More barbel

Yesterday I had another go for the barbel, I arrived just after first light and the river was still very low and clear. I decided on fishing the same tactics as my last session, a single bait with very few freebies. I had my first cast at around 06:20 and thirty minutes later I had my first bite. The rod wrapped round and the fish felt fairly heavy, it didn't put up a typical barbel fight, instead it stayed in the deeper water getting itself into every snag and weed bed it could find. Eventually everything went solid and I had to wade downstream of the fish, I put a bit of pressure on and it swam straight out of the weed. The fight lasted a good 5 minutes and I was very relived when I finally got into the net. The barbel was smaller than I was expecting but I still pleased as I knew it was a new p.b.

An early barbel - a new p.b of 6lb 7oz

After the barbel had recovered I checked the hook length, put on a new boilie and was about to recast when I noticed what I initially thought was weed on the mainline. After a closer look I realised that I had been lucky to land the fish, as the mainline had been damaged, it was split and very frayed.

Shortly after 07:00 the sun broke through the clouds, the forecast was for bright sun until 14:00 and I thought that I would struggle to get any interest during this period. I was right, I didn't have any indications on the barbel rod during this time, I had a couple of casts with my lighter rod, a link ledger and worm placed tight to the bushes and a 6oz perch was tempted. There was plenty of wildlife activity to keep me entertained though, plenty of kingfishers, a pair of large herons arguing over a prime spot, a trio of red kites and a 3lb (ish) chub managed to beach itself while chasing fry and minnows in the margin.

For once the weatherman was right and the cloud cover arrived at 14:00, a few minutes later I had my 2nd take. It was another barbel and after a more typical fight it was netted at the first attempt.

Second of the day 5lbs 10oz

Thirty minutes after the last fish the rod wrapped rod again, however no line was taken from the baitrunner so thought it was most probably a chub and didn't bother to strike. Things went quiet again but I was quite happy sat on the bank catching up with the transfer news on talkSPORT. At 19:00 the rod went round again and another barbel was hooked, the fish stayed in the shallower sections and went on 3 or 4 powerful runs downstream before it was netted. The barbel was quite a short fish but it was very broad and deep, it took the scales round to 6lb 4oz.

A short, stocky fish.

I decided to stay until after dark, in the hope that the larger fish would be on the feed. I had a final cast at 20:15 while slowly packing away my gear. I was getting knocks fairly regularly but it took about 20 minutes for the rod to go round properly. I was into another barbel, it didn't feel as big as the earlier fish but it still put up an interesting fight in the dark. The barbel was the smallest of the session and weighted 4lb 4oz. As with the last session all fish were caught on the boilie, the meat and pellets went untouched again.

Four barbell including a new p.b, a good day

This barbel fishing is becoming addictive and I'm hoping to try another new stretch of the river in the coming weeks. I'm also going to try and fit another eel session in this week (hopefully).