Wyeside Revisited.

 My first detour on to the Wye saw me battling freezing cold floodwater, driving 30/40mph horizontal rain and wind, just to top it off I blanked on the Barbel front. The fishing was pants.

 Fast forward a 8 months and I found myself back on the Wye. For weeks Brian and I were super excited to get back up and finally put the Wye hoodoo behind me, the search for a double figure Barbel was underway to get me to the halfway point of my enormous challenge. 

 Brian talked up our chances of having an absolute hatful between us and given what I know about the Wye I felt it would be about right...if we could find them.

 We arrived around 8am and got to work pretty quickly, the plan to begin with was rolling meat, something we are both very adept at doing. Stalking the fish where possible and playing the numbers game...that was until we saw the river, up between one and two feet and dirty / bordering red, we knew immediately we weren't stalking Barbel on this trip!! I stuck with the initial plan and rolled meat.

 Throughout the remainder of the morning and afternoon all I could muster was a few Chub to around mid-3lbs which was not what I was after, nevertheless I was catching.

 After fannying around for a few hours it was pretty clear that given the dirty water and lack of action on the rolling meat a change of approach was needed. Knowing that one of the shallow runs stretches a few hundred yards I could tell where the river started to drop away, which gave way to a steadier flow and somewhere I thought the Barbel might be held up, I dumped the rolling setup in the car and enlisted the gear I had packed for the R.Severn on Saturday.

 Within a couple of hours it was clear my decision to build a swim and work it paid off, after a couple of modest Chub I finally got the bite I wanted, a savage loop round of the tip and a Barbel was on the end, just not a very big one, nevertheless they all count and my quest on the R.Wye was underway. Not long after I was away again, with a better fish of about 3lbs which tells how big the first was! Then within 45 mins the third Barbel of the evening slipped into the net which again was slightly bigger at 5lb+.

Perfectly formed scamp.

 However it wasn't all glitz and glamour. At one point I was connected to a much better fish that I reckon was around 8lbs, a good fish and one that was nearly ready for the net when it made one last dash for the middle of the river and in doing so brushed past something sharp ( suspected rock ) and the 12lb hooklink broke about 2'' above the hook, gutted!

 Things after that started to improve as the fish got bigger and ending up the evening with a new Wye best of 6lb 8ozs. The following morning held much promise for the swim I had ticking over. 

6lb 2oz

6lb 7oz

 A quick scoot down from Brian's mum and dads place to the river was in order to try and get the most out of the peg I finished up in the previous evening. Action didn't take long to resume and I had another 6lb+ Barbel and a couple of Chub before getting another savage take which felt like I was connected to better fish, out in the flow she hung for most of the fight before kiting straight into the margins where the net was ready! 

8lb 4oz and another Wye PB.

 Another PB Wye Barbel for me of 8lb 4oz, I was very happy the weights were going in the right direction and hoped things would only get better. However, sadly they didn't. Infact after breakfast bites almost totally dried up and my hopes of a double figure Wye Barbel were slipping until the moment the rod came in and proceedings had come to an end on the second day. 11 Barbel my total across the two days which totalled 25hrs of angling, with six over 6lbs with the best 8lb 4oz, to be fair given the conditions yet again were against me I think I did quite well. Business not yet complete here, I shall be back with a firm target in mind.

Sunset over our Wye adventure.

Wonderfully fresh Red Admiral.

Plan B, C and D all scuppered by the weather, Saturday morning we headed off to fifth choice venue...to be continued. 

 Just coming away from the trip as it were I have read quite a bit about the parasite ( Argulus Foliaceus ) which latches onto the fish and penetrates the flesh and has a set of hooks that bed them into the fish and then feed off the blood stream, almost all of the fish I caught were carrying them, some 5-10 parasites, other fish had as many as 20 on them, for most of the fish I removed all I could find, horrible looking creatures and from what I understand they haven't been in the Wye and Severn systems long, I feel if something doesn't happen soon the infestation could claim a lot of fish owing to infection. 

 Most of the fish I removed parasites from I sprayed the areas with ESP Carp Doctor which hopefully creates a decent barrier to enable the fish to overcome any issues caused by their unwanted hitchhikers. 

 Anyone fishing the Wye, Severn and indeed any other water in that Wye and Severn catchment do keep an eye for it, if the fish you catch do have them as gross as it is, remove what you can and treat the latched areas, just help the fish out a bit! Oh and don't throw or flick the lice into the water, they swim very well, try to do on land and check nets, weighing slings and mats before leaving to ensure you don't inadvertently transport them to another watercourse that may well not have such a parasite.