Blow Out
Things got off to a bad start when, having barely travelled 40 miles I had a blow out on the offside caravan tyre. This was on the M1 near Sheffield, luckily in roadworks which meant I was only doing 50mph but ended up blocking the nearside lane as there was no hard shoulder. The road was busy and someone was bound to run into me so I drove slowly on the rim to the nearby junction where I could park clear of the traffic. The free recovery soon arrived and took me to an industrial estate between Barnsley and Rotherham. I put on the spare but the other tyre was also badly damaged so I fired up the laptop and located the nearest Charlie Browns and purchased 2 new tyres. I'd left the caravan jacked up with the fridge running on gas to preserve my food and once I'd fitted the other wheel I set off for Herefordshire once more. I finally arrived at 6pm 9 hours after leaving Leeds
Got woken around 7-30am by a Pheasant strutting round the car park.
Finally got fishing for 10-45 am and quickly had Barbel of 9lb 10oz and 7lb 3oz. That was it till I started to pack up around 7pm when a Barbel snagged me up and I had to pull for a break.
As I came through the last gate I could see across the field someone had beaten me to it so I parked by the river a the top of the beat and walked down for a chat. There were 3 of them here for a spot of Pike fishing 1 boss and 2 employees on a day out. I got chatting to the boss (who had been a regular Salmon angler on this stretch) and he put me on a couple of deep holes I was unaware of one a near bank swim reputed to hold some big Barbel. Armed with this information I walked back to the car and lugged my gear through the woods to this location. It took me a while to find it as the Oak tree mentioned was now just a stump and the swim very awkward to fish being at the bottom of a steep bank and into deep water. As I got set up (I had to leave most of my gear at the top of the bank and was still fishing from a spot some 6ft above the water) an angler arrived on the opposite bank a little downstream of me opposite the 'point swim'. He proceeded to catch 6 Barbel in an hour whilst I sat there biteless and losing tackle on snags. A while later 'the Boss' arrived and informed me my favourite swim was now free so I eventually packed my tackle away, returned to the car and drove down to my usual swim after a brief interlude with 'chatterbox' (Dave will know who I mean !). Got fishing for 4pm and after an hour lost one to a hook pull. Later I had a 6lb 5oz Barbel on the downstream rod and whilst I was dealing with this the other rod took off but by the time I got to it I'd been snagged up and had to pull for a break. Packed up at 7pm having lost a few more rigs on the snags.
Back to my usual spot and fishing just before 11am having slept in a bit this morning. First cast a 5lb 8oz Bream unusually to the downstream rod and second cast a 9lb 11oz Barbel to the same rod. Then a 3 hour wait before a 7lb 3oz Barbel again to the downstream rod having catapulted some bait in and gone for a walk the fish came shortly after. That was it for the day canoeists and on 2 separate occasions pillocks standing on top of the opposite high bank having played their part.
A late start today due to getting a shower and catching up with pot washing, arrived at my usual spot around 11-30 am. There were 2 anglers on the opposite bank the nearest being 30 yds upstream. I catapulted a few pellets over prior to setting up and noticed the guys opposite looked suspiciously like the bank top standing pillocks of yesterday. My suspicions were further aroused when the guy nearest decided to cast 30 yds downstream to where my bait had gone in. This was rather a strange thing to do because the barbel on that bank were generally caught close in just below and above where he was sat and there were multiple snags between him and where he had cast. This was later proved correct when he lost everything and had to retackle, meanwhile I cast further downstream than usual and ended up in a snag myself. I stuck it out till 1-30pm but had an ever increasing urge to move upstream to 'The Point' swim which I'd never fished before but always fancied. I decamped to the aforementioned swim and had a bite first cast which went immediately solid and by the time I'd pulled the feeder off via a weak link the fish had freed itself from the barbless hook. The swim was full of rocks which the feeder kept jamming up on, so I put on a larger feeder hoping it wouldn't fall down so many gaps. Once again I was snagged up on a rock so moved a few yards to change the angle of pull when it suddenly came free then pulled back. After a fierce fight a 6lb 14oz Barbel was landed. A little later the rod hammered round and the baitrunner sang but as soon as I picked the rod up I was cut off on a rock. I then proceeded to lose tackle 8 casts out of 10, even returning to the car for more feeders at one point but no further fish were hooked. I was entertained by various Barbel and even a Salmon leaping out of the water in front of me until I packed up at 7pm pleased to have caught from a new swim but wondering how to deal with the tackle losses.
Had a ride into Hereford after breakfast to fill up on Diesel at Sainsbury's and visit Woody's tackle shop to restock my badly depleted feeder and feeder links stocks. I somehow managed to spend £40 although resisted his attempts to sell me a 14ft barbel rod he said he'd designed and offered me for £110 (priced at £150) "if I'd known you were down for the week you could have had it to test out". As I made my way down to the river the horses were waiting at the second gate, I just knew they were going to give me some trouble and so it proved. They're much smarter than cows and were determined to get past me and out of their field when I opened the gate. Even though I'd pushed them back from the gate before I opened it 2 went one way so I stopped them and the younger one took the opportunity and ran out into the field I 'd just crossed. I was now in a bit of a quandary keeping two horses in their field while the cheeky one charged about enjoying his little victory. Luckily he then got bored with that and ran back into the proper field, phew what a carry on. Got fishing for just after midday first in a near bank swim I'd been told about and then a couple of hours in the 'point' swim or 'cut' as some call it. All I had to show for my efforts was a decent Perch on the float and loads of lost end tackle on the rocks. The weather was worsening so I decided a move to the comfort of my favourite swim was in order. Got set up around 4-30pm but then a whole phalanx of canoes came through so was forced to reel in and recast when they'd gone. A short while later the downstream rod shot off and a very powerful fish was on. After numerous runs and plods upstream I was just getting it within netting range when it shot off again and the 15lb PowerPro parted, what a sickener, I never saw it but it was a good fish. Shortly after I had and 8lb 6oz fish to the same rod and later on a 3lb'ish Chub (first of the trip !) to round things off.