Final Part of my August Northern Tour.

 

 After that great visit to the Mersey, the successful start on the Tame I decided to make the jump across the Pennines and target the R.Dearne, a medium sized river that flows through west Yorkshire that is home to some big Barbel, in the years gone by and even fairly recent it has produced fish over 16lbs with a few specimens over the magical 10lb mark.

 This view would be very nice to see!  

  So with plenty of research done and some good intel I headed to a section that was reputed to hold a few Barbel and some of the size I am looking for. I fished the Dearne last season once and found one Barbel that I failed to hook as it picked up my rolled meat and spat it before I could set the hook, so I set about banishing that memory and making a mends.

 Problem with the Dearne is it is loaded with features that scream Barbel and knowing exactly where to fish is a real head scratcher, so I went for the area that looked thee fishiest and set up shop there.

 

 Plenty of water to go at I gave each peg around 30min to an hour depending how much water was in each peg. Issue for me was the Chub were ravenous and seemed to be involved fairly quickly, even with the freebees. After four pegs I decided not to loose feed anymore and stuck with either a lump of meat or a boiliee with paste. 

 But the Chub just kept coming, even as pukka as this individual they really weren't my target, best in four hours was this one above. Just over 4lbs. I did see two or three Chevins that were possibly 5lb+ and as the sun dropped over the horizon I set up camp in a nice deep pool and hoped that a Barbel would come along. 

Would it happen for me?

 For me I had another day ahead of me and the night but I could feel my eyes closing as midnight closed in, the thought of catching a big Barbel from the Dearne had me wanting to stay but I was absolutely shattered and not sure if I could do another night without my bed. That thought sealed the deal, I decided I did have a great trip over the 4 days / 3 nights and it was time to call time, I will revisit this river later in the year.