Plan B ( The Saviour ).

 

 For well over a month the fishing gear has been tucked away in my tackle den gathering dust, thankfully I had no work pencilled in this weekend and planned to get myself out in search of Bream ( monster bream! ). Of course my target water was Walthamstow as that is where I stand my best chance of achieving what I want within a sensible distance and given my lack of time it works perfectly for me.

 My aim was to fish for 24hrs and build a swim and hopefully get the Bream to congregate on the loose feed and pick them off, one by one. Left hand side of the swim I fed hemp and corn and on the right hand side of the swim I fed pellet and fished over the top of it all. It all seemed to be a fool-proof plan, however the fish just didn't seem to come and with dusk coming and going only the odd liner would keep me focused, the issue was for me that the deep low pressure system that hung over the UK last week has gone and given way to high pressure and the typical conditions you associate with Bream were no longer.

 Dawn was awesome, the early morning sun was warm after a cold night but the fish still did not come and had a decision to make, either stay and most likely blank for longer or go make something happen elsewhere and given the shadows of Bream cruising by the latter was settled upon, I was wasting valuable time.

Plenty of Grannoms around.

 Instead of Bream I decided to try for my first Carp of the new season and my first visit on the canals too. 

 With the high pressure I hoped to find something ambling around on the surface and it didn't take too long to locate a small Common that was having a rub on a submerged branch, it didn't hang around long and managed to follow it roughly 50 meters to another row of bushes where out of nowhere another two carp had joined somewhere along that route, the two commons were possibly 16-18lbs but the mirror was clearly larger so naturally that was the fish I wanted, my first cast went around 10m in front of where I thought they would head for, gently squeezed bread flake allowed the bait to gradually drop through the water column, unfortunately that bait was avoided by the three carp so I retrieved the flake, re-squeezed and cast again beyond the three fish and the flake fell perfectly in front of them, just 2ft down below the surface the flake went black......strike!!! fish on!!!! 

 My new ESP Stalker 9ft carp rod was bent and line was pissing off the spool at a rate of knots! 

 My heart rate was through the roof as I knew exactly what one of the three fish took it and did not want to mess up my chance as you only get one! A solid battle lasted nearly ten minutes as she refused to give up, every time I thought she was ready to be netted it would strip 20 yards of line off a tight clutch which was terrific yet nerve jangling at the same time, its awesome to feel that kind of power once again!

 She did in the end give up and I gladly eased her over the cord. What a stunning looking fish!

24lb 1ozs, blown away by that one!

 What is even more exciting about this capture is I don't recognise it and not one I've seen or caught before. Once I released her I set about finding the others but were nowhere to be seen, a further 5.9 miles were made in search of more carp but I drew a blank for the rest of the morning. 

 That certainly was an inspired decision to knock the bream fishing on the head!

Season Review 2022/23.

 

 As most who follow this blog over the last couple years will know Barbel have been in the forefront of my plans during the course of the river season. It however wasn't all Barbel related as I did manage to squeeze in the odd session for Grayling, one trip for Pike, Rudd, Catfish where I did get some action.

 However I covered most of what I caught in my (Recap 2022) so I have just a couple of bits to add and the highlights of what was another productive year for Barbel as I continued with my 40 Rivers Challenge.

14lbs 6oz stillwater Bream PB.

 My two best fish I think without doubt have to be the colossal Bream I had off of The Stow which obliterated my personal best for the species, the other has to be the largest documented Barbel ever caught off of the R.Don in Yorkshire, a monumental occasion for both myself and the angling fraternity of Yorkshire as again it was the first fish confirmed on the Don to break the fifteen barrier ever, to which I became a proud owner of a Barbel Society River Record certificate, a nice momento to include in my book down the line as all of which I have endured and will endure in the coming years until its completion will be written about in finer detail than my scribblings on here. 

15lbs 4oz River Don record.

Simply colossal !

 Seeing that enormous Barbel cruise over the rim of the net was a moment in time I won't forget, my second fifteen pound plus Barbel, neither of which are Trent fish which in this day and age is not something many can lay claim to.

 Not that fishing is about boasting of course, simply enjoying the moments in my angling that have been, certainly of late punctuated by prolonged spells of inaction so when fish do come along, especially that big I enjoy it as much as I can. 

 My Barbel stats ended up like this for the season:

 25 Trips, 26 Barbel, 6 Doubles and 19 Blanks.

 I managed Barbel off of 9 rivers this season and chalked 5 of those 9 off the list with another 3 rivers targeted without a sniff from a Barbel ( Loddon, Kentish Stour and Sussex Rother )

 Over the course of the Barbel fishing over those 25 trips I spent a total of 359.5hrs, thats a lot of time for not many fish but looking at the stats a different way I averaged just five trips per double chalked off my list which now stands at 18 and in the new season I'll be in pursuit of number 19 pretty quickly (weather permitting).

 It was a tough season but very rewarding, I just need to crack the Kentish Stour early doors next season as its really made me work hard and becomes so choked by weed in the summer so its either really early raids or wait for the first frosts to kill off the weed and floods to take it away.

End of Season Glut.

 

 For the final fews days I had many plans in my head but the weather made things very difficult to set plans in stone. In the end I did a session on the R.Loddon for a night and blanked, of course. Then the following day I set my stall out for Chub, that was when I got a bit giddy with excitement.

 I did think long and hard about where to go, the Dorset Stour was in the running until a couple days previous when we had loads of snow and then rain to follow which bought up the river into a swirling cauldron of brown freezing cold water, it was a no-go, so I had to fall back on plan B, as Plan B's go this was a wonderful session all told, but it didn't start off in the best of ways.

Chub conditions!

 Having waded through cold waters to get to the areas I wanted, ( nowhere escaped the floods ) I made my way to a couple of likely looking spots, marginal trees which looked ideal to hold some fish, as I made my way up I kicked an unseen rock and lost my balance, hence falling forward with the gear on my back and rod, landing net pole and keep-net bag in my hands, I got soaked and before I'd even setup my gear I was contemplating going home, that was not pleasant and found myself soaked and waders 6inch deep with cold water (8.7c).

 Needless to say I got myself together and mercifully the sun was warm and winds light so I did get to dry out a bit and the fishing once I got started was terrific. In my first hour I had banked four Chub with one settling on the digi's at 5lb 10oz and my best of the season ( in truth its been a lite season for the species ) a real big framed fish that just lacked length otherwise it would have been comfortably over 6lbs. 

Best of the day, should have been a "six" all day.

 The average stamp was great with mid 4's to mid 5's coming in at fairly regular intervals as bread flake was clearly the winning tipple. Fishing for the first time with my new Drennan Acolyte Plus 12 ft Feeder rod I was very impressed by its responsiveness to very shy bites and when connected to fish it performed so well, even when a little beauty of a carp decided to get in on the act!

 Not to be outdone another of the rivers inhabitants, one that I would never have expected to find, ( well it found me ) let or lone land on such fine balanced gear, not sure it was designed to tackle fish of this stamp but after a ten minute war of attrition I finally slipped the now very small looking landing net under what was surely a twenty pound plus river Carp! Bonkers right? 

21lb 1oz River Common Carp 😜

 A real turn up for the books on what was already turning out to be a great outing for Chub now had the added bonus of two Carp, one of which was a big fish. After that a few more Chub averaging 4.08 came to the net but a real big one was remaining elusive and as the day was starting to draw to a close the warmth of the sun was now wearing off and the adrenaline of the days sport done the cold set in fast and found myself scrambling back to the car to get stripped off and warm. 

A quartet of five pounders.

 Oh what a day. 17 Chub from four snags best five weighing over 5lbs ( 5.00, 5.04, 5.04, 5.06 and 5.10 ) with the remaining fish all over 4lbs bar one ( 3.07 ) plus 2 Carp and also lost one too! which I didn't mention above to keep it fairly short as I have so little time to do any blogging as you may have all noticed, as Spring starts to wake up the Bream and Eels I'll be back out and hopefully plenty more fishy goings on will be scribbled here.

Big Grayling, Barbel No-Shows.

 

 A good three weeks has passed since I had a decent trip out after anything so I had to put that right. After an exchange of messages Mike and I were R.Wylye bound, however given the fact Brian hasn't had much chance to get out following his invasive treatment I thought it would be good to get him in on the act and get amongst some of the best Grayling fishing this country has to offer, very kindly a couple days later I got the all clear from Mike that Brian could come along, I had a sneaky feeling he would enjoy himself.

 Before we stepped foot on the R.Wylye part of the plan was to target Barbel on the R.Itchen, conditions were poor but I am just conscious that we have so little left of the season and would love to get one more river chalked off, however after a few cold hours trying I called it a night around 0300 as I needed some kip so popped to the car for some shut eye. 

 Unfortunately even after a quick fire 30mins rolling meat in the morning which resulted in nothing so we made the 40 mile journey north to the wonderful surroundings of the Wiltshire countryside with the target of trying to achieve a long standing desire of mine, a three-pound specimen Grayling, a fish that has eluded me for the six years that I've been trying (admittedly not very hard), I hoped I would put that right.

 My tackle for the day was my 13ft Drennan compact X-Tension float rod, centrepin loaded with 4.4lb float fish line and an 18'' 3.6lb flourocarbon hooklink and size 14 wide gape hook (micro-barb), a 7BB wire stem float fished with a combo of red and white maggots but not mixed.

Got the trots....

 My day started off really well as I had banked fish of 1lb 10oz, 2lb 1oz and 2lb 2oz in quick succession and hoped the day would follow that similar vein of form. Within thirty minutes the swim had gone pretty quiet so I decided to move on up the river and quickly crossed paths a spirited 1lb 15oz specimen before finding a few smaller ones between 7ozs and 1lb 12ozs ( slightly bigger ) it wasn't until after I'd photographed a beauty for Brian that was when I started to find some better fish much further downstream. 

2.2 & 1.10 under very gloomy skies.

 A super two hours followed where even though it was very hard graft getting bites and indeed keeping the Grayling on the hook a run of six fish came weighing 1.10, 1.12, 1.8, 2.2, 2.4 and a mega looking 2lb 11oz pewter clad beauty, which incidentally is the third 2.11 Grayling I've caught and all represent my personal best, can't seem to get away from that number :) but with such a pristine fish who could be unhappy about that!

A mint 2.4

Then this amazing creature at 2lbs 11oz

Always wanted this shot!

 That run of fish seemed to spell the end of my days big fish as I wrapped up the day with five fish over 1.8 to 1.12 by which point the sun was going down and we both called a day, Mike had had a great day too landing a couple of 2lbs Grayling and a handful of smaller fish and Brian' day...well you can read it here Brian' Blog I think he would say he had a "cloud nine" kind of day. Must say I really enjoyed myself too.

Exciting Times Ahead.

 Over the last couple of months the finer details have been sorted out on me joining the specialist side of Drennan International, on Wednesday that was all official and now I am part of the Drennan Specialist team of 7 anglers. The plans are already afoot to create another one or two films / videos which I am very excited about soon.

 A sponsorship is never something I contemplated but when Drennan contacted me to see if it was something I would be interested in I thought why the heck not! there was no hesitation as you can imagine.

 A company that needs no introduction whether it is on the match scene, Carp ( ESP ) or the specialist side which has been spearheaded by none other than Martin Bowler until very recently for around 25 years, which is some achievement in itself.

 I hope to take the Drennan team on a journey around the British Isles as I search for all and sundry, whether it is Barbel fishing as I look to press home my recent couple of seasons form, or continuing to search for a much desired three-pound Roach and Grayling. Between now and the summer I also hope to get an Eel campaign started as I look to add a 5lb+ Eel from a stillwater to add to my list of a 5lb 11oz river Eel taken off of the diminutive R.Wandle some 16 years ago! Then it'll be down to a canal Eel of the same benchmark to complete the hat-trick when I have already done double figure Bream off of all 3 types of watercourses over here - Canal PB 10lbs 4ozs, River PB 12lbs 7ozs and Stillwater PB 14lbs 6ozs.

 I am excited to get started! Let's go!!!!

 Link below to the Drennan anglers page.

 https://www.drennantackle.com/anglers/specialist-anglers/

Lean Times.

 

 It's been 5 weeks since I last posted? Must mean I've been out a lot? Not quite is the honest answer.

 I have been out for Roach, nothing to report of note, then went out for Dace and caught a couple of spritely Barbel but not my target at the time, so again nothing of note and that concludes my fishing for the year up to Thursday last week where I was due to embark on another tour of the North-West, my Barbel Quest was hopefully going to have some life breathed back into it as my only Barbel of note came off the Kennet at the start of 2023.

 In fairness I haven't had much time go fishing as work and family have dominated proceedings, this to is likely to be my last hurrah of the season too unless I can engineer a 2-dayer somewhere on the south coast or opt to get my backside handed to me again on the R.Loddon. The first river in mind was the R.Tame up near Manchester. This is a river I have visited earlier this season where I had a good return of 8 Barbel to 8lb 11oz. 

Best from my first visit.

 I set off at 2230 with the view to arriving on the river at 0200 but the endless roadworks meant I didn't get fishing until 0300, with a good 4 hours of darkness still I made a bee-line for the peg I did well in in August, unfortunately it seemed nothing was home as the tip stayed motionless. Around 1100 I packed away the static gear and set off rolling meat to try and search out the Barbel, many rolls through many great looking swims without as much as a tap, it seemed absolutely lifeless and as the hours ticked by the picture being painted looked even bleaker, the first night drew to a close at 2100 as I had now been awake for 42hrs and needed a sleep, for the two days I planned to be on the R.Tame I was staying with my mate Jerry where we chewed the fat for two nights and got some much needed sleep.

Amazing how baron it looks in winter.

 The second day didn't go much better as I could not get a sniff, thankfully around 6pm that all changed as my quivertip registered a couple of sensitive taps before thumping round, the fight was pretty dour and suspected a Chub until it cruised into the net, it was my target species, just not of the desired size but given the struggles recently at least its a Barbel. 

7lb 2oz, not the biggest but it'll do.

 

 I gave it a solid 3 hours after that Barbel with nothing more than a tap, so I bought the rods in again and back off to Jerry's for curry and a beer. As I parked up having just been to the curry house I could hear a distinct sound of air gushing out of a tyre, I found the source of said puncture and just ignored it as there was nothing else I could do at 2230! The plan for the third day was to head up to the R.Ribble having decided the fishing just wasn't happening for me on the R.Tame. Before I could go anywhere it was a trip round on a flat tyre to the garage 0.5 mile away and they were very kind in relieving me of £127.50 so I could get back on the rod and flew up the M61 to gain some lost time.

 However the nightmare didn't end there! Storm Otto had bought some strong winds and very heavy rain across the Dales and this translated to a sharp rise on the Ribble and the rubbish coming down was ridiculous, I could not keep a bait out longer than 10mins with a 5oz lead on, constantly being swept away before the fish (if they were feeding) could find my bait, having made the journey up I persevered until 2000 but it was futile, it just was not going to happen for me! 

 With the sense of dejection well and truly set in I packed up for good and drove 283 miles home.....that was a dreadful fishing trip, the only good thing that came of it was to see Jerry in what has been a dreadful chapter in his life. 

A big boy river!

Floodwater Fishing.

 

 Given the recent wet winters that we are all enduring fishing can often be very rewarding at these times. Risks are obviously greater and when fishing in these conditions the level of preparedness needs to be greater. No fish is worth risking a life but if you do fish in these conditions or plan to fish in these conditions whether a seasoned angler or new to the river fishing side of the discipline here are a few handy pointers that I use during my fishing, some are more common sense, others some anglers may not use/do.

 Planning stage: 

 The great thing with the internet is that it is a hive of information, you can access social media on certain groups where you can ask other like minded people what current conditions look like or if you have an idea as to exactly where you are going you can download apps on your smartphone ( like the RiversApp for example) or log on to either www.riverlevels.uk or www.check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk these are accurate and updated fairly regularly. This sort of information should give you a good idea on what you could be faced with.

 Weather patterns: 

 Knowing the season and how quickly things can change get weather forecasts for the time leading up to your visit from about 3 different outlets that are independent of each other, especially if you are making a long journey (as I do quite often), the shorter the time between searching and embarking the better as conditions are usually very changeable given our geographical location, a slight change in wind direction can bring a whole host of changes which could impact the river levels/conditions.

 What to take:

 Preparation at this stage is very important, now this may sound a bit over the top but floodwater conditions can take lives when the correct approaches aren't taken and mother nature can play her cruel hand. 

 Spare changes of warm clothing, phone charger/battery back-up, hot drinks in flasks should you feel the need, dog spike and decent sized rope if entering steep pegs where access is suspect at best (I would steer clear of these anyway in dicey conditions) and as said above, this may sound over the top, but tell someone where and when you are going, the mrs, a friend you speak to often, or kids if yours are old enough to have that conversation with.

 Incase of emergencies:

 Again this may seem over the top but just a bit of further preparation, download "what3words" available on all platforms, should you need it, it will direct emergency services to your precise location should you be impaired in any way, either you've fallen in and suffering from the cold, tripped and broken something or been caught out by fast rising waters and now found yourself in serious trouble.

 For example the "what3words" for the bridge at the entrance of the Royalty Fishery on the Hants Avon is: "hopes.family.cases" this quoted to the emergency services will get them to your location, it can be an important tool should you feel the need to fish in such conditions.

App store / Android / Google Play store or online.

 Once on the banks: 

 I would never recommend attempting to fish if you are not familiar with the river in A: normal conditions and B: flood conditions, knowing the river is important to fishing it safely. Look for vegetation along banks, typically trees will also line the margins on both sides so that would be a good indication as to where the true watercourse begins. 

 Always use a staff (I use either a storm pole fully extended to around 7ft or my landing net handle extended to feel around in front of you, this is just in case there are non-visible obstructs under the usually murky floodwater, tripping over a stone or log etc can spell the end of your visit before you've cast out a bait. 

 Always plan your escape route: 

 If fishing in high water that isn't dropping or rains are predicted during your visit or the affects of recent rains yet to take affect do two things. First of all make a point of reference ( a big distinctive tree or an electricity pylon or building ) well above ground as to where you have come from ie: car park, lay-by etc so if levels were to rise you could still find your vehicle exit point. Secondly take a long bank-stick with you and have electrical tape markers every couple of inches or tip-ex, this is to go into the ground and take note of what marker its on, then keep an eye on this to see if there is a rapid rise, rise, no change or a falling river level. If levels are rising it would be wise if it is already touch and go to bail out and pick another day, it isn't worth it. In relation to this also if you have good internet signal pop on to the above listed websites to check the recently updated information to back up your findings. 

 Enjoy the experience:

 Some would read this and think, just don't go! If you are experienced enough and take all the precautions you can and don't take it for granted catching the river as its falling can often be a very productive time to target fish, especially Barbel. Warm rains from the SW, falling river levels with mild air temps are arguably the best time to fish for the species. Now navigating yourself to the river may be the hardest part sometimes but always make sure when fishing individual spots you put that marker at a point that you can read (river level markers) but also positioned in such a way that it is your further point forward in that peg and you don't go past that, but also in a position you can retrieve it when it isn't required anymore.

 If this helps one person then this will have had its desired affect, I think three anglers lost their lives last winter and three families totally destroyed by something they could have avoided. Enjoy your fishing but respect mother nature, she can be cruel and if in any doubt, don't go, no fish is worth a life. 

5am on a flooded R.Loddon.

Recap of 2022.

 

 2022 was an odd year for me fishing wise, a few short sessions after Barbel - a few day trips for Grayling with a couple of Pike trips, trying to find ways to get the gear together and get out was challenging with such a busy work schedule and a young family and busy work schedule. Fishing wise for me this was the theme across the year. I still managed to catch some wonderful R.Itchen Roach to just under 2lbs which was awesome in what were pretty tough conditions, later in the month I headed to the magnificent R.Wylye in search of Grayling where I was successful in tempting 37 of them with seven over 2lbs with the best tipping the scales at 2lb 9ozs. A couple of average sized Barbel also put in an appearance during January but no doubles to add to my tally.

 *40 River Challenge: Trips 0 / Blanks 0/ Hours 0 / Barbel 0 / Doubles 0.

 February: There was very little to write about as I had lots of work on and when I did get out they were mainly blanks.

Decent bag on the 'small river'.

*40 Rivers Challenge: Trips 2 / Blanks 2 / Hours 11.5 / Barbel 0 / Doubles 0. 

 March: With the end of the season on the horizon a bumper session was in order where I looked to press home the advantage of mild weather and an upturn in catches present across social media platforms signalled that it was probably a good time to get out. First of all I targeted the Dorset Stour where the Chub were feeding but not a Barbel sight, then I joined George Burton on the Warks Avon for a jolly up and ended up walking away with a 12.6 Barbel and a solid 6lb+ Chub, a proper result that was, then headed down to the R.Wey for another social with Mike Denny and we ended struggling all day, on dark I lost a monster Barbel, only to follow it up five minutes later with a 10.4 Barbel which rounded off the 2021/22 season with a bang!

WA 6.3

WA 12.6

WEY 10.4

*40 Rivers Challenge: Trips 4 / Blanks 2 / Hours 75.5 / Barbel 2 / Doubles 2.

 April: I didn't fish at all owing to extensive amount of work going on.

 May: I set about targeting Eels by design and on my first attempt managed two off the canal and then time to go back just didn't present itself, a whistlestop trip to the Stow turned out to be an inspired one as I smashed my Bream PB by just over 2lbs with my previous best of 12lb 5oz coming off a river! Then a trip after Catfish that didn't go as smoothly as we (Brian, Richard and I) had envisaged.

Canal best @2.5

Stonking slab @14.6, new PB

Decent slug.

 June: A month of mainly searching for Butterflies and things creepy crawly, however I did manage some fishing, finally a successful trip to the R.Severn where I managed seven Barbel to just over 8lbs, I opened the season on the Kentish Stour after Barbel but was unsuccessful.

*40 Rivers Challenge: Trips 5 / Blanks 3 / Hours 44.5 / Barbel 8 / Doubles 0.

Best off the Severn - 8.1

 July: Yet another lean month with only a couple of trips made. A trip to the KS produced a decent Chub of 5.8 but again, no Barbel.

Kentish Stour - 5.8

*40 Rivers Challenge: Trips 3 / blanks 3 / Hours 37.0 / Barbel 0 / Doubles 0.

 August: A day out on the boat was just the tonic after very little time on the bank, a few decent Rudd were had between Brian and I as we set sail on SS Rudd, the beautiful weather made it a joy to be out. However it was an August bank holiday away "few days"and it was a blazing success with a wonderful R.Mersey double, a good solid start on the R.Tame and a fact finding mission on the R.Dearne which lay across the Peninnes.

Upper 1 Fenland bar of gold.

...And another.

R.Mersey - 10.10

R.Tame - 8.11

*40 Rivers Challenge: Trips 1 / Blank 0 / Hours 47.0 / Barbel 10 / Doubles 1.

 September: Now I only managed 1 fishing trip across arguably the best month of the fishing season, as mental as that sounds. It just so happened to be the best trip in recent memory, I chalked off the R.Dearne in the early afternoon of the first day having lost a good double early in the day, to only then fish the R.Don and chalk that off too with a brace of doubles, one of which setting a new record for the river! Oh how I love the north, but that wasn't all, the hattrick was firmly on and last knockings of my northern tour I landed I thought would have been that very fish I needed to complete the hattrick, alas it just missed out.

 What a month September was!!

R.Dearne - 10.9

R.Don - 10.5

R.Don Record - 15.4

R.Wharfe - 9.5

*40 Rivers Challenge: Trips 1 / Blanks 0 / Hours 39.0 / Barbel 5 / Doubles 3.

 

 October: Not much again in terms of time on the bank, once again with the little time I had I managed to successfully tackle the R.Taff near Cardiff, the sun had only just started to cast the first throws of light when I had a mega Welsh Barbel resting in the net! 

R.Taff - 11.10

 

*40 Rivers Challenge: Trips 3 / Blanks 2 / Hours 57.0 / Barbel 1 / Doubles 1.

 November: With falling temps I did start to target other species, I had a decent Pike on my first trip of the winter, a great haul of Grayling with one equalling my PB and another an ounce shy of my PB, only a matter of time before I get a new PB or better still a 3lb+specimen which I crave so much!

R.Wylye - 2.11

R.Lea - 17.8

 *40 Rivers Challenge: Trips 4 / Blanks 4 / Hours 25 / Barbel 0 / Doubles 0.

 December: Around the Christmas period I got out after Barbel a couple times but the rod-tips remained motionless, the Loddon kicking my backside as per. The only fish I caught were some modest Roach whilst in search of some of their bigger cousins.

 *40 Rivers Challenge: Trips 2 / Blanks 2 / Hours 14 / Barbel 0 / Doubles 0.

 Total hours spent after Barbel in 2022 was 350.5, with 26 Barbel caught in the process whilst chalking off 6 rivers in the calender year.