Drove down without incident (which makes a nice change) took around 5 hours
including the obligatory lunch stop at Moto Tamworth. The Vodaphone dongle
connection is atrocious and the Virginmobile connection non-existent as per
usual; at least the telly works.
I had a cuppa and went for a walk down the river,
hopefully missing the intermittent heavy showers.
I startled a Heron on the way down the bank which is obviously used to a bit more solitude.
A few inches in but a bit more on the way so I'm optimistic. The cows have
been down beat 3, presumably after the wheat was harvested, and most of the
7ft high balsam has gone and everything has been well trampled so access to
the river is a lot easier in many places. Saw a few anglers on the
opposite bank but none on my side.
Chub 4lb
Barbel 8lb 5oz
Bream 4lb 10oz
Muddy Swim
Shepherd's Warning
Monday 19th September 2011
Woke up at sunrise, what is it they say "Red sky in the morning, Shepherds warning"
1030 hrs
More like 3ft in and I'm struggling to get far enough out to clear the trees for casting. One rod out but there will be a slight delay for the second as it's not tackled up from my last trip. The mud is horrific !
1140 hrs
First fish of the trip and it's a 4-10 Bream, I hope this isn't a sign of things to come :(
1300 hrs
Surprising lack of action so far other than a big line bite on the upstream rod so I'm trying a different flavour of boily on that rod.
1330 hrs
A Chub around 3lbs on the upstream rod which was partial to the new boily flavour.
1450 hrs
Hurrah a Barbel at last which, the way it fought (slow, deep and upstream) I thought may be much bigger, however at 8-5 very pleasing nevertheless :)
15:30 hrs
First canoists I've seen all day, 2 grey haired old chaps and very polite they were too. A few fish topping and porpoising now, at least some of which are Barbel, maybe they're coming on the feed ?
1545 hrs
A 4lb Chub on the upstream rod which, other than the initial Bream, has taken all the fish so far. I've swapped the baits over between the 2 rods to try and determine if that's a factor.
1730 hrs
Hell of a bite ! The upstream rod was pulled off the tripod and into the river, the culprit ................... another Bream !!!
1800 hrs
A greedy Chub, only 2 or 3 ozs, which managed to take 2 hair-rigged 8mm boilys.
1920 hrs
The river has dropped nearly a foot whilst I've been here but the water feels quite cold. The wind has got up in the last few hours and some big black rain clouds are rolling in. Time to pack up I think, it's half a mile back to the car.
Barbel 7lb
Raft Work
Barbel 6lb 6oz
Barbel 9lb 13oz
Chub 4lb 8oz
Tuesday 20th September 2011
A wet and miserable start to the day but it's been warm overnight, so much
so that I had the throw the quilt off and slept just under a thin sheet.
Hopefully the warmer night might have had a positive effect on the water
temperature.
I'd better go pay for my week's fishing this morning.
Got fishing just before midday, the river has continued to drop and is perhaps a foot above nsl. The showers are frequent and wet :( but the good news is it's been raining in Wales and extra water is on its way. There's an angler downstream of me on the opposite bank who appears to have caught as he was weighing a fish.
1230 hrs
A 4-8 Chub on the downstream rod, maybe it's that rod's turn today.
1305 hrs
The angler on the far bank is in again, I can't believe he's using a bite alarm !
1420 hrs
It works every time, poured a cup of coffee and the downstream rod was off, spilt my coffee but very happy with a 9-13 Barbel :)
1430 hrs
Far bank angler has now been joined by his mate and they're both now fishing just upstream of me.
1510 hrs
Unbelievable, the bloke just upstream and opposite me landed a Barbel then climbed the bank with it and took it 20yds upstream to show his mate !
1635hrs
I had to resort to a coffee AND a chocolate chip cake bar but it worked with a 6-6 Barbel and a mouthful of cake :)
1700 hrs
My opposite numbers have gone now, the river is rising ever so slowly. I could do with a bit more action, I'm falling asleep here. I've been amusing myself by building a Willow and Balsam raft so I can get out on the mud without getting stuck all the time.
1900hrs
Just lost a decent Barbel as I was about to reach for the net, hooklink snapped. That would have been the first today on the upstream rod. It's a good long while since that happened without a snag involved :(
1920hrs
Same rod, massive wrap round, nothing !
1930hrs
Same rod, just as I was about to pack up, a 7lb'er
As I was driving back through the fields I surprised a young badger, no picture unfortunately as he was only caught in the headlights for a few moments before diving through the hedge back towards the sett.
Barbel 5lb 4oz
Barbel 7lb 12oz
Barbel 9lb 4oz
Barbel 5lb 11oz
Wednesday 21st September 2011
I planned to get a shower and shave this morning but it looks like the code
for the shower key has changed and no one's up and about in the pub as yet.
Still the silver lining was I found I can get a weakish phone signal by
standing in one specific spot close to the shower door.
Anyway I'll make my sandwich and tackle the shower situation tomorrow, the
river's up and the Barbel are calling and hopefully my raftwork of yesterday
will come in handy today as long as it hasn't all floated away.
Got fishing around 12:15 river up a couple of feet from yesterday and a good colour. The raft I constructed yesterday is pretty much still in place and enabling me to wade out far enough to cast.
1240 hrs
A 4-6 Chub on the downstream rod and as I was returning that a 4-10 Chub on the other one. I'm struggling to hold with a 3oz on the upstream rod and may have go up to 4oz.
1310 hrs
A 5-11 Barbel on the upstream rod, steady on fish I've got hooklengths to tie.
1350 hrs
A 9-11 Barbel on the upstream rod followed by a 4-6 Chub on the other rod.
1400 hrs
Recast the upstream rod and was just about to do the same with the downstream one when the first rod bent over and a 7-6 Barbel resulted. I'll not get chance to eat my sarnies at this rate :)
1435 hrs
Just had a knock on the upstream rod, felt nothing, started reeling in then felt what I thought was a small Chub wriggle. All went slack and I reeled in another parted hooklength ???
1455 hrs
A 5-4 baby Barbel again on the upstream rod.
Barbel 7lb 10oz
Barbel 5lb 14oz
Barbel 8lb 6oz
Barbel 5lb 11oz
1510 hrs
Another small Barbel 5-11 again on the upstream rod.
1540 hrs
Same rod again but this time a bit bigger at 8-6
1640 hrs
It's clouded over, the sun's gone, it feels noticeably colder and the fish have stopped feeding. Which is a shame because 2 more Barbel would be a session record for this venue.
1700 hrs
2 Chub in succession, one on each rod which confirms my thoughts that the Barbel have retired allowing the Chub to move back in :(
1720 hrs
No sooner had I said the above then the sun came out and so did a 5-14 Barbel on the upstream rod.
1730 hrs
Yet another Chub.
1810 hrs
My 8th Barbel of the day a 7-10 on the upstream rod and a new session record for this venue :))))
1930 hrs
A final Chub on the downstream rod as I started packing up
Barbel 6lb
Pike 7lb 8oz
Chub 5lb
Barbel 7lb 11oz
Barbel 7lb 12oz
Barbel 8lb
Thursday 22nd September 2011
Late start today due to catching up on some sleep, shower and shave.
Just sarnies to make then off to the river.
Depending how things go today I may do some float fishing tomorrow and try
for a Brownie (as in trout) point for the species race I'm in.
1305 hrs
Both rods fishing, the river has dropped 2ft leaving me lots of deep
gloopy mud which I need to re-raft.
1315 hrs
A 2lb'ish Chub on the downstream rod. There's an angler fishing opposite
and upstream of me with a very loud phone, I'll know his life story before
the day is out :(
1330 hrs
Wasted my first coffee courtesy of a hard fighting 8 lb Barbel on the
downstream rod. Recast that rod, pulled the other one in for a refill and
as I was about to chuck that one out off went the downstream rod once
more, this time a 7-12 Barbel.
1405 hrs
As I was writing the entry above same rod went, this time a 7-11 Barbel.
1530 hrs
It's gone very quiet, a few little tremors on the rod tips is all, the
angler on the opposite bank has upped sticks and driven off upstream. I
assume he's gone to fish a different swim as I don't think you can drive
out that way but I could be wrong as I'm not familiar with the access arrangements and he is in a Range Rover.
There's not a breath of wind and all I can hear are the Crows complaining,
the Tits twittering and the occasional plop of a rising fish. A fine
drizzle has started so up with the brolly, I don't recall seeing this in
the forecast.
1615 hrs
A change of bait and a 5lb Chub on the upstream rod for a change.
1900 hrs
What a strange days fishing 3 Barbel and a Chub in the first hour then,
other than that 5lb Chub, nothing. There's loads of small fish out there,
exploding from the surface after the feeder goes in, but nothing
substantial .............
Then off goes the downstream rod and in comes a 7lb 8oz Pike that fought
like a big Chub. Didn't realise it was a Pike till I got it to the net !
The hook fell out so no unhooking required. I think that's my cue to pack
up.
Just as I finished typing that a 6lb Barbel on the remaining rod. Both
rods are in now I'm packing up.
Salmon Parr
Friday 23rd September 2011
I'm going to do some trotting today in a swim that 'looks right' hopefully
the maggots I brought haven't all turned to casters but I do have sweetcorn as well. There may be a few on the opposite bank today
as it's the annual 'do' for a number of Barbel fishing enthusiasts I'm
familiar with.
No blow by blow account as I was on the float all day (do I detect a massive
sigh of relief from the audience). I left the Barbel gear in the car
although perhaps I shouldn't have as I was feeling a bit fed up by the end
of the day. I had loads of Dace and Bleak with the odd Chub (nothing big)
but didn't manage the target Brown Trout. With hindsight I should have gone
to beat one but there was one bonus, a new species for me, a Salmon Parr :)
