R.Anker - Pastures New.

 

 After my success on the R.Tame it was time to move on, after slipping back that beauty I retired back to the car and had a good nights sleep, with one of the windows half cracked open I could hear the chorus of Owl chatter as I drifted off. Nice.

 Sunrise came and at the alarm I was already up and tea brewing such was my eagerness to get moving on, with another day of angling ahead I packed away all my wet gear and off I went, goodbye Tame and hello Anker. A totally different river, much more intimate, winding ( Anker from Latin literally translates to winding river ), its the sort of river I love to fish, the whole stealth approach and minimal disturbance is right up my street and within half an hour I was seeing Barbel and Chub, one Barbel possibly around 8lb and another which looked close to that magic 10lb mark. 

 With it being so low and clear I could see the fish easily with my glasses and it was exciting to see my target species so quickly, but given the clarity was it going to be easy to catch them? the short answer was no, the Chub were in a ravenous mood and within a couple of hours I managed 6 to around 4½ pound and given that level of disturbance I had concluded the Barbel had tucked away so I moved on to try find fish elsewhere, I spent the rest of the day dotting around, searching for Barbel but also where it is quite choked with common club rushes in places and decent level of weed the Barbel had a lot of places to hideaway.

 My day was done with a few Chub to show for my efforts but I wasn't disappointed at all, Ade had been with me most of the day so in between catching Chub we chewed the fat before he headed off on his own quest.

 No Barbel came my way and at dusk I headed off home, but it was good fun wandering and see Barbel on my first trip was good to see, I will be back.