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!

Back on the Avon.....

Clear as gin

Well, I didn't get the chance to fish last weekend, due to one thing and another, and with every river in the land still low and crystal clear, it was never going to be easy. I opted to leave work early, and spend the last few hours of daylight, and the first hour of darkness on the river. Venue of choice was a new stretch on the WA, below Pershore, which offered deeper water, which I feel offers a better bet in clear conditions.....and clear it most certainly was, probably the clearest I've ever seen it.

A walk along the first few swims and I could see the cabbages three or four foot down.

I found a swim with a bit of extra flow close in, about ten feet deep, and comfortable too, so I chose to drop in there. I droppered about three pints of hemp in, spread over two areas of the swim. Hookbaits were pellets on straight leads, just 1.5oz was all I needed, elips on one rod, and a single 12mm crab pellet on the other.

An autumn gold bar

Twenty minutes in, and still on the first cast...a screamer on the upstream rod, a fish that gave a good account of itself for such a small fish, it was probably somewhere between six and seven pounds, I didn't weigh it, but it was a stunning fish, beautful bronze flanks and perfect fins, one of the best looking fish I've taken this season, beautiful.

No other fish decided to put in an appearance, although I got a few twitches on meat as the light faded, I think the river is just too clear right now. I'll be back to this stretch though, I know for a fact it holds some very good fish indeed, and once it's coloured I'll be after them!

A quick update....

Well, it's October already, four months into the season and it's gone very quickly indeed. For various reasons, mainly not having much to blog about, I haven't really had much to report on the barbel front, it's been a very difficult season indeed. A number of factors have led to this, the first being the usual summer problem of not having much water around, infact, the only significant rainfall we've had was in August, which put just two or three feet of extra water on the rivers I fish, which quickly ran back off. As I write this, both the Severn and the W.Avon are running at summer lows, with the water clarity being that of Gordon's Finest.

A Lower Severn 9.4

The second reason has been the amount of time I've spent fishing the Lower Severn, which at the best of times is a tough nut to crack,

I've put a few on the bank here and there, mostly at Pixham Ferry, with the best coming from Severn Stoke(see pic), but it still wasn't a double, and still now, a Lower Severn double eludes me after umpteen trips at both venues. The Lower Severn still captivates me though, it has a mystery all of its own, remains underfished compared to the middle river, and you never know when a huge fish is going to smash that rod tip over.

Seasons best, 12.11

For the same reasons that I've already mentioned, I haven't published any YouTube videos either, something which lots of people keep asking me about. I've been surprised at their popularity, and my dozen or so videos now have more than 40,000 views, something which I never would have expected. I must try and do some more!

In between my various Severn trips, I've managed a couple of Avon sessions too, with various levels of success/failure, infact, an impromptu session on the Avon just last week on the strength of the river being up a bit, led to my best fish of the season, an absolutely stunning fish of 12.11, which i took on pellet shortly before dusk.

I still think the best fishing is to come, November can be very good indeed, and surely (I hope), we will get some significant rain to lead to some feeding fish. I shall mainly be concentrating on the Wavon and Lower Severn when the rain finally arrives, and maybe even a Wye trip if I get time....I'll also try and keep this blog a bit more up to date!!

The good start continues.....sort of.

After a nice start to the season on Wednesday 17th, I returned to Knowle again on the following day, intending to fish a peg I'd walked past the previous day. On closer inspection though, I didn't really fancy it much, there wasn't much flow close in. So, it was a toss up between the same peg as the previous day, or the first peg in the second meadow. I chose the same peg again, and settled on it in the same fashion, with pellet and boilie. Things proved to be slow, as it was a brighter day than the previous one, and various changes and tweaks brought no action. Fish were porpoising all over the river, jumping clear, rolling etc, I can only assume they're still spawning, which explains the lack of action in a usually prolific area. A change to a big lump of meat on a size 2 pallatrax hook close in, brought an absolute screamer of a take, and a fish was on. A decent scrap and a fine looking barbel of 7.8 was in the net, another lovely fish from this lovely swim. That proved to be it though, and the next 90 minutes the swim seemed to be dead, so I upped sticks, and moved to the first peg in the meadow. This swim is pacier and shallower, and has a tree that overhangs slightly. I put out a pellet rod mid-river, and meat under the trees.

7lb 8oz

A fish fell to pellet straight away, another nice looking fish of 6.13, but the very bright sunshine was slowing sport. After an hour of so, I began to get taps on the meat rod, and sure enough, it wasn't long before a fish was hooked, another of about 6lb. This was followed by another one of the same size, and then another one which I lost. I had a problem though, I only had one piece of meat left, such are the perils of taking only one tin! Luckily, a barbel took a fancy to the last piece, a smaller fish of 5lb, so I finished the day with five barbel.

6lb 13oz

The following evening I visited a new stretch below Worcester, for just two bream, but fish were moving there too, and good ones at that. I shall be sneaking there again, especially when it rains, keep an eye on this blog for future visits!!