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.

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

 

Filling In the Time.

 

 Fishing of late has taken bit of a back seat recently owing to my constant hectic work schedule, so in this episode of James' Angling Adventures we re-cap on the highlights of how my season has gone so far and I have to be honest given how little fishing I've done the rewards have been pretty good! Work as always gets the blame for curtailing my angling but also when faced with a little bit of time to go fishing I find myself too tired to get myself going and get the car loaded and set off. I don't know if that's normal or if I'm just getting lazy as I ticked past my 37th birthday last Monday.

Where I was sat there is currently 4.4m underwater.

 The Spring kicked off in fine style with a hat-trick of Bream on my first trip with fish registering 11.13, 13.7 and a new personal best of 15lb 10oz which to my amazement came after a pretty tame indication but the fight for a Bream was awesome. Link to session here --- Dream Bream Trip

 The subsequent visits for Bream either ended in blanks or scratched around for bites but did get one more decent trip in before they began to spawn. Link to session here --- Another Good Bream Trip.

 Once the Bream spawned my attentions turned to the start of the season that wasn't far away and amazingly on my first trip for Rudd once the season opened I managed to achieve a milestone that I had been longing to reach in 8 years of angling on the Fenland waterways, that milestone was a 3lb+ Rudd which was achieved by the finest of margins! Link to session here --- Dream Rudd Start

 Once I had achieved that my desire to get back on the Fens waned somewhat but with the rivers now open Barbel would soon be on the agenda but it did take me quite a while to resume my 40 Rivers Challenge and after a few sessions flitting around the country my long wait for a R.Nene double ended in fine fashion as a beauty weighing 12lb 8oz slipped into the net after a tense battle amongst the pads. --- Link to session here --- Nene Double Delight!

Bottoms Up!!

 The very next day with little time to bask in my success on the Nene I managed to do the unthinkable and caught a brute off the R.Soar just 24hrs later, like London Buses....my journey home was one of pure joy. Link to session here --- Soar'ing High!

Kentish Stour Stealth.

 A week later I went back to the R.Wye in search of a double and get myself up to 27 completed rivers but with a decent effort applied I was not fortunate to do so, three weeks later I went back with renewed vigour and after a total of 168hrs spent over 10 trips I at long last got the fish I had been searching for but only made the cut by a gnats whisker! but that was all I needed, I felt I had deserved that fish absolutely! Link to session here --- Wye Wonder.

 And since that trip to the Wye / reccy on the Teme I haven't wet a line, over two weeks ago... anyone who thinks being self-employed means you'll be able to have more time off don't get it twisted, you'll end up doing more, the money is too good to turn down and you'll find yourself busier than ever before.

Northern end of Windermere.

 Anyway that's my fault :), I hope you enjoy this little catch-up and hopefully we can catch a fish of our dreams and pray the rains ease up so the rivers will be more accessible than they were last few winters.

River Nene Double, That's A Wrap!!

 

 Well well well, I wondered if I was ever going to crack this one, there seems to be enough in the river to target but somehow I couldn't manage it. Whether it be luck, timing or whatever I simply could not engineer that moment that mattered most, that was until Thursday evening, I got that bite, that mattered.

 I started my journey on the Nene back in the 2021/22 season where I got off to a flyer with an 8.7 Barbel on my first visit, I thought it was only a matter of time that summer before I got another Barbel with the hope it would be over 10lb. Fast forward 3 whole years, 6 trips spanning nearly 100 hours, it turned out to be a river that would be a thorn in my side.

 On Thursday morning I had a leisurely drive up to Peterborough and opted to cover similar ground that I have over the previous years. I started by rolling meat to try and find fish amongst the enormous amounts of weed that is present, so many places for them to hide. For the first couple of hours all I could muster was a few Chub to 3lb. As I worked my way down I also fed a handful of pellet and broken boilies into areas that I liked with the view to turn to static fishing and spend 30/40 mins per swim. Soon enough I found myself dropping into to those pegs as the rolling meat offered no more action, unfortunately nor did the static fishing which I gave a good crack. So I opted to change venue again and head upstream.

 Met by a couple mates we made bit of a social of it and the plan was to fish up until kicking off time which was around 2130. During the evening I was plagued by small Chub and constant knocks on both boilie and meat, often the meat getting whittled off which was frustrating. As the sun had dipped beyond the horizon the regularity of knocks and taps eased off and around 2000 I had a bang on the meat rod out of nowhere and had my suspicions that it was a Barbel coming into investigate it. 

 Ten minutes after that I decided to bring it in and check my meat was on, to which it was, just whittled down a little by the hoards of hungry little mouths but big enough for me to be happy with flinging it back out. An accurate cast once again got the bait and lead onto a nice clear gravel patch amongst a sea of cabbages. Around 2045, BANG!!! The rod slammed round violently and I was on it in a flash and that still didn't enable me to keep the Barbel out of the cabbages! she was straight in there and immediately could feel the fish getting more and more solid which gave me nightmares, no way was I going to let this one go! I used all my experience to keep this fish from really doing me in.

 I walked through the thick marginal vegetation downstream and got some side-strain on the fish to try and bring its head out the cabbages backward, I released tension and put it back on and slowly but surely over 6/7min period my perseverance paid off as she slowly but surely became heavier and heavier on the rod and knew I almost had her out and then the line pinged a final couple of times and she was out, with that she realised she was out and no sooner had I got her out she ploughed, unavoidably straight into another set of cabbages to which I had to do the same all over again as I could feel less and less of the fish on the rod and it was only very faint vibrations through the line which told me she was still on, honestly this fight was incredible as it was a war of attrition, this fish had met its match and more. Many get lost in the cabbages but I was not going to become one of that negative statistic, once again I got below it and put more side-strain to again, slowly work it out, this time around she had used up a lot of her strength on the last bid for freedom and now I was winning a bit faster and within a minute or so she had come free and heading toward the net which I cocked up three times, I couldn't work out in the torch light where the fish was in relation to the cord of the net, thankfully I didn't knock it off and third time around she was at last in the net, this time I had finally caught and landed a River Nene double figure Barbel! 

Blooooody BINGO!

 I was in dreamland and after a pretty awful season for Barbel so far I had finally landed a double Barbel, my first since mid-February when I managed to catch an Itchen monster. This fish was not that big but an extremely pleasing 12lb 8ozs, the smile on my face told you all you needed to know about this capture. I had finally done it and shared the moment with one of the bailiffs Ulvis and my good mate Ross it was a great way to end my Nene campaign for a double figure specimen.

River no:25 - R.Nene - 12.08 Complete ✅

 7 Trips, 107 Hours, blazing sun, torrential rain and lightning, I've been through it all there but the conclusion of my campaign could not have been sweeter and with that I packed up and went to the pub for a pint and cigar!

Nene Drought.

 

 I had high hopes for my first proper outing of the season for Barbel. Thursday's trip up is my seventh visit and to be honest I felt I should have chalked it off by now but thats not the way angling works and this challenge has highlighted that time and time again. I'm doing the right things just not getting the fortune that I've been afforded elsewhere.

 After work on Thursday I made the 120mile journey north, battling the endless queues for Dartford tunnel and hold-ups on the M11 and A14, a 2hr 10min trip took over 3hrs, doesn't everyone realise I had fishing to do! How inconsiderate. 

Most of the spots that looked good, real stealth required.

 I had a few ideas as to where to target and opted to start at the end and work my way back up to where the car was parked, I only 4hrs on the Thursday to fish so got to business quickly by sending out my sleeper rod whilst setting up my proper rods. I unpacked both rods and began to line the eyes when out the corner of my eye my sleeper rod jumped up out of the vegetation and was headed for the bloody river! Talk about caught totally off-guard, I dropped my other rod and scrambled down the bank to fetch my rod and hoped what I am certain was a Barbel was still on but it became immediately apparent the hook had not set and this was a timely reminder that anything can happen at anytime!!! 

 I was so pissed with myself not being switched on and not to ruin the rest of the guff I was left to rue that mistake for the next day of angling. A take inside ten minutes and would spend the next 24hrs (minus 6hours that no fishing is allowed) searching for another opportunity, one chance at redemption which simply never came and wasn't through the lack of trying, I covered 10.62miles in 20hrs of fishing, an effort on 4hrs sleep which was broken up by the pain I've been recently suffering with a broken tooth and I've procrastinated in dealing with it and now it's clear with the pain being what it is that I need to do something! 

A healthy brood of Small Torts.

 Yesterday evening I packed up and heading to the car I made the decision call time, the plan was to stay until lunchtime on Saturday but my tooth was just too much to deal with and couldn't focus. I made the 120 mile journey back home with another Nene blank under my belt, I'm kinda hoping this one falls on my next trip or two. Watch this space.

 A little release video and a fighting video of some Chub.

Chub Release  (----- vid 1     Chub Battle  (----- vid 2

 Yes, I blanked for Barbel but did have some cracking Chub into the 3-4lb range and it is a wonderful place to spend time, watching young Red Kites taking flight, Kestrels hunting the fields, the odd Pike drifting around, one of them was pretty big ( Easily mid-double ).

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. 

A Gap in the Nettles.

 After opening my account on the Blackwater a few days later my next trip was beckoning. This time I was heading back up to the Nene where I hoped that my run of poor form was turning the corner, a 9+ off a tough river like the BW gave me a bit of confidence whilst making the 288 mile round trip up towards Peterborough. 

 A decent run up there meant I managed to get fishing before witching hour in a spot my mate Ross knows holds a couple of fish around late-summer, we hoped this would be the scene of success and finally chalking off my 20th river. We sat chewing the fat and as bite time came and went we wondered what if..., so many ideas running through our heads but you could only fish one spot at a time. At kicking off time we packed up with nothing to show for my efforts.

 The next morning I woke up at 0430 and headed over to a spot that I felt maybe worth fishing for a couple of hours but unfortunately someone was already in there and had THREE! rods out in a small mill pool, really not necessary but that's fishing, I felt he was doing himself a huge disservice having three lines out in what is a tight area and quite likely the Barbel were on high alert before he finished setting up.

 With that disappointment I went back to the car and drove about 3 miles downstream to another section where I static fished for around 3hrs in an area known to hold early season fish, but again I had nothing but a couple of tentative Chub taps. Once those 3hrs had passed I had decided to completely change tact and opted to stalk Barbel in the backwaters, only travelling with the basics. 

Wonderful looking bits of water.

 I covered some superb looking areas with numerous areas that I thought would hold Barbel, it wasn't until 2/3pm that I finally found a Barbel and it was my target fish, a long thick set Barbel came cruising downstream past me and held up in a clump of ribbon weed before coming up in the water and flanking twice on some clear gravel, this fish of about 12lbs was the fish I really wanted and it was within reach. 

Stealth mode activated.

 I rolled meat continuously until it became apparent that wasn't going to work so I pinched on a couple shot and allowed it to gently come to a stand 8-10 yards downstream, alongside a bed of lush ranunculus, a modest sized piece of meat was just waving enticingly on the gravel and as the initial minutes drifted by I was very confident of a take, as the minutes turned into my first hour my confidence that the fish was still in the area was on the wane. Given the fact I hadn't seen it I changed my tactic again, by replacing the meat with a 2ft tail of 10lb flourocarbon and size 10 hook along with a scaled down 15mm boilee and small PVA bag of 4/6mm pellet with a tiny lead to minimise disturbance and up stream put another rod out around 20yards to see if it had passed me by and was sat just above me.

The rolling gear :)

 I spent the next few hours hoping she would come back but after a good 4/5hrs I finally gave up and decided to try somewhere else for dusk which was the spot I fished the evening before. Unfortunately night fishing is not allowed on the sections I was fishing so I was reliant of the witching hour doing the business but there was a familiar lack of action and by 9pm it was almost time to call it and another visit to the River Nene ended in a blank. This wasn't before an Otter showed itself cruising the far margins in search of dinner. 

 Just to make matters worse my 1hr 49min journey turned out to be 4hr 20min as the Dartford crossing was down to 1 lane and when I was approaching the roadworks the signage and my App said 20mins delay, that I can stomach so decided to ride it out, WRONG! that 20min delay ended up being 2hrs 31mins!!!! I was fuming to say the least and when I finally got on to the bloody bridge it was down to one lane for one bloody van! Absolutely disgusting. It made what was a tough trip and blank even worse. 

 I think I'll leave the Nene now until next season and create a plan of attack for an earlier season leviathan.

Toughing It Out.

 

 Since my trip to the R.Wye I have struggled to get a Barbel and not through the want of trying. It's been one of them seasons where I feel the conditions are largely in favour of targeting Barbel given the lacklustre summer we have experienced so far. Typically in summer I am looking for times of heavy rainfall following on from a prolonged spell of heat and little rain, as for this summer we are spoilt for choice with conditions very much akin to late October!

 A couple of visits to the R.Blackwater have produced nothing more than tentative enquiries from small chub. The area of the Blackwater I've been targeting I know holds Barbel but not entirely sure of numbers, however having walked and fished it twice I would have thought if there were good numbers of fish that I would have seen them ghosting across gravels or hanging out the back of the plentiful ribbon weed or overhanging bushes. 

 It certainly looks good for a Barbel and Brian managed to extricate one from its watery home at the first time of asking (8lb 0oz), which gives me hope going forward, as with everything time will tell as to whether it'll happen here or if indeed I look elsewhere on the Blackwater, for now I will concentrate where I am currently fishing in the vein hope a double slips up!

Intimate and weedy!

Stealth is key!

 On Thursday I also returned to the R.Nene hoping to wrap up this river at the third time of asking. Things aren't looking good for what used to be a superb river, the Barbel seemed to have in the main ridden the Otter onslaught and now good sized Barbel are coming through between 8-12lbs and look pristine which bodes well and the river looks amazing, however given the amount of rain the Nene valley has seen I was shocked to find the river clear, in fact tap clear! Now I was expected it to have at the very least a tinge to it. Extraction is stripping millions of litres out of the river and water being diverted in extraordinary programmes to avoid new developments going under when the river will inevitably flood, plus the gates further the down the river are constantly open to prevent this, problem is the height of the river has dropped a lot too. The environment once again being exploited and damaged for human gain. Not that it looks terrible to me of course not knowing the river, but locals who know the river well and have done for 20/30 years have seen the decline.

Sunrise on the Nene.

 Yes it meant I could spot fish in the carriers and spot fish I did, good Pike (one very big Pike too), a couple shoals of Chub, again, some very big ones with one either over 7lb or just a little under along with a few friends that were over 6lbs themselves! I did find one Barbel that I estimate to be around 8lbs, however its positioning was making it almost impossible to target, when I finally managed to get an angle to enable me to get the bait under the tree the small plop of my half/ounce shot spooked it down river and out of sight, I knew the chance was gone but gave it half hour anyway. 

The Barbel' lair, Gnarly!

Beautiful stretches of river!

Tap clear, even after all the rain we've had.

Majestic!

 Chances of a fish were coming at a premium and later on the day I was joined by my mate Ross for the final few hours which we both knew was the best time for a bite from one of the Nene warriors, with baits out in the areas I felt a bite would come, I felt confident all the way up until the rods had to come in and pack up. Smaller fish such as Dace and Chublet were causing issues as they were whittling down my luncheon meat with consummate ease which meant at times I was fishing bare which I knew was not helping my cause so I've got to find a solution to that conundrum. 

 So another 3 blanks to add to my stats....

Brown Hawker.