Season Review 2022/23.

 

 As most who follow this blog over the last couple years will know Barbel have been in the forefront of my plans during the course of the river season. It however wasn't all Barbel related as I did manage to squeeze in the odd session for Grayling, one trip for Pike, Rudd, Catfish where I did get some action.

 However I covered most of what I caught in my (Recap 2022) so I have just a couple of bits to add and the highlights of what was another productive year for Barbel as I continued with my 40 Rivers Challenge.

14lbs 6oz stillwater Bream PB.

 My two best fish I think without doubt have to be the colossal Bream I had off of The Stow which obliterated my personal best for the species, the other has to be the largest documented Barbel ever caught off of the R.Don in Yorkshire, a monumental occasion for both myself and the angling fraternity of Yorkshire as again it was the first fish confirmed on the Don to break the fifteen barrier ever, to which I became a proud owner of a Barbel Society River Record certificate, a nice momento to include in my book down the line as all of which I have endured and will endure in the coming years until its completion will be written about in finer detail than my scribblings on here. 

15lbs 4oz River Don record.

Simply colossal !

 Seeing that enormous Barbel cruise over the rim of the net was a moment in time I won't forget, my second fifteen pound plus Barbel, neither of which are Trent fish which in this day and age is not something many can lay claim to.

 Not that fishing is about boasting of course, simply enjoying the moments in my angling that have been, certainly of late punctuated by prolonged spells of inaction so when fish do come along, especially that big I enjoy it as much as I can. 

 My Barbel stats ended up like this for the season:

 25 Trips, 26 Barbel, 6 Doubles and 19 Blanks.

 I managed Barbel off of 9 rivers this season and chalked 5 of those 9 off the list with another 3 rivers targeted without a sniff from a Barbel ( Loddon, Kentish Stour and Sussex Rother )

 Over the course of the Barbel fishing over those 25 trips I spent a total of 359.5hrs, thats a lot of time for not many fish but looking at the stats a different way I averaged just five trips per double chalked off my list which now stands at 18 and in the new season I'll be in pursuit of number 19 pretty quickly (weather permitting).

 It was a tough season but very rewarding, I just need to crack the Kentish Stour early doors next season as its really made me work hard and becomes so choked by weed in the summer so its either really early raids or wait for the first frosts to kill off the weed and floods to take it away.