A couple after the heat

 23/07/22

Straight to the river after my last shift of a 60hr week, half a can of Redbull on the way, the other half for the drive home. I was parked up by 23:00hrs and fishing by 23:45hrs. A 2lb chub from the near margin hung itself on the first cast and caused some disturbance so I moved across to the far bank for the next cast. Things were very quiet until just before 01:00hrs when the rod hooped over. 

8.01lb

The fish put up a really dogged fight, I thought that it was the double I'm after from this river but it was some way off. I stuck it out until after first light but didn't get any further interest.

30/07/22

Another flying visit after work. 

I had my gear in the car for 3 days in a row but was finishing a bit too late to be heading to the river. In the past, I was happy going straight from work even if it was just for an hour of fishing but with the ridiculous price of diesel, I now have a self-imposed limit, a minimum of 3hrs fishing.

I was fishing by 22:40hrs and had 2 chub in the first 2 casts, decent fish of roughly 3.5lb & 4.5lb. Again it wasn't until roughly 01:00hrs (a key time so far on this stretch) when I got some interest from a barbel, again another solid fight to get the fish past the mid-river weed beds then a battle to keep it from finding the tree roots in the undercut bank.

A solid fish, I was sure this was a repeat capture but after checking it against previous captures it wasn't. 

9.03lb - my 3rd '9' from this stretch so this season, all different fish

 As the end of my 3 hours approached I started getting some more interest, probably chub but I had to give it another 10 minutes before leaving.... 

Just a small one this time, but every barbel from this river is a worthy capture

2 decent chub and 2 barbel from a difficult river on a short session, very pleased.