Mid year blues

Well the new season is almost here and I for one can’t wait for it to arrive.   Last year I had a tremendous time catching a terrific range of specimen fish with regular consistency, this in turn lead me to win the Korum Cup in the Angler’s Mail; this year has been very different!

My usual early trip abroad with Joe Taylor went well, though the catches were below those of previous trips.  Fishing in Surinam my highlight was the capture of a golden lau of which we had seen, and knew of, very few numbers.  I returned to home and set my sights on catching a 15lb+ Warwickshire Avon barbel.   In this task I failed although I did photograph one for a friend, no problem here in that it is a difficult target and hopefully I will achieve it this coming year.  What was noticeable was over this period I caught very few fish and the two trips I did for chub on the southern rivers fared no better.   Each time I got flooded out and if I had decided to barbel fish instead I would have been ok, but I was in the wrong mind-set for that so I came home.

I then tried a new water for bream fishing over the next couple of weeks without success, not a surprise as I rate big bream to be the most difficult of our coarse fish to target and catch.  Now it was the beginning of April and the crucian fishing was the target.  The club had decided to alter the closing date and it would be closed for fishing from mid-April until the usual opening season date of mid-June.  

Fortunately this gave me the chance to complete two three day seasions, three days is a club rule maximum then you must leave for 24 hours.  Over that period I took six crucians with the best going 4lb-0oz, 3lb-15oz, 3lb-13oz and 3lb-10oz.  A pleasing result and quite probably two or three of these would go well over the 4lb mark just three or four weeks later. 

                                                      4lb-0oz crucian, the best of 2016 captures.

                                                            3lb-15oz beauty.

Unfortunately that was the highlight of the year so far, I went back to bream and now included tench in my efforts.  This was on a new water with unproven potential, but fishing there along with John Found we both felt the big fish should be present.  The ever present carp anglers told us of many big bream to very large weights along the tench that again would be interesting, none were weighed of course, and I am suspicious of carp anglers estimates.

One interesting highlight was that my first book 'Rainbow's End' was reprinted by The Little Egret Press and is once again available for those that missed it first time round.

I have a number of original paintings by the like of Pledger and Turnbull but having seen some of the pencil drawings by Pete Wilson I decided to commission one of his works.  Very pleased with the result.  .His site is found at https://www.facebook.com/pcjportraits/

                                                         4lb-6oz crucian in portrait.

Last week we had an interesting diversion looking at an embryo roach project undertaken by Del Shackleford who is the fisheries manager for Reading & District A. A.   Following the success of the Avon Roach Project the club has decided to stick a toe in the water and follow the guide given by that projects lead.  Del travelled down south to spend a day with the lads running the project and they kindly gave him results of their trials and experience over the previous nine years.  In Del’s estimation this fact alone saved him perhaps four years of trials.  He knows he still has lots to learn and his own mistakes and false leads to follow but he, and the club, are committed to success.

                                                Del gives some explanation as to the methods.

                                      Solar panel to give power and netting to protect stock.

Using club funds and help from the EA in supplying some of the equipment the trial has been progressing for well over a year and I say the resulting roach that have come through the system are small but progressing.  Tanks are under cover in a greenhouse type of structure and water is constantly pumped through from a nearby lake.  This turns the water over about every fifteen minutes and the overflow goes into the nearby four pools dug to take the maturing roach as they reach a suitable stage.  The water coming into the system from the lake also carries nutrients that the small fry can use and this is then supplemented by appropriate feed as they get larger.  By the time the roach have over wintered twice they have already gone past many of the natural predators that would have depleted their number substantially and are ready to be restocked into the chosen venues.  This is a long term project and the results will not be seen for some time, but given time those results will come and the clubs venues will benefit from fish that would not otherwise have existed.

Korum Cup Winner

In a year 2015, where I had a personal best perch of 5lb-4oz and a brace of crucians at 4lb-6oz and 4lb-8oz taken in a 2 hour spell, I was quite pleased to say the least. Add the 16lb-12oz barbel and 15lb-4oz bream and it gets even better. With a 10lb-12oz barbel off the River Wey it was my 27th different river double and this now adds up to probably my most successful year in the 50 odd years I've been on different banksides
Now to top it all off I've won the Korum Cup competition run over the last calendar year.

It is also quite nice that a reprint of my first book 'Rainbow's End' will be going to the printers in the next week or two.  The reprint is being done by Little Egret Press and details will be found on their website.

Giant bream and even better crucians.

The following couple of trips after the capture of the 13lb-8oz bream reported in the last blog I was just day fishing and I caught a few perch but no sign of the bream.  Then that good luck factor came in again and the next bite, mid-afternoon on a sunny day, I got a bite typical of bream, the bobbin dropped and then slowly rose again and the fight certainly suggested it would be a bream although with the power it would be big.  Sure enough it proved to be just that and the lad from the adjacent swim confirmed a weight of 15lb-4oz, yet again the target set and achieved.

                                                           15lb-4oz Giant bream.

It was now fast approaching the 1^st of May and the club water well known for its large crucians would become available for fishing again having been closed for six weeks.  Plans were made and I arrived on the evening before only to find the place already packed out.  I dropped into a small out of the way swim prepared to wait until a better choice became available and since anglers are always coming and going to their own personal timetable I got my chance midmorning next day.  The rules only allow the anglers to stay for two nights and then they must leave for a minimum of 24 hrs. Though this can be awkward for the travelling angler I’m in total agreement with the rule since it does allow swims to become available on a constant basis with no long term occupation of good areas.  I stayed in the swim for 36 hrs, but with no success so I moved to the opposite end of the dam to try a totally different area.  The results around the lake were generally very patchy with a blank or one or two fish the normal catch, one angler did very well with 15 crucian to a best of 3lb-13oz, but amongst the other anglers fish being caught were odd specimens of 4lb plus including samples to challenge the current record of 4lb-9oz held jointly be myself and two others.   My  move proved to be worthwhile when I caught a succession of tench to 6lb-11oz and two crucians of 3lb-6oz and 3lb-12oz a fish equal to my best for the venue, then I had to leave having reached the end of this session..

                                                  Equal pb for the venue at 3lb-12oz.

                                     The best of well over 50 taken over the 9 days at the venue 6lb-11oz.

My tackle and approach would be the same throughout my sessions here, two 12ft 1.25lb Drennan Avons were matched with Mitchell 300’s loaded with 6lb line going to flatbed method feeders.  Very short hooklink of 4lb Fireline with Kamazan size 14 hooks carried a single artificial caster on the hair rig.  I would use one pint of caster per day along with a similar amount of 4mm pellet put out with a Spomb at regular intervals, this to allow for the tench and rudd that invariably would be cleaning them up. 

My next three day session proved equally as difficult with the first day and a half almost totally blank so again a move to a different bank altogether.  Yet again the same potential record fish came out and again I was called on to witness it but I also saw a 4lb-2oz fish caught in the swim next to mine this giving me some hope and sure enough I again caught two crucian of 3lb-2oz and 3lb-5oz along with another load of tench to 6lb-9oz.  All the time I’m getting reports of lots of blanks but the average crucian being caught is up from last year by perhaps 4oz and that gives the chance for a good number of high 3lb’s plus fish into the 4lb range.

                                                              3lb-5oz best of the day's brace.

Again the 130 miles back home to recharge the bodywork and I’m back again hoping to beat the time when the crucians will spawn, last year I only got one trip and by the time I returned they had spawned.   Dawn saw me walking down the bank to find a vacant swim and I soon had my tackle in place and cast out.  There was quite a strong wind blowing into the bank and the wind chill factor made it quite cold until the afternoon when the sun got past the surrounding tree.  Fortunately the cool conditions did not stop the crucians and at about 11am I got one of 3lb-11oz to give a very pleasing start to the trip.

When fishing you never know what is waiting just around the corner and at just after 2pm I finally got my long await 4lb crucian, this one weighing a very pleasing 4lb-6oz to make the previous effort on the venue well worthwhile.  That said fate was not finished with me and just a couple of hours later I was calling Mark from the next swim again to confirm the weight on his scales and  photograph a magnificent sample of 4lb-8oz to give me the best confirmed brace of crucians in the country.

                                                       4lb-6oz smaller of the brace.

                                                          4lb-8oz larger of the brace.

The following day I topped the catch up with a 2lb-13oz and yet another big fish of 4lb-2oz though after that fish the next 30 hrs were dead but Of course I did not mind that, yet again target set and achieved.

                                                Third of the 4's at 4lb-2oz.

The large bream campaign begins.

The river close season used to mean the end of fishing for three months, now I can continue to enjoy my sport but only on allowable still waters.  I have been trying to catch a large perch of one such venue and although I caught to well over the 3lb mark as mentioned in the last blog I still await the 4lb fish I hope is swimming around there.

                                                           A 3lb perch that still holds spawn.

As we move into April my thoughts change to the tench and bream potential and with very little change in the rigs I cast further out and hope for a large bream to show.  The main problem with bream is their nomadic nature on most venues, you may see them rolling but that only tells you where there are at that moment not where they will be or where they will feed.

Over the many years that I’ve fished for the bream I imagine I’ve tried every known method and bait in their pursuit, the only conclusion I’ve come to is when they are prepared to feed they can be easy and caught on almost any method.  The other side of that coin is that most of the time they are very difficult, if not next door to impossible.

This early in the season I had decided on a very frugal approach and just rely on maggot loaded swimfeeders and a double hook rig with the maggots on the hook nearest the feeder, then an artificial corn/maggot combination on the top hook.  This is not going to going to make a big catch of fish but so far this year just three bream have been caught, all singly with this suggesting they were not shoaled up.

                                              Pull the small hook into the corn and job done.

With the overnight rain I expected the water temperature to have dropped and with the east wind blowing it was not with the highest of expectations that I set out for an afternoon –evening session.  Rods are already set up and it was just a cast of casting for the horizon and sit back and wait.  I recast every hour but it was more a case of hoping a fish would come across the feeder offering and pick up the hookbait.  In the words of the famous saying ‘nothing kept happening all the time,’ but that had been the case on my previous visits for the bream so no surprise there.

It was well into the afternoon when one of the bobbins dropped slightly and then gave a little giggle.  It was not the usual bream bite that hits the deck in one movement and I was quite surprised to hit into heavy resistance on the strike.  Playing the fish to the bank I discussed the possible culprit with the lad who had come along from the next swim.  Not a perch, no bangs typical of their fight, possibly a tench or maybe a jack pike since they have been picking up maggot baits, not a bream though since it was too good a fight.  Fifteen yards out it flashed on the surface and to our surprise it was the bream I had hoped for, when the scales showed it weighed in at 13lb-8oz it was a very nice welcome to a new water venture for the bream.  The fish had taken the artificial bait proving yet again their worth in the angler's armory. 

                                                                   First of the year.

A good start to the new season.

I’ve had an interesting start to the new season, a few fish without any monsters but steady sport.  Add a couple of diversions and I can safely say it is not too bad a start compared to many I’ve had in the past.

In times gone past the 16^th June was a very special day and plans long in the making were finally going to be put into action.  Now with many still water venues available it has taken on a lower excitement profile, but lots of venues have been closed through the close season and of course we now have rivers available again as well as the many lakes that have opened.  This all comes down to it still being a special day and I, along with many others take care to celebrate the start of a new season with a trip to the river. 

All too often this has been disappointing with little or nothing being caught, but it is always great to be on the bank and often be the one to make the swim fishable again having taken down all the new growth that invariably blocks your way to the river.  This year was one of my better starts and a trip to the Warwickshire Avon proved to be a good choice.

                                                         The banks are well overgrown

I have in the past often gone in with maggot and casters though the results can be very hit and miss making the additional cost hardly worthwhile.  This can be a frustrating time of the year since depending on the weather the fish can be at any of three stages, pre-spawning and moody, spawning and it is hardly sporting to fish for them or post spawning and although well down on weight they feed with abandon.  This can also give an additional problem in that the fish may well not be in their usual haunts having travelled to spawning areas and not yet returned, these factors are the most likely cause of many of my previous blank opening days though as already mentioned this would not be one of them.

Following various reports on Facebook it was clear that many of the rivers had already seen the barbel spawning but others were still up in the air, I travelled in hope that the Avon was one of those already done and dusted.  Tackle and tactics would be the well tried and trusted mixed small pellets and hemp in a feeder with pellet as hookbait.  For those new to reading this blog I’ll expand that a bit and hopefully the regulars will either refresh their memory or just skip the next bit.

My rods are 12ft Drennan 1.75 Barbel Specialist with Shimano 6000 RE baitrunner reels loaded with 12lb Syncro XT line.  I have often use a combi hook link but at the moment I am using just 12” to 15” of 15lb braid going to a size 8 Drennan Continental Carp hook tied with a knotless knot to give about a 1” hair.  I then superglue two 10mm Elips pellets with a good 10mm gap between the hook and the nearest edge of the pellets, this can avoid hooking too many chub that often disturbs the swim and the barbel.  This is then fished with a cage feeder loaded with a mixture of pellets of different size and type, I don’t think it matters what the mix is you just need variation in this attractor feed.  Put your pellets in a container and then add cooked hemp having drained the liquid off through your fingers.  This is done at about 50/50 and the hemp will still carry enough liquid to dampen the pellet down to a point it will hold in the feeder without going to a mushy mix.

I did not get onto the river at first light, too early for me nowadays but by 6:30am I was in place on the bank.  Fishing with two rods, one out in the main stream and one on the inside edge against a bulrush bed, but both on the setup described.  Often I will have two different baits on the two rods but I thought that at the start of the season the pellet was the most likely to be effective.  It was not too long before this proved true but the bream that came to the net was not really my intended target, never the less at least it would not be a blank.

                                                                  9lb-3oz opening day barbel

                                                     9lb-8oz best of the four on the day.

I had not bait dropped on this occasion but regular casting kept a steady stream of feed going into the two swims and over the course of the day the tactic proved its worth.  I ended the day with four barbel including two 9lb+ fish that would be doubles a bit later on, three bream of 4lb to 5lb and a single 11lb+ carp that gave a great scrap ripping up rushes all over the place.  This was one trip home that had a smile on my face, but what would be coming over the next few weeks.

                                                     Opening day common of 11lb-2oz.

There are tall leylandii trees at the bottom of my garden and unfortunately they keep growing.  I had them professionally lopped down to about 20ft but they soon exceed that height again and although I’ve trimmed them over the years I did miss last year and now the home owner on the other side has been round to ask that they are dealt with.  No time like the present so through the next three days I was up the trees taking out the tops while in the evening I was off after eels on a local water that opened up on the 16^th, no joy for the eels but at least the trees are looking better.  Over the following week I tried two more nights on the local water for eels and one night on the venue that has given me a 6lb 4oz, 5lb10oz and six other eels over 4lb over the last year, a good result that, but this time they were not playing and yet another blank goes into the diary.

                                                        Gap left with just one tree done

                                                      Job done with six trees lopped down.

Once the trees had been finished I decided on a trip after sturgeon, regular readers will know I think these are very good sport fish and it does seem a shame the EA spend so much of their limited budget trying to remove them when so many other things challenge our sport.  Legering a chunk of meat down the side of the lake has always proven a successful method and yet again it gave the desired results in the form of a 44lb Siberian and a small diamond back specimen.

Then a second trip to the Avon produced a couple of medium size barbel and yet another bream, while a trip to the Trent gave up just a single bream though at least it was little larger at 7lb-2oz.  Now it was time to look at a new section of the Nene that I had obtained a ticket for.  As I made my way down the A14 I felt the van just loose power and although I could still drive it was at little more than a slow crawl up to the next layby and then stop.  I called out the AA and the service was brilliant, just 20 minutes to arrive and although he could not fix it he soon had me travelling back to Coventry as a passenger with the van towed behind.  I’m still waiting to find out what is wrong and how long it will take to fix but meanwhile Mervyn arrange a trip to the River Anker last evening where similar tactics to those used on the Avon produced a 8lb-6oz barbel and three chub to 5lb-3oz.

                                                   An immaculate 5lb-3oz Anker chub.

                                                      A pleasing River Anker barbel.

        

That’s it for the first two weeks of a new season, highs and lows in equal measure but a good mix of fish and other than the van problem I’ll take those results anytime.  I wish you all the very best for your own quest for the fish of your choice and until next time tight lines.

Highs and lows of 2013.

Well we reach the end of yet another year and of course that means a review of some of the highlights and a mention of those low points.

                                              My third book continues to sell but copies are left.

January
With the very cold January it seems that lots of us anglers stayed home and read a good book, my sales at this time were quite reasonable but by the end of this year they had fell off dramatically and I've copies of both hardback and leathers still available.  With very little fishing done and no big fish caught I will move on to February.

February
Slightly better weather and with trips to Chew Valley and local waters the pike were the saviour of the day.

                                                  Chew pike, short and fat with small heads.

                                  At 19lb-14oz this would have been a 20lb+ but removed five sardines from its throat in order to remove a previous set of trebles that had been left there, this done before weighing it. :)

                                              The first of two local 20's caught this month 22lb-11oz.

                                                  The second pike at 20lb-12oz.

On the downside for this month we were reminded how fragile is life with the news of the death of the legend that was Terry Lampard, a good friend and one that will be sorely missed.

March
Normally the end of the river effort and the start of my bream fishing but this time South America's rain forest rivers called.    A trip to Guyana was too much to miss and although we struggled there were still plenty of big fish to be caught.

                                               One of my targets achieved 64lb Redtail Catfish.

April
Amongst lots of other fishing for this month the week at Lochnaw Castle always stands high, especially when the magical 3lb roach is landed.

                                                 A 3lb Lochnaw specimen roach.


May
May is always an exciting time though this year nature seemed well behind its normal state possibly by as much as 4 to 6 weeks.  fortunately the crucians at Johnson's Lake on the Marsh Farm complex did not seem to mind with good fish being caught over several trips there.

                                   At 3lb-12oz this was the best of 12 crucian on this session.

                                    7lb-3oz pb for the lake, one of 17 tench taken along with the crucians on this trip.

June
With a few local tench along with trips after bream and crucians the highlight of this month or even the year was the capture of a 12lb1oz tench, almost into the fish of dreams.

                                                Highlight of the year - 12lb-1oz personal best tench.

July
I had applied for a ticket for a carp syndicate in order to try for the eels after reading that two big ones had been caught by accident, it finally came through with a start date of July 1st.  The first night session was to prove both exciting and disappointing in equal measure.  At just gone midnight I hooked and landed a 6lb-4oz eel, weighed and safely secured in a Queenford tube I continued and took another eel of 4lb-3oz.  Through an amateur mistake the bigger fish escaped back into the lake whilst I was trying for a photo.  A later visit almost made up for the lack of the photo with the capture of a 5lb-10oz and two others over 4lb.

                               Normally I would be pleased with this eel but a poor 4lb-3oz consolation prize.

                              At 5lb-10oz the best of three eels the others going 4lb-9oz and 4lb-2oz.

August.
Plenty of fishing and a reasonable number of barbel caught, but the highlight for this month was my inclusion in the Barbel Challenge of trying to catch a double figure barbel of 14 different rivers in 14 days.  I joined Jerry Gleeson and Paul Floyd on four rivers and we caught on all four.  Dove, Derwent, Trent and Soar.  Over the total effort there were doubles caught off 9 of the 14 rivers, a remarkable effort by those involved and over £2500 was raised in the process.

                                             One of the doubles taken at 11lb-1oz.

                                         The largest of the doubles taken at 12lb-10oz by Jerry.

September.
Always barbel time and this month was no exception although I've still to get the hoped for River Nene double.  Sturgeon have always atracted me with the look and power so I was very pleased to capture a 42lb8oz specimen from a midland lake.

                                             42lb-8oz the best of four sturgeon on the day.

Over the years I've caught lots of 6lb plus chub along with four over 7lb, but I was very pleased to get a couple of big 5's off the local River Anker.

                                                    5lb-12oz River Anker Chub, one of the pair.

                                                5lb-11oz to make a very pleasing brace.

October
Along with lots of other fishing I got the chance to fish on the River Test for the roach again and fortune smiled in the form of a 2lb-4oz specimen as the best on the day.  Later in the month I was on the Chew Valley water again but this time it came up trumps with a 25lb-11oz specimen pike.

                                             2lb river roach are always that little bit more special.

                                                 25lb-11oz reward for a lot of effort.

November.
For a very long time I've not bothered to fish for carp having caught large numbers in the 1980's and 90's now I had decided to try and better my pb common with a fish of hopefully over 40lb.  I'm not a purist here so I was quite content to try for the shortcut to catch such a fish and booked with Catmaster Tours in Spain and they did not let me down.  On the first day our guide dropped us in a swim he thought offered the best chance and a few hours later I was looking at a 44lb-14oz specimen that met my target.  The rest of the trip was spent after the roach and again my companions John Found and Pete Reading all succeeded in getting into the 2lb plus specimens.

                                                Target set and Achieved.  44lb-14oz.

                                                 My 2lb-8oz best for this Spanish trip.

December.
This has been a very strange month and although I've fished in what I consider to be quite reasonable conditions along with those that were less favorable I did not catch any even moderate fish..  A small double figure pike from my main venue that has failed for all fishing there, small chub and no barbel, definitely not a good end to this year.  In just over a weeks time I will be back off to South America, this time Surinam after large catfish.  I might get wet but at least I'll be warm.
Tight lines for 2014 and I'll let you know how the year goes as always.
Phil

         

A little piece of angling history.

Browsing through some of my books I noticed this piece of angling history.  I have kept an angling diary over the years and this is one of the pages from 1968.   It shows my first holiday away after fish when I travelled to Scotland with my brother and fished on Lochmaben for bream and the River Annan for chub.  We did not catch the chub but we did have some bream which may have led to my lifelong love of them.

On the chub fishing comments it is worth the notice of the times fished, along with my then angling companion we fished every Friday night through to the following day and did this throughout the winter, we were hard men then!

The chub sizes mentioned reflects the difference in what is available now compared to those days, a 3lb plus chub was marked in red.

Last but not least is the small cutting out of the local Telegraph newspaper detailing the capture of the 4lb-8oz chub, a very big fish then, this was the first mention by name of my exploits, little did I realise how much of my life fishing would devour.

Variety is the spice of life.

As with most weeks it has been a mixed bag, both in target species and results.  On the Saturday following the Barbel Challenge I went back after the eels, a quick and easy overnight session that resulted in a total blank, maybe next time.  I had arranged to travel down to the Kennet region to stay with John Found for a three day trip so early Tuesday I arrived on the Kennet and we met up to give the barbel a hammering.  Not to be and even though we were prepared with casters and hemp just one 7lb fish fell to John, very disappointing and as with so many of these occasions without explanation.

The following day we were due to go down to Johnson’s Lake on the Marsh Farm complex, crucians are the target here and at this time of year a 3lb plus fish is the target weight.  We float fished from about 4pm through to 11:30pm but struggled just two crucians falling to John’s paste one smaller in size but the other at least 2lb plus.  One of the problems was the large number of one inch fry that stopped the normal fine tactics we know work.  We caught roach, rudd and tench in reasonable numbers but the crucian bites were probably amongst the dips and waggles that were occurring all the time, it needed a suicidal fish to show its interest.  With two days gone and virtually nothing to show for it we approached Thursday wondering what it would bring.

 

                                                                    These were the target

Choosing two different swims to those used on the Tuesday, we began the bait and wait tactics that were the order of the day.  I’ll run through mine but John would be duplicating the same with very little difference.  My swim was typical of the Kennet in that much of the river sections are left almost undisturbed and there are lots of features to fish to.  This one had a large bush going out into the river just downstream and on my bank, the opposite side had smaller bushes running along the bank these giving about two or three feet of cover over the river perfect for the fish to feel safe in.  There was a slight gap in the line that allowed me to bait drop across against the bank and lay a trap for fish moving up and down through the swim.   A pint of caster mixed with hemp went out and the swim was left to mature for an hour or two.

Unlike John I do use two rods and I had decided to fish a pellet alongside the near bank bush so having chucked half a dozen pellets in I cast out and could wait for fish to turn up.  Sometimes there is a fish already in the swim and this was such a time, after just a few minutes the rod top went round and I land a hard fighting 5lb barbel, nice start.   After perhaps an hour I baited up again with a similar amount as the first time, the hemp is the attractor and the casters will hopefully keep the fish in the area once they arrive.  If you cast out too early there is every chance you will catch but the fish you catch was one of the first to find the bait and now you need another to take the chance.  By leaving the area time to mature that first fish comes into the swim and then leaves, later he returns with a mate and leaves again.  Now other fish are picking up the signal that there is food about and apparently with danger so they tag along as well, on clear rivers I’ve seen this happen and when you cannot see in then your need the hope that it is happening just the same, sometimes it is not, but when it works you can bag up.  Today was to be such a day and when I topped up the swim again about thirty minutes later I cast out the baited rig.

 

                                                              The caster rig

 

This is a running leger and 15lb braid going to a size 10 Pallatrax hook, one artificial caster is threaded onto the hair and then three or more live casters are glued to that, nice and simple, but deadly.

                                                 Superglue shows but the fish don't mind

 

I did not wait too long before the first barbel made an appearance, often they take within moments of that first cast but maybe there are not quite as many fish here as on the Trent or some other rivers.  These fish are fit and healthy and the fight does remind me why I love to fish for barbel.  This one went 8lb-7oz and it was followed through the day by others of 5lb, 6lb and of 8lb-12oz and the cherry on the cake a 10lb-2oz fish that would not keep still for its photo.  All the time I would just give the occasional top up and break in order to give the fish chance to return but once they know the feed is there they are reluctant to give up completely, I’ve even seen barbel continue feeding while I’m playing one already hooked from next to them.

 

                                                      Pristine 8lb-7oz Kennet barbel

 

Meanwhile John had been keeping up with my catch rate; in fact his best fish until near the end was the same as my first one at 8lb-7oz.  Then he beat my running total with a 10lb-8oz fish, his tenth of the session with a bonus? bream.  The walk back to the car at dusk was certainly more pleasing this evening than those previous two, but then if you don’t fail how would you know you have succeeded?

 

                                            Lively 10lb-2oz hence too much fingers showing.

 

Back home and with all the rain being forecast on Friday night/Saturday I thought the river might respond so on the Saturday afternoon I made my way up onto the River Derwent with the intention to fish into dark.  Lots of people did have significant downpours but I didn’t and the river was still low and steady.  Today I would use boilies and had chosen to fish Source under my own bank and Crave on the far bank alongside a line of overhanging trees.  It was a nice night, mild and fairly still only being disturbed by the passing trains that run between Derby and Nottingham.  Trouble was I was also only disturbed by a single chub of 4lb-14oz and a snotty bream about 6lb that I did not weigh.  Always better than a blank since for just those few moments when the bite initially occurred it might have been a barbel and the heart rate jumps up in eager anticipation only to fall back again with the lack of powerful resistance that is the signature of a big barbel.

                                                            Bait to use for the Derwent

 

                                                           Near 5lb Derwent chub.

 

Until next time I wish you tight lines and lots of sport hopefully I’ll have the same.