Following on from my big result on the R.Wye and only 36 miles from the R.Teme it seemed to be the logical next step, at 7am I was cruising up the M50 bound for a date with a Teme Tiger, a Barbel from here is reputed to fight harder than any other Barbel in the country, that was a reputation I wanted to test. Having seen the Teme for the first time I was keen to get started and I was warned about the banks and they weren't wrong, steep, very slippery ( mainly owing to the recent floods that were running off when I got there, possibly 7ft had already dropped away with possibly another 3ft or so to come off ), it made fishing difficult as there wasn't many pegs to target as they were very unsafe, but I got to work on the ones I could.
The swims looked perfect where I could fish, but there really wasn't much to talk about during the daylight hours as I didn't have a touch and darkness didn't bring much else barring a couple of Chub, the one below and a slightly better one of 3lb or so was all I had, the rods were pretty quiet and around 11pm I decided to call it a night and headed home, I will return when conditions are good again.
Good luck on the Teme James. The barbel are as spooky as they come on some stretches.
ReplyDeleteLike many other rivers I am excited to get properly invested here, I know its a tough river and not going to be a pushover and you aren't the first person to indicate to me that the Barbel are very touchy, do you think nights will give me an edge? or touchy regardless of the time of the day?
DeleteYou can catch during the day James, but sight fishing helps. A bait lowered under the rod tip with a sunken line will get you bites ;o). Also, they will home in on pellets hitting the water.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realise you could sight fish! Always assumed the Teme ran with a tinge of colour! That's given me something to else to think about. I am hoping to get back on there soon, I bet at the moment its raging through just like the Wye, Lugg and Severn.
Delete