Dad Knows Best! River Wye, Courtfield, Lower Lydbrook 11/03/2014

New personal best - 6lb 2oz!

First post on here this year for me, so I guess I should start by saying a very belated Happy New Year to all who read my blogs. I hope it's a good one for us all! I've done very little fishing during the wet winter we've just endured and whilst the times I have been out have produced a few bites I've not felt the need to write about it. This weeks trip to the Wye though, is well worth tapping at the keyboard for. Due to the weather, this river like most has been unfishable since late last year and at its peak was carrying record levels of flood water. The village of Lower Lydbrook was under water and it is only now that the river has returned to a more normal state for the time of year. On Tuesday Dan, Steve, my dad and I found an extra couple of foot or so, a bit of colour and a strong current. Things looked good for a fish or two and so we settled in to our swims and quickly set up. Dad landed a barbel of 5lb straight away which got us all excited and eagerly awaiting more. A 7lb barbel was next, again to dad. Two further bites resulted in hooked fish but both were lost, again it was dad getting all the action. No one was surprised when dad hooked his fifth of the day, a barbel of about 4lb. Dan, Steve and I kept at it, trying a few different swims and chucking everything at the fish, including all sorts of different pellets, boilies and groundbaits, as well as maggots and caster. It was no good though and it was dad who was next in to a fish, again! A large chub surfaced and I was waiting with the net. As I lifted it up I realised just how large, it looked massive and on the scales it swung the needle round to over 6lb, settling on 6lb 2oz! A personal best for dad and the biggest chub any of us had ever seen. It truly was a monster and the pictures really don't do it justice. Bites dried up for dad after this but I don't think he minded too much after the day he had enjoyed. Don, the fishery owner paid a visit and whilst we were nattering about all things fishing my rod bounced in the rest and I hooked a powerful fish, after a fantastic fight I netted my first barbel of 2014, a fish of about 7lb. That was all the action for this trip, Dan and Steve unfortunately had to settle for a blank. I'm already booked again on this stretch in both June and July, so looking forward to that. For up to date information on the River Wye visit www.wyeuskfoundation.org and for more about the river at Courtfield, Lower Lydbrook take a look at www.facebook.com/lowerwyefishing