Avoiding the Barbel Again

 A change of venue for this weeks barbeling adventures. Admittedly the reports hadn't been great, but I'd heard the few that were coming out were taking small 6-8mm pellets. With this in mind put the lighter top on one rod and set it up with a smallish feeder and hook for fishing the small pellets. still with a 10lb hook length though. The second rod was fished using the usual big feeder tactics and two 22mm pellets. If everybody else had been fishing small pellets the barbel may not be as wary with a big bait. The lighter setup went in down stream under the overhanging willow and the big bait out in front into a hole just over halfway across. I swapped the rigs around every half hour or so for the next three hour. Before I got a bite. A little gudgeon on the small bait under the trees. This was quickly followed by a minnow on a 6mm pellet. How it managed to rattle the tip I don't know. The next cast had the tip whack over the moment the feeder hit bottom. Not the barbel I was expecting but a little jack that must have taken the pellet on the drop.

There then followed a series of rattles to the tip from the bait under the tree before I contacted with an odd looking roach. The tail end looked like it was from a roach half the size of the head end. Another quickly followed. This one had a monster tail belong to a roach twice the size. A more sensibly proportioned one was the next out. This was followed a little while later by a little chublet.

Just after the chublet a few fish scattered signalling the presence of a predator and things went quiet. I swapped the baits around for a while before returning the small bait to under the tree. I then had a visit from a pair of swans one of which decided to wander up the bank and stare at me. I assume it was hoping for food. One thing you often don't realise as you rarely see them is the the size of their feet. They're huge. Another thing mentioned to me by a passer-by was that there seems to be a lot of pairs of swans but very few seem to have cygnets. Thinking about it I'd seen this on another river as well. By now it was stating to get noticeably cooler. As I put my fleece on the rod tip started to bounce around and in came a rather chunky dace. This was followed a by another slightly smaller one. I didn't see a bite from the final fish of the evening, a roach. It was there when I stated to wind in to pack up.

No barbel but I did have a few fish to keep me occupied. I may pop down again with a lighter feeder rod. There again I'd probably end up been smashed up by barbel on a light setup.

Big Fish Wrecks Landing Net

The river was at a rather indifferent height when I got down there, but still carrying a bit of colour. I wandered up and down for a while pondering which swim to start in. I was the only one on the stretch, which was a bit unusual, so had far too many swims to choose from. I eventually settled for one with a nice over hanging tree down stream of me and plenty of bankside vegetation upstream.

An 8mm pellet went upstream and a 14mm pellet downstream. The feeders were half filled with 6mm pellets and topped up with 3mm. The 3mm wash out of the feeder and the 6mm stay in giving a scent trail. That's the theory anyway. I recast every half hour or so to remove any debris and top up the swim. A couple of cuppas and a sandwich later the upstream rod whacked over and a two foot branch was hauled to the surface before falling off. The rod had only been recast a minute or so when it lurched over again. This time it was definitely something fish like on the end.  Clearly a smallish barbel careering about all over the place I was surprised at it's size when it surfaced. It felt like a three pounder but looked and felt more like six when landed. It also had an odd looking scar on it's nose.

 

No sooner had I released the barbel when the downstream rod started to rattle. This felt more like a chub. I was even more convinced when it went straight into a snag. I then became a little puzzled when the snag slowly moved downstream. Steady slow cranking had the snag moving towards the surface. The snag turned out to be a double figure pike with the chub held across it's back. My attempts at filming the incident weren't very successful as I had no real idea where my phone was pointing. eventually the pike let go and the chub shot into the bankside vegetation followed by the pike which grabbed it again before letting go. I quickly had the rather battered chub in the net. A fish of nearly 4lb I can see why the pike didn't want to let go of such a large meal.

I let the somewhat battered chub rest in the landing net while I recast and made another cuppa. The landing net then suddenly shot away. The pike was back. It had obviously come back for the chub and got it's teeth snagged in the net. As I hauled it back it started to spin and mangle the net frame. The net then snagged on something down the bank. The pike let go and I managed to free the net. The chub had managed to get away during this farce.

As I attempted to bend the frame back to something like it's original shape I managed to snap the alloy frame. Anybody with any sense would have brought the rods in at this point as landing anything of size would be damn near impossible. I, however, decided to finish my cuppa. Having finished started wind in the downstream rod only to find something on the end. A bream of a couple of pounds quickly surfaced hooked the pectoral fin. Thankfully it rolled off the barbless hook. Which saved an faffing about.Don't know what I'd have done if it had been a barbel or chub properly hooked.

 

For a long time I'd had a smaller landing net head lying about in the boot of the car that would have allowed me to continue fishing, but I'd had one of those inspired moments when I thought I ought to declutter and remove them mess in the car. Tidiness isn't all it's cracked up to to be.

A Sort Of Barbel Free Barbel Session

 According to the gauges the river was still rising and should be about a yard up, so it looked like it may be a good time for another spot of barbel fishing. When I got to the river there was only a couple of cars there which was a bit of a surprise and the river wasn't quite as high as I'd expected. I also saw my first egret on this stretch. I've seen the further down, but not up here. As I got my kit out the car a couple more anglers turned up. Prospects looked good.

 

I headed downstream and plonked myself in a swim. Halibut feeder upstream and meat downstream. The upstream rod just beyond the weeds and the downstream rod in the slightly slower water midstream. The faster section being on the far bank. This was to change as the river slowly rose and the distinction slowly disappeared. A 3oz feeder held upstream, but 4oz was needed downstream. After an hour or so the upstream rod tip sprang back and I was in. Initially the fish was reasonably cooperative before it decided to head downstream. Something didn't feel right though, as if I wasn't in direct contact with the fish. The line was pointing at 45 degrees to the water but the fish had taken a lot more line and was a lot further downstream. It had clearly got under a snag. One reason I'd chosen this swim was that it was normally snag free. After a few minutes of too and fro everything went solid. I fed out some slack line and waited a good ten minutes, but it was coming out. I went for the direct pull and the line snapped with the greatest of ease. The last ten yards of the 15lb reel line was seriously chafed so of it came. I re-rigged. By now the 3oz feeder wouldn't hold bottom so I put a 4oz feeder in instead which held nicely. I'd forgotten to put the super heavy stuff in the tackle box so if things got worse it would have to be a double lead job.

Twenty minutes later the downstream rod lurched over. At first I thought it was more weed or debris on the line, but it set off downstream far far too fast for debris. Eventually i stopped the fish in it's tracks and it just hung in the current before swinging into the nearside and into some tree roots. Again I gave it so slack to no avail. I tried poking the landing net in and around the roots as this sometimes  frightens the fish out. I then went for the big heave and the 12lb hook length parted. That was to be it for me. I had expect more bites later on as this is normal ion this swim. A couple in quick(ish) succession and then nothing for a while.

The river rose around six inches while I was there. An angler I was talking to at the parking spot had taken four and lost three downstream of me. Another who'd never caught downstream of the bridge managed two, one of which was a double. Oh well. As I pondered weather to pack up as rain was expected imminently a flash of lightening and a roll of thunder made my mind up for me. I wasn't quite quick enough though. Halfway back to the car the heavens opened. By the time I got to the car it had eased off, before tipping it down again as I drove away. No fish and soggy tackle. Not a great day.