Kentish Stour Double, That's A Wrap!!

 

 That is a header I've wanted to write for so long! 22 trips, across 4 seasons, 2684 miles driven to accomplish one objective, find and catch a double figure Barbel. This is so far my single biggest hurdle cleared in this challenge yet. 

 Let's wind it back to 6hrs...arriving on the river around 2pm I set about searching for Barbel with the polaroids which I always do, with the river running gin clear as usual owing to the fact it's almost a pure chalkstream finding fish is often easy, however Barbel are in short supply and finding them isn't as easy as some might think, so imagine my surprise when I peered into the first spot I could get to and witnessed a Barbel flashing on the gravels under a tree, then ten seconds later one a couple pound smaller flashed up too! I had found Barbel straight away, unbelievable.

 Of course, I was not moving anywhere. Chub and Bream across the next few hours made themselves known with seven Chub to 5lb 3oz and a solitary Bream coming to the net, I hoped that I was working my way through the other species before the lead up to dusk as I hoped as the sun set the Barbel would drop down stream from their cover, that said there was one Barbel on three occasions that did drop below me and fed confidently on the robin red pellet that I was feeding, but it wouldn't feed for long, 30 seconds or so and then would come back upstream past me and then back into its bolt hole under a limb of a downed tree, no doubt a beaver casualty.

 That Barbel was big, the biggest I had seen on the river so far. I estimated this fish to be around 12lb, the sort of fish I'd absolutely love to catch, the last time I saw that fish was around 5pm, I hoped the Barbel would feed better come the dull light into the night. Around 830 I had just come off the phone to my mate Adam and no sooner that call ended a Beaver cruised past me, creating a massive bow wave heading downstream, I hoped the fish wouldn't be too put off by it and about twenty minutes later my rod tip slammed around so hard the centrepin screeched into life, downstream I saw a big bow wave as a fish made off with my double 8mm robin reds, this was a Barbel, NO QUESTION about it, the power was immense and knew straight away it was a big fish too, bare in mind this was the first Barbel I've hooked on this river in all this time, only a couple of times have I been close to a chance.

 When I got that Barbel within a couple of rod lengths of me I could see how big it was, my heart rate went through the roof, I wanted this so bad and on the first attempt of netting her the net got caught on brambles and couldn't free it straight away, but had to pay absolute focus to making sure the fish didn't plough through the tree and branches opposite me, it was soooo hairy and then the net came free thank god, now it was my second attempt to get the fish in the net, the head and half its body went in and then inexplicably she managed back out and shot back downstream with the centrepin struggling to keep up! 

 This really was a good battle, the next minute or so the fish tried its best to go back upstream into the branches but I kept a good bend in the rod and thumbed the pin to not give it anything, not long after I was punching the air in jubilation and let out a few joyous expletives as a certain double figure Barbel laid resting in the bottom of my net, my first and ONLY Barbel off the legendary KS was a double.

River No: 31 - 13lb 1oz!!!!!!!!

 But, at 13lb 1oz it was one of the real big old girls, a fish that can most certainly tell a tale or two! I was in awe and spent a good couple of minutes just looking at it in the net, a couple of quick snaps on my iPhone and a weigh and she was back in the water, no messing around. It was a privilege to meet and hold something so special for just a moment, to see it swim off and possibly make someone else's dreams come true. Magical, Mythical, Moments, Mine.

 In all these trips I hadn't seen a fish this big before on the KS so for me to get this chance I am super stoked. The constant Mosquito and Midge attention was just a minor issue, now I just have to fight the urge to itch, because my god I got bit! In that picture above they were buzzing in my ear, on my arms, at least one went up my shirt too, small price to pay for such a big reward.

 9 TO GO!!!........

Opening Day Delight.

 

 June 16th is always ringed or highlighted on my calender every year, not even birthdays get that level of note, it was and still is the day I get most excited about fishing, once again on running water and the thought of pootling around the Fens in my boat, stalking R.Thames and R.Lea carp or in this instance getting straight down to business with the 40 Rivers Challenge where I am currently on 30 completed rivers and have been settled on that figure since mid-August 2025!.

 There was to be no annual midnight pilgrimage though, with a job booked in for a friend in the morning I packed my rolling meat gear in the van and set eyes on opening my campaign later that afternoon and once I was done on the job I made the short journey over to the R.Bourne for a short roving session and see if I could find a Barbel, a river that has bare in mind been extraordinarily difficult for me with numerous trips in all manner of conditions undertaken without as much as a sneeze or fart from a Barbel, the frustrating thing is I know they are there, it appears I simply don't have the measure of them.

 That was until Tuesday! First cast, first roll, first fish! But not just a fish, it was a very good Barbel for June and the fight was pretty good until it rolled over the line and the remainder of the fight was a tad unceremonious, but safely into the net it went. My suspicions were it probably wasn't a double and I would be right.

9lb 4oz.

 That fish was only the second Barbel I've coaxed out of the Bourne, it has been hard going, this fish nearly did the business, alas I shall have to continue my efforts on there, I do feel like my efforts on here are surely going to be rewarded in the finest fashion.

 That was indeed the only bite of that short trip and on the 17th I returned to cover more water and indeed try that spot again but I ended up with nada which is more in keeping with the Bourne' treatment of me.

 On the 19th I headed to the Bristol Avon for my first fling on there this season to try and get that river over the line, 9lb 6oz is my current best off there but a double is coming off of that river for me this season either by hook or by crook, I feel once again, I've invested enough time and money into the B.Avon that is due to be kind to me soon, once again its by no means a reflection of my effort if I may say so myself. 

 No Barbel showed up for me, however the Chub sport was pretty epic as I managed twelve Chub to 5lb 2ozs, most of them were between 3.08 and 4.08 which was good summer sport but not my target, touch wood I don't have to make that journey too many more times...

Counting Down the Days!

 

 This is without doubt my worst spring in many years on the fishing front, yes I've been busy away on holiday, working a lot and lots of family engagements, but somehow I have still managed a "meaningful" amount of time on the bank.

I like to eat well!

 Only one of those trips was for Bream which I blogged about on my last post where I lost a massive Bream, a fish I had been after for a few years now. I did hope the Tench fishing would be better! 7 trips totalling around 80hrs have been embarked upon, fishing overnight, early mornings and the last few hours of the evening and most of that time has been spent watching and waiting and hoping for action, only one trip did things go to plan and even then I wasn't able to get amongst the big Tench, plenty of 5's and a possible low 6lb fish is so far the best I have managed and with this warm weather the door is firmly closing on that too.

Also this spring the weed is much worse!

Some of the goodies from my sponsors Dynamite Baits!

 The rivers can't open soon enough, this is going to be the season that I really turn the screw, it will be ruthless, relentless and all consuming, I have very little else planned for the entire season but Barbel, the 40 rivers challenge will hopefully either be completed or nearly completed by March 2027. 

 That said, there is no timeframe on this challenge as I have eluded to in the past but feel like last season I had trod water and the Blackwater, Bristol Avon and Kentish Stour made for extremely hard work, laborious at times but also the unseen factor of cost, I spent over £1300 on fuel alone just for Barbel fishing last season for what turned out to be a great 24hrs where the only two rivers I had completed came, the rest of the trips did not yield anything close to what I wanted. 

 Maybe it'll be better this season.

A Tough Spring, Bitter Pills.

 

 Sometimes in angling you do wonder why you are dealt cruel blows, like you are being punished for something and the world conspires against you in a moment you wish it wouldn't.

 I decided to drop on to the Stow for the first of two overnighters in May, I knew conditions haven't been great of late and the reports off there in the main have been very poor considering the calibre of anglers who ply their trade there. 

 My tactics were similar this time to what I normally opt for, three rods with varying hookbaits and rigs ( 1x helicopter rig with worm kebab and groundbait, 1x method feeder with 2x8mm robin red pellet and the other trimmed down boilee on the method feeder ) with a nice bed of spodded groundbait, chopped dendro' and 2mm and 4mm pellet across the space I wanted to occupy and offer up as the place to dine for some huge slabs!

 Around 0830 I was fishing and just slowly getting my area tidied up when I saw a fish roll over alongside some trees on the left hand side of the reservoir. A seed was planted. I fished for a few hours without seeing more than two mooching carp which passed in front of me, no doubt eating flies. Around midday I got itchy feet and decided to bring in the rods, go to the loo and on the way around I saw Bream in the margin, close to the roll I saw a few hours beforehand, so once I did what I needed to and I went back to my swim, snipped off a method feeder and tied a size 6 to the mainline along with a small shot to gently counter the bouyancy, the bait? Bread of course!

 Within 2/3 mins the bread was snaffled and a nice Bream immediately rolled and took off into the deeper water, it was a good sight, the fish approaching the slow sinking bread, the bread disappearing and the strike setting the hook, text book stalking! It wasn't a bad fish either which ended up weighing 11lb 14oz and my first Abramis Brama of the season on my first outing for the species.

 Love dark Bream like this one, nice and thick across the chest and back, a fish that didn't look anywhere near spawning either, strange as last season they had gone by May 2nd, this fish is a couple weeks away by the look of it, which gave me confidence that there is still time as I haven't made an effort at all with them and feel I went too early with my Tench exploits and probably should be here! 

 Anyway, I slipped that Bream back and with a quick glance around it was clear the other fish I saw scarped, so I headed back to my swim and fished the whole night without a bite.....yawn. 

 

Laverly!

 I planned to wrap it up early morning but I did think about having another look along the tree line I had the 11 from the day before there was another four Bream present but these were MUCH BIGGER! 

 I went around to my swim, packed everything up and marched round with the single rod made up and I was ready to try and persuade another Bream. The fish moved beyond the willows that I spotted them in 10 mins previous and hoped they would come back into view, I had to wait fifteen mins before I see a silhouette of a Bream come into view in the polaroids, this fish was soon followed by the other three I'd seen earlier, these fish were big and my knees were like jelly and my heart rate was cruising up and I hadn't even hooke.......got one! F*CK!!! It's the biggest one! My word its huge were my initial thoughts, but this fish had some fight in it and headed away from me kiting left beyond the willows and made a decent effort to take 25-30 yards of line which is unusual for a slab but this was a certain PB, when I got the fish closer to me I could see the hook right in the corner of its mouth in a thin bit of lip skin, this is when I started to really worry and as it got within 10ft of the net cord it rolled a couple of times and shaking its head and then the tension came off and took me a split second to realise she had come off.

 F*CK NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Gutted just does not cut it, not one iota. I seriously considered jumping into 6ft of water fully clothed as the Bream lay on the surface for what seemed like an eternity before righting itself and sauntering off into the distance, I simply could not believe that happened, those are the moments in angling you dread and wish you never experience another one.

 I would not be exaggerating if I suggested that fish was around the 17lb mark, it was easily the biggest Bream I'd ever seen and I got plenty of time to look at it, both attached and not !

Catfish Social

 

 Always nice to get some fishing done with my middle broski (Richard) and given his departure permanently for the west coast of Scotland it was a good option for us to buddy up and get some fish on the bank and thats exactly what happened. 

 Within 15mins of us arriving and getting the rods out I was away with a nice hard fighting upper double Catfish. The average Catfish in this particular lake is between 15lb and 25lb with some bigger specimens to 80lb present. One of the bigger fish would be nice but for us it was a chance to chew the fat and have what will be one of last southerly trips if not our last! I may well visit Scotland and find excuses to go see him for some Grayling fishing or Barbel on the Clyde which will be about 90 min by car from his place in Stevenson.

 Soon after my second rod went out that was away too, very quickly I found myself on four Cats before Rich finally joined the party, the average size was all we managed for a few hours and as we started to rack up the runs we started to wonder if was going to ease up! Strangely in the late afternoon it did exactly that and we only had a couple Cats up to sunset then all hell broke lose, we found ourselves at times with NO rods in the water, for context I was using two and Rich using three rods as he was out in open water and I opted to target a nice bay.

My bait, meat on one, pellet on the other.

Superb rods, the Quickdraw 10ft 3.5tc version.

Onyx Big Pit reels.

New ESP bobbins which will come out next year (2027).

 Dinner time was littered with takes and had to reheat our dinners 3 times before we actually got to eat it.... and it was slightly cold that time too! Teas were too cold but it was a good experience as it always is there, plenty of arm wrenching battles and good chatter. 

Ricky bent into yet another Cat!

 As the night progressed we honestly thought it would go mad but oddly it calmed right down and gave us the chance to natter and watch the superbly clear skies, stars, planets, constellations and even four shooting stars. The odd Catfish came but the highlight of the trip came in the form of this wonderful looking Mirror weighing 21.05, it was a lovely looking Mirror.

Sweet!

 Around 2330 I reeled in as I wanted some sleep for the day ahead as I was going to be pretty busy with work, Rich had two more Cats through the night but that was it and at 0440 we both awoke to load the van and head for home with enough time for a shower and then off for a day on the tools.

My best Cat at 26lb 5oz

Final Scores on the doors....

James: 20 Cats to 26.5 ------ Richard: 17 Cats to 25.4 & 1 Carp 21.5

 Good Fun was had!

Yorkshire Bound!

 

 This is a trip I have wanted to embark upon for over a month now but the rivers up there have been in the fields for months on and off, for me as a travelling angler I have to have the conditions partially in my favour, no point making the journey if I can not reach the actual river!

 On Thursday ( 12th March ) I drove up fully loaded from home to north Yorkshire as my first port of call was the Y.Ouse and with the target in mind of catching of figure Barbel as most of you have come to expect when I make these journeys. The weather forecast was looking very dicy and with that in mind I still decided to go.

 A nice early start and in under 4hrs I was in the paddock and unloading the gear I needed for the day and before I started fishing I got the eating done first, a couple cups of black Assam tea and 3 egg and bacon rolls were my fuel for the day! Once that was polished off I grabbed my gear and went fishing. During my time on there I was given some local info on roughly where to try and where to ignore, ignore local knowledge at your peril on these missions, they really save so much time and yes, getting a double is never a guarantee as you can imagine but it increases the odds in your favour.

My weapons of choice.

My plot.

 After a couple hours the wind really started to stiffen and the predicted 45-50mph winds were upon me and the rain started to come down heavily as well. I wondered how much impact this would have on the trip. Large trees were coming down across the river including lots of limbs as the strong sustained winds were proving too much for predominantly Oaks and Birches, I was safe where I was with no trees on my bank, but it was uncomfortable and recasting was a challenge as I had to get my PVA bag of robin reds on the hook and out to the river before the rain soaked the bag! 

2mm, 4mm & 8mm robin red pellet, the business.

 I was on the river from 0900 to nearly 1630 before I got my first bite, a typical Barbel bite and the fight didn't disappoint either, a nice looking fish came up out of the channel and continued to battle away in the margins before slipping the net under my first Yorkshire Ouse Barbel, on the scales she went 7lb 9oz and no sooner I got the rod back out I was away again! This time 6lb 13oz was the weight and very quickly I had gone from scratching my head to landing two Barbel, sweet.

7.09

6.13

 Oddly just when I thought with those two quick fish that I'd bought a shoal up to the channel I was fishing it wend dead! I didn't get another Barbel until gone 9pm and the wind and rain was still hammering through, so a quick look and weigh in for the bigger fish ( 7lb 2oz ) the other was around 5lbs. Not long after, 11pm came and it was time to get off the water and find somewhere to recharge for the night!

During the 2nd morning.

The level the day after I left.

 Day 2 was a very different day, I woke up after a fairly decent sleep around 0630 and first thing I did was look at the river levels on my phone and my fears were confirmed, the amount of rain that came down I wasn't surprised to see all the rivers flying up, the Ure, Swale, Wharfe and of course the Ouse, when I was on it on day one the level was 0.9m on the Monkton gauge, by midday it was over 3m and there was a lot more to come through, the area I fished on the Thursday was unfishable on Friday, such a shame. 

 I tried hard to make it work and found the odd fish but nothing again of note, the best of the three was 7lb 5oz, such a shame indeed. A massive effort made, over 500 miles travelled at quite an expense, I wanted at least one double from this trip but it did not happen. Seven Barbel and a Bream on my first attempt I didn't think was too bad. Next season it will have to be.

Chub-Tastic.

 

 The R.Blackwater has been rubbish all season barring a 1 Chub, 1 Bream, 1 Barbel and 1 Carp...it really has been that tough. So imagine my delight when I was finally getting some bites!

 First of the last three trips I had one Chub, 4lb 14oz.

 Second of the three trips I managed three bites and three Chub!, where were these Chub hiding? One of them was a lump too and not far off 6lb! They have been there all season, just not catching them and all of a sudden they switch on. But this wasn't the best trip either and yes, these were actually trips in search of Barbel but they remain totally absent, but the Chub numbers were pretty epic!

 

Beautiful piece of water but very tough!

 My third trip was even better! I opted to feed a few Dynamite Baits " Hot Crab & Krill " boilees in each swim like I have done for months, only half a dozen as I just want to give fish a taster, in the colder temps they don't feed anywhere near as much, so overfeeding them is something I'd want to avoid.

 Forty Five minutes in each peg and with no sign of fish I'd move on, but amazingly in the first spot I got a couple of early indications that fish were present so I stuck it out and was rewarded with a pristine 5lb 14oz chevin, thought it was alot bigger, really thick across the back, a proper crayfish muncher!

 

5lb 14oz

 That peach was followed up pretty quickly by a 4lb 11oz and 4lb 14oz ( not the same fish as the previous trip ), and it wasn't an hour later that the tip started to tap away again in another peg 100m downstream which took some patience before striking the tiniest of pulls, that battle resulted in a fantastic Chub of 5lb 8oz as the light began to fade and about two hours after dark much further downstream I had one last fish which I needed two attempts at, I struck the first bite and only managed fresh air, I got the bait straight back down and within five minutes it was back and this time I sat on my hands and waited for the fish to get cocky, I won! 

Bliss, but chilly. Chub didn't seem to mind!

 When I see the Chub come up in the torchlight it looked huge! so wide across the back once again and honestly thought it was going to cruise past my early season best of 6lb 1oz by some distance, alas she did not! 5lb 12oz was still very pleasing and a super afternoon / evening of fishing, 2x upper 4's and 4x 5lb plus Chub, that will do very nicely. 

5lb 12oz

Leisure Sessions with Dad!

 

 Always nice to get out fishing with my Dad, 73 this May and still keen as mustard to get a bend in the rod, this desire to get out I'm sure is fuelled by their impending move down to Gillingham in Dorset, some cracking fishing down that way available but would be nearly 3hrs each way from me so these types of sessions will be no more which is a shame.

 We opted to rove around on the small river as we usually do, a few trots or rolls in each run and move, very quickly we were both off the mark with fighting fight torpedos in the fast flow which snared free-lined or bounced bread flake into likely areas but its not just Barbel that are present, Carp and Chub also call this river home and came across both on the two recent visits we have had, both coming away with fish on the two outings is always a massive plus.

 All in all great fun!

I'm Back!

 

 I can't believe it's been almost two months since I was last on here! Truth be told I have been out a fair bit so I will hopefully get through it all over the next day or so.

 Since my trip to the Hants Avon we have had biblical amounts of rain and has rendered certain parts of the country totally un-fishable so naturally where I could fish I chose Barbel, primarily the Bristol Avon and Blackwater, neither of which for numerous visits ( 4x Bristol Avon and 5x Blackwater ) gave up any gems which would see me move on to 31 completed rivers on my challenge, alas that by the point of early March had not been achieved.

 I really was struggling, the Bristol Avon was in flood for about 4 months solid and every time it looked to start dropping the south west would be buffeted once again by monsoon rains! 

 During this time I did have some Chub to 4lb 11oz and a few Bream to around 6lbs but of course not my target, catching up on sleep in the car for a few hours before getting back on it was scantly rewarded, seems to be a theme this season. The Blackwater gave me nothing, not even bites.

Fishing at the top of the flood bank..

Slim Pickings, Happy New Year All!

 

 I've barely fished since my last blog post, work and family reign supreme, that said I have been out twice, both in search of Roach, where I am currently targeting real big ones are possible, an outside chance of a three-pound specimen which would certainly be a truly momentus catch should I manage to find and land one!

 On my first trip I struggled for the first half day as a solid high air pressure and freezing cold night and biting wind made it very uncomfortable and the fish clearly weren't too bothered in feeding, thankfully I had a very productive final 3hrs where I managed over 20 Dace, most of a good size with half a dozen around 10-11ozs, 12 Grayling also came to the net along with four Roach with best weighing 1lb 11oz which was lovely to see after such a long hiatus from the H.Avon, for me dusk came and went too fast and it was off time, I could not wait to get back.

 A week later I did manage to get back and conditions were very similar with cold brisk winds blowing upstream just to make things harder, one thing I know very well with Roach is presentation is king and if its off even a tiny bit the fish will not touch it and felt all day I fished well but just could not make it happen and came away with a couple of small Grayling and slim Sea Trout.