Severn Stoke - 29th November 2014

The peg

Well, it's been a few weeks now since my last post, unfortunately my dad passed away a few weeks ago following a short illness, so that kept me away from the bank. Before his illness, I had intended

to give the Lower Severn some serious time, so, now that I am the other side of it, I decided to try Severn Stoke, below the car park.

The river was in good trim, down to about 3 feet up after being 6 feet up during the week. The air temp was also very good, around 12c, and I was fishing by 1.15pm in glorious sunshine. I started with a big lump of meat on the downstream rod, with my ever faithful double elips on the upstream one. It wasn't long before I had a bite, which surprised me a little, a savage pull too. Not a barbel though unfortunately, but a nice chub, probably around 2.5lb. Not a bad start though.

On the strength of this, I decided to drop the meat, and switch the downstream rod to pellet too,

A welcome chub

trying some of the sonubait spicy sausage pellets that had been recommended. This turned out to be a great decision, as after around 20 minutes, the same rod whacked over and I was into a barbel, a hard fighting one too, it went off on several screaming run, before finding a snag under my feet.

After a bit of pressure, and then slack line, the fish came out of the snag, and I managed to land it, a fine looking fish of 8.12, my very first lower Severn barbel!!!

A beautiful Lower Severn fish

That proved to be it though, but a near 9 pounder at the end of November is a result in anyones book.

Happy days!






See the video to this session here:-

Another Northwood session, 2nd November

I'm beginning to wonder whether I should rename this blog 'Northwood Barbeller', as the venue has seen lots of attention from myself over these last few weeks, and has taken up most of the posts of this new blog of mine. Fear not though, I DO fish other venues apart from this one!!!

Anyway, I was on the bank at midday, doing six hours into dark, and with stories of big fish coming off the river, I had high hopes. I started 100 yards above the bridge, what a mistake that proved to be....three hours without a touch, and the swim also proving to be a snag-pit, four times snagged up losing hooks.

Hairy moments

At 3pm, I decided a move was in order, and surprise, surprise, I jumped back onto the peg above the bridge again. I changed things around a bit, a pellet rod, and the other with a huge chunk of meat on it. 

It was 4.30pm when the pellet rod went off, and 4.31pm when the meat rod did the same. A double hook-up. I've had a few of these now, and those of you who've never had it happen, it's a real pain in the proverbial. The only thing you can do is make the best of it. My approach is to leave the baitrunner engaged on the second rod, while you play the first fish. Once the first fish is in the net, I unhook it, and leave it to rest (I use a big net to facilitate this), and then i go about playing the other fish. Hopefully, I can net that too, and it's a case of resting and returning both fish together.

One of two from the day

In this case, one fish was about 5lb, the other around 6lb, and although I fished into dark, that proved to be the only barbel action of the day, with a small chub gracing the net before I went home.

No big fish sadly, but can't moan, it wasn't a blank!!

Northwood - Severn, 31st October

A short 4 hour session this one, on a Friday afternoon after work. My original intention was to fish into dark, but a few family problems meant I could only fish until 4.30pm. The river looked good when I arrived, it had risen six inches or so the previous day, and was now dropping again. 

I dropped in a few pegs up from the bridge on this session, with my usual two pellets rods out. As I thought it might be though in the sunshine and unseasonally warm temperature (19c, yes 19c!!), it was a bit slow. The temperature was quite astonishing, the end of October and a temperature like that, I can honestly say I've never known anything like it, the water temperature too, more than a 1c up from last week, now at 13.4.

The wildlife too, was lapping up the mild weather, a pair of kingfishers were working the river, and a few furry creatures that I don't know the names of, plus lots of perch chasing fry in the margins, a great day to be out in.

Not big, but lovely all the same

After two hours or so, I had a bite, and a barbel was hooked. I had to play the fish hard to prevent it going into a snag that I knew was there, but I was always in control, and landed the fish fairly quickly, not a bad fish, probably around the 6lb mark, and a good looking barbel, as they all seem to be at Northwood.

It was another hour before my next bite, a screaming pull which I hooked for a few seconds before the hook lost its grasp. Never mind. Sometime later, a tap on the upstream rod, and I hooked

Stunning roach

a fish which I thought was a chub, but it proved to be a stunning roach, maybe a pound or so, but absolutely immaculate in every way, stunning colours and fins, the best looking fish I've caught in some time, simply beautiful.

That proved to be it for day, it was unfortunate I couldn't fish longer, but it doesn't matter, there will be other days.

Northwood - R.Severn 26th Oct 2014

Well, after last weeks session on this stretch, I decided it would be rude not to give it another go, so off I trotted to Bewdley once more, for an afternoon into dusk session on this bit of river.

Upon arrival, I was yet again amazed to see the car park vacant so predictably I setup my gear on the bridge swim once more. The river this week had less colour, had dropped considerably, but still was 18 inches up and looked very good. I setup my usual two pellet rods in anticipation, fully expecting this session to be a good one.

How wrong I was!!!! After two hours, not even a tap on either rod. I spent a while messing around swapping baits and rigs etc, trying meat and boilies, but nothing seemed to be working. Then, almost 3 hours in, I had a screamer finally, which proved to be a splasher about 4 or 5lb. At least this session was going to be a blank!! Then, a bloke came wandering down the river, and spent 30 minutes talking to me about his session at Arley a few years ago. 57 (yes fifty-seven) barbel this guy had in a session he said, and that included 10 doubles!!! Now, I'm not a stranger to BS, but this story reached new levels in my book. He finally left me alone and I could concentrate once more.

10.8 of lovely Severn barbel!!!

At 4.30pm, just as i was explaining to the camera about the reasons for my poor session, I had a bite on the

upstream rod, which I'd just swapped back to pellet. A good fish that fought deep and long, a few good runs, but mostly dogged. After 5 minutes, I slipped the net under my first Severn double of the season, a beautiful fish of 10.8.

I fished on into dark, but no more barbel appeared, just a solitary chub....didn't matter though, i was well pleased with that fish!!!

See the video to this session here:-

Northwood, R.Severn - 19th October

An afternoon session this one, from midday until around 6pm, and with the river falling after being

Dowles Bridge

nearly four feet up I had high hopes. The peg just above Dowles bridge was free, surprisingly, so I settled on that. In fact the place was deserted, just me there, barbel anglers hae been waiting for months for good conditions, and when we get them, they stay at home! Anyway, I started on a pellet rod, and a rod with a lump of meat on, but it wasn't long before I changed things around, switching the upstream rod to a feeder with pellet, and the downstream rod to a straight lead with pellet.

9lb 10oz

The first bite took an hour to arrive, which resulted in a hook pull...but another wrap round 30 minutes later resulted in the first fish of the session, a splasher of around 3-4lb. I did think at the time that this could be the first of quite a few, and it wasn't long before I hooked another one, this fish gave a much more dogged fight, as bigger fish do. A three or four minute tussle and I landed the fish, a nice one too, weighing in at 9.10, my best Severn fish of the season, happy days!

The next chuck produced an equally lovely fish, not as big but still a fine fish of 8.4, again on the pellet. I tried meat several times during the session, but I just couldnt get a bite on it, with pellet being the best bait by far. This bait brought me a couple more splashers, and another one between 5 and 6lb, all on the downstream rod, in fact, I never had a tap on the upstream setup.

8lb 4oz

A great session though, the middle of October, six lovely barbel, and the temperature almost 20 degrees, it doesnt get any better!

See the video of this session here:-

Harvington - Warks Avon 16/10/2014

A fabulous morning on the Avon

After waiting for what has been months for some proper rain to affect my favourite river, a few days it finally happened, and by Wednesday there was more than 2 foot on. By the time I arrived, it had dropped to around 18 inches or so, with lots of colour, and looked perfect!

Down to business, two rods, one with double elips, the other with a single pellet complete with a paste wrap....I was feeling very confident indeed. Sure enough, 20 minutes in, and a screamer on my downstream rod.....and the fish almost made it into a snag, which i managed to prise it away from....the fish made some short powerful runs under the rod tip before I managed to subdue it, a nice fish. I thought it might be 8+ at first, but in the net it looked smaller, and so it proved, tipping the scales at 7.11. Great start!

7lb 11oz

This proved to be a bad omen though....the next 2 hours brought no bites at all, and I moved up a few pegs to fish under some overhanging trees. This too, proved fruitless, so I ended up back in the swim I started in. A switch to meat I thought might pick a fish up didn't work either, a

nd apart from a few plucks from chub that was it.

It ended up being quite a disappointing session in the end, and to be honest, I may have fared better starting at 1pm and fishing until dark, but who knows. A good looking river proved to be hard.

Never mind, there'll be another day.....tomorrow!!!

the video to this session here:-

Northwood - 10th Oct 2014

The Severn at Northwood

Well, after a few days of heavy rain (finally), I had high hopes for this session, with my usual first choice Warks Avon still unaffected by the rain, this held the best  chance of a few fish. A couple of mates were also going there, so at least there would be someone to talk should it be hard going. I found the river about 14 inches up when I arrived, and a lovely colour. The sun was out though, but I did quite fancy it for a few. I setup my usual two pellet rods, with double elips on both, but it proved to be slow, probably the drop in water temperature in the days previous being to blame. My mate Lee in the next peg down was also blanking, so it seemed tough all over. Another angler with a southern accent came wandering up, explaining he'd never caught a barbel before, and this was his first attempt....he hadn't picked the best of days!

Not long after that, finally, I had a tap, which at first I thought was a chub, but it proved to be a barbel, not a huge one, but welcome, about the 5lb mark. Then, this was followed by action in the next swim up, southern guy has manage to connect with a fish, which was taking him all over the river. I wandered up as he landed it, and could see it was a good fish. He hadn't got any scales, so I obliged, and his first barbel went 9lb 2oz, a great fish for his first, and it was worth being there to see the smile on his face, he was ecstatic!!

The only fish of a hard session

Back in my swim, I could hear southern guy phoning every one of his mates, all I could hear was, "it was 9lb 2oz..." on every call, you know the sort of thing. During one of these calls, I had an absolute screamer, baitrunner whizzing away. I never did manage to stop it though, straight into a snag downstream, and that proved to be the last of the action for the day.....at least it wasn't a blank.