River Soar Double, That's A Wrap!!

 

 When I slipped the net under my 12lb 8oz R.Nene Barbel it bought an end to that campaign, immediately my sights were set on a change of scenery to begin another campaign, such is the design of my 40 Rivers Challenge.

 I had a pukka nights kip at my mate Ross' and after a freshen up and cooked breakfast I made the relatively short journey across to the R.Soar, another river I'd never seen, let or lone fished. I had done a bit of research on the Soar over the closed season and two clubs seemed to stand out above the rest, I chose one in particular and planned to fish it when the time came and stick with it.

 An hour or so after leaving Castor I arrived on the Soar to find a wide and slow stretch of river, treelined and navigable, it looked great. I opted to have a walk of all the water available to me first before choosing a swim to settle down in but the conditions were far from ideal with blazing sunshine and 26c, I had a sneaky feeling it was boom or bust from dusk onwards where I planned to stay to around 1 / 2am then make my way home. 

Ratcliffe Power Station.

And a bit closer, our last remaining coal fired power 
station which goes offline end of the month after
56 years of service.

 There were some great looking spots on both the main river and lock backwaters, but given the time of year and the better flow on the backwater that was my main focus, I thought if there were Barbel around they would be there. I know of a few anglers who have plied their trade on the Soar have all suggested the river isn't what it was for a number of reasons, the very same reasons that are hampering many other rivers, something that as a nation should be embarrassed about, the natural world that we are guests in should be respected more, but enough of that little tangent.

Not as toned as I was in my teens and 20's :)
I blame the kids 😝

  I spent most of the afternoon topless in the field laying on my landing mat as I thought my time would better spent adding another coat of suntan! As the clock ticked closer to 7pm and the suns power began to wane and drop closer to the horizon I got loaded up and made my way to where I thought I stood a chance. By 1915 I had both rods out, one rod out on my ever faithful meat and the other rod with a new test bait from Baitworks which myself and a couple of other anglers are trialing and twenty minutes later that rod began to nod and then pull round, my first Soar fish was a.....

...around 5lbs.

 Not what I was after, however one thing I've learned over the years is that Bream and Barbel often feed together, with this crucial piece of info I was happy to endure the constant taps and bangs as the Bream fed around my boilie rod, my meat rod remained dormant, that was until a couple of minutes before 9pm when my meat rod slammed round with no prior indication, I knew immediately what it was and from the off played it quite hard as there was a row of near side fallen willows which may have given me big problems, so I didn't give the chance to do me, a risky tactic but with total faith in my tackle selection I was happy to put more pressure behind it and it worked, soon enough in the torchlight I could make out a large frame, it was certainly the one I was after, my task was now just to get it closer in, enough to scoop it up in the net but she wasn't quite done, two more very strong lunges for an upstream willow were made but I was okay and soon enough I got this view 😮.

no:26!!!!

 There was no doubt at all about its weight, built like a breeze block and not a particularly long fish in truth but it didn't matter.

 

12lbs 9ozs, River Number 26 completed! ✅

 Oh I was one happy chappy, what a 24hrs fishing I had experienced, it was that good when I released her I packed up, drove home and in bed just after midnight, BOSH!!!!

 Next week I am back on the R.Wye for two days and a night, I sure hope that this purple patch continues, that would be bloody epic, I think I deserve at least one more river to be chalked off before New Year given the effort put in so far this season. Not being greedy, promise.