Chalkstream Winter Barbel.

 

 Given the current colder temps and poor conditions my angling has been pretty limited, the times I have been out is just down the local to see if I could find a Barbel to feed in the frigid waters. My first short trip I met up with Ade Busby after work and we chatted whilst trying different swims in search of Barbel and to be fair whatever else fancied munching.

 Not too long into the session I got a very tentative tap on the rod tip and fishing meat in this conditions can often pick up a fish out of nowhere and it would prove to be the case, a few minutes later I got another gentle tap and this time I wasn't going to wait, I gently lifted the rod to which I was met with the force of a fish bearing downstream, surely it was a Barbel and as the fight played out any suspicion of a chub was quickly extinguished. Not long after a skinny winter barbel in post spawning condition was resting up in the net. 

 With dusk closing in on us we both made the decision to carrying on checking out pegs, prospecting for another fish. Third swim in we both got a bait out and settled down to give it twenty minutes and with me being impatient to get a bait out I rested my rod on an arm of some brambles whilst I got my bankstick into the stony ground and noticed out the corner of my eye the bramble arm move, either the rod slipped a bit down the arm or it was a bite! 

 Intrigued by that potential action I picked up the rod and felt the line, sure enough I could feel a slight tightening of the line on my finger, without needing a second invitation to the party I struck and once again was met with the force of a good fish making its way across the river into the faster flow, this fish certainly felt a bit better.

 Once safely in the net it was clear that it was a nice fish and at 7lb 10oz it was a worthy prize for any cold winters day. As the evening wore on and dusk had long gone Ade was soon into a nice fish himself which gave a great account of itself in the deeper water. I think it was fair to say it was a success.

 A couple days later after that trip out with Ade I popped out again. Once I had dropped off the kids to school I opted to get back down the river for a bit more action on the float and rolling meat, unfortunately for me the forecast wasn't pleasant and had to endure lots of rain, thankfully the river didn't respond too much to it and still caught, much the same as the previous trip I had some great sport with the Barbel catching another 3 all on the float and pin with a bread accounting for two of them. They weighed 7.02, 6.10 and the smaller one below which is the only one I could get a pic of as the rain was sideways for the other two, all in all a good couple of short trips, pretty much after I had that third Barbel it was time to pack up and head back to collect the children. Not bad use of little windows of opportunity.

Summer Barbel on the Pin.

 

 After a busy day at work I had two options once I'd finished with my last client, either go home or have a go for a Barbel or two on the way home. With the thick cloud overhead and cooler temps over the last couple days I opted for the latter and glad I did.

Real jungle warfare, great conditions for stalking.

 Three quarters of a loaf to use I opted to fish dead simple, a size 8 ESP cryogen hook and a single AAA shot when needed and trundled the flake to fish I could see or in runs I expected Barbel to be and was not disappointed. 2hrs later I had ended my short visit with five Barbel with the best weighing 8lb 11oz and in fantastic condition, the others were between the 3-5lb mark, all gave great scraps on the light gear.

Chalkstream Barbel at their finest.

 That was fun and a nice little teaser on local pastures before I restart my Barbel Challenge as I look to chalk off river number 25. The Kentish Stour or Arun will hopefully get a bit of attention soon once the weather becomes favourable and time becomes available.

Season Review 2023/24.

 

 Well, that was fun! I managed to get quite a bit of angling done over the last 12 months, as you could probably imagine alot of it was in pursuit of Barbel as I looked to reach 23 completed rivers for my challenge. I'm happy to say that I managed to surpass that initial target and settled on 24 completed rivers by the close of play.

 It wasn't all Barbel though and here are a few of my highlights.

Kicked it off with a brace of big Bream.

Then a big river Rudd!

No: 19 - Finally a Loddon double, 10.7 YEAHHH

No: 20 - A Ribble Ripper! 10.13 

No: 21 - Sunset Sussex Rother gem, 12.10 

No: 22 - ColnBrook mirage, rare beasts, 11.5

No: 23 - Severn (lower) powerhouse, 10.7

My only PB of the season, 3lb 13oz Perch, woah!!

No: 24 - My Itchen monster, 15.2 (season best).

Best Grayling of the winter, 2.8

River Thames Double, That's A Wrap!!

 

 Well well well, this purple patch just keeps going! I think the superlatives have run dry by this point, need some blanks to reset and no, this is not a spoof!

 I shall start with the beginning, that would be helpful I guess. 

 A month or so ago a friend of mine, Rich, proposed that we meet up at some point for a bash at the Thames, it's a river I fished a lot as youngster. Barbel came up sporadically when targeting the Carp over night and managed some good fish over those years of carefree youth, my best was caught back in January 2013 weighing in at 11lb 9oz. 

 That eleven pounder was the last Barbel I caught off the Thames and remained my best until the present day. I thought the invite to the Thames would be a good excuse to put a rod out and see what the night might bring. 

 I loaded the car with my work and fishing gear, ready for a long day ahead. Working in Putney it wasn't a particularly long drive to the Thames but issues on the M25 meant the surrounding routes were suffering as a result so I spent over an hour picking my way through the tailbacks before finally arriving at the river 2hrs late. 

 Upon first glance the river looked in fantastic condition given the heavy rain we had endured for the previous 4/5 days. I must admit, I felt quite confident that one of us would catch a Barbel, but first, I needed feeding so off to the chippy I went. 

 After polishing off the grub I set about creating a decent area of feed and loaded my 6oz feeder with 2&6mm pellet, along with a large bag of PVA'd pellets, knowing this area of the Thames I knew I wanted to get the Bream grubbing around as I know the Barbel mill around with them. Pretty quickly the tip on my upstream rod began to bounce away, I knew what was happening and soon enough it was away, the culprit a nice Bream around 7lbs, the task now was to keep the bait going in and hopefully the Barbel would muscle in on the action. 

 For around 4hrs the Bream came at regular intervals with the tell-tale knocks before the rod hooping over, all of a sudden I had a sharp knock, almost like a liner and before I could even think of sitting back down the rod went into meltdown and the take was so savage the rod flew out the back rest and the eye above the reel seat whacked the Delkim and cracked the insert of the eye, with no need to strike I leant into the fish and immediately knew it was a Barbel, strong and steady out in the flow was a dead giveaway, for around 4/5mins we played tug of war before finally ambling into the margins, ready for me to slip the net under it, my first Thames Barbel for nearly 11 years.

9lb 2ozs, happy days!

 A good fish to kick things off (0235) was followed by a couple of Bream where I had a similar take almost an hour later (0340) to which the Barbel decided that it wasn't going to play hard and behaved itself relatively well. A short stocky fish, much like the first! This was becoming a bloody good session, two Barbel on my return, it couldn't get any better could it? 

No2 of the night, 8lb 3oz.

 Bream number 14,15,16 and 17 came to the net in quick succession before the crowning glory. Sleep was something that I had to forgo, the fish were on me and still feeding. I had just finished a rolly then looked at the time when I heard the clutch left off some steam! I was away again and this fish felt similar to the nine-pounder, stayed deep and did not move much, in a couple minutes I think I moved it ten-yards, probably nothing more than that. All of a sudden it woke up and went ballistic, first of all it thundered out into the middle of the river with gusto before slowly making its way back towards my margin, problem was it knew about the weedbed that separated myself and the gravel channel I fished. It wasn't long before I felt the line rubbing on the weed as the Barbel ploughed through it, the horrid thought of losing it started to play on my mind after a couple minutes had passed with it still in the weed. 

 I changed the angles, applied more pressure, then slackened off in the vein hope the fish would come out on its own volition and it worked, soon enough the weight of the fish back on the rod, I wound down on the fish and did everything in my power to stop it going into the weed again, but nope, it managed to make its way back in there and the same thing played out, only this time I had to completely slacken off. With full trust in my micro-barb hook being firmly in place I just waited for the kicking again. With the battle now edging toward 10mins I wondered if I was ever going to get it in! 12lb line, 12lb hooklink and a 1.75TC rod I knew I had the right gear for the job so as was becoming slightly impatient I turned the screw on the Barbel and once again I could begin to feel faint kicks through the rod, at that point I leant into the fish and got it moving, this time I could feel the fish was tiring, this was my chance and with my "long reach" landing net pole extended fully I finally had Barbel number three in the bag, this looked decent, double decent. 

 After a long hiatus, I was cradling a double figure Thames Barbel. 10lb 9oz on scales made for pleasing reading. Whilst Richard was asleep I was hauling, I was having a pukka return on a river I enjoyed fishing  for many years on the Barbel front, back in the late 90's and 00's double figure Barbel weren't as plentiful as they are now. That fish also set another record too, it was my fourth trip out in 5 weeks and managed a double on each of those four trips off four rivers, stupendous!

A solid Thames double, yeehaw!

 Once I'd taken some pics I slipped her back and hoped the night wasn't over, but with just an hour or so of dark left I knew bite time would end soon and so it proved to be. Sunrise had come and gone to which point I packed down and contemplated my next move. Unfortunately no Barbel for Rich but that's angling sometimes, I seem to be riding the wave at the moment, it's surely going to petter out soon. 

 End of session results, 17 Bream and 3 Barbel (9.2, 8.3 & 10.9).