Barbel Fishing on the Wye. New Dynamite Baits CarpTec Boilies on Test

A brace of summer Wye barbel

A cold, hay fever, heavy rain and a flooded River Wye. Good reasons not to go barbel fishing! But I went anyway and I'm glad I did! I wanted to try out the new Dynamite Baits CarpTec Boilies on the Wye's plentiful stocks of barbel. Recently the brightly coloured, fruity flavours, like the Banana, Plum and Strawberry boilies, have been a hit with both the carp and tench in our local lakes and I thought the fishy baits in the range might work well on the river. I was right! A couple of short afternoon/evening sessions have produced the first barbel of this season with fish to 8lb 4oz hoovering up both the Mussel & Shellfish and Spicy Squid flavours. Chub have also approved of these new baits, a fish of just over 4lb being the biggest so far. A resounding success for these boilies and I'm sure the dark red coloured Crab & Crayfish flavour would do the business as well. Tackle wise all the fish were taken on 10lb breaking strain Sufix Synergy reel line with size 8 Drennan Super Specialist Barbel hooks tied to 12lb breaking strain fluorocarbon hooklengths and fished with running 3oz Korda Big Grippa leads. A tried and tested, tough, reliable set up. So, give these new boilies a go! They're all available now and with eight different flavours and colours to choose from there's something for most species.

Fly Fishing in France

A French bleak

A trip to Fleac in Poitou-Charentes, South West France, to visit family last week, provided the opportunity for a bit of fishing. My brother-in-law is lucky enough to live on the banks of a small limestone stream and I was fortunate enough to have packed my travel fly rod. A chance not to be missed! Chub, roach and bleak were plentiful and provided a few enjoyable hours of good sport on the dry fly. Not quite the monster carp or catfishing that this country is famous for but a bit of fun none the less!

A decent roach on the fly

Beginners Luck for Birthday Boy. Trout Fishing on Chew

A bright sunny day for Toby's birthday and the two of us set off to Chew Valley Lake for a day's boat fishing. Waving goodbye to Jon and leaving him to look after the shop we jumped in the car for what was only Toby's second trip fly fishing, the first being two years ago and resulting in Toby's first ever rainbow trout. Eager to catch again, Toby tackled up a single fly on a fluorocarbon leader whilst I opted to fish a team of three flies. The morning passed quickly, but with no fish to show for our efforts and so we popped into Woodford Lodge for something to eat. After lunch we wasted no time in motoring to the North Shore area of the lake and were soon hooking some fish. A few trout managed to slip the hook but come the evening we had netted six rainbows, four for Toby and two for me. Beaten by a beginner!! A good day out and great to see Toby enjoy a type of fishing he doesn't get to do very often.
I fished the fourth round of the Chew evening series last week as well and had two fish for 7lb, enough to push me up to tenth place overall, out of over thirty participants, so I was very pleased with that!

Toby's birthday present, a personal best!