A very minor success

Waiting for the screamer

Sunday was the last day of January, and with doubles in Oct, Nov and December, I was sort of hoping I could make it four months with doubles. With the Severn up to the rim, I decided to do a repeat Avon trip, hoping for the same peg as two days previously.

Heavy rain had swelled the river to almost three feet on, loads of colour, and it looked very inviting, but the water temp had dropped to 8.3c, so more than a degree down. I had the pleasure of bumping into Lee Poultney, author of the excellent 'Fishy Business' blog, who lives nearby, and we had an interesting chat about the river. He settled a few swims downstream, with another angler visiting the venue for the first time further up.

The only fish of the day

I opted for my usual boilie and meat approach, this time employing a feeder on the boilie rod, following a few drops of hemp when I arrived at the swim. Things proved very slow though, as I thought they might, and Lee downstream had already moved swims. I had my only bite of the session at around 4.30pm, on the meat rod....a barbel, but not big by any means, probably about the five pound mark. I switched both rods to meat after the fish, with meat seeming to be the only bait that would work, but it was in vain, and I ended the session with just that single barbel. Lee, downstream, suffered a blank, but the young chap upstream managed two, including a lovely 12lb fish, which broke his PB.....at least one of us had a memorable day!

Blankety blanks

a good looking WA, but threw me a blank

I managed to fit two short(ish) sessions in last weekend, my first trips for a couple of weeks due to the cold snap. Both on the Warks Avon, with the temperature slowly rising, and by Monday evening, the water temperature was back up to an impressive 8.1c, which was a rise of a whole degree on the previous days session.

Unfortunately, no one told the barbel that they were supposed to be feeding, and both sessions proved fruitless.

The second session, on Monday, was on a section of the Lower river that has produced good fish for me before, the one interesting thing about the session though was that the angler at the downstream end of the stretch hooked a catfish, which he had on for more than an hour. I stood behind him for a while, and the guy just simply couldn't do anything with the fish at all, it certainly wasn't a barbel, nor a carp, so a big moggy was all it could be. I knew they were there, but that's the first time I've ever seen one hooked!

It's bloody freezing!

Been a while since my last post on here now, and this is a very quick update. At present, there's snow on the ground, and the temperature is around 2c, with water temps on our rivers somewhere between 4-5c, so not conducive to barbel fishing at all. I'm not sure when my next trip will be, but it won't be until we have a marked rise in temperatures.

A fine 11.15

The last two months, and December in particular, have been good to me however, and my seasons tally of doubles now stand at six! All of these fish have been Warks Avon specimens, the Severn is still not keen to offer me any of her doubles. The best of these was an 11.15 I took on a boilie at Fladbury, but I also had a 10.15, and a 10.3 from the same venue. The temps in December were quite incredible, some days touching 15c, with water temps up in double figures, quite something. Since then though, things have settled to more normal winter temps, but I'm hoping February will have something more to offer.

Ive got the last two weeks of the season off work, so hopefully some big fat backend barbel will grace my landing net. At least, that's the plan.

A lower Severn session....

A fine looking Lower Severn

With the Avon having dropped down a fair bit this week, my choice of venue for my afternoon off work wasn't a difficult one. The mid-severn, was about 4ft on, but the lower was well up, almost 7 feet on. Folk that know me are aware of how much I like the Lower Severn, despite it almost certainly not liking me anywhere near as much. Severn Stoke, was the venue of choice, and upon arrival on the car park, I have to say, the river looked the absolute nuts.....well coloured, bombing through in the middle, and spot on for a few fish. I spent 20 minutes wandering around looking at a few swims, eventually deciding on a swim with a decent crease, and also one I've fished before, back in the summer, so I knew it was snag free. It was also safe, easy to climb the bank, and a shallow ledge close in, always good should you slip and fall. I started on a feeder with 12mm pellet on the upstream rod, and a straight lead with a lump of garlic spam. It took about an hour for a bite, a big solid whack on the pellet rod, and a fish was on. A good scrap ensued, but I never thought I'd lose it, and I netted a fine looking lower Severn barbel, not big but a lovely fish. 

Best of the day

Unusually, for a coloured river, the meat remained untouched, so I swapped it around for a boilie with a paste wrap....which also failed to produce. Things went slowly for a few hours, with others also struggling, but a an hour or so before sunset, I managed another, again on the pellet rod, only a small fish though, for the Lower Severn especially, only about 3lb. The next chuck produced another one, again a small one, and that proved to be the last fish of the day.

I was a little disappointed not to have bigger fish, but three fish in a session in November is fine by me.

See the video to this session here:-

Lady luck is with me.....

Saturday saw me pondering about the planned trip on Sunday afternoon, with lots of rain falling, and rivers everywhere on the rise. The Severn seemed to be rising more so than the others, and by the end of Saturday, I'd already decided to give the Severn a miss, as I was pretty sure that the amount of debris and autumn leaves would make the river a very tricky proposition indeed, and I've made the mistake before.....nothing worse than casting in, only to be wiped by rubbish after a few minutes.

The Avon had seen a much slower rise, and with previous results being very good, I decided to go there, to the same stretch as my last trip.

Upon arrival, the river was probably around 18 inches on, with plenty of colour, a lot more than I thought it would have, and a good flow to boot. My first thought was to fish meat, but I stuck to my guns to begin with, and fished a dubby boilie on the downstream rod, and a 12mm pellet complete with paste wrap on the upstream setup, following a few pints of hemp going in via the dropper.

Once again, a cup of tea was dispensed as I settled back in my chair.

a lovely 12.4

Things proved slow, as I've found they often do in these cirumstances when we've been waiting for good conditions....many a time they've proved to be an anti-climax. Nothing transpired after an hour, with just leaves being the only thing I could attract, so I decided to drop the boilie setup, in favour of a lump of garlic spam, mounted on a size 2 pallatrax hook. Despite this change, still no action, and I began to think the session might prove a blank one.  I reeled in the pellet/paste rod, and recast it, just with a pellet, no paste, just a rod out or so. After a few minutes, I had a small knock, and then another, which seemed to be just chub knocks, but then a big wrap over, obviously a barbel run, and a fish was on. Straightaway, it was evident that this was a big fish, a bottom hugger this one, as some big fish are. It was quite a tussle, certainly more powerful than last weeks double, and I was worried about losing it, but eventually sustained pressure brought the fish to the surface....obviously a double, I carefully slipped the net under her, and left her to rest as I arranged the camera and scales and the like.

On first glance, I thought around 11lb, but she proved to be bigger, coming in at 12.4, my third double this season, and my second 12!!!  

I drove home with a huge smile on my face!!!

It's raining.....hurrah!!!!

Well, finally, and it's been a very long wait this year, some rain has fallen, Friday morning saw lots of it, and although I knew it wouldn't have made much difference so early, I made the trip back down to the WA following an early finish from work. The plan was to fish my usual pellet approach, and also to debut my new Three Foot Twitch boilies that Richard Easom has sent me earlier in the week. 

Upon arrival, it was obvious the rain had made little difference, with maybe a couple of inches on it,

The river at dusk

but still no colour. This was as I expected though, and as the two previous trips to the river had produced, I was confident of a fish. I found a peg which looked deeper than those further upstream, which proved to be 10-11ft when I was baiting up, and those extra few inches of water provided a nice bit of flow, all good stuff. I put about three pints of hemp in, about twenty feet from the bank, and started the session with the upstream rod fishing a 12mm crab pellet hair rigged on a size 12 pallatrax hook, and the downstream with a 'dubby' boilie, rigged on a size 10. Both rods had straight 1.5oz leads. I settled back with a cup of tea, and awaited events.

A very wiry 6.1

As I knew it would be, it proved to be a slow start, and other anglers seemed to be suffering the same fate, but I stuck to my guns and waited. After a biteless 90 minutes, I had a wrap around on the boilie rod, and a fish was on, and what a great account of itself that this fish gave. Its first run saw line screaming off the reel, and even after I gained some line on it, it was off once more.

It also fought very deep, and I thought it was a good fish until it surfaced, when I realised it was an average sized fish. It was very long and wiry, and I've had fish of similar length that have gone 8 plus. Still it was a barbel, and proof that it's not necessarily the biggest fish that pull your string the most. On the scales, it came in at just 6.1, but my third successive trip that has produced for me, and a good start for the dubby!!!

That was only fish, despite fishing into darkness, none of the other anglers caught, so I must be doing something right!!!  Today, more rain has fallen, which means I'll be doing only one thing tomorrow afternoon, I'm already feeling confident about it!!!

A successful trip back on the Avon

Here comes the fog

Well, following on from my last session on the new stretch I tried, Sunday afternoon found me travelling there once more, and with the drive down the M5 bathed in glorious autumn sunshine, I did question my chances in such bright conditions. When I arrived at the river though, it was quite misty, not much sunlight getting through, and the river was up a couple of inches since the last visit, although sadly still with no colour at all, very, very clear indeed.

But still, this is a deeper stretch, and the extra few inches offered a bit more flow, so I settled for a swim a few swims further upstream than Fridays session. With deep water close in, I droppered three or four pints of hemp in, just a rod length out, I decided to keep hookbaits the same, a 12mm crab pellet on one rod, and double elips on the other. I settled back and awaited events.

First hour proved very slow, and I began to get concerned about the fog which was descending,

A lovely autumn double

it was getting quite thick, and I didn't really fancy driving back in a pea souper very much. As the light began to fade, a few tweaks and pulls began to happen, mostly on the crab pellet rod, and sure enough, a good tug saw me in touch with a chub, only around 6oz, but a fish nevertheless. With the light fading and the fog worsening, I decided on another 20 minutes fishing. A few more tugs and twitches on the 12mm rod, and then finally a decent wrapover happened, which I first thought was a chub. It sooned proved it wasn't though, and off it went into mid river, hugging the bottom, as the better barbel seem to do.

After a few powerful runs, including a couple where I might lose the fish, I managed to slip the net under it, and she proved to be my second double of the season, coming in at 10.8.

I opted to pack up after that, with the fog, and the fact my landing net fell apart, but I drove home a happy angler!