Back In Time For Crumpets & Tea.

 6:30 am on a lovely 18c morning in November......yup it's almost like summer is rearing it's head or so you'd believe, normally by this time of the year I'm wrapped up in layer of clothes complete with gloves and my rusky hat but instead I was donning a light pair of trousers and a T-shirt, my ideal target was a Barbel but anything would do, just to get out of bed on a lovely morning and go for a wander with a rod would have be suffice, I arrived with a window of a couple of hours max so I got set and headed off into the woods.

 I walked for roughly half a mile before I spotted a few fish which turned out to be Chub but they were almost impossible to fish for so I aimed a bait past them into clearer water and hoped they would follow it out, the following four casts down nothing happened and the Chub stayed locked up in their little fortress, regardless of what I did they were not coming out but I continued to roll to a bait around in a deeper slack further downstream as it would certainly be a place to hold a fish or two whether it be Barbel or Chub, a second roll through this pool would prove absolutely pivotal as my fairly stout rod was shown up, 2.5lb T/C rod was bent more than what a twenty pound Carp has done previously and the culprit for this brutal take was never in a million years a Chub so it could only be a Barbus and by the take a Barbus maximus, it took me couple of minutes to retrieve the line it had stripped off my pin and when it became visible I could see she was a cracker, first guess was that of a double and when she finally cruised closer I was certain of it, or certain its frame was warranted that estimate, then disaster struck......as I lent over to net the Barbel I felt my foot slip slightly and my whole body tried to compensate and I lost all balance and headed straight for the river...........a boot full and soaking wet trousers were the price I had to pay in order to bank my catch, then if my day wasn't going to plan then the lack of camera turned out to be the last straw , I weighed the Barbel at 10.6 which is my first double of the season which I was very happy for but unfortunately the pics I did get were only my phone so watch this space for a snap.

 My session would have finished there and then but as I was now wet I had a better shot at those Chub ,10 minutes later and roughly 6 casts, three Chub had been caught to roughly 3.8 and with that it was time to finish and head home for some tea and crumpets.