And so it begins.

 

 Two weeks of the new season have already drifted by and the south is bathed in glorious sunshine, just how summer should be, issue is the mosquitoes are out in force everywhere! 

 On the 17th of June I decided to venture onto the Kentish Stour once again for my customary blank, the river looked in great condition with vast runs of water crows-foot and ranunculus creating areas so dense I'd dare not fish anyway, but where I could looked great and after a good wander around settled on a nice open field away from the biting most pointless creatures on earth.

 Unfortunately I just didn't see much around apart from a very relaxed Beaver that ambled upstream past me, when it see me it powered underwater and shot up out of sight, I am starting to get used to seeing these awesome creatures, so much bigger than I initially thought, what was even madder was I was having a chat with local angler Ben and whilst we were chatting we could hear rustling in the undergrowth just 10 yards from us, then the chewing started, followed very quickly by a loud crack as what turned out to be a Beaver had removed a young tree and proceeded to drag an 8ft tree through the undergrowth to the bank before crashing into the river with it. 

 After leaving Ben I went down to the fields where its deeper and slower, I was hoping to find a Barbel down there and have seen them a couple summers back but nothing in my net apart from chub and bream and this trip reverted to type as two dark KS bream were landed. Not my target but at least I had bites.

 For that trip I was done. Last week I ventured out onto the Blackwater once again but this time around I was beginning my quest on a new section of the river and it looks so much better than where I was previously fishing, lovely deep bends, onion reed and rushes lining the banks, coupled with pacy shallow areas so it really has everything, I think catching a Barbel here will be tough but really relishing the challenge and thats the great thing about the 40 Rivers Challenge because every river within that challenge represents it's own challenges, on the Blackwater the Crayfish are the problem that need to be worked out.

 The first three spots I worked myself into I was plagued by Crayfish very quickly, two of which I nearly swung in! Knowing that Crayfish were present and very active I felt that there wasn't any Chub or Barbel present so I opted to move every 20-30mins. From experience if there is big fish activity then the Crayfish don't tend to be as bold therefore the crayfish activity isn't there and those are the spots I tend to spend more time in as I think there is a chance of a Barbel or Chub.

 As the hours ticked by I moved around to some very nice looking areas but the same outcome was faced, however as the daylight waned I had high hopes of a bite come dusk but even then my rod was motionless and around 10pm I packed up and headed home as I had work the following morning. Another blank.

 Oh, and I nearly got stampeded by these bloody retards, quicker they end up as burgers and steaks the better. Only just made it through that gate and coupled the heavy duty caribeana to link the gates, nearly shat myself and I really backed myself to get to the gate before them, threw my gear into the field as I scrambled the gate shut. F*CK.

Yuk, bloody hate cows!