Machete
Required
I arrived at the Swan Inn Letton without incident, the 190mile journey (with caravan in tow) taking 4 and a bit hours including a dinner stop. The weather was gorgeous as I went for a walk down to the river and had a long chat with one of the syndicate members who was bemoaning the lack of Barbel last season and this one so far. According to him the pipeline works in Wales last year had put so much silt in the river that all the Barbel had buggered off downstream to Hereford. It really was quite depressing listening to him so I said I'd bring a rope down during the week and we'd find a nice tree for him :-) Other than him I only saw one other angler and nobody has been down to my favourite swim ('The Snags') the balsam was head high, I should have taken a machete. I catapulted out a load of pellets and some halibut boilies so hopefully I'll have them waiting for more tomorrow. I returned to the caravan in the pub car park to find a bloody great coach parked in front of the caravan which played hell with my TV and mobile dongle reception.
I drove down to 'the snags' which turned out to be a bit iffy in my new car, it's not got the same ground clearance and I had problems with the front catching on a couple of 'dips' and relocating the plastic ! Crop irrigation was in full swing (potatoes in this case) using river water of course.I struggled fish wise as well, no Barbel but there are thousands of Chub between 6oz and 1.5lb which attack everything and were even given me 2ft twitches on boilies. River low and slow I even fished the waggler for a few hours catching loads of Chub along with Dace and Bleak (that's a Species Race point then :-))
I decided park the car at the top end of beat 3 to avoid any further 'damage' to my Toyota's front end plastic and anyway I needed the exercise of the half mile each way walk. A later start with a good breakfast first and to minimise my sun exposure. Unfortunately another day without Barbel, loads of suicidal 1lb'ish Chub giving me 2ft twitches, one just over 3lb and 2 bream 3lb and a bit. A few anglers were on both banks today but I didn't see anybody else catch at all not even the enterprising chap above me on the opposite bank who upon witnessing my bigger Chub (he must have thought it was a Barbel due to the weighing and photographic activity) produced a rope and dog spike, abseiled down the high bank opposite and tried to catch the same fish as me. Unluckily for him he was doomed to fail due to lack of local snag knowledge and soon retired back to his 'proper' swim after losing much tackle.
An even later start today, there were 2 main reasons for this :-
Bit of a different start to today, cloudy and the odd shower but I decided to go trotting with the centrepin anyway, looking for a fun day and perhaps a few Species Race points. I went on beat 1 as planned, it's an easier drive but quite a climb over rocks and brambles down to the swim I was fishing; however it's pretty comfy once you're set up and it's good for trotting with the pin. I put the barbel rods out more in hope than expectation although I've had good Barbel from this swim in the past but not for many years. I was immediately plagued with the voracious Chub, they were even taking the boily and pellet on the drop, greedy little buggers. I soon had the trusty 13ft Daiwa Whiska set up with my Leeds reel and was quickly into Bleak, Dace and Chublets on trotted maggot. Eventually I managed the target Brownie but that was the only one and no Grayling unfortunately. On my 3rd session of trotting I was catching a fish a chuck just off the rod end when suddenly 3 or 4 fish leapt out of the water and the bites ceased. Ah predator I thought and on with a live Bleak but this was unproductive. Eventually I moved the Bleak upstream of me where I've caught decent Perch before only to have it taken by an Eel. I've never caught an Eel on a livebait before so was quite surprised. I also came across this specimen which I think is a Stone Loach, the mouth was underslung and very Barbel like but unfortunately the focus was out on that picture.
I eventually packed up around 8pm with a tan and struggled back up the bank.
I considered what to do for my last day, I could have gone on the 'pebbles' hunting Stoneloach and Bullhead Species Race points but that didn't really inspire so I decided to go back down the snags armed with some anti-Chub tactics. I was of course assuming that some Barbel are present and feeding but being beaten to the bait by the voracious smallish Chub, I may well be wrong ! The anti 1lb'ish Chub tactics conssited of an enormous 25mm Pellet on a longish hair ! Well the anti-Chub tactics worked a treat, apart from a few knocks I wasn't bothered by any. Unfortunately I didn't catch anything else either, I even had a deadbait out all afternoon hoping for a personal best Pike but no joy.
This was the worst Wye Barbelling week I can remember (well since I learnt how to fish it). I don't know if it's the preponderance of small Chub, silt from the Wales pipeline or the conditions. I've fished it in similar conditions many times and done ok so I don't think it's that. Let's hope it fishes better when I return in September.