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.
No comments:
Post a Comment