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!!

River Severn Double, That's A Wrap!!

 

 Success on this river has taken some time and in time I knew it would come, 300-mile round trip and 5hrs of driving makes it one of my less local of venues but it provides me with a better chance of a double over the tougher and lesser stocked venues like the Kentish Stour and the Arun for example. 

 I had about 24hrs to fish as a cold northern front was due to settle in from Friday evening and the sudden drop may affect the fishing through Saturday. A water temp of 11.3c upon arrival had me feeling quite confident of fish. Still pushing hard and up around 4/5ft but falling I thought it was just a case of finding fish and the rest would follow suit. Once I was set up and fishing I got to making some scran for myself which was bloody lovely. 

Not a bad view for the night.

Maple glazed chops and rice 😍

 The hours rolled by without a sniff and a move around 10pm didn't yield anything until I got to sleep when I got a tentative pull on the rod which sounded the Delkim, I was up and ready but nothing happened so I lay there star gazing and watching on as the shooting stars came across the sky by the dozen.

 Finally at 0315 I got what I was waiting for, the rod hooped over and I found myself rushing out the bivvy to lift into what felt a decent fish in the strong flow where we fought for a few minutes before landing my first Barbel of the trip, not a big one but nice to see.

8lb 7oz, Severn best at the time.

 

 Once the rod went back out I nipped back into my shelter and had to wait an hour for the next enquiry which came by way of a pretty docile nod of the tip and gentle peeling of line, this had to be a Barbel, totally unaware it was hooked! I lifted the rod and the fish was heavy but couldn't really gauge much from it, that was until I cranked it up to the surface in the torchlight, thats when my knees went, it was big and certainly a Severn double, by some considerable margin ( I estimated around 12/13lbs ) when on the third lunge for freedom turned to disaster, for it found something submerged not far off the bank, it didn't find it the first time around but this time it did and within seconds my 6oz lead came flying out the water, the fish had broke me off around 3 inches from the hook, I was fuming beyond belief, I was seconds from landing it, the net was out and ready, this was most likely its last lunge I could not believe it.

 I got that rod set up and back out in the spot that had now done two bites, I hoped for more action. Unfortunately for me that did not happen and dawn came and went without another touch. I had planned to move stretch so I went along with that plan. I set myself up and got my first rod out before putting a lump of meat on the other rod when out of nothing my rod that I had just put out starting lurching to the river and line peeling off the spool! I couldn't believe how quick that was!

 I wasn't ready, the net weren't even set up but its so easy to pop the arms in on the new 36" specialist net that I could do it with one hand and jam the pole between my legs. The fight didn't last long and very quickly the body of a substantial Barbel broke the surface, I thought to myself that's going to be close but when I lifted it out the water I felt quietly confident I had achieved what I'd set out to do and this one wasn't escaping at the very last moment.

 

Pristine lower Severn double.

River No: 23 completed 😎

 It took a few trips, mainly staring at motionless tips or blank rolls with the meat. It all finally came good and exercised those demons from what transpired overnight, a solid framed Barbel which weighed on the right side of ten pounds at 10lb 7oz! That will do nicely indeed.

 Release video of that Barbel just here 👉👉👉 Release Vid'

 I breathed a massive sigh of relief to have caught that fish and instead of packing down I decided to stick around and see if I could add to the tally of two fish and although the tip did go around again it was only with a modest Chub which was all I conjured up before leaving around 5pm. Job done, that will do me and maybe my last trip for Barbel this year unless conditions are too good to ignore.

At 6pm it was -1c and the frost had settled on the car.
This time I was successful.

Lights, Camera, Action.

 

 Leading on from a couple of short and unsuccessful visits to the R.Blackwater and R.Bourne I set my sights on filling my boots on the picturesque R.Wye for a couple of days in front of the cameras. The boys at Drennan were on the banks with me doing a few bits which mostly required me to catch copious amounts of Barbel.

 Once Brian and I had arrived I set about familiarising myself with the cameras and what was expected of me and very quickly I was leant into a couple of fish, first of all a Chub decided to show its face but very quickly a typical three-foot twitch had me reaching for my rod as a Barbel shot out into the powerful flow.

 Action was fairly consistent for around 2hrs with bites coming frequently, by the time the swim died I had managed a few Barbel to mid-7lb and lots of Chub. From that point on I opted to move around and fish various good looking slacks and creases as fishing the main flow was not easy owing to the extra 3-4ft that was tanking through the valley. The odd Barbel and Chub slipped up as I made my way up and down the river but was unable to fish one or two of the known areas properly given the floodwater.

 As night fell I had a brief flurry of Barbel activity with three coming to the net in 20mins, again the best was exactly 7lbs, it was the Barbel laden day I hoped it would be. 10 Barbel in quite tough conditions on the first day for the cameras wasn't too bad at all I felt.

 Friday morning came and I fished for a couple of hours, drifting between swims and started off the day with three Barbel to 7.12 before the Chub got ravenous once again. Around 11am I started to do some camera work, so that was more time away from the rods and when I did get back to fishing the sport was really really slow, even Chub became difficult to catch and the day ended up a damp squib. Once again, the conditions were against me, 13 Barbel to 7.12 and 5.2 trillion Chub came to the net, and on dark Brian and I waved goodbye to the R.Wye and hello to the R.Severn as we continued our short tour of the west.

River-Keeper George looking on.

Another Wye snaffler.

 A night on the Severn around Upton was in order and although I fished all night, sat behind the rods I had very little action but for three Bream which the best weighed 8lb 2oz, a respectable weight, just not a Barbel, come 7am I still hadn't managed a Barbel and it was now time to move on to the next section of the river to try my hand there instead. 

 A short 6min drive up river bought us to a section of river I've fished twice previously which both times it was in flood, first time around 6ft up, the second about 26ft up!! the fields as you come down towards the river resembled more of an inland sea rather than meadows / grassy fields. At least on Saturday (3 weeks back now) the river was well within its banks, I just needed to find a Barbel! 

 The hours ticked by with very little incident, the faintest of touches occasionally getting my blood pumping before sitting back down to watch motionless tips once again, it wasn't all doom and gloom however as Brian continued his hot streak, landing something special, those details I shall leave it for the man himself to reveal, I however spent the day wishing to catch something akin to that, unfortunately for me even the best time of the day came and went without as much as a tickle.

 My purple patch has officially ended, next up is a trip to the R.Itchen where I hope to rediscover some form, I would really love to chalk off another double soon, keep the run going before the cold weather comes in and I look to move away from my fixation on the Barbel front. ***EDIT: I also blanked there too...***

 Until next time, tight lines and don't fall in, water is definitely feeling cooler already.

New Gear and Preparing For My Wye/Severn Trip.

 

 Its all starting to get a little bit exciting now as Friday is getting just that little bit closer!, a trip over to the River Wye to begin with, then hopefully moving on to the Severn to bag a few fish with a double figure Barbel of course being the main target. 

 I head to the rivers aiming to get river number 15 signed off on my challenge and maybe even more than that if I get very fortunate, I have also had Barbel off of 21 different rivers and the Wye isn't one of them having never tried my hand on the Barbel mecca.

 Preparations have already begun and around 20 rigs have been tied, some 10-12 inch, some 18-24 inch to hopefully cater for the different scenarios I may find myself in and with the rivers being snaggy, more notably the Wye with the rocks/boulders I needed a fair few as back up.

 For the terminal tackle I've gone with 15lb Flourocarbon (Kryston - Incognito) as river conditions continue to be low and clear, so giving myself that edge of near invisibility may be the difference between confident feeding and fish approaching very cautiously, I want as many fish as possible as the numbers game on these rivers needs to be played unless I get really lucky, which is not beyond the realms of possibility.

A snap from my previous visit to the Severn.

 The remainder of the gear is my usual go to's, strong pattern of hook in size 8 and 6, with size 8 swivels and fishing predominately on the hair but will also roll meat where the conditions allow. 

 For a number of years I have wanted to get myself one of these centrepins and finally decided to treat myself, the Purist II by J W Young & Sons Ltd is up there with the very best and have bit the bullet and bought one, its first outing will most likely be the Wye/Severn trip, but can I christen it with a beast? Only time will tell.

It spins forever! I can't wait to use it.

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. 

Warwickshire Avon Double, That's A Wrap!!!

  As we approach the final throws of the 2021/22 season I am almost at a point in time when I reflect on what I have achieved over the past twelve months and on the Barbel front it has been a real mix of highs and lows, tough blanks on certain rivers and total elation on others, it has been brilliant overall and if you had told me I would have caught double figure Barbel from six different rivers this season to put me on 11 out of 40 I'd bitten your arm off for that. 

 So, I have had an eye on the last week of the season for a proper blow-out and see if I could potentially add another fish to my challenge and having looked at my options, the current forecast I thought that the Warks Avon would be in good nick and a few messages with George Burton of Float, flight and Flannel over the course of the week we decided on a visit on Saturday and I could not wait as it was to be my first ever visit to the river and it couldn't come quick enough.

 2hrs up to the midlands was chalked off and finally I was bank-side with George and after a leisurely chat and set-up I got the static rod out which was rigged up using a 2oz gripper lead to keep my rather basic rig in position in the main flow, the rig consisted of a size 6 Korda wide gape XX hook, tied to 12lb Fox Illusion (1.5ft length) and a size 8 swivel, the bait was a lump of Spam and a PVA bag with small cubes of meat to hopefully create a large scent trail and try to woo a Barbel into feeding at some point during the day. 

 With the other rod I decided to roll meat and work the area immediately upstream and run it down towards my static bait, on my first couple of rolls nothing materialised but that all changed on the next roll when half way down I got a swift bang on my finger but not enough on it to connect with, too quick! I followed the roll through with no return and the next run through halfway I had to throw the rod into the bush as my static rod double tapped and then slammed around with a peeling clutch! I was on it in a flash and instantly I knew it was a good Barbel. In the deep water I played the fish slowly and giving it what it wanted within reason, my legs were wobbling all over the gaff and my heart rate doubled as I was trying to picture what it might be on the other end, I knew what I wanted to be, but was I going to get that lucky?

 Then she surfaced like a breaching submarine, at that moment I knew I was connected with my target fish, as quickly as she appeared out of the murk she vanished again, nicking 25 yards of line off the spool in no time at all and I had to slacken off the clutch quickly as I could have lost her such was the power of the run which she actually made twice before the signs of tiredness began to show, I was impressed by the power and even more impressed when I saw her lying in the bottom of my net! I knew she was a double so I called George to come and have a look, to which I was met by surprise! I was warned that it could be a long day or two.....51 minutes is all it took. Incredible how sometimes those golden plums shine when so often I'm kicked in them.

 George did the honours with the photographs and we weighed her at 12lb 6ozs, a Warks Avon double within an hour of starting my quest on the river and river number 12 of my challenge completed, I was stunned and what a beautiful Barbel she was too!

Fin perfect winter double.

 If Carlsberg did trips on the WA!.....Well, to be quite frank, it got even better with what happened next.

 Relatively speaking this capture is bigger than the Barbel in terms of the river, rather a personal achievement.

 Half an hour roughly after releasing that superb Barbel I had another take on the static rod and a powerful fish quickly lunged downstream taking a fair bit of line, straight away I thought Barbel, plenty of power and stayed middle of the river hanging low to the bottom, so after about 2 mins you could imagine my face when I saw a large Chub surface and roll straight back down to the bottom, this fish clearly didn't read the "How to fight like a Chub" book! 

 Sure enough after another minute or so I was calling George again to come and have a look at a 6lb 3ozs Chub that by Warks Avon standards is massive! I couldn't quite believe the morning I was having, George was speechless and knowing how rare these are here I felt honoured to have fluked it out!

EPIC!

 

 That was not in the script and to be fair, nor was the Barbel, having been filled in with the details as to how difficult the river can be I guess all the struggles I've had this was a reward for sticking with the fishing in less than favourable conditions over the winter.

 That was not expected and by midday George left to attend to matters elsewhere so I took the opportunity to drive out to the Severn and look to continue my run of form that I was clearly on, a quick 45 min drive saw me driving through the Worcestershire countryside and my first sight of the river was about half mile from the river itself, the road leading down to the actual watercourse was marooned by floodwater, quite a sight and it wasn't long ago when the river wasn't fishable as it started up at the main road! Thankfully for me it was nearly back within its banks although pushing really hard I opted to fish the slacks.

 I decided to drop straight into a peg with a large inside slack and where my 4oz feeders could hold bottom, amazingly even on the crease 7oz gripper was swept straight into margins, it was running hard and fast, that however didn't bother me, it was the water temp that didn't fill me with any confidence at a measly sub 6c, but having made the effort I stuck it out until kicking off time without a tap ( I wasn't surprised ) so I weighed up my options and in the end decided to back east to the River Bourne where I have heard of the odd recent rumour of big Barbel smashing Roach anglers up, it was time for me to improve upon my summer 7lb 8ozs Barbel and get something bigger.

Nearly time!

Prime time!

 I arrived after a 97mile journey across Worcestershire, Wiltshire, Hampshire and into Surrey to find a very pacy river and carrying lots of colour still after recent rains, again, much like the Severn it was the water temp that I was a little concerned at which measured 6.1c, not ideal but I suspect its been that for sometime and hoped given my recently acquired knowledge of the river that I'd get some action, then three hours slipped by without incident and had decided to save the peg I thought would produce until last thinking I would come across something, unfortunately I got to 0130 and decided it wasn't going to happen so I buggered off home, cutting my trip a day short as I planned to be out until Sunday evening, oh well, I chalked off another river and could not have been happier with my start to the last week of the season.