Difficult Conditions Produces Personal Best

Dad with his new personal best 9lb 1oz barbel

Recent rain had put some much needed colour in to our rivers so dad and I headed to the Biblins stretch of the River Wye to try and tempt a barbel. On arrival we discovered the recent rise in water level and increase in current was washing all manner of debris down stream and we knew we were in for a tricky days fishing. Keeping a line in the water for longer than a few minutes at a time proved troublesome but as weed and tree branches drifted past we persevered and were rewarded with several fighting fit barbel each. Dad was lucky enough to hook a very good fish and after five minutes of battling both the fish and the river an immaculate barbel of 9lb 1oz was on the scales, a personal best for dad and a real achievement landing such a big, hard fighting fish in such difficult conditions. Very well done! Various baits were used throughout the day with Mistral Baits 15mm Spicy Sausage Instant Carp Food boilies proving very popular with the rivers residents. Tackle used was a running 3oz lead, a 12lb breaking strain Korda IQ2 extra soft fluorocarbon hooklength and a size 8 Drennan Super Specialist Barbel hook. This river has provided excellent sport all summer and a return trip in October has already been booked. Cant wait!

This little chap put up a great scrap for it's size

Barbel love boilies and pellets

Excellent Sport on Offer at Local Lakes

This 1lb 8oz perch took a liking to luncheon meat

The last few weeks have seen Dad and I, joined by my friend Dave, sampling the fishing available on some of our local stillwaters and I am pleased to say with good results. A variety of tactics and baits were used from centrepin reels and floating crust to bite alarms and boilies with all methods producing good fish. Highlights included double figure carp for all of us, topped by a 16lb 1oz common for Dave which he tempted on a red thai curry boilie that I had made myself. Tench to 5lb 2oz made an appearance along with some decent bream, roach and perch. Conditions seem to be perfect at the moment and with summer changing to autumn it provides an excellent opportunity to get out there and enjoy what our lakes have to offer. For information on fishing any of our local venues pop in to the shop and have a chat with us.

Dave with his personal best tench of 5lb 2oz