Staffordshire Tame Double, That's A Wrap!!

 

32.....

 .....Well, what can I say that hasn't already been said, my first ever visit to the S.Tame, the Trent' biggest contributor was a blazing success, but my day / journey didn't start there.

 My alarm went off at 0330 for an early start as I had some filming planned which was time sensitive, so decided to head to the R.Severn to do that filming, the river temp measured 19.8c late morning which is not too bad but the bright sunshine had me wondering if we were going to get a bite, not ideal conditions but we gave it a go.

 I was joined by Richy from Drennan and we got to business early doors with the bits we needed to do, we just needed a Barbel to have a feed, unfortunately we did not muster more than a solitary Bream which was a shame, 170 miles - nearly 3hrs of driving. It was a good catch up with Rich and we were also joined by the bailiff of the Barbel Society' water at Pixham Ferry, Steven, who I had met for the first time in person but we have spoken online for a couple years and has followed my Barbel Challenge for probably longer than that. 

 After deciding to call it a day around 3pm I already had my sights set on my next stop, that being the Staffordshire Tame, only an hour away from the Severn it was a nice short (42 mile) drive where I detoured slightly via Sutton Coldfield to pick up a permit for a different river, then onward to meet Barbel and Midland expert, Ade Busby.

 Ade knows a fair bit when it comes to the midland rivers and has caught some special fish off the S.Tame and Anker ( which will feature later on). When I arrived at the gates I was greeted by Ade and then the club secretary to which he quipped, "good luck on the Barbel, it's going to take you a while", a challenge set is always a challenge accepted. Upon parking up and walking the river with Ade a couple of areas certainly stood out to me, especially those areas that had good flow with some near side or far side cover, it looks like it should hold plenty of Barbel, but I am reliably informed it is by no means easy and holds a very low stock of Barbel in places.

Nice pace up and down the river, makes a change.

Pretty clear!

Brevvie before getting set for the evening.

 After Ade and I had chatted for a while he headed off for tea and set about making mine with the view to starting around an hour before sunset. Whilst my scran was cooking I had a quick walk up and downstream with a bag of boilees ( 15mm Dynamite Baits - hot crab "n" krill ) where I launched in around two handfuls per spot, four spots primed I went back to munch my dinner.

Almost crayfish proof, good stuff.

 After that was taken care of I plonked myself into swim one at the bottom of the section and spent two hours in there trying to pick up a fish in between the constant crayfish trouble, even with hard hooker 22mm boilee on the hair I was still getting bothered. After 2 hours I moved, in hindsight I should have gone sooner, where Crayfish are very active often means there are little or no fish feeding. So I opted to walk all the way down to the bottom boundary which was quite a wander, but it would prove to be a brilliant decision. I listened to the Callum Simpson victory over Troy Williamson and around ten minutes after the fight I had a sudden lurch on my new Acolyte Barbel rod and the centre-pin ripped off, no way this was another small chub, this fish was in a hurry. 

 Just two minutes into the fight she buried her head into a snag and it all went solid, I knew it was a Barbel simply from the take but didn't know how big and did not want to take any chances, with the micro-barb size 10 hook I opted to just ease off the tension where I hoped she would back off downstream on her own volition, after a tense minute of so I could feel the tension begin to reapply as she began to back off and for the first time in what felt like an eternity I was back in direct contact with the fish and from that point on she played out in the deeper fast flowing water in front of me for a couple more minutes before gliding into the net first time. This fish could be the one I thought and soon enough it was confirmed it most certainly was the one.

Staffordshire Tame, 10lb 6oz!!!

 That smile couldn't be much bigger, given how tough some rivers have proven to be this one took all of 3hrs to achieve, quite incredible really when all things are considered, but luck has to play a major part in angling and this time it did, fishing sometimes has mysterious ways of working. River number 32...

...COMPLETED and down to just 8 rivers and my challenge is finished, yes I know there is a way to go yet, but it is all falling into place.

 Whilst I had the Barbel resting up in the net I gave Ade a quick call and was somewhat blown away I had achieved it so quickly, once I had finished on the phone I was happy the Barbel was ready to saunter off back to obscurity, this is a river that does not give up its Barbel easily, Bristol Avon and Blackwater take note!!

Kentish Stour Double, That's A Wrap!!

 

 That is a header I've wanted to write for so long! 22 trips, across 4 seasons, 2684 miles driven to accomplish one objective, find and catch a double figure Barbel. This is so far my single biggest hurdle cleared in this challenge yet. 

 Let's wind it back to 6hrs...arriving on the river around 2pm I set about searching for Barbel with the polaroids which I always do, with the river running gin clear as usual owing to the fact it's almost a pure chalkstream finding fish is often easy, however Barbel are in short supply and finding them isn't as easy as some might think, so imagine my surprise when I peered into the first spot I could get to and witnessed a Barbel flashing on the gravels under a tree, then ten seconds later one a couple pound smaller flashed up too! I had found Barbel straight away, unbelievable.

 Of course, I was not moving anywhere. Chub and Bream across the next few hours made themselves known with seven Chub to 5lb 3oz and a solitary Bream coming to the net, I hoped that I was working my way through the other species before the lead up to dusk as I hoped as the sun set the Barbel would drop down stream from their cover, that said there was one Barbel on three occasions that did drop below me and fed confidently on the robin red pellet that I was feeding, but it wouldn't feed for long, 30 seconds or so and then would come back upstream past me and then back into its bolt hole under a limb of a downed tree, no doubt a beaver casualty.

 That Barbel was big, the biggest I had seen on the river so far. I estimated this fish to be around 12lb, the sort of fish I'd absolutely love to catch, the last time I saw that fish was around 5pm, I hoped the Barbel would feed better come the dull light into the night. Around 830 I had just come off the phone to my mate Adam and no sooner that call ended a Beaver cruised past me, creating a massive bow wave heading downstream, I hoped the fish wouldn't be too put off by it and about twenty minutes later my rod tip slammed around so hard the centrepin screeched into life, downstream I saw a big bow wave as a fish made off with my double 8mm robin reds, this was a Barbel, NO QUESTION about it, the power was immense and knew straight away it was a big fish too, bare in mind this was the first Barbel I've hooked on this river in all this time, only a couple of times have I been close to a chance.

 When I got that Barbel within a couple of rod lengths of me I could see how big it was, my heart rate went through the roof, I wanted this so bad and on the first attempt of netting her the net got caught on brambles and couldn't free it straight away, but had to pay absolute focus to making sure the fish didn't plough through the tree and branches opposite me, it was soooo hairy and then the net came free thank god, now it was my second attempt to get the fish in the net, the head and half its body went in and then inexplicably she managed back out and shot back downstream with the centrepin struggling to keep up! 

 This really was a good battle, the next minute or so the fish tried its best to go back upstream into the branches but I kept a good bend in the rod and thumbed the pin to not give it anything, not long after I was punching the air in jubilation and let out a few joyous expletives as a certain double figure Barbel laid resting in the bottom of my net, my first and ONLY Barbel off the legendary KS was a double.

River No: 31 - 13lb 1oz!!!!!!!!

 But, at 13lb 1oz it was one of the real big old girls, a fish that can most certainly tell a tale or two! I was in awe and spent a good couple of minutes just looking at it in the net, a couple of quick snaps on my iPhone and a weigh and she was back in the water, no messing around. It was a privilege to meet and hold something so special for just a moment, to see it swim off and possibly make someone else's dreams come true. Magical, Mythical, Moments, Mine.

 In all these trips I hadn't seen a fish this big before on the KS so for me to get this chance I am super stoked. The constant Mosquito and Midge attention was just a minor issue, now I just have to fight the urge to itch, because my god I got bit! In that picture above they were buzzing in my ear, on my arms, at least one went up my shirt too, small price to pay for such a big reward.

 9 TO GO!!!........

Opening Day Delight.

 

 June 16th is always ringed or highlighted on my calender every year, not even birthdays get that level of note, it was and still is the day I get most excited about fishing, once again on running water and the thought of pootling around the Fens in my boat, stalking R.Thames and R.Lea carp or in this instance getting straight down to business with the 40 Rivers Challenge where I am currently on 30 completed rivers and have been settled on that figure since mid-August 2025!.

 There was to be no annual midnight pilgrimage though, with a job booked in for a friend in the morning I packed my rolling meat gear in the van and set eyes on opening my campaign later that afternoon and once I was done on the job I made the short journey over to the R.Bourne for a short roving session and see if I could find a Barbel, a river that has bare in mind been extraordinarily difficult for me with numerous trips in all manner of conditions undertaken without as much as a sneeze or fart from a Barbel, the frustrating thing is I know they are there, it appears I simply don't have the measure of them.

 That was until Tuesday! First cast, first roll, first fish! But not just a fish, it was a very good Barbel for June and the fight was pretty good until it rolled over the line and the remainder of the fight was a tad unceremonious, but safely into the net it went. My suspicions were it probably wasn't a double and I would be right.

9lb 4oz.

 That fish was only the second Barbel I've coaxed out of the Bourne, it has been hard going, this fish nearly did the business, alas I shall have to continue my efforts on there, I do feel like my efforts on here are surely going to be rewarded in the finest fashion.

 That was indeed the only bite of that short trip and on the 17th I returned to cover more water and indeed try that spot again but I ended up with nada which is more in keeping with the Bourne' treatment of me.

 On the 19th I headed to the Bristol Avon for my first fling on there this season to try and get that river over the line, 9lb 6oz is my current best off there but a double is coming off of that river for me this season either by hook or by crook, I feel once again, I've invested enough time and money into the B.Avon that is due to be kind to me soon, once again its by no means a reflection of my effort if I may say so myself. 

 No Barbel showed up for me, however the Chub sport was pretty epic as I managed twelve Chub to 5lb 2ozs, most of them were between 3.08 and 4.08 which was good summer sport but not my target, touch wood I don't have to make that journey too many more times...

A Fitting Finale.

 

 Now, after that difficult spell on the R.Aire and those two Barbel off the R.Wharfe myself and Dad opted to stop by somewhere that given my limited knowledge I felt we would have more success. 

 After a short 40mile drive due south we arrived at our destination, the diminutive R.Idle, this was my second visit to this gem, it was to be my Dad' first and we made a beeline for an area I had done well on on my last trip. As we made our way downstream we saw ample Chub and Pike, but no Barbel which was odd, but when we did get to the peg where I had five to 10lb 3ozs we did see 11 Barbel sat just downstream and it wasn't long before they started to commit to small pellets, but knew that these fish would take a while to get confident enough to push on upstream towards us to be presented a hook bait.

 Over 3hrs we tried to get the fish further upstream to us and knew casting to them would push them away and after three hours we thought what have we got to lose as no fish committed, I cast down towards the fish and they immediately backed off for deeper cover, they did exactly what I thought they would, so we begrudgingly packed up and moved back on upstream. 

 As we made our way up I found Barbel in a couple locations and even though they were feeding they were very skittish and it wasn't until about 5hrs into the trip I finally got two fish feeding, one around 8lb the other a double figure fish from what I could tell, a big broad fish with good length. The bigger of the two fish continued to visit the sandy/gravel crease in front of me more than the slightly smaller fish, the time it took to get her really confident was too long for Dad as he opted to head back towards the car to rest his back, sitting down wasn't an option.

 Ten minutes later, you guessed it, she picked up the double 8mm pellet rig and shot off down stream leaving a trail sediment in her wake, it was a typically rip-roaring battle as I've come to expect, but amazingly when she finally gave up it looked bigger than the biggest at 10.6 that I had last month and the scales didn't disappoint, 10lb 10ozs - bloody awesome....the river record is only 11lb 5ozs, this fish could possibly do that come March if it packs some winter weight on. What a stunning specimen too, wowzer.

Everything a Barbel should be.

 Well there was no way I could top that fish, but I really wanted Dad to get one for his efforts, so I left that run and headed on back up to the car to persuade him to get back out on the bank. On the way up I did find another shoal of Barbel hanging just off a sand patch and my inability to ignore a Barbel kicked in, I rang Dad to let him know I was coming up to the car but not before I fed that shoal for half an hour, cast out, first cast bang on the money, 5 mins later the rod hooped round as I watched a decent Barbel puff out some sediment through its gills and shake its head to rid the hook...no no no, play nice now Mrs Barbel! 

 9lb 11oz:) not bloody bad at all, I love this kind of angling, LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION! The three most important words in Barbel fishing. 

 After releasing her I marched onward to the car and dragged Dad' arse back to the river and subsequently went on to have three takes, losing one and landing two of...

7lb 6oz

6lb 15oz

A mint little for me towards the end.

 A fitting end to a great trip!

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.

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!

End of Season Review.

 

 The 2024/25 season was certainly one of the quickest, I can not believe its over already but it was pretty good! 

 Highlights of the season are fewer than I would have hoped for along with only one new personal best set.

 My Spring angling was not easy but topped my Bream campaign with a 15lb 10oz specimen PB, I had a fair few doubles too in the aftermath but the 15lb barrier was always my target. 

 The summer seemed to come and go very quickly but the capture of my first 3lb river Rudd was most certainly the cherry on top, there was a couple of cracking back-ups too but barring that it wasn't until early September that things on the Barbel front kicked off.

 That trip up to the Nene in early September bought an end to a 6 trip drought when a 12lb 8oz torpedo slipped up as darkness fell amongst large swathes of cabbages where I found a gravel run which no doubt is used by the fish as a highway between areas, but the Barbel I had the following evening off the Soar was certainly not expected but sometimes thats how angling goes! 

 To be cradling a 12lb 9oz Soar Barbel was much more than I could have dreamt but as I said the angling universe works in strange ways. Rivers number 25 and 26 had been completed inside 24hrs!

 Next up was the Wye, a river that certainly gives up its fish, just not big ones, early October that all changed, when that rod went over around 10/11pm I knew it was a big fish, yes it only just made the cut but they all count! 10lb 1oz and river number 27 had been completed.

 For the majority of the autumn and winter I was on the tools and only fished a couple times, some nice Grayling were caught and Chub, it wasn't until recently on the Dorset Stour that I finally had another proper result when a day spent hunkered down in foul weather was rewarded, not only was it river number 28 completed but weighing 15lb 6ozs it was the 4th river I have had a 15lb+ Barbel off of, a figure I want to increase over the duration of this challenge as a sub-plot.

 And the STATS are in....

 Sessions - 20

 Blanks - 12

 Barbel Caught - 18

 Doubles - 4

 Mileage - 4120

 Only 20 sessions for Barbel in 9 months, now that is poultry! Next season I shall have to do more! and the majority of that was the Kentish Stour.

Not So Sweet 17....

 

 After my trip to the Dorset Stour on the Thursday I opted to head home for a good nights sleep and woke up on the Friday morning fresh and raring to go for river number 28 had been completed, could I do the unthinkable and finally make a trip to the Kentish Stour and catch a Barbel? 

Gnarly and foreboding, like my chances of a KS Barbel.

Liquid shit looks good on those branches.

Looks nice, without the liquid shit on the surface.

 Well, I didn't and not through the want of trying. I fed little bits to try and get fish to come up into my area but that didn't work, I sat in spots for 2-3hrs at a time to allow fish to find me but that didn't work, 4 swims and 10 hrs later I gave up, the river started to rise fairly quickly owing to a deluge of rain in the morning. 

Bored.com

 Cold water coming in after a mild spell and an increase of debris coming through is never a good time to target Barbel so I packed up and buggered off. As I got my gear to the top of the bank I knocked my bucket over and rolled down the hill where the lid flew off halfway down the hill....bait went everywhere...just great....no Barbel and lost around half a kilo of pellet and handful of boillees...I was done, the rats could have it. 

 Anyway, I had a great result on Thursday, the KS sucks!!!!! 17 trips now on this river...hmmmmm.

No, that's not a KS Barbel, but one day, I might get one.

Dorset Stour Double, That's A Wrap!!

 

 The stars align once again.

 They say with age comes wisdom and in this case that sentiment rings true. Weeks on end of cold nights and near frigid daytime temps had my Barbel challenge sidelined, in fact I've barely fished at all. However, once you have gained enough experience you know when the time is right and watching the 5-day forecast likes a hawk for weeks noticed that from Thursday the temps were due to shoot up owing to a nice stiff SW/S system sweeping the country, that could only mean one thing. Barbel!

 Constant water temps on the Dorset Stour of 4.5c to 6.5c (around 6 weeks) I knew any increase in air temp would translate to warmer river temps, I had to go! So late Wednesday evening I got the gear ready, loaded the car and at 0430 the following morning I was on my way down to Dorset, I just had to be there.

 I arrived to find no one else fishing which was bit of a surprise so had the choices of areas to target, but knew roughly where I wanted to go. I got myself set up with two static rods as the wind was pretty strong ( between 18-35mph ) and driving / horizontal rain all day, so trotting was out of the question as was rolling meat. I armed my two 1.75tc Drennan Barbel specialist rods and fished one with a big chunk of garlic luncheon meat and the other with the ever faithful 15mm source with loads of crushed boilee and a few 4mm pellet in PVA netting to create a scent trail to entice anything that fancied feeding.

 Roll on 6hrs, patience was starting to wear thin when I got a bite on the boilee rod which finally went which resulted in a 4lb+ Chub, that gave me confidence fish were beginning to feed, so I opted to stay put and started to increase my PVA contents to hopefully spur more fish into feeding, an hour later bite number two came along in the shape of a porky 5lb 2oz Chub, a nice fish and once again proved to me that there were feeding fish and all day the water temp continued to increase, 7.25c when I arrived by 1pm it was 8.8c, it all pointed in the right direction but those were my only two fish in the daylight hours, but if I was going to get a Barbel the hours of darkness I felt would be my best chance....

 Dusk came and went without incident, then around 7pm I got a couple of taps on the rod tip ( boilee rod ) that were out of sync with the wind whistling through and buffeting the rods, that peaked my interest and I remained vigilant, a minute later it did it again, this time my thoughts were that this fish was hooked and just sat there on the bottom totally unaware of its mistake, I picked up the rod and held it and felt the line where I felt a couple of subtle plucks, that was enough for me, I checked the clutch and bent into it, fish on!

 A heavy weight was immediately felt and a steady mid river battle ensued for 3/4 minutes before I got it on the surface, when I saw it my suspicions were confirmed, it was bloody huge! with that she bore back down to the bottom and continued a dogged battle, no frills, no erratic runs, just using its weight against the flow and knowing how big it was I took my time and allowed it to tick off line when it wanted, I wasn't going to rush this fish! 

 Around 8mins into the fight she came into full view again about 5ft out where I shipped the net out and my Dorset Stour quest had come to an climatic end, what a way to come to conclude my DS efforts, this was a big fish and when I lifted it up I honestly thought my personal best of 15.12 was in serious trouble!

River number 28 ✅ WOW.

 On the digitals she weighed an extremely pleasing 15lb 6ozs, alas my PB remained, for now. What a special fish caught in foul conditions but just had that gut feeling something was going to happen, that 230 mile round trip was well worth the effort, the early start, the rubbish conditions were all forgotten, this was special! 

 On to river number 29, can I reach that milestone of 30 completed rivers before mid-march arrives? I will give it everything I've got to make it happen.

 Video of the release -----) 15.6 Release

40 Rivers Challenge Update.

 

 As we have now amazingly crept into December already I have had a cursory glance back at what has so far been a pretty lean season in terms of fishing, Barbel included. 

 The first six weeks of the season I drifted between the rivers Blackwater, Nene, Bourne and Wye. Incredibly over those seven trips I only managed three Barbel with the Wye only producing one fish in what was a seriously disappointing period.

 The back end of July through to early September actually proved to be even more baron where not even a single Barbel hit the back of the net, that period of the season I do often find brilliant for sight fishing but this season was poor!.

 As September began I found myself back on the banks of the R.Nene for the seventh time and by the end of the day river number 25 of my challenge fell in the shape of a stunning 12lb 8oz specimen which bought closure to my time on what is a lovely river, the following day I tackled the R.Soar, a river many had told me would be a very difficult river to tackle and with good reason, but somehow I managed to unearth another nugget of luck and around 24hrs after my Nene success I had nestled in the net a rare Soar beast, she was a "dino soar"! weighing an extremely pleasing 12lb 9ozs.! 

 That result had me beaming from ear to ear, not that the Nene fish already had me on cloud nine. 

 My next two trips were to the R.Wye where I once again opted to try my luck and on the first trip I only had an afternoon's fishing where six hard fighting fish came to the net. However the following trip 4 weeks later concluded in a very different fashion! Well into darkness my rod hooped over after hours of inactivity and very quickly I knew it was a big fish. The power and determination of good Barbel in flood water is why you do have to step up the gear! 

 After 10 visits to the Wye equating to nearly 200hrs of angling ( mainly last winter ) I had achieved something on the Wye I hoped I would but didn't think I'd do it in 10 trips, a period of 5 years and 30-40 trips was more or less what I had assumed I'd need to achieve my target but am chuffed it came good!

 The magic number had been achieved, but only just, 10lb 1oz.

 Since that fish on the 3rd of October I have only been out once for Barbel and that was the other day on the Kentish Stour where the Barbel once again remained totally elusive.

 The stats so far this season read....

- Mileage : 2561

- Sessions : 14

- Blanks : 8

- Barbel : 14

- Doubles : 3

Doubles % to sessions : 21.42 (so far)

NO 25: R.Nene - 12.08

NO 26: R.Soar - 12.09

NO 27: R.Wye - 10.01

 

Barbel Society 2024.

 A few weeks back I had a slot at the annual Barbel Society Show which was held at Notts County Football Ground in the heart of Nottingham on the banks of the mighty Trent. I was asked early in the year if I wanted to take to the stage to waffle on about all things 40 Rivers Challenge.

 Yes, you guys here know all about it but many anglers out there on the banks of the rivers don't even realise that there forty rivers across England, Wales and Scotland that hold Barbel, let or lone double figure specimens! For me it's some of the unknowns or catching specimens from rivers that don't usually produce them or not rivers anglers would typically venture onto to target Barbel of any size.

A section of the seating that would become filled for the talkers.

 In every region there is a big river ( Thames, Trent, Severn, Wye, Ribble, Yorkshire Ouse or Hampshire Avon ) those rivers are quite well spread out and offering vast amounts of water to tackle with good heads of fish throughout of all sizes, so why would anglers target lesser know rivers and areas when "easier angling" is available. That's one of the reasons I really love this journey so far, it has taken me to many different places, from urban settings like the Tame, Wandle and soon to be the Aire to paradises like the Wye, Hants Avon and Wharfe. 

 Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder but for me natural settings do it for me but once again, the rough and ready areas need the attention too. These are some of the things I touched on during my talk and for my first effort I think I did okay but I was nervous and was all totally off the cuff, I was supposed to write up some bullet points and expand upon those, but went out for curry and beers instead :) 

 My challenge has just restarted with a visit to the Blackwater which I will touch on shortly.

 I hope you enjoy the video, 37 mins of your life you won't get back but it's possibly better than the drivel on TV nowadays.... I hope you enjoy and possibly find something of benefit.

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Barbel Society "My Chat".