Looking Back on 2023.

 

2023, where did it go? It seemed to fly by.

Looking back on it I think it was a successful year, plenty of blanking endured as a majority of my angling was focused on Barbel and trying to put a dent in the 40 Rivers Challenge.

January, I continued my year long run of blanks on the Loddon for a Barbel but the Kennet was a lot kinder to me with the 18th river chalked off my challenge in the shape of a hard fighting 11lb 12oz specimen at last knockings on my first ever visit to the river. Total of 3 trips across the month.

February heralded a new chapter in my angling when Drennan contacted me as to whether I'd like to join their specialist team, I of course said yes! Who wouldn't?. Fishing wise I blanked on the Ribble and grafted for a 7lb Tame Barbel over a 3 day period. Total of 2 trips across the month.

March is always an odd month with just a couple weeks left on the river, the Itchen was true to form and held out on me with nothing to show for my 194mile round trip, but the Grayling fishing on the Wylye was superb with my haul topped by a 2lb 11oz specimen. The Chub fishing was good too but nothing over 6lb was had. Total of 4 trips across the month.

In April I only fished once as work was super busy and I thought it was going to be a car crash as the Bream simply weren't in my area on a big reservoir, on my way home I swung by a canal with the stalking gear and tempted a beautiful 24lb 1oz mirror off the top.

Again, May was a very lean month fishing wise as I only headed out once with work touted as the excuse for not getting out but did have a return for reservoir Bream and this time was more successful, a brace of 12's was my reward for ringing in the changes.

June I started the season with Rudd as I always do and was a brilliant trip out with my mate Brian. With plenty fish caught it wasn't until I slipped the net under a 2lb 11oz river Rudd that I felt truly satisfied, it was wonderful to see and hold and my best off a river ever! But that wasn't the only good fish I had in June as I finally located and banked a river Loddon double, a thick set powerhouse which tipped the scales to 10lb 7oz which represented river number 19 being completed on my challenge, what a finish to the month. 3 trips out.

July saw me get out a bit more and a few after work trips to the ColnBrook which were mainly blanks did result in another Barbel albeit a long way short of my 10lb+ target. Another trip to the Fens was a success with a few good Rudd to just over 2lb. I did return to the Wye and upped my rivers PB to 8.4 but know there's some way to go. 6 trips out.

August is usually a good month for me and it was no different this year, 3 blank days on the Nene were followed up by a Blackwater 9.1 which was great to see, I am certainly in the right area. The last week of the month proved to be incredible. A family holiday to the Lake District gave me a great excuse to pack a bit of gear as the Ribble was only 40min down the M6, within in an hour on my second ever visit I landed a 10lb 13oz fish, river number 20 done! The following Sunday I was on the banks of the rock hard Sussex Rother, this time however I got it right and after an epic battle I clapped eyes on my Rother double! 12lb 10oz and river number 21 complete! That was a tough one. 6 trips out.

September turned out to be very busy with work so I didn't have much time out on the bank, but what time I did have out I took full advantage of as I finally chalked off the ColnBrook which had been a thorn in my side (3 seasons much like a few other rivers) a solid 11lb 5oz Barbel lay on the mat in its full glory! River 22, done! I revisited the Thames for a chat up with my mate Richard and managed 3 Barbel to 10.9 which was nice. 2 trips out.

October saw a total of 3 trips for Barbel and 3 blanks, but it was a PB Perch that was the highlight of the month, at 3lb 13oz it beat a long standing best of mine and a fish I've wanted to catch for years. A 4lber next on my radar!

November see me buzzing around the Severn and Wye as I looked to turn the screw on both, two rivers I know doubles are possible and nearly achieved it on the Wye (9lb 10oz) and did it on the Severn with a 10lb 7oz hard fighting lower Severn Barbel. River number 23 completed! It wasn't just Barbel I targeted, the Grayling also got a day of my attention and had numerous fish over 2lbs topped with a fish of 2lb 8oz. 7 trips out in total.

December has been a washout for the most part and two trips to the Itchen have resulted in blanks as has a trip to the Blackwater. I've certainly got around this season when I've had a chance to go fishing and to have caught double figure Barbel off of 23 different rivers so far is crazy to think, it has been tough but glad I have chosen such a challenge, I'm getting to see so much of the British Isles because of it and soon I'll be planning a trip to tackle the River Clyde as a Scottish double is also on my wanted list. 5 trips out in total.

Happy New Year to you all, I hope 2024 is a kind and prosperous year. 

Bourne to Blank.

 

 That late August / early September glut is a distant memory now and used to reassure myself I am actually capable of catching Barbel, ordinarily things do get tougher this time of the year but I am still very happy to try. 

 With the Bourne being one of the last "local" rivers left for me to chalk off I've dropped on there a few times this season, hoping to cross paths with a Barbel which is something I've not seen in over two years of trying, my first and last Barbel came in August 2021 and was on my first attempt, I've since realised that that was a classic case of beginners luck because since then I have drawn a Barbel blank which spans 7 visits over 2 years.

 Last night I hoped that would change. I arrived late afternoon and immediately took a temp reading which settled on 10.2c, for me that is still less than ideal but Barbel will be caught if I could only find them. The river was still up really high, which did mean I could fish it but the flow was so quick it limited my options as to where I could fish, slack water really is hard to find on this river owing to its course, which is quite straight for large sections with a couple sharp bends thrown in for good measure.     

A couple of shots from my previous

 My first swim was a dud, 45min spent in there without a touch but the next swim about 40 yards upstream looked promising as I received a couple of half-hearted touches before the pulling began, nothing savage which suggested an Eel had found my bait, a couple of minutes later that Eel finally came back for the bait and had it away, about a pound n half it wasn't small but not what I was after, it was clear though that something was feeding, I drew a little confidence from that and continued to fish in the remaining slacks.

A typical floodwater bait, big and bold!

 Unfortunately for me that was all I could find, or that's all that found me! Another blank on the Bourne, something that I am expecting everytime I fish it now, that 7lb 8oz Barbel I had over two years seems to be one of just a small handful of fish that call the river home although I do know doubles do come out and seen photographic evidence that they exist with some being resident fish and some transient fish that have entered the river from the Thames when it's in severe flood. 

 I will just have to keep going, the journey there and back isn't terrible and it's a lovely little river to spend some time on, prospecting, hoping something will finally happen!

Another Season on the Bank.

 

 Well what can I say about the 2021/22 season. It was bloody brilliant, lots of lows but amongst those lows I caught some big fish to really keep me focused and well and truly on track with my target for a double figure Barbel off of forty rivers across England, Wales and Scotland. So here is how it panned out!

 May:

 I only fished once in April so there wasn't much to write about there and May wasn't too different, a single trip out in search of Golden Orfe and Tench resulted in a success on both fronts, a cold spring did make fishing difficult on the day but did finally come good.

A nice G.Orfe, but not what the lake used to produce.

7lb 7oz

 June:

 

 Again it was a very lean time for me fishing wise as the birth of my second child meant I was helping out at home and being Dad, I did manage two trips (1x Medway and 1x Mole) but these resulted in blanks.

 

 2 trips / 2 blanks / 6hrs / 0 Barbel / 0 Doubles.

 July:

 I found time slightly easier come by on the bank as I was back to work, this gave me the opportunity to fish a bit on my way home and did start to have some successes, two of the six rivers I had fished in the month of July produced double figure fish for me in the shape of these below. Apart from that I had the odd Chub too and three smaller Barbel to 8.13.

R.Colne 11.07

R.Medway 13.09

 11 trips / 7 blanks / 40hrs / 5 Barbel / 2 Doubles.

 August:

 Again, in August I found myself getting about quite a bit with most of my trips being conducted after work, but I did also manage a superb road trip up north where I struck gold on multiple fronts. Nothing could have prepared me for the achievement I was to receive. A tough start on the Mole did come good on the sixth time of asking with a stunning double figure Barbel slipping over the rim of the net, I also rocked up on the R.Derwent, having never been there before and had a red-letter-day to rival all!

R.Mole 12.10

R.Derwent 13.13

PB Chub 7.04!!! EPIC.

 Trips 12 / Blanks 8 / 51.5hrs / 4 Barbel / 2 Doubles.

 September:

 

 This was yet another lean month for me and considering its possibly the best month of the season to target Barbel I simply couldn't get away from work and family matters, which in the grand scheme of things is more important, said no angler, ever! When I did get out I had some successes on the river Lea and Nene, but most notably was my incredible capture of a R.Ivel Barbel and a double at that. A river touted by many as a river in serious decline over the last decade through varying factors, it only took me 11 hours in total to manage the feat...child's play this Barbel lark :). Plus I also managed a big Kentish Stour Chub of 6.01 whilst rolling meat for Barbel, quite a turn up as that's a huge fish for the river.

A big girl for the KS!

R.Nene 8.07 (not a double but a great start)

R.Ivel 10.14 (A fish I thought would take me years to catch)

 6 Trips / 3 Blanks / 35.5hrs / 6 Barbel / 1 Double.

 October:

 A few trips were made through October and I had high hopes for a couple of the trips, however things were starting to go against me as I found conditions weren't in my favour and was missing the good conditions to be on the bank, I was quickly finding out that learning new rivers in the cooler months was hard going as I found it difficult to locate and stalk fish/potential areas. This will be a recurring theme I'm sure and ended the month Barbel-less, in fact the only fish I did catch were off of a R.Test tributary in the shape of some beautiful Grayling to just over 2lbs.

The best of a dozen taken on the float.

 

 6 Trips / 6 Blanks / 37.5hrs / 0 Barbel / 0 Doubles.

 November:

 My Barbel fishing by this point had taken bit of a nosedive and given the cold crisp conditions I sought out other species to target and although I did try on the odd occasions for Barbel it was the Grayling fishing that proved most fruitful. Two trips to the splendid R.Wylye in Wiltshire provided some of, if not the best Grayling fishing I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Numerous two-pound plus specimens were caught whilst trotting with the best in November weighing 2lb 7oz. I did also manage a stonker of a R.Colnbrook Chub too weighing a massive 6lb 6oz which was taken whilst in search of the elusive Barbel that do call this river home, not that I can catch them!

R.Wylye 2lb 7oz.

R.Colnbrook breezeblock, 6.06

 4 Trips / 4 Blanks / 29hrs / 0 Barbel / 0 Doubles.

 December:

 Just two Barbel trips were embarked upon in the last month of the year and given how poor my previous couple of months were for the species I didn't hold out much hope, but what do you know! A mild spell just before new year produced a super looking R.Lea powerhouse which bought an end to my mini drought, but also my time on the river which to be fair had been tough, well earned and one of the hard ones taken care of. Also as the weather got colder I fancied a go for some river pike and was rewarded with a superb mornings sport, two Pike were landed but both well worth catching with the best just missing out on twenty pounds.

R.Lea 10.05

19lb 9oz river Pike in the winter morning sun.

 2 Trips / 1 Blank / 17hrs / 1 Barbel / 1 double.

 January:

 A month of almost seemingly endless frosty mornings, could only mean one thing, Grayling! A return to the R.Wylye produced my best ever days sport for the species and taking no less than 7x 2lb+ fish to 2lb 9oz, quite a day it was. The Itchen was also on my radar and although the Grayling didn't show for me in numbers the Roach put in a surprise appearance and managed a few to just under 2lbs.

R.Wylye 2.09 - (2nd best ever)

R.Itchen 1.14

 0 Trips / 0 hrs / 0 Barbel / 0 Doubles.

 February:

 A couple of trips out for Barbel were had, one on the R.Severn and one on the Colnbrook as I hoped with the slight increase in river temps would begin to stir the Barbel into feeding. That didn't happen. All I can remember was an expensive night trying to get out of a field....

 2 Trips / 11.5 hrs / 0 Barbel / 0 Doubles.

 March:

 At the turn of the year I had my sights firmly set on having a 7-10 day assault on the rivers towards the back end of the season to try and find myself another river double to boost my tally even further, and it could not have started any better as I joined friend and fellow blogger George for a morning (wasn't planned this way) on the Warks Avon to target a Barbel, I left the river at 1pm having not only bagged a monster Chub for the river, but also a big Barbel too. The blanks that had mounted up were all but forgotten, it was a brilliant mornings fishing and to share it with George was wonderful! 

 I then went on to fish the R.Severn, R.Bourne, R.Dorset Stour, R.Itchen all with the view to maybe adding one last fish to that now very impressive list, much to my dismay however I drew almost a complete blank on all of those barring a few modest Chub. It wasn't until the penultimate evening on the R.Wey that I got a chance to wrap up the season with a bang, that said the Barbel I hooked had no inclination to stick around and after a brief battle a large unseen fish smashed me up in a nearside tree, thankfully for me whilst still cursing my rotten luck and thinking of drowning my sorrows did my rod hoop over again to produce another double figure Barbel, I got that grandstand finish I had dreamt of. It was not the way I planned it, but when does it ever go to plan aye? What an end! Eight different rivers chalked off my list in just this season alone, which now brings me up to 13 rivers out of my overall target of 40. Can I reach 20 and the half way point by the end of next season? That will be my target.

R.Warks Avon 12.06

R.Warks Avon 6.03

R.Wey 10.04

 9 Trips / 75.5hrs / 2 Barbel / 2 Doubles. 

Running Out of Time.

 

 Its been a trip that was well overdue, the Dorset Stour and an Itchen return were finally back in my plans and with an upturn in conditions it was hopefully going to be a successful trip which I was making with Brian (of Pike Blog)...3 days of bog talk and blanking was in-store for us both!

 We started on the Dorset Stour as conditions were on the up after a cold spell that would have meant sluggish sport, within an hour of fishing on the float I had conjured up 4 bites, losing one that was a good Chub in the six pound bracket, missing one and landing two. Not the Barbel I was after but fish all the same, Brian set about Piking and had some success with the Jack's but the big girls eluded him on day one.

 My sleeper rod during the day showed little signs of life and as the sun set and the night sky provided wonderment I hoped that dark would give the Barbel more confidence and setup using one rod on the meat and the other with boilie and paste. Within a couple of hours the tentative knocks began and soon enough a fish hung itself, unfortunately for me it was a Bream of 7lb+ not what I was after but a fish I guess. 

Settled in for the evening/night session.

 The next bite didn't come until 0430, for me that was a bad time as I was having a little snooze and the rod melted off, in a daze I got to the rod but the culprit had dropped the bait and I struck thin air...bummer! Moral of that story is don't snooze, it'll happen then.

Into action!

Eat like Kings!

 The next morning we awoke to a freezing cold morning that I slept outside in cozy in my suit wedged into my chair, my feet like blocks of ice, fingers immoveable, I needed some early morning sport! I suspect overnight the temps dropped to about 0c and I really felt it. Because of that the sport on the wednesday was pretty sluggish and apart from three average sized Chub I could not make anything happen. A change of section would hopefully breath new life into the trip for us both, unfortunately this wasn't to happen for me as my only enquiry over 6 hours was a very attentive Eel that kept coming back for my ledgered meat, and after an hour I gave up and we made the drive down to Southampton to fish the Itchen where I hoped to find a large Barbel to check off this river that has been very tough and having packed up the following morning we were Bourne bound...

One last hurrah, before heading off to the Itchen.

....quite the marathon, but yet again, I remained Barbelless and firmly with my tail between my legs I reluctantly called it a day, three days, two nights with very very little to show for my efforts. Maybe another time aye!

Finding My Feet on the R.Itchen, R.ColnBrook & R.Bourne.

 

 As my quest takes me on to my 9th river the net is being cast just that little bit more as I learn the likes of the ColnBrook, Bourne whilst continuing my quest on the Itchen and Kentish Stour. Setting about fishing each of these rivers has their own little challenges, the ColnBrook remains to be a tough nut to crack, having now fished it three times I'm yet to catch a fish and on my first visit I spotted three Barbel, from that moment I thought a double maybe on the cards and catching a Barbel quite likely, that hasn't been the case and the aforementioned Barbel have vanished.

 My first trip to the Bourne was probably not in the best of conditions as it was chocolate brown and typically runs like tap water, the purpose of this visit was first of all to see how the stretch looked and whether it held the capabilities of A; producing Barbel and B; producing double figure Barbel, after all that is the benchmark for each river on my challenge. So I didn't get to see the river properly but have earmarked a revisit in better stalking conditions and hopefully give me the opportunity to see something worth targeting.

 As for the Itchen, it still continues to make me work very hard, with a single Bream to my name in 4 visits since October last year, yes its not a lot of trips, I still feel given the conditions I've fished in that I'd have had more than just one fish. At one point on Friday night I did have a very good bite that I thought would have resulted in a fish, instead it was a fresh air hit and that was the only action for me. I will be back down in a week or two once I get back from a family holibobs.

 Here are some images of the rivers I have begun to frequent, most not well know at all, the Itchen possibly alot better known amongst the Barbel angling fraternity. Achieving river number 9 I hope is just around the corner. Funny feeling it will be the ColnBrook but yet to find a fish even close to magic 10lb mark.

Typical areas on R.Bourne

Ditto

Ditto, hoping for a 3ft twitch.

Dusk settling in over Surrey.

A view experienced by many Barbel anglers.

Sunrise over the Itchen

Shallow runs with cover on the R.ColnBrook.

Lovely gravel runs but no Barbel.

Although there is alot of hiding places!

Some really pretty, but choked parts.