Barbel Weather, Not Pike Weather

I had got my pike gear ready, but the weather suggested other ideas. It looked like the river would be rising Thursday in Friday. This was correct, but the river would start falling early Friday morning and continue to fall into the evening. There would still be an extra metre of water in the river so the barbel may be feeding. Much to my surprise the parking spot was empty when I got there. I realised as I got to the bank that I may have been better on the far bank as the strong wind was blowing straight at me. If it rained there was know way a brolly would be any good. Due to the lack of bridges hereabouts it would be a half-hour drive to the far bank so I decided to stick it out.

I decided to keep things simple. A matchbox sized piece of meat on a straight lead out in the middle and a worm on a straight lead on the inside by the overhanging trees. As I was setting up the action cam a swan came drifting down the river. At first I thought it was injured as it was resting it's head on it's body. As I pointed the camera at it it's head popped up and it gave out a plaintive squeak which lead me to believe it may have been one of this years cygnets that's been kicked out. It then went back to sleep again, which seemed a bit daft given the speed of the current. As it woke up again and started to swim back upstream the cob appeared round the corner and quickly shooed it away. They really can be quite vicious getting rid of their young.

I swapped the baits about occasionally, but only ended up with the odd chewed worm. just after lunch the weather took a turn for the worse. Driving rain and a strong wind made life a tad unpleasant. It even managed to lift one of the rods out of the rod rests. As I was making an afternoon cuppa the meat rood out in the middle lurched over and the baitrunner started to spin.I was into something reasonable. Unfortunately, having hauled it back upstream, it lodged itself in a snag in front of me. The snag most be a new one for this year as it wasn't there last year. Having tried the big heave from various angles with out success I left it five minutes with slack line. With no movement I went for the straight pull. The hook-length snapped like cotton. The last 3-4" was very badly abraded. I don't think I'd of landed the fish even if I'd got it out. The barbless hook should be easy enough for it to dislodge.

Not long after I'd recast the rod, again with a matchbox sized lump of meat, the tip started to nod about. I lifted into something none to big which I then thought had come adrift. It was not until I got it nearly to the bank that a little barbel around the pound mark decided to put on a bit of a show. At least I'd got my target species. Not long after the sun put in a n appearance allowing the trees to show there autumn colours. Apart from the odd rattle on the worm rod not much else happened. I stayed just into dark, but my usual skill of leaving the head torch behind meant staying longer wasn't a good idea. I found the torch under the car seat next day.

I was surprised when I got home at the number and sizes of frogs hoping about the garden. despite several attempts I only managed to photograph one of them.