2021, A Year of Plans and Targets Achieved.

 

 I fancied writing a massive spill regarding this but to be fair I will keep it short and sweet. My escapades over the last 12 months have been enjoyable and although I have spent most of the time bite-less I have managed to catch some superb fish. 

 October 2020 saw me get the ball rolling with two superb Barbel of 15lbs 12oz and 13lbs 9oz off the S.Ouse and R.Trent respectively, then came a lull in action as I scratched around the R.Colne for a fish, 14 sessions over the winter culminated in just one Barbel but not the size I desire, mercifully for me, my efforts were rewarded as I made early season progress with a Barbel of 11lbs 7oz, this has since been backed up by successfully targeting the River' Medway, Mole, Derwent, Ivel and most recently Lea.

 Six rivers chalked off now bring me to a healthy tally of ELEVEN rivers out of forty and the best 2 months are ahead of me in terms of specimen fishing. But it's not just Barbel that have been a focus, some catches have been by-products of a successful Barbel mission, some have been caught in their own right and made for numerous excellent days on the river bank. Real red letter days.

 Six-pound Chub are still seen as a specimen fish and rightly so, a seven-pound specimen is widely considered " A fish of a lifetime ", it certainly ranks up there for me, after all - its a specimen thats eluded me for years and not through the want of trying, sometimes these things just happen when you least expect it.

 My winter fishing has not really been as prolific as I would have envisaged, mainly owing to the lack of time. When I have got out I have managed bags of very good Grayling to mid-2lbs and a couple of good Pike to just under twenty pounds, what with the indifferent weather my typical winter targets have been neglected and the Barbel gear has remained firmly at the entrance to my tackle den, not something I thought would happen. 

 As I write this we enter a couple of cold nights with temps expected to dip to -5c, incredible to think just 3 nights previous we had daytime temps of +15c and overnight temps of +9c....strange world we live in these days aye!

 My desires for 2022 is that I continue this rich vein of form on the "Barbel Challenge" front and get myself closer to the halfway stage of twenty rivers, not a journey for the faint hearted, but I have felt for a while now that my angling needed a refresh and that this would keep my focus on a single goal. Seems to be working thus far. A few ups and plenty of downs I'm sure will be experienced, one thing is for certain, I will enjoy it.

Tight Lines to you all for 2022!