on a cracking water, I drew a massive blank.

The fish just didn't want to feed for the best part. Only Jess, Jon and Dean managed a couple between 8 of us. Jesse's fish both going over twenty pounds. I lost a fish to a cut off about 3 hours before packing up on the Sunday....I was gutted! I also had a lost chance on a zig rig about an hour later.

At least I caught a couple of small ones!

Things had to improve on the fish catching front and a quick 24 hour session with Bob on a Newbury Club water sorted the problem. We fished a venue that I had unfinished business with and by the end of a very nice night I had bagged 3 low doubles to save the blank! Bob managed 3 as well, which included the biggest at 17lbs and the smallest at 5lbs!

After such a hectic few days, I really have to confess to being all but fished out! Despite this Natasha had been asking over and over for me to take her out for an evening on the Wye to see if she could better her 10lb 4oz fish of last season. Marianne and I loaded the car and we took her up for a quick 2 hour evening session. The river was really up again and the weed that was coming down made things almost impossible to fish. We set up in one swim and had to move after just a cast on each rod. The flow was too strong for even 6ozs of lead and the weed debris coming down just made it neigh on impossible to fish.

Mariannes first Barbel at 8lb 3oz! Well done hun x

I was feeling deflated and upset that the only remaining chance to bring her out before the school holidays finished was looking as if it was going to be washed out and a total waist of time! A quick move to another likely spot with slightly less current saw things right though....and within a few minutes both the girls were into fish! Tash landed a nice one of just over 6lbs and Marianne took her first of the species at 8lb 3oz! What a result, a blank saved!

Unstoppable fish catching machine! Natasha with her second double figure barbel from the Wye. A new PB of 10lb 12oz!

We got the fish back after a few lovely pics and got the rods back out. Not a lot else happened and as we were thinking of calling it a day, the left rod flew into a life with a real belting take! Natasha took hold of things and finally subdued her second ever double....a wonderful beauty of 10lb 12oz! What a cracking result!

Wonderful Wyebank

Mathew waiting for a nibble!

After a busy weekend with work and family, I had a day booked in on Wyebank with Mathew for this Monday. The venue as some of you will know from my last post a week or two back with Bob....is a very fast flowing and shallow beat that is well suited to low water, summer barbel fishing.

We arrived just after dawn and set about the arduous task of lugging all our kit to the final swim on the beat which just happens to be the best holding area for the barbel. I positioned my box out in the water as I had on my previous trip and sorted Mathew out with a similar set up. We decided that the best approach for us to attack the swim with was to both fish it in a line with my rod out slightly further into the flow than Mats. This was we could keep the fish in one area rather than all over the swim.

We set up 5oz feeders and long 4 foot hooklengths with a size 8 hook and a small river monster boilie on the hair rig. We both had a small barbel within minutes, both weighing around 3lbs....Things looked good for a busy day! All become apparently harder as the morning progressed though and with increasing numbers of kayaks and very bright, hot sunshine, the fishing got tougher. We had to scale down to size 14 hooks and 6mm pellets to stay in touch with the fish and finally started to get into a few in numbers, albeit just small fish up to a pound in weight.

One of 27 barbel taken in the session!

Mathew decided to have a go with a new center pin reel he'd purchased from a mate and was adamant he wanted to catch a barbel on it using a stick float and trotting techniques. Well, he did just that no less than 6 times in fact! Each fish weighing around 2-3lbs in weight. Great work in the bright day time sun!

I plugged away on the feeder tactics and lost a very chunky 6lb+ chub to a bit of poor angling on my behalf. I allowed the fish to get a little bit out of hand whilst I was trying to net it and she went under the legs of my platform and cut me off. I was pretty gutted as it looked a very decent, thick set fish.

I had to wait another hour or so before finally grabbing a better barbel which tipped the scales to around 5 and a half pounds. Not a record by any standards but it certainly fought well in the fast waters of the bottom pool.

In the end we called it a day around 7pm to head down stream and do some drop shotting for perch. Unfortunately we didn't see a single fish down stream and retired feeling very tired around 9pm. The finished figures for the day though were pretty impressive and Mat finished on 14 barbel, I had 13 barbel and 4 chub. Great result and great fun! I did manage to grab a bit of brill underwater footage of Mathew playing a couple of barbel on the feeder.

I've got an extremely busy week planned for next week. Hopefully a quick 48hr session back up on the River Severn on Sunday, then a guiding day on Wyebank Wednesday...then Friday I'm away at a private lake in Berkshire for a 48hr social session with some very old friends I've not seen for some time. Then I'm meeting up with Bob for a night on the ponds after a chunky carp or two. Going to be busy busy!!!!

Tight lines guys
x

Pixham pleasures!!!!

7lb 1oz from Monmouth

Another great week or so on the river bank has just passed and yet more great stories to tell! This last few days has been no exception to the rule and despite stupidly low river conditions and clear water, the rivers have excelled in providing me with some of the best river fishing sport I have had in my career!

I paid a visit to my club water with Mathew again earlier in the week and we fished the same swims we had fished the week prior. Mathew chose to fish the lower swim and I went upstream a little.

On arrival I balled in around a half dozen small balls of groundbait and put both rods very slightly down stream of it. The action began almost immediately after and both of us started to receive a huge quantity of trembles on the rods. It wasn't long before my left hand rod hooped over into action and a very strong fish powered off down stream. The fight was dogged and intense. The fish knew all the tricks in the book and went for a fallen tree under the water below my swim. A bit of upstream pulling saw her clear and eventually into the waiting net.

7lb 2oz...peas in a pod!

I got the camera and weighing gear ready and wet the sling and mat. I hoisted her clear of the water and I knew then that I was looking at another double for the season! On the scales she tipped 10lb 10oz! Well chuffed with the result.

Things went a little quiet then and it wasn't until it was just dusk before I took another 2 smaller fish of 7lb 1oz and 7lb 2oz. Mathews swim was totally dead and all he managed all evening was a fat old 4lb chub! Very strange evening all round really as the fish just couldn't be placed in one spot and the 3 I took all came from different parts of the swim!

My ticket finally came through from the Barbel Society this week for Pixham Ferry on the Severn. I've been wanting to give the River Severn a go for some time now but the BAA stretches that I once had a small dabble on when I first moved to Wales are just a little out of reach for a days fishing. The best part of the Pixham ticket is that you can fully night fish for up to 48hrs, which means I can make it a worth while visit.

10lb 10oz! Stunning in every way!

I got in touch with Lee Wilkes who is the Fishery Manager and he pointed me in the right direction with regards to parking an swims etc and I made the journey up on Tuesday afternoon. On arrival there was just one other chap present who was fishing until about 11pm. I opted to fish a few swims up from him on a section known as 'The Flats'.

Pixham on the Severn and lots of new challenges!

This is an area of low, exposed bank, made up of hard mud covered in low water grass. A great spot to put up my brolly and bed for the 2 nights. The swim offers great accessibility to a very large expense of open water area. I started off casting one long to a gravel section I found towards the far shelf and put the other in the middle gutter which has a depth of about 12 feet I reckon.

The action was almost non stop from Bream and by 8pm I was already about 6 fish up! Each one was a real chunk though and I don't honestly think I've ever caught so many large bream! My first barbel came around 11pm and a sprightly 7lb barbel finally graced my net! My first 'proper' barbel from the river at last!

Lovely jubley!

The fishing stayed hectic all night and 1 bream after another found the back of the net. The barbel seemed a little off the feed so I started to introduce a few balls of groundbait lower down the swim but just up from a large mid river snag that apparently holds the fish.

The fishing in the day was little slower than at night so I made the choice to sleep a bit in the day and target the fish in their feeding period. This proved successful and the next evening saw me land just 4 bream to a total of 8 barbel! Much better figures!

What a back drop!

The other thing I did to slow down the bream was to just ignore any bite that didn't take line from the reel and I opted to fish a large wide gape 6 hook, long hair rig and a 20mm hook bait! This certainly slowed the bream down. It may have hindered my chances with the barbel but it did allow me to keep a bait in the water for a longer period of time. I found out to my dismay that there is a large amount of logs and tree debris in that particular swim. It's obviously been washed up in the winter floods and has been deposited on the shelf of the inside marginal area. This makes playing fish very hazardous at the best of times. The only way to get them in seemed to be to strike, pull like crazy and get the rod as high as possible! Bully boy tactics that I hate to employ but they seemed to be needed in this case.

9lb 1oz of River Severn power!!!!

The best fish of the trip turned out to be very chunky 9lb 1oz fish. This particular fish was rather recognizable as it had a split tail fin. Lee had also caught it a few times at a similar weight over the prior weeks.

One of 19 bream to 7lb 14oz!!!

Right, lots to do....there's some great bait orders coming in again and there's quite a few days guiding booked in over the next week or two....busy, busy!

Tight lines all
K
x

Yet more Wye loveliness!

Hi all.

Great fun and masses of barbel to catch!

This last 2 weeks has been unquestionable one of the best of my river fishing career with yet more wonderful fishing chances and superb fish caught.

As I spoke about in my last blog update, Bob and I paid a visit to a section of the Wye where there are large numbers of fish present. The numbers tend to outweigh the size of the fish and the averages are between a pound and 6 pound in weight.

We met up at the river just after sunrise and headed down to our chosen spot at the end of the beat. It's a rather quick and shallow section of river, abundant with rocks, weed and turbulent water. This highly oxygenated water seems to make it highly prized by the many barbel and chub that live under the surface.

The stamp of fish was a little smaller than usual

Bob decided to get straight onto larger baits and tactics in a bid to get amongst the bigger fish. I opted on the other hand to fish much smaller and lighter tactics after anything I could muster up to feed. I also decided to fish it in a totally different manner to my usual way of fishing, in that I had taken my seat box and platform as opposed to my usual lazy chair tactics.

I waded my setup out into the faster water and got it positioned so that I had good open access to the streamy water in front of me. I have to say at this point that it was only due to talking to my friend
Dave Harrell that I had got the idea of tackling it like this for a change.

We chatted on the phone a little while back and also at the BS conference a few weeks back about feeder and float tactics and how much of these tactics had been almost forgotten these days and replaced by much bigger fish tactics. I'd like at this opportunity to convey much congratulations to Dave as he is on his way to winning yet more highly prized river comps and I look forward as ever to seeing him quash the competition with his very own incredible style of approach! Good muck matey! If you have ten minutes free time then pop over to Dave's pages and have a read! Great bloke with some fantastic tips that you cannot fail to learn from!

http://www.daveharrellangling.com/

http://www.daveharrellangling.com/


Anyway back to my day with Bob and after setting up a 5oz feeder with an 8lb hooklength. I was away on my first cast with a nice 2lb barbel. The fish came straight out of the very fast water in front and despite the water being exceptionally low and clear, it was still just only possible to hold down the bottom with the 5ozs!

The first fish was followed up by another on the next cast of around the same stamp. The action continued pretty much all morning and by midday I had around 12 barbel banked and a nice chub of about 4lbs as well. Bob on the other hand had struggled on the bigger baits and was only 1 or 2 fish in by now.

At last a better stamp for Bob!

He wasn't overly bothered as he was more interested in the better sized fish. Anyway, things progressed well throughout the day and by 7pm I had taken 21 barbel to just under 7lbs and Bob had had 10 to about 6lbs. This was a record amount of barbel in a day for myself and Bob and we were now looking forward to packing in and moving ten minutes down river to a more big fish prolific section for the evening period.

After the quick move we dropped into a great little spot that's been fishing very well of recent and to be honest, I wasn't intending on fishing myself. All I wanted was for Bob to get himself a big old kipper to finish the day on. Bearing this in mind I fished just one rod as Bob wanted me to fish as well. I decided that which ever rod went first I'd let Bob take. Needless to say it was my rod twice in a row that produced the first of the evening and 2 nice but slightly below average stamp 6lbers found the net for Bob. He then insisted I take my own rod from then on.....

The next bites fortunately came to Bobs rods and he landed 3 more great fish to just over 8lbs. Right result for the day which put him up to 15 barbel. In the mean time we had moved Bobs upstream rod into the spot that I had taken the fish at the start as the upstream spot hadn't produced a twitch all evening.

Typically this then produced a 9lb fish for me and just as we were about to call it a day it yielded the biggest of the day at 10lb 8oz! Typical as I wanted Bob to catch it! Nevermind, I think Bob would agree with me when I say that we had a bloody great day all told and it was full of laughter, plenty of hot coffee and even more wonderful fish!

The following evening and after just a couple of hours poor sleep due to my never ending cold! Mathew and I decided to go out for a few hours after work. Mats not had the chance to do much barbelling since the start of the season and despite 3 trips out he was still only on 6 barbel for the season albeit one of them a new PB double of 10lb 1oz.

Well, we dropped in to two swims with Mat taking the down stream option and hopefully the better of the two spots as he really wanted to catch another big old double.

It took a little while before things started to pick up and Mat was first up with a nice one around 7lbs. This was quickly followed up with a better one of 9lb 9oz and a very happy Mathew! I on the other hand couldn't tempt a twitch! I was getting a touch despondent and despite banking a nice 4lb chub, I felt my chances of a barbel were almost out the window for the evening.

Mathew then had another nice one of 8lb 1oz and I was feeling like it was time to pack away. I had had 2 lost chances with what I think were small chub and it wasn't before almost packing up that I had my first proper chance with a nice specimen of 9lb 1oz. A very hard earned fish for a tougher evenings fishing.

Mat had already packed away now as he had got into a bit of a pickle with the last fish and some of his line was damaged and beyond repair. I was almost ready to leave and as we were about to retrieve the last of my two rods, it hooped over signaling 1 last chance fish on the end!

Well in Mathew boy!

The fight was spectacular and no less than heart stopping at numerous points as the fish was hell bent on weeding me up and trying to snag me on a fallen tree! I had to slack line the fish on 3 occasions to get it to come free from the snag and it took much longer than I would have liked to get it in.

At 10lb 7oz though and my 6th double of the season....I didn't really care either way whether it had taken 10 seconds to get in or 10 minutes! I was elated!

I've got a ton of things coming up over the next four weeks, lots of guided days with some great clients and maybe just a few days of fishing on my own on a new water on the River Severn! Looking forward to that immensely! Tight lines to you all and I hope your all enjoying your summer holidays and the wonderful fishing that seems to be prevalent at the moment!

Double number 6 for the season! Get in!

Tightest of lines
Keith
X

Toms PB Barbel!

Millies fiirst Chub!

Hello my friends.

Not felt much like July this last week or so if i'm totally honest as it's been bloody chilly at times! The winds been almost October'ish in its feel and the rain has done little to boost my mood. Despite the crap weather I have been out on the bank a bit this last two weeks.

First up I have to say a massive thanks to my best buddy Stuey and his lovely family for putting me up overnight in their gorgeous home in Christchurch last week. Stu and I had a great day on the Compound Weir pool but in hindsight we may have had more action going to Throop or somewhere else as the fishing was....well....crap!

We managed little more than a small 2lb chub, a few missed opportunities from bream and small barbel and Stuart landing a 15lb 5oz pike whilst retrieving a minnow that had taken his maggot hookbait!

Not intended species but very welcome!

It was a wonderful day though otherwise....we both caught the sun during the midday heat and Stu's mum, dad, wife and 2 kids popped down to join in the fun for a few hours. This was great for me as I got to do some great bonding with little Millie (Stuarts beautiful little girl aged 3). She was a delight to sit and talk to and the pair of us hit it off very well. Apparently she thinks i'm pretty cool for an old bloke with no hair!!! lol Even Millie out-fished both her Dad and I with a nice chub and her first ever fish! Well done Tinks!

After the events of Hampshire and the severe lack of Barbel action on the Avon, I felt a quick trip up the Wye was required to restore my confidence on Sunday afternoon. I arrived to find about 6 guys fishing on the club stretch....most looked as if they were most likely not members but since i'm not a bailiff, what can you do?

I opted to drop into a peg I used to find productive until last season and set about a few exploratory casts. I noted a few likely areas where I could find clear gravel and set about placing a bait in two spots. It was quite a while before my first bit of action and that resulted in a nice fish of just over 6lbs.

My 30th Barbel of the season at 10lb 2oz!

I then had to wait until it was almost dark before my next bites which came in quick succession and resulted in a fish I've had 4 other times before but usually at higher weights. This particular fish has a yellow blemish on its right hand cheek.

A nice one of 7lb 12oz though. Finally just before calling it a day I had another nice double of 10lb 2oz. Not a fish that I recognized either....Great to see another new double turn up!

I did a quick evening session on the much tougher River Taff on  Tuesday with Ryan. We managed to get into one of the hotter pegs near Cardiff City Center and despite pretty much perfect conditions and a bit of extra water and colour in the river.....we blanked.

Great start to the evening for Tom at 8lb 3oz!

Next up was a session on Wednesday evening with my son Thomas on the Wye. As some of you will know Thomas isn't a huge fishing fan. He's a bit of an indoors lad really and doesn't pleasure in getting covered in mud, dirt or fish slime! Saying that though, he does occasionally come out with me for a session and invariably catches something worth talking about! This week was to be no exception to the rule! He's barbel fished once before and managed two nice fish of 6lb odd and 8lb 12oz.

Well first cast resulted in a stunning torpedo of 8lb 3oz and Tom couldn't believe how quickly we were into fish....not only that but I think he'd forgotten just how bloody hard they fight too! What was funny though was that a group of baby ducks he'd been feeding for a while were hanging around the front of the swim while he was playing the fish and one of the brethren decided it was a sensible idea to attack the fish as we were about to net it! Nutter!

BOOOOOOOMMMMM! Get in Tom! New PB of 10lb 2oz! Well done son xxxx

Nice!

Next up was a 6lb 12oz fish which took him all over the place! We took a few pics before rebaiting the rods and recasting. The water was well up by over a foot and carrying some serious flotsam and weed down with it yet again. Toms next chance of a fish came just as it was getting dark and the bite was nothing short of incredible!

He bent into what was clearly a much bigger animal than he'd hooked before. The fight lasted a while as the fish pulled his line all over the river before succumbing to fatigue. On the scales she went 10lb 2oz and we both cheered at his delight in breaking his pb of 8lb 12oz and of course landing his first ever double! Well done son!

He had another 2 small fish of around 6lb and 6lb 5oz to end the evening. What a great result. I think he wants to come out again sooner rather than later as he now says he see's what it is that I like so much about fishing. Not only for the fish but the scenery, wildlife and of course the infinite tranquility that it brings with it.

Well done Lucy Rowley on catching a new PB as well!

I've got Natasha away for a fortnight at present, so i'm really looking forward to having her home in the next week or so as we have the Dave Mason guided day to book up and I also have a great day in store for Monday with my good mate Bob!

Brilliant stuff Dan!

Finally there is a few quick words to say about a lovely lady who has just banked a new PB mirror carp on just her second outing with her other half Mathew, who is a field tester for my bait company. Lucy Rowley did a night with Mat and the pair both caught stunning fish. Mat managed a cracking 21lber and Lucy weighed in a brilliant fish of 17lb 4oz! Well done guys!

Also a big well done to Dan Jones who went on to do his weekend session on the Severn at Bewdley and managed a nice little barbel using the tactics I showed hi the week prior! Well done Dan!
I hope your all well and kicking and catching lots of fish.

Tight lines
Keith
x