Bristol Avon, Off the Mark.

 

 As usual fishing has been hard going and I thought about going somewhere else as I needed to break up the blanks on the Blackwater that are starting to get on my wick, I am fishing well I just don't think there are many Barbel in there (to some that may come across as making excuses but I would have expected something by now).

 Anyway, I headed off to the Bristol Avon in search of a double figure Barbel. I had a two-day project in central London penned in for Wednesday & Thursday and managed to get done inside one day which opened up a nice day to go fishing on the Thursday, 4am I was up and loading the car with a 144 mile journey ahead. The excitement was growing with every mile chalked off.

 Once I arrived I had a good look around and it was clear where people were fishing as empty tins, line and litter was dotted around in bushes and long grass which is never a good thing to see ( binned as much as I could when I finished up ), I began rolling meat for the first hours so I can try and get accustomed with what was out in front of me and hope that a barbel could be picked up as I rolled under and past a fair few rafts of debris but those efforts weren't rewarded at all.

 After lunch I opted to move between a couple of spots on the static meat approach, so little activity had me wondering whether that was actually going to be a better option, a few more hours passed with nothing more than a plucky Dace or two, as the sun began to drop I got a decent wrap around on the tip and sure enough my first Bristol Avon Barbel was cutting through the flow of the weir and straight to me, not a big fish from what I could see at distance but they can be deceptive at times, this time around it turned out that my first BA Barbel wasn't going to be a double as it shrank as it got closer but one all the same!  

A little over 5lb, it's a start.

 Soon after the release and the rod went back out it was pounding away again, this time with a Chub in tow and this continued for another half an hour as successive Chub came to the net, none of any real size, one of them maybe reaching 4lb but given the flurry of activity I was keen to make the most of it and as if a light was flicked off it went dead before pitch black and up to midnight it was dead. That spelt the end for me, I packed down and had a good kip in the car for a freshen up for a morning assault at 7am.

 4c overnight was a shock to the system and it was no warmer when I got fishing with a distinct chill of winter in the air, we are only in September! I began rolling meat again and covered similar areas from the day before and although once again I was fishing well but with no returns.

 As midday came along I had a decision to make and with the area I was fishing was getting busier I couldn't move around like I did on Thursday so I opted to jump in the car and head to the Blackwater which is about half way between Bath and home, 4 hrs were spent flitting between swims with nothing once again to show for my efforts, but one day my speculating will be rewarded, I went home for a nice hot shower, visit the throne and warm bed with the Mrs.

Struggling....

 

 Since my visit to the Yorkshire Rother and Idle my 40 Rivers Challenge fishing time has been met with hours of motionless tips and the blanks are beginning to rack up again. For a moment back in late August I thought I had turned a corner and things were going to get better, however the Blackwater chiefly has been a major thorn in my side and I've really struggled to engineer bites, the Barbel seem to be on holibobs somewhere because they aren't where I'm fishing.

 That said my visit to the R.Teme the day after my R.Wye jolly up ended up a Chub fest with 13 coming to the net, all on the 8mm robin reds with nothing over the 4lbs, plenty of action and walking done but not one Barbel seen and the same can be said about the Blackwater until last night when I decided to go lamping and somehow managed to briefly spot a Barbel about 6/7lbs on a gravel shallow, but my god there seems to be so few fish around! 

 So when I've got a bit of time I'm going to go back for that and yes, I know it's not the target fish but a Barbel off there this season would be a sight for sore eyes, they've been extremely elusive and theres nothing I have been able to do about it. 

 9 trips to the BW equating to 76hrs of angling in sunshine and rain!

 I have just got to keep trying and moving around stretches to inevitably I WILL catch my target fish!  

This is full winter flood is one hell of a beast,
fishing here you feel so small!

Comfortable!

Nom Nom 

R.Wye Revisited.

 

 On Thursday I had a day booked on the Wye with a couple of friends who wanted to catch a Barbel, both chaps are very good anglers on the fly front but do love to dabble in coarse fishing too when the opportunity presents itself. I left home a lot earlier on as I wanted to get some fishing of my own done but I had no real plans, just fish and catch what came along, for once I visited a river with no pressure to deliver a double figure Barbel for my 40 rivers challenge.

 I left home at 0430 as its a straight 3hr drive to the location and as I was crossing the Prince of Wales bridge I started to get all excited as to what the day would throw up, even at 37 I still get that warm feeling of excitement when on my way for a session regardless of the target. Thirty minutes later I arrived at the river and even after all the rain that has fallen across the country the river was as low as I've seen and I know this was only my 11th trip to the river but that was backed up by anglers who have far more knowledge of the river than myself.

 That said I didn't hesitate to get setup and opted to begin at the very end of the beat and slowly work my way upstream. With the very low water my suspicion was that if I found deep water I would find fish. 

 First of all I began with 10 medium sized bait droppers of 4mm and 8mm pellets, fed on a single line just off the main flow which dropped into around 8ft of water from 4ft just above, the thought process was the Barbel and Chub were further downstream and wanted to draw them up to where I was presenting my hookbait which was my usual Wye approach after having limited success on large baits found after around 4 trips that small baits ruled and they were picked up readily by Barbel, so 2x 8mm robin red pellets were put on a 12'' hoolink with small hair and a light lead, just enough to hold bottom.

 To be fair once I had begun feeding I opted to not fish for a while to allow any fish following the scent to get acquainted and feed confidently, after half an hour of sitting on my hands I got my first cast in. I did think I would get fish straight away but oddly I didn't, a good half an hour passed before I got a proper indication and this was a gentle pull round on my tip, it was so gentle the centre-pin let off just a couple slow ticks before I lifted up the rod. Once I was playing the fish I could tell straight away it was a Barbel and a good one too, having caught many good Barbel over the years you can tell when you have a decent one on the end and this fish just held low, powered its way upstream twice some 40 yards each time before turning it a final time to guide it slowly into the net, that was a great fight! 

 To achieve what I wanted to on the Wye I embarked on 10 trips and 168hrs of angling, over 3000 miles of driving, out in all sorts of shite weather only fit for ducks and eskimos, roll on 11 months I come over for a jolly up as it were and land a pearler that on the scales settled on 10lb 4ozs! Angling is a funny game isn't it. 

 A Wye double figure Barbel and yes, I have had one but this one three ounces larger will be inducted into the 40rivers challenge hall of fame! and with a backdrop like that its one of my best ever self takes, shame the flash had to be used but the hill blocked out the sun near me and actually kept forcing the flash to engage and without it the images were really poor, so be it!

 Once I had released that stunner I carried on fishing and kept little droppers on pellet going out but amazingly the following two hours were totally quiet, barely a tap and when I did it was silk weed building up on the line and dragging my lite link ledger out of position. 

 By 1130 my friends turned up after being caught in poor motorway traffic and when they arrived we got to tackling up and then search around for some areas to get them fishing, their desire was to catch a Barbel but given what I had experienced the previous 4hrs besides that corker which would make any session a blazing success I thought it was going to be hard going. 

 And so it proved....the first 4 hrs we spent roving around before I offered them the option of fishing one of the beaches which ordinarily would be underwater by around a foot but we could get right down and showed them both where they needed to be fishing and I got a good bed of bait out at the top of the run that Mike and John were both going to fish, around 10 yards apart.

 Once they got comfortable and fishing I went looking elsewhere for a plan B, C and D if that run didn't produce like the previous 3 swims. 4pm passed without a touch and 5pm slowly approached when out of nowhere I had another bite! 8hrs of a bit of fishing and guiding I was in to my second fish of the day once again a Barbel, this one behaved fairly similarly to the first and yet another good solid battle was enjoyed, yes this one would turn out to be just shy of 9lbs but the colours are something I've not seen on a Wye Barbel so it was a pleasure to see!

8lb 13oz Wye beauty.

 Shortly after I had this fish Brian turned up so I went to go let him in and on the way down dropped in on Mike and John to learn Mike had had a 3lb and 10lb Barbel! that made my day massively, unfortunately John hadn't managed a Barbel and for all our endeavour that was how it all ended but it was a brilliant day, the weather wasn't great after 11am with persistent rain and the odd snippet of sunshine felt right as thats all I ever endured on the Wye anyway. 

Back to the Blackwater.

  Leading on from that incredible trip up north and following through with my plan to finish at 3pm on the Idle I decided to drive back down to the R.Blackwater for further punishment, that big Blackwater barbel has to come along at some point, just two bites in 6 trips totally 55hrs!. 

 Given the circumstances that preceded this visit I felt confident of finally catching a Barbel, so I set about roving the river with bits of meat and bread in every likely space where a Barbel might be. Having left Nottinghamshire at 5pm ( a couple hours after I originally billed after being drawn in by the lure of another good Barbel to which I did achieve ) I parked up in my usual spot on the BW and got wandering.

Purple Loosestrife, the riverbank is 
not complete without it in summer.

 A couple of hours passed without incident and as dusk came and went I had a gentle pull round on the tip which I hit into and amazingly it was a fish, my suspicion was crayfish but thankfully it fought back but I knew it wasn't a Barbel and soon enough a decent sized Bream surfaced in the torchlight, at least it was a fish. 

 But the crayfish were clearly down there chewing my Source "hard-hooker" boilee, damn things I can't wait until we find a way to eradicate them entirely. But this was another that I crushed under my trainer earlier in the day, think I'm on 6 now that have been squished, another dozen have dropped off.

Horrid things.

 Unfortunately after that Bream I didn't have another bite and around 1am I called time on my epic 514 mile journey, four rivers visited, three rivers fished, three doubles caught across two rivers and no joy on one river. It was a brilliant 44hrs on the road!. That really was an epic.

River Idle Double, That's A Wrap!!

 

 Well....what can I say! Having managed to catch a wonderful Yorkshire Rother double figure powerhouse I found myself searching for where to go next, the idea was to head to the Aire so once I had loaded the car I sat in there checking distances and first up I drove to Leeds town centre but being a Saturday night it was packed in the areas I wanted to fish, so I bailed out on that and headed down of the old Ferrybridge C power station at Knottingley, once again though I arrived to find it totally rammed.

 Gone midnight now and I still didn't have a spot to fish on the Aire so I jumped back in the car and headed to the R.Idle, a beautiful intimate river that carves its way through Nottinghamshire. Known for it clear water and weedy disposition I felt like this could be my best option so I drove to the river and grabbed a few hours kip in the car so I was nice and fresh for 7am. 

 Once I arose I got the gear together and having done quite a bit of research I opted to rove and only tackle up with the bare essentials so I could cover a lot of water as I chose to purchase a day ticket which had a fair few miles of water. Within 20 mins of being on the river I could see decent Chub and good Barbel to maybe 8lbs and part of me wanted to fish for them but I really wanted to keep moving until I found something bigger - preferably a double of course. 

 I must have walked a mile and a half before finding another pod of fish and saw one or two which were certainly big fish for such a small river, I opted to roll meat and bread to begin with to elicit quick bites but the Barbel seemed really cautious and every time a bait was moving down to the shoal of fish they would back off and vanish under cover, it became apparent I had to rethink my approach, something I rarely have to do! 

 So my plan was to fine down the approach in terms of the bait (2x 8mm Robin Red pellets), the terminal tackle was still stout, 10lb hooklink, size 12 hook, short hair for the pellets. Now the attack changed from one and done to building the swim as I felt it was necessary and worthwhile as there was a Barbel or two cruising about occasionally from under the far bank that I thought would do the magic weight.

 I spent around 30-45mins just introducing pellets and had Barbel feeding fairly confidently on the gravels which was fantastic to watch and once I could see the bigger fish feeding confidently I began introducing my hookbait which was held down by a link-ledger consisting of 4SSG shot as I wanted to minimise the plop from the bait going out which at times also alerted the fish but I worked how to get it out without a noise by killing the line just before the shot touched the surface which really did work.

Every single cast, every 3-5mins....

 It took well over an hour with my hookbait constantly going out (owing to the relentless weed coming downstream) before I got a take, the pin screeched into action, my rod slammed round with me attached and within 10-15secs the Barbel had lodged itself deep into the far bank vegetation, I simply could not react fast enough to keep it out and the hook pulled fairly quickly, frustrating for sure but oddly I felt there was going to be more chances and more chances I got! 

 Another 30mins drifted by with Barbel cruising around on the gravels before putting a bait back out, within 5mins it was away again and this time I was ready for what the fish was going to do so I shoved my tip under the water and cupped the centrepin to make sure I got a chance to keep its head away from the willows and once she was clear I kept the pressure on and the battle could then play out in open water which was great fun and really putting my 1.75tc rod to the test, but soon enough my first Idle Barbel was slipping into the net!

8lb 4oz, my first Idle Barbel...yea!

 Pleased as punch with that and not too long after another slipped up weighing 7lb 9oz and just 20mins later I had another and this one was certainly bigger, the sort of Barbel that makes me very nervous. I saw that Barbel saunter its way to the head of 6 Barbel and watched the sediment puffing out its gills before turning sharply downstream with a simultaneous scream from the pin and sharp wrap round of the rod in my hand as I was sight / touch ledgering. This fish was much better!

 A good solid fight ensued and it went on for far too long for my liking but I played it well and a few minutes past she was ready for the net and took my chance with glee, I really thought it I had cracked it.

And I did!!! River No:30 ✅

 Weighing 10lb 3ozs I had done the River Idle on the first attempt, I was so happy, mega effort and pleased as punch, punched the air and let out a massive sigh of relief as I could see big Barbel down there, I just didn't know if I would get a chance at one. No need to worry, double 8mm robin red for the win!

 Two rivers, in less than 24hrs...I seem to make bit of a habit of doing that. My season started off poorly as I grinded away on the R.Blackwater with what seems like just a handful of fish among a sea of Crayfish, my time on there will come, I can promise you that! But now with this beauty above resting up in the net before releasing I had to think of another plan, where should I go now??

 That decision was put on ice as I could see Barbel feeding on the gravels even after the lost fish and 3 landed, my idea was to fish until 3pm and see what I could finish up with. Forty minutes later I had another roaring take which done me on the first run and ten minutes later I had another take which resulted in a fish weighing 6lb 15oz and one last take half hour after that which once again resulted in a hook pull and after that decided to call it on the Idle, 4 landed and 3 lost (all to hook-pulls) possibly down to still feeding a little nervously. 

 I folded the gear away and headed back upstream to the car with my mind now made up to head for the R.Blackwater, two rivers done in two days what more could I ask for?....

 ...well, that question was answered emphatically as I opted just to peer into a peg I passed early in the morning where there was a few decent Barbel loitering around, initially I didn't see any fish but thought if I threw some pellet out that if there was something downstream it would come upstream to feed, 3 minutes later I could see a sizeable shape making its way up on to the crease and started mopping up pellets...this fish was not small and bigger than anything I saw in there in the morning.

 She dropped downstream 10 yards but still in view and after scrambling my gear together I whipped out my link ledger onto the line I fed and threw some more pellet out and within 30 seconds she was back up and rooting around and BANG!!!!! she had picked up my double 8mm pellet and bolted off downstream some 30 yards before putting the breaks on her, she made her way back up but very slowly, holding bottom, very typical of bigger fish and this one looked to be larger than any others I'd had downstream. 

 This fish did not want to come in and made it away up and downstream on half a dozen occasions before finally succumbing to me, the fish once in the net looked bigger, a real thick set Barbel and on the scales backed up my thoughts! What. A. Day's angling indeed, double double and three doubles across two rivers in less than 24hrs, absolutely epic indeed. What a special river too, paradise!

10lb 6ozs! River Idle gem. 

 Magic. 30 down, 10 to go. Not long now.

River Rother (Yorkshire) Double, That's A Wrap!!

 

 Well....it has been a poor start to the season, eight trips since June 16th - mostly on the Blackwater and being plagued by hoards of Crayfish, thankfully up north crayfish aren't a problem...or so I thought.

 I set off nice and early from home around 5am and with a 206 mile drive to Sheffield I got on with chewing into the miles and by 8am I was popping into a Morrisons to get my grub for the next couple days. 

 I opted to target some water that was free to fish and just as I arrived I bumped into a local angler Steve who has had some fantastic results over the last couple years and given his returns I felt fairly confident of success. The plan was to fish one or two rods static and stay in each spot for 45-60min per swim, drop some bait in and move around if I didn't have any indications of fish in the swim, my usual tactic.

 The crayfish unfortunately were present and in good numbers too, 3 had met my size 10 by lunchtime which coincidentally was when something finally happened after my 5th move. I was sat chatting to Steve around lunchtime as he popped in to see how I was getting on and out of absolutely nowhere my margin rod slammed around and I was on it and within 5 secs or so this fish had torn off downstream so quick I didn't get the chance to adjust my clutch on the reel which was possibly too tight and the fish went past some rocks and it was gone, just like that my 12lb hooklink was cut just below the swivel.

Barbel crack! The Source.

 Gutted doesn't even cut it! Hard to tell just how big it was but I was really pissed off with myself as mistakes like that should not be happening now after 30+ years of angling experience under my belt, yes the rocks didn't help me but with a fractionally slacker clutch the line may have tracked higher up in the water column thus possibly away from danger. Fuming!

 Once I lost that fish I moved off and tried to put that loss to bed but another bite was not forthcoming and moved around a fair bit until I arrived back in the peg I lost that fish in around 6hrs later on, the idea was that if there was one Barbel present then there should be more so I introduced a few loose 15mm source boilies and also small glugged PVA bags on my hookbaits and fished the exact same lines as I did previously. I got in the peg around 730pm and the plan was to stay in there beyond dusk and then move again. 

 Just after 830pm I had a couple of gentle taps on my outside line rod so my interest was peeked and all of a sudden I could see my lines entry point into the water was edging upstream, straightaway I knew what was happening, I picked up the rod, wound down and struck, then all hell broke loose! 

 A fight straight out of the top drawer ensued and a big Barbel really gave me the run around, big powerful runs up and down stream, numerous times she went under the far bank bushes / trees which I could do little about and also ploughing her head down into the bottom looking for rocks to dislodge me with huge clouds of substrate wafting up in the meagre flow. However, the outcome of this battle was not going the same way as the previous chance, she finally slipped over the cord of the net and I knew immediately she was going to be WAY over 10lb, I knew river number 29 had been completed and in fine fashion.

 After resting her well whilst I got my camera set up and sling / mat / scales ready I got her on the scales and registered an incredibly pleasing 12lbs 1oz, a Y.Rother 12+, I was over the moon massively, my task on the Rother was done and I could plan my next move, quicker than I thought too. Also incidentally this was the final part of the South Yorkshire treble ( Don, Dearne and Rother ), piece by piece I am completing vast sections of the country.

Number 29, Bloody wicked!!!

Another Yorkshire bar of bronze!

 

 Over and out :) yaaaaay!

Bristol Avon and Blackwater Visits.

 

 With a 24hr gap in my hectic diary became free I decided upon a trip on the fly to Bath to fish for Barbel on the Bristol. I have had a trip there a couple years ago but it was only to have a look around with not much time spare after my successful trip to the R.Severn. This time around I opted to head there straight away and with the van loaded I was off. With very little information to go on I opted to just fish free stretches to begin with and if I fancy it later on then I will get an Amalgamated book.

 To be fair on the 'brizzy avon" I'm not overly rushed because it's a river that is slowly improving and know that there are some good fish still there but in small numbers. Time should be on my side here.

 I spent 9hrs in total moving around the weirs on the middle B.A and unfortunately for me I didn't get a touch and I'm not entirely surprised, the river barring the weir run offs was stagnant, not the conditions you really want for Barbel. My expectation was that the B.A would have had a lot of water going through it owing to the recent rains but was abundantly clear that wasn't the case.

 At 0030 I had had enough and packed up and decided to drive back toward home, on my way back is the Blackwater so I decided to fish that and hope the rains had stirred them up to feed but another 9 hours on there too proved totally fruitless and that wasn't the only recent trip there as I went back yesterday too for an 11hr session. The levels up around 6 inches and the flow fractionally quicker, once again and unsurprisingly the tip remained motionless besides the constant bombardment of Crayfish, so much so I have decided against go back there for a few months, its too much and can't keep a bait out for more than 15 mins without being hammered. 

 Rather tedious start to the season for me. It. Can. Only. Get. Better!

Farewell My Inflatable Buddy.

 

 After 10 years of "near" perfect service, run ragged, rode upon by a few hairy arsed men holding rods aloft my trusty fishing boat finally gave up as a rogue overwintering rat had a part of my right gunwhale for dinner.

 It took me 96 miles of driving and organise a couple days of angling for Rudd with my mate Chris to realise the hole that was there. Chris had himself made the journey over to the fens to sample some of the angling I and a few others have experienced over the last decade. Here are a few captures that have crossed the walls of my boat, it had done well. 

A pic from a couple years back.

PB Zander for me

A good upper double pike

Brian with a sparkling esox

Ditto

Brother Rich with a 13lb 3oz Zed!

PB Rudd last summer, 3lb 0oz

Hundreds of beauties like this.

No pomp and circumstance, to the tip!

Oh HELLO! Bigger, more spacious, my new boat!