September Barbel Trip on the River Wye

My barbel fishing had taken a back seat of late and once I was contacted by my good friend James Marlow about the the possibilities of a September barbel trip, It was at the forefront of my mind and I was itching to get up there!

We planned to fish the afternoon through until dusk and were aiming to target an area downstream of Ross-on-Wye.

We arrived at the beat and noted only one other angler was present, which was perfect, lots of water to fish.

We looked to target a couple of swims mid-beat and work our way down stream as the day went on, ending on a peg just below some rapids.

The setup was fairly conventional for the Wye, Korum Combi Feeders in the large size, 60g and 90g, 2ft 10ft fluorocarbon hooklengths tied up with Drennan Barbel Specialist hooks.

The Korum Combi feeder did the trick!

The perfect hoobait for the Wye? I think so!

The successful mix

A few catapults full of the Source dumbells were fed into a few swims on the river and we set about mixing the groundbait ready for the first cast. The mix consisted of 2kg of Hinders Blitz Mix, 350g tin of cooked hemp, a few handfuls of crushed Source boilies and a liberal helping of 4mm and 6mm halibut pellets.

(This mix did us proud on the day, we fished all rods on feeders after the straight lead approach failed to get us any bites)





The midday sun was very welcome but very hot, we anticipated a slow start but my right hand rod nodded into life within 20mins, in the shape of the perfectly formed miniature barbel, showing the fine health of the river and the new generation of barbel is looking good!

One for the future!!

 Bites came steadily through the day and we were amazed at times the feeder had hardly settled before we had a bite, which always makes it ultra exciting. As the day went on we moved down to the swim below the rapids, both had instants takes on our first casts, then nothing else. We decided the head back up to another swim as dark was approaching and it was on our way back to the car. This change of swim worked again and James finished the day with the last barbel.

On the day we had 7 barbel and 1 chub (a PB for James at 4lb 4oz), only lost 2 feeders but I did manage to snap my rod, Doh!

Hopefully we can get back up the Wye again soon!!

South West Super League Round 4 River Huntspill

After the Teams of 10 match on the River Huntspill, I missed the first Super League match due to work, so I was ready and raring for a chance to fish the 'Spill again!

Captain Hook, Glenn and a few more from the team met at Laburnam House Hotel for the breaky prior to the draw.

Sean, the walking wounded was helped onto his seat by his carer (Sam Johnson).

Hooky went off for the draw and came take with much better pegs than last week.......although not for Sean, how drew 63, the same peg as last week and a long walk with his knackered back!

I drew peg 76, the end section at Woolavington Bridge. I had Lee Trivett of Preston Innovations Thatchers to my left and Gary Etheridge of Garbolino BMV to my right. Luckily the wind wasn't as powerful as previous weeks although I wasn't counting my chickens just yet.........!

As the form normally goes the end pegs of these types of sections normally dominate but I thought I could put together a weight and get valuable points for the team.

I setup 2 feeder rods, one for ultra long range, the other to fish half way. I also setup to fish the pole at 13m with 0.4g and 0.6g rigs to hopefully target some eels and/or roach. Both tip rods were setup with braid for the bset possible bite indication.

On the call of 'all in' I put ten feeders stuffed with chopped worm and squatt on my long range line, followed by 5 feeders full on my short line. The pole line was given a half pot of white maggot and caster.
 I went out with a positive approach initially and went for a double dendro and maggot hook bait, I was rewarded within 15mins with a 10oz skimmer. I kept recasting regularly and alternating hookbaits and hooklength length to get bites, also twitching the feeder to wake up any fish in my peg.

As expected the wind picked up and although I could ping maggot over my pole line, presenting the rig was proving more difficult.

Half way through the match I got a call from fellow team mate, James Gunter, who couldn't fish due to work commitments! whilst on the phone to him I landed 2 skimmers plus an eel....a proper good luck charm! By now I had 5 skimmers, 2 eels and 1 roach but I couldn't see what else was being caught in my section so I just had to plug away! The bites got slower on the long line as did the shorter feeder line and so into the last hour I opted to swap between the long line and kept looking and topping up the pole line. I went on the pole for yet another look when the wind permitted. First put in was a proper 'Swimmer Eel' of at least 1.5lb, then next put in an 8oz roach!


I ended up weighing 7lb 11oz, which was good enough for 4 points. Lee next me had a couple of proper bream on the tip plus a good mixed bag on the pole for 14lb, Richard Aherne won out section off peg 80 with 16lb 6oz of skimmers, Lee was second and Clive Branson was third with 10lb of roach caught on the waggler. I needed one more decent eel for an extra point!

On the day, Don Sutherland finished 3rd individually, a result which helped us to a respectable joint 3rd on the day.

I cannot wait for the River Avon match in a months time!!

Individual:
1st.  Mike Withey (Sensas Cardiff Nomads) 29-2-0, bream and skimmers, groundbait feedered red maggot, peg next to Motorway bridge
2nd. Gary Webber (Preston Innovations Thatchers) 22-4-0
3rd. Don Sutherland (Maver Cadbury Angling) 21-2-0
4th. Andy Powell (Maver Lobby’s) 18-8-0
5th. Mark Brush (Daiwa Gordon League) 17-15-0
6th. Richard Aherne (Frenzee South Wales) 16-6-0.

Teams:
1st.  Preston Innovations Thatchers 53
2nd. Maver Lobbys 45
3=Maver Cadbury Angling 34
3=Daiwa Gordon League 34

League:
Preston Innovations Thatchers 185
Maver Lobby’s 166.5
Daiwa Gordon League 157.5.

Sensas South West Commercial House Winter League Round 6 K&A Canal

Here are the results from Sunday 5th January 2014, which was round 5 of the Sensas South West Commercial House Winter League, held on the Kennet and Avon Canal, from The George to Dundas.

At the start of the day, 3 teams in at the top of the B division were separated by on half a point!! So we needed a good result on the day and to beat the anglers in teams around us in the league to be sure of winning the league.


1st. Nathanial Johnson (Preston Innovations Thatchers B) 14-12-0, 15 skimmers, 5m pole and bread, three pegs past Dundas Aqueduct
2nd. Richard Whitmarsh (Sensas Wiltshire Angling) 14-4-0
3rd. Craig Pinker (D & W Builders) 8-2-0
4th. Rich Lacey (Maver Bathampton Invincible) 7-1-0
5th. Martin Rayet (Premier Angling Keynsham) 6-12-8
6th. Tim Ford (Preston Innovations Thatchers A) 6-12-0

Teams Division A:
1st. Preston Innovations Thatchers A 30.5
2nd. Maver Bathampton Elite 27
3rd. M & N Electrical 25.

Teams Division B:
Maver Cadbury Angling 24
D & W Builders 23.5
Frys 23.

Final League Division A:
1st. Preston Innovations Thatchers A 38
2nd. Preston Innovations Thatchers B 33.5
3rd. Maver Bathampton Elite 31.

Final League Division B:
1st.Maver Cadbury Angling 27.5
2nd. Frys 26
3rd. D & W Builders 25

Individuals:
Tim Ford 70
Liam Braddell 66
Mark Harper 64.5



So with a tense wait for all the results to come in and be counted up, it emerged we have won on the day again, which put us in an unbeatable position at the top of the B division and were crowned champions, what a fantastic result in our first year as a team and our first year competing in the Commercial House League. Roll on for new autumn when it all starts again!!!


Ivan, again wrote an excellent blog on his match:

http://ivansangle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/sunday-15th-january-commercial-house.html


Individual league winner, Tim Ford put his match report on his ever informative blog 'Cluckers Peg':

http://cluckerspeg.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/commercial-house-final-round-k-canal.html

Sensas South West Commercial House Winter League Round 5 K&A Canal

Here are the results from Sunday 5th January 2014, which was round 5 of the Sensas South West Commercial House Winter League, held on the Kennet and Avon Canal, from The George to Diggers.

As a team we fished a brilliant team match, with 3 sections winners, 2 2nd in sections and a 4th in section (I think) to win our division on the day and put us back at the top of the B division.

Results on the day are as follows:

1st. Neil Mercer (Maver Bathampton Elite) 13-2-0, 8lb of roach on pole with punch and bloodworm plus 5lb of skimmers on bloodworm from end peg at Diggers;
2nd. Vince Lunn (M & N Electrical) 8-9-0
3rd. Mike Withy (Sensas Wilts Angling) 7-14-0
4th. Rob Randall (M & N Electrical) 7-8-0
5th. Shaun Townsend (Maver Bathampton Invincible) 7-4-0
6th. Sam Johnson (Maver Cadbury Angling) 6-12-0

Division A Teams:
1st. Preston Innovations Thatchers B 32
2nd. Preston Innovations Thatchers A 28
3rd. Sensas Wilts Angling 26.5.
A League:
1st. Preston Innovations Thatchers A 32
2nd. Preston Innovations Thatchers B 29.5
3rd. Maver Bathampton Elite 25

Division B Teams:
1st. Maver Cadbury Angling 32
2nd. D & W Builders 23
3rd. Premier Angling Chippenham 22

B League:
1st. Maver Cadbury Angling 21.5
2= Frys and D & W Builders both 21.

Our team member Ivan Currie wrote a top blog for the day:

http://ivansangle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/sunday-5th-january-commercial-house.html

As did Tim Ford from Preston Innovations Thatchers:

http://cluckerspeg.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/commercial-house-round-5-k-canal.html

South West Super League 2013 Round 5 Bristol Avon, Newbridge.

Onto the last venue for the 2103 South West Super League, the Bristol Avon. We were fishing the Newbirdge section where the league is usually staged.

The river hasn't seen much water in recent weeks and although there has been some good winning weights, we were all a bit apprehensive on what the day would have in store for us as a team.


The draw was made and I was given 128 which was at the top of my section, just down stream of the rugby club. Not a bad area but probably not a match winning bream weight to be had!!

My peg was quite high off the water and set back so I decided to fish 13m to find a good depth of water to enable me to trot the pole properly.

I setup two top 5's, both with long lines above the floats. I had a 1.5g rig for running through off the bottom and a 3g rig for dead depth.

I also setup up a feeder rod for 2/3rd's of the way across.

I had mixed up 4kg of groundbait, consisting of a bag of Sensas Noire, a bag of Sensas Gros Gardons, a bag of Sensas Match Blend and 1kg of River Leam (Terre de Riviere).

I would say for anyone looking to mixed large quantities of groundbait a whisk and cordless drill is essential, it saves so much time and effort! I split my mix over two buckets to ease the strain on my drill.

On the 'all in' I balled in 10 large balls on my mix, the last 4 having a good pinch on casters in each ball.

I settled down and began with the 3g rig and immediately realised the flow was even slower than I had anticipated, it was tripping through very slowly, after 3 or 4 runs I got my first roach, then after a few more runs another, this continued for the first hour and I ended up with 17 roach and a perch. I kept catapulting a pinch of hemp and a pinch of caster every few minutes over my pole line and a few balls of groundbait towards my feeder line.

After one and a half hours my pole line really dried up so I switched to the feeder. A few casts later and a small skimmer graced the net...was this the start of something really good..........NO! I was getting quick positive bits on the tip on double worm but they were all tiny skimmers!!! I fished this line for a couple of hours and picked up fish steadily, still nothing massive!

I repeatedly catapulted small balls of groundbait over my feeder line, heavily laced with chopped worm.

With two hours to go I opted to top up my pole line, so in went 6 large balls of my mix each packed with casters.

With 30 minutes to go I had a look over my pole line and got bites instantly, a hybrid of 1lb plus several good roach.

At he end of the 5 hours I ended up with 6lb 8oz of mainly roach and small skimmers plus a few perch, this was only good enough for 6th in my section and 3 points. My section was won by Mark Bromsgrove of Sensas Thyers, lower down in my section where there had been some very decent weights caught on the pole.

The team had produced a solid performance, mustering 3 points of the day, the main highlight was Sam Johnson, who again came up trumps with an impressive 2nd in section, the man is proving he is in top form this season!!!





Individual Results on the day:
1st.  Andy Jane (Maver Lobby’s) 101-1-0, bream, groundbait feeder and worm, peg 63
2nd. Chris Parr (Sensas Thyers) 38-14-0
3rd.  Richard Chave (Garbolino BVMG) 23-6-0
4th.  Mark Broomsgrove (Sensas Thyers) 17-2-0
5th.  Andy Ottaway (Preston Innovations Thatchers) 15-2-0
6th.  Nathan Johnson (Preston Innovations Thatchers) 14-9-0

Teams on the day:
1st.  Garbolino BVMG 57
2nd. Preston Innovations Thatchers 52.5
3rd.  Daiwa Gordon League 51.5
4th.  Sensas Thyers 48
5th.  Maver Lobbys 39

League overall:
1st.  Daiwa Gordon League 253.5
2nd. Sensas Thyers 231.5
3rd.  Preston Innovations Thatchers 228.5
4th.  Maver Lobbys 212
5th.  Maver Cadbury Angling 211

South West Super League 2013 Round 3 River Huntspill.

A shift of venue was the order of the day for the next phase of the South West Super League, we were on to the River Huntspill, it was to be pegged from Gold Corner upto the railway bridge.

The practice matches had fished ok, the odd good weight with lots of scratching around in most sections.

I had been drawn on peg 270, so had the northbound carriageway of the M5 for company all day.

This stretch of Withy Grove was famous for bream in years gone bye. I knew some pegs would have bream in them but everywhere could have been difficult.

I set up with a feeder rod long, a feeder rod half way and a pole line at 11m.

I mixed up my favourite mix of Sensas Lake and CrazyBait Gold 50/50 with chopped worm and squat.

On the whistle I fed 6 feeders full then popped on a hooklength and went over my bait. Within 15mins I had a decent skimmer in the net, I thought I was sat on a few fish.......I wasn't!!

After a few recasts I landed a 1lb+ eel and decided to look on my shorter feeder line, which produced nothing at all!!!

I looked over my pole line and first put-in had a tiny perch, as the day wore on I could see Adam Palmer and Andy Pritchard regularly catching further downstream of me. I couldn't buy a bite from any of my lines until 5mins from the end when a bootlace eel paid me a visit on my long line.

I ended up with nicely sunburnt arms and 3lb for my troubles which was good enough for 3 points in my section and helped the team to an overall victory on the day, given the lack of anglers visiting the river and the extremely hot temperatures we couldn't. have been more pleased as a team.

Sean Partridge caught bream and skimmers for 21lb 4oz which won his section and put him 4th overall, so I nice day for him, other team member faired equally well, the supremo of the
team Sam Johnson was 3rd in his section, Gary Cross won his section, Chris hook was 3rd in his section and Dom Sullivan also won his section! Ian Hudson and Don Sutherland also chipped in with valuable points to get us to our winning number of 52!

Roll on next Sunday!!!




Results on the day:
1st.  Adam Palmer (Daiwa Gordon League) 41-1-0, bream and skimmers, groundbait feeder, worm and maggot, peg 264
2nd.  Darren Gilman (Maver Bathampton) 28-0-0
3rd.  Andy Pritchard (Wilts Angling) 22-11-0
4th.  Sean Partridge (Maver Cadbury Angling) 21-4-0
5th.  Dave Micklewright (Daiwa Gordon League) 19-8-0
6th.  Mike Owens (Sensas Thyers) 16-13-0

Teams:
1st.  Maver Cadbury Angling 52
2nd. Daiwa Gordon League 50
3rd.  Sensas Thyers 45; Lobbys 43
4th.  Preston Innovations Thatchers 42
5th.  Maver Bathampton 39

League:
1st.  Daiwa Gordon League 142
2nd. Sensas Thyers 137
3rd. Maver Cadbury Angling 136
4th. Lobbys 130.5
5th. Preston Innovations Thatchers 127
6th. Cardiff Nomads 105.

South West Super League 2013 Round 2 Gloucester Canal.

A strong westerly wind greeted the teams for the 2nd of two matches on the Gloucester Canal.

After the previous weeks performance, the team was sat in a strong position and hope were high on building on that success.

James Gunter was unavailable for this weeks match, but another match ace, Glen Calvert was, so the team had a strong look to it once again.

The draw was average, no noted pegs, all middle of sections. I had been drawn on the Hempstead straight, peg 18.

My peg was next to a concrete ramp which is used by the rowing club, a gap in the hedge meant I was exposed to the 25-30mph gusts, which made fishing long very difficult.

I knew this section was going to be tough as the previous weeks results showed. I setup my feeder for 2/3rds across the canal and plumed two pole lines, one at 13m and one and 8m.

The first hour saw no bites on the tip or when I looked over my balled in 8m or 13m pole lines. After 1.5 hours I finally had a bite on the 8m line, it felt like a decent eel, then the slimey critter bit through my hooklength!

For the next few hours I alternated between my pole lines and the tip and all I had to show for my efforts were two small eels which were caught on my 8m pole line, that was good enough for last in my section and enough for my to hang my head in shame as I returned to the rugby club for the results.

My other team mates had considerably better results than myself, the ever consistent Sam Johnson won his section again, Chris Hook was 3rd in his section as was Glen Calvert. The remaining team members all produced big points to leave us as a team with 42 points for the second week in a row.

1st. Simon Hebditch (Garbolino BVMG) 31-2-0 Peg 220 pilot
=2nd. Steve Long (Garbolino BVMG)
=2nd. Derek Jarman (Maver Lobby’s) both 19-12-0
4th. Steve Priddle (Sensas Thyers) 18-14-0
5th. Steve Bryan (Maver Lobby’s) 18-7-0
 
Teams on the day:
Sensas Thyers 56
Daiwa Gordon League 50
Maver Lobby’s 46
Maver Cadbury Angling 42

League:
=1st. Sensas Thyers 92
=1st. Daiwa Gordon League both 92
3rd. Maver Lobby’s 86.5
4th. Preston Innovations Thatchers 86
5th. Maver Cadbury Angling 84

South West Super League 2013 Round 1 Gloucester Canal.

 Everyone was in good spirits at the draw for the first round of the 2013 Super League. I was part of the newly formed Maver Cadbury Angling team, which on the day was comprised of Myself,  James Gunter, Sam Johnson, Dom Sullivan, Sean Partridge, Gary Cross, Don Sutherland and Chris Hook (Cptn).

The draw wasn't overly kind to the team, a few good pegs, a few bad. I had drawn peg 220 on the Pilot stretch. After a mammoth walk to my peg, I saw I was the end peg, with Paul Isaacs of Maver Bathampton to my left. Our team had discussed a few tactics prior to the match and I was planning on implementing some of them in this peg.

I plumed a line at around 6m and found it to be a full top 5 deep. I also plumed a 12m line, both of which I was going to cup groundbait over and top-up if need be. As the call of "all in" rang out I could see some anglers in my section had opted to ball in, I stuck with my gut instinct and cupped in, 4 large balls of groundbait/leam/caster/chopped worm and squat over both the 6m and 12m lines. I was going to let this settle and check the lines for signs of life throughout the first hour. I also had setup my feeder rod for fishing 3/4 of the way across the canal. I starting fishing liquidised bread with a punched bread hookbait. 

After regularly recasting and not having any luck, I checked up on my shorter pole line.....nothing. So it was back on the tip! After nearly an hour I had a positive pull round which sprung right back. I lifted into it and it felt like a decent fish. It thudded its way to the net and it was a good 1 1/2lb skimmer. A few more casts and more more sign of life!

Paul, in the peg next to me was already catching a good stamp of skimmers on the pole. I checked my short line once again, I had 3 very small skimmers followed by a slightly better sized hybrid. This run of small fish prompted me to cup in a few more balls. I left that line for 15mins and checked my longer line, where I promptly foul hooked a carp and was left with just a scale! I went back over my 6m line and immediately had a sail away bite which came off almost straightaway, it felt like a better fish. I went over again and this time a got a ripper of a lift bite and after a good fight a 4lb bream was in the net. I had the hook pull out at the net on the next skimmer then put two more in the net. The bites dried up then so I topped up the groundbait again. Still no more bites on my longer pole line or the tip. Paul was still catching steadily and I thought his weight could win the whole match!!

Into the last hour of the match and I started to see signs of life again on my 6m line this resulted in 2 more decent skimmers and a few more baby skimmers. 

I weighed 14lb 12oz of my bream and skimmers which was good enough for 5th overall on the day and 3rd in my section, Paul Isaacs won the section and was second overall with an impressive 30lb bag.

Our team had faired pretty well too, Sam Johnson had won his section and came 3rd overall with 19lb. Gary Cross had also won his section and the rest of the team had all chipped in with some good points to leave us with 42 points on the day, tied joint 4th overall with Daiwa Gordon League.

1st. Rob Skellet (Nomads) 36-7-0, bream and skimmers, groundbait feeder with maggot

2nd. Paul Isaacs (Maver Bathampton) 30-14-0

3rd. Sam Johnson (Maver Cadbury Angling) 19-5-0

4th. Dave Micklewright (Daiwa Gordon League) 17-4-0

5th. Toby Parker (Maver Cadbury Angling) 14-2-0

6th. Gary Webber (Preston Innovations Thatchers) 12-13-0

Teams: 

Preston Innovations Thatchers 52

Nomads 47.5

Wilts Angling 46

Daiwa Gordon League 42

Maver Cadbury Angling 42

Clevedon Club Match. Apex Lake, Highbridge

Another frost greeted all 22 anglers for the draw at Apex lake in Highbridge for this Clevedon FWAC Club match.


Myself, James Gunter and Rob Fogg had all shared some healthy banter before for the draw and were loaded ready to dip are hand in the bowl, not before buying our NSAA day ticket for the venue, no rule breaking!!

I had drawn peg 1 and scales duty! Peg 1 is at the mouth of the channel between the out-of-bounds boating lake and the rest of the complex. I had Lance Tucker to my left in peg 2 and Kev Perry across from me in Peg 44.

The view of my peg

Both Rob and James had drawn in the island bowl, both had chucks to the island as their disposal.

I targeted my peg two feeder rod setups and the pole at 13m, one with a paternoster groundbait feeder, the other with a method.

I mixed up Sensas Craztbait Gold and Sensas Lake 3000 and mixed them 50/50 then added half a pint of frozen pinkie to it.

I setup up the pole to fish at 13m with a positive and negative line, I cupped in 4 big balls on my negative left hand line and 8 big balls on my positive, right hand line. Kev Perry, Paul Faiers and Barry Fowler, all in a line clipped up and introduced groundbait via the feeder to establish a swim and we all soon into some skimmer action.

Due the the shape of this part of the lake I didn't have much of a chuck in front of me, I tried my luck fishing the feeder into the channel, but was only rewarded with a small skimmer in about 10 casts. I had a look on my pole line and had instant bites on the left hand line. I had 5 skimmers in 5 put-ins, then it died, as did the whole section of the lake. Everyone that I could see was struggling. In the last 3 hours of the, the bowl of the lake I was pegged in hardly produced a fish!!

For the remainder of the match, I tried everything to get another bite, going past my feed, baiting a new line, groundbait feeder, method, changing shotting, depth, hookbaits, you name it, I tried it, but to no evale!

James and Rob on the other hand were fairing much better, James was getting steady bites on the pole, when the ever present gusting easterly winds would allow him to hold his rig still and present it properly.

Rob had alternated between the groundbait feeder and pole and was catching a few skimmers and a few bonus BREAM!

Rob Fogg with his 16lb 10oz bag, enough for 2nd on the day!

At the whistle I knew I had only 6 skimmers, Lance had packed up early, as had Simon Carvallo along with a few others.

I weighed in John Wolstencroft from peg 3 and myself then went to Dom Sullivan who mentioned he'd "had a few", on the scales they went and bottomed out at 22lb 14oz, I knew that would be an almost guaranteed match winning weight!

Rob weighed 16lb 10oz, enough for 2nd overall, James weighed 11lb 8oz, which gave him a section, by default.

Brian slipper didn't get to weigh in his seagull he hooked as they didn't count this this match!

The overall results were:

1st.   Dom Sullivan  22lb 14oz   Peg 4
2nd. Rob Fogg         16lb  8oz    Peg 10
3rd.  Paul Faiers       12lb  8oz    Peg 43

Section Winners:

James Gunter         11lb 8oz       Peg 15
Kev Perry               11lb 12oz    Peg 44
Tim Lewis              12lb  4oz     Peg 36

Cadbury Angling Silverfish Open Match 4 of 4 Plantations Main Lake

The last of the planned Silverfish Only matches was once again well attended, with 17 anglers booked in, most of whom also indulged themselves in a tasty breakfast at Plantations Cafe.

To the draw, I had drawn 11, which has one of these silverfish matches back in February. The 'form' pegs of 4,5 and 7 had also been highlighted as ones to watch. Steve Mayo drew 5 and Andy Hembrow drew 7, good anglers on good pegs was sure to produce a weight to bother the scorers.

I was happy with my draw and was pleased to have Simon 'Skimmer' Carvallo next to me in peg 12, as least if it went quiet I had a mate to chat to!

I went with the 'in' tactic of cupping loose groundbait on two 13m lines, with the option of fishing 14.5 past my feed if I needed to.

I get up a Drennan G-Tip 3 0.6g for my 13m lines and a Drennan Pinkie 4x12 for a top kit edge rig and a Preston PT Series 4 for a 6m line, all tied to 0.11 with 0.08 hooklength and size 18 Gamma greens.

The previous night I mixed my groundbait of a 50/50 mix comprising of Sensas Lake and Crazybait Gold. I cupped in 3 cups on my left 13m line and 2 cups on my right 13m line, each cup had a pinch of caster and pinkie in, some finely chopped worm on my short edge line and a cup of groundbait with some caster on my 6m line. I kept hooking roach off both my 13m lines but the bites were coming slow and steady, not what I really wanted. I persisted and nothing but small roach.

After the first hour I had a look on my top kit edge line, I had continuously fed with pinches of caster and pinkie, I had bites straight away, a small perch, followed by a decent 8oz perch and then an 8oz roach, then the line died, only the odd small roach....so I topped up my 13m lines and headed back out over them.

I had to wait just a few minutes for a proper lift bite and a decent 1.5lb skimmer came to the net. 10 minutes later another, this time slightly smaller.

All the white Simon to my left was building a decent weight of smaller skimmers, catching them regularly throughout the day on his longer lines.

We had heard on the lake grapevine and Andy Hembrow in peg 7 was bagging up so everyone else was fishing for the rest of the places.

As the day went on the bites gradually dried up for everyone it seemed, the lake just seemed to flop. I was lucky enough to have a 1lb crucian to break up the afternoon of small roach catching.

I ended up 5th on the day with 10lb 8oz, I days fishing was had but not enough to get in on the money!

Rob Fogg in peg 18 was having a hard day which was topped off by a Canada Goose fling through his top kit and breaking the tip! Speaking of breakages, Lewis Walker, after recently converting to Daiwa poles from Maver, decided to loose feed his entire pole at 11.5m after his 13m section broke, we all heard it, like a shotgun going off!

The Excellent Winning Bag of 34lb

Down to the facts:

1st   Andy Hembrow     Peg 7     34lb 10oz
2nd Steve Mayo            Peg 5     21lb   4oz
3rd  Simon Carvallo     Peg 12    14lb

Section Winners:

Paul Nicholls                    Peg 4      13lb
Sam Johnson                    Peg 25     10lb 4oz Tied
Craig Tucker                    Peg 28     10lb 4oz Tied

Clevedon Club Match. River Bristol Avon, Crane Section

This was my first trip to this stretch of the Bristol Avon and although I had been warned that this section doesnt't always produce, I was full of beans and ready to give it a go. My chauffeur for the day James Gunter and I set off early and were greeted with a hard frost and -3C!

After topping up our fuel levels at Macdonald's we met for the draw and Keynsham marina.

Adie Baker, Scott and Ivan had already walked and pegged the bank for us hardy souls.

I drew the furthest peg upstream, a bit of a walk but an end peg so I was happy. A few lads remarked that this peg would win the match! No pressure then!

I got to my swim and was pleasantly suprised at how comfortable it looked, no rope needed to get into the swim!!!

I setup a 2.5g Rive sliding body pole float, fished at 13m, straight waggler and a groundbait feeder, fished pasternnoster style.

I had mixed my groundbait the previous night, a kilo of Sensas Gros Gardons, a kilo of Sensas Noire and 2 kilos of damp leam. To this I added a pint of casters. I balled in 10 large 'double hand squeezed' balls in on my 13m line and flicked out the feeder near to the boat on the far side while the bait settled.

Nothing came to the feeder in 5 casts so I had a go over the balled in bait. I was running the float through on the pole and had signs of life straight away, a couple of bumped bites. I pesisted and caught a 3 decent roach on double bronze maggot.

Three more roach followed, not a bad first hour given the conditions and time of year I thought.

As the wind picked up fishing the pole became impossible, the river was tripping through at a brisk pace and with a strong down stream breeze the float was hammering through.

I went back to my feeder, loaded up and went for a double worm section hookbait. I had a decent bite after about 10 minutes, a small chub, which fell of at the net!!! I recast and was immediately rewarded with a skimmer of about 8-10oz. I did also bag a small gudgeon on the feeder after that.

After that my peg went swiflty downhill. For the next 2 hours I didn't have another bite. Adie and Scott walked up for a chat and said they had both a few roach and everyone was struggling so I was quieltly confident of what I had already caught. I kept in touch was James on the phone through the day nd he said he had been struggling to get bites in his swim.

The results were as follows:

1st. Myself 2lb 8oz
2nd Scott Smallwood 2lb
3rd Adie Baker 1lb

Cadbury Angling Silverfish Open Match 2 of 4 Plantations Main Lake

A drizzly morning greeted us at Plantations Main Lake. With a few last minute withdrawals we were left with 13 anglers to fish the second of four silverfish open matches.

Everyone was optimistic, with conditions improving through the week, we were all hoping for the big skimmers to show and fish hopefully coming to shorter lines. Matches from the previous week gave an indication that a good day could be had!

I drew peg 29 on the back bank which can produce good bags for silvers....and carp!

Peg 29 is set a little further back than the surrounding pegs so I decided to fish 14.5m and baited two lines with groundbait and caster. I fed another line at about 8m with groundbait and pinkie. I also fed lines to my left and right hand margins at top 5 length.

At the all-in groundbait was cupped on all my longer lines and I loose fed some maggot and caster on my shorter lines, I was greeted by two small roach from one of my shorter lines instantly, which seemed very promising......but these shorter lines never improved throughout the match!

I could see Steve Mayo on peg 7 was into skimmers very early on and so was Glen Calvert on peg 38 (the same peg he drew last Sunday which produced a 23lb bag of silvers for him!!!). Both these guys are very capable silverfish anglers and they were both off to good starts!

I continually tried my longer lines in pursuit of those illusive skimmers but wasn't having much luck, all I could manage was small roach. In desperation I tried the groundbait feeder...not even a twitch!

Simon Jones on peg 19 seemed to be enduring the same fortune as me and called it a day midway through the match.

In the last hour I was still hopeful of snagging a skimmer or two but not such luck, I was greeted by a carp off of each of my 3 longer lines to help destroy any glimmer of hope from my peg, Steve, however on peg 7 was still catching 'netters' right up to the end!

Simon Carvallo to my right in peg 27 was having a few skimmers and he and Rich Lovering were locked into their own mini battle for the bragging rights.

James Gunter (Cadbury Angling) had drawn peg 11, a noted silvers peg which didnt dissapoint! He caught a good bag of skimmers and crusians to weigh a total of 11lb 6oz which was good enough for a section win.

With the call of 'all out' I tipped back my 30 or so small roach, nothing required netting so I knew my weight wouldn't trouble the scorers!!!

The results were as follows:

1st   Steve Mayo (Maver)     Peg 7     22lb 15oz
2nd  Barry Fitchew               Peg 4     14lb  7oz
3rd  Glenn Calvert                Peg 38   14lb  6oz

Section winners:
James Gunter (Cadbury Angling) Peg 11  11lb 6oz
Glenn Calvert                                Peg 38   14lb 6oz

Steve's  impressive winning bag

Cadbury Angling Silverfish Open Match 1 of 4 Plantations Main Lake

Thankfully the lake had defrosted, wind changed direction and the temperature was on the up, all positive signs for the match ahead.

17 anglers booked in and were looking forward to one of the first silverfish only matches held on this venue.

Breakfast was at Acorn Fishery and was top notch as always.

I took the last peg in the bag, peg 12, a pretty useful silvers peg.

Steve Mayo was to my left in peg 11.

Carp showed up in a few pegs early on and not many silvers, not what I was hoping for! I could see Lewis Walker on peg 19, catching skimmers steadily and sure enough Steve starting getting a few bites too, from carp initially.

I had a slow first hour but I knew the skimmers responded well to large amounts of groundbait so I wasn't scared to keep feed going in, even when I hadn't seen much action from my first 3 balls going in at the start.

My shorter line only produced 1 carp so I pursued my two longer groundbait lines, bites came slow and steady with a burst of activity later on in the match. Steve caught impressively throughout the match on maggot over groundbait, which seemed to be the preferred tactic from most anglers on the day.

Word from around the lake was that Paul Faiers on peg 27 was also catching well, most of his fish came on the waggler, proper silverfish fishing!!!

From my peg, I couldn't see many other anglers catching well, but with Callum Dicks in my section I didn't hold out much hope for a pick up.

After calling all out it was obvious to me that Steve had won, the results are as follows:

1st Steve Mayo    Peg 11    23lb 7oz
2nd Paul Faiers     Peg 27   16lb 6oz
3rd Callum Dicks  Peg 7     16lb 3oz

Section Winners:

Toby Parker         Peg 12    12lb 8oz
Rich Lovering      Peg 26      8lb 1oz

Steve's impressive winning bag

Paul's 2nd place net of fish.

Winter Sport From Plantations Lakes, Kingston Seymour

I decided to fish Plantations Main Lake on my day off as a gauge on how well the silverfish were feeding, with the Cadbury Angling Silverfish Open Matches now booked I wanted to see what the anglers could expect.

Myself, Rob Fogg and James Gunter met in the car park at 8am and were greeted by a not too fierce +2c! We had the pick of the lake and opted for the top bay where lots of silvers have been caught previously.

Darren Vowles was passing and stopped for a chat, we decided to fish pegs 8, 11 and 12, Darren drew the pegs for us so no moaning (Rob!!) of being a golden arm could take place.

The draw was:

Peg 8   Toby
Peg 11 James
Peg 12 Rob

We wheeled are gear round and saw the overcast conditions and not a breath of wind would enable perfect presentation!

I baited and plumbed two 13m lines, a groundbait with dead pinkie line and a damp micro pellet line.

I also plumbed both my margins and an 8m line.

I mixed  Sensas Lake 3000 combined with a fishmeal additive and black dye for my groundbait and added a small handful of thawed frozen pinkie.

On both my 8m and 13m lines I cupped in 3 large balls and put 3 large cups of damp 2mm carp pellet on my other 13m line. Whilst the bait was settling I flicked out a groundbait feeder, which immediately wrapped round with a carp of about 3lb, James had also had an instant result on the feeder!

I rigged up with the NEW Drennan G-Tip 2 pole floats in 0.8g and 0.6g  tied to Drennan Supplex 3lb (0.14) and used the Drennan Silverfish Maggot hooks tied to 0.08 hooklength in both 18 and 20 sizes.

After a few more casts on the feeder and no more signs of life, I tried my 13m groundbait lines.

I started to see indications straight away over my groundbait line, within minutes I had a solid bite from what turned out to be a large carp, for the next hour I caught carp and and skimmers all on red maggot. When the bites slowed I introduced two more big balls of groundbait and I was rewarded with instant bites again.

I had set my float tip up to only show a couple of mm and my shotting pattern was setup to show lift bites which was how nearly all of my bites developed.

I kept checking my 8m line for life and it did produce a few skimmers but bites weren't fast or plentiful.

James had also caught a few carp (and skimmers but he kept them quiet) on his pole lines and Rob was also getting bites.

For the rest of of our 'match' I caught steadily and every time bites slowed I topped up with two or three large balls of groundbait, surprisingly the fish were extremely responsive to large amounts of bait, considering the time of year. I kept bites coming by regularly lifting and dropping my rig.

By the end of our little friendly match I had finished up with 56lb of carp and 10lb of skimmers. James had 30lb of carp and 5lb of skimmer and Rob finished with 24lb of carp.

An alround brilliant days fishing for this time of year and the weather, we couldn't be happier with our results.

My friend for the day, Mr Robin Red Breast who I fed maggots to all day.

Winter Silverfish. Plantations Lakes, Kingston Seymour

My long time angling buddy Mark Bartlett and I had the opportunity to grab a days fishing last week and decided to target silverfish on the Plantations Main Lake.

We setup in pegs 26 and 27 on the far bank. We have both been practising a couple of techniques for matches we have got coming up and wanted to try a few things out.

I setup a light single number 6 latex top kit with a Preston Chianti 4x14  tied on 0.11 line and a 0.10 hooklength to fish dead depth on my top 5.

I also setup a Preston PB Silver 3 0.75g rig to fish at 13m.

I cupped in a mixture of finely chopped worm and caster and a small ball of Sensas lake groundbait on my shorter line and just worm and caster on my long line, I also loose fed a few casters in the margin down to my left for another option later on.

I cupped in, plumbed up and was ready, Mark, who got there well before me was all setup and already catching fish.

I saw the odd bubble on my shorter line so had a look straight away and began to steadily catch from the off with good sized roach, skimmers and the odd perch. I even caught 5 crucian carp which I've not seen for quite a while from this lake.

I continued to catch on that line and regularly topped the swim up with a large cup of chopped worm and caster along with a Small Matrix Toss Pot filled up for every put in.

Mark was really getting stuck into the skimmers in his peg and was getting a 'lid' what seemed like every put in.

We both tried our long lines to see what we could find but the fish weren't as good or as quick to bite. I did hook and land an 8lb carp from my longer line but carp weren't on the agenda that day!

Another good angling buddy of ours, James Gunter, dropped by to see how we were getting on and had a quick go on my new Sensas 874 pole to try it out and was swiftly rewarded with a very good roach and 2 decent skimmers.

As the sun began to lower and the temperature dropped bites began to slow and we decided 4pm was it.

We had both caught very well all day and were pleased with our efforts and can't wait for another day like that again or even better to recreate this days fishing in a match!!!!



The Cadbury Angling Team Fish the River Wye. Summer Barbel and Chub Sport. Part Two

Jon, My friend James Marlow and I set off with high hopes for the Courtfield beat of the River Wye with its excellent track record.

For a change we were greeted by glorious sunshine and light breezes. We all made our way to the meadow and picked some likely swims. We tackled up in similar fashion, running rig set-ups and various 'barbel-y' hookbaits.

The tried and tested Wye set-up

James and I toiled in our swims for two hours without any bites so decided to move down stream and try our luck. Jon stuck it out in his first swim and was rewarded with a 5lb barbel. With the heat of the day almost past I made a quick trip to the local shop to top up supplies. On my return I was greeted with a large grin across James' face as he retained a fish in the landing net.

James and his first River Wye Barbel

This fine looking barbel was James' first from the River Wye and was his second fish in two casts, the first being a 3lb chub.

We both recast after a few quick photos and James' rod was soon bent over with the baitrunner at full speed, he latched into another, slightly smaller barbel, approx. 5-6lb. I was also soon into the action with a similar sized chub, I was thankfully off the mark!

After all the fast paced action bites did slow and we pre-baited a few spots in that swim for a possible return and made off to the wooded section to try and locate a few more fish.

Jon had already made off to the woods and was settled in a swim and had already landed a few more chub and barbel, the biggest chub weighing 4lb 13oz.

The river had dropped a touch and the slack and fast water divide looked like a promising fish holding area. After a few casts and a scattering of Dynamite Baits Source boilies I was into a typically hard fishing barbel.

8lb River Wye Barbel



Myself in action playing a barbel.



 

 The Picture left shows the wooded section of the Courtfield beat in all its glory. James and I managed a total of three barbel and 1 chub from this section in the last few hours of our session.

With light fading we made a decision to have one final cast. We had packed all non essential items away and suddenly James' baitrunner was once again screaming into action. I picked up the rods and passed it to him, a long, riverbed hugging barbel was hooked. After a long battle I slipped the net under an impressive looking barbel that pulled the needle of the scales to 9ln exactly, a new PB barbel for James, what a result and a brilliant way to end the session. We ended up with 8 barbel and 4 chub between us, and excellent days fishing!!!

James and his new PB barbel, 9lb.

Targeting Silverfish at Plantations Lakes, Kingston Seymour

My friend Mark Bartlett and I set off for an early morning silverfish session on the Main Lake at Plantation Lakes, Kingston Seymour, with skimmer bream and bream our main target.
We got to the lake at 7am and lucky the lake was still quite empty, we saw a few fish moving so opted to fish pegs 4 and 5. I won the draw and picked number 4. To make our friendly match a bit more interesting, we set a rule that we could only fish with the top 6 sections of our poles!
With everything setup we started our 4 hour silverfish match. I plumbed a top 2 line in the margin and fished casters just off bottom trying to target the big perch which patrol the margins! I also plumbed a swim on my top 4 out in front of me which was going to be my main choice for the bream ans skimmers.
I mixed up a kilo of the new Sensas Lake and Sweet Fishmeal groundbait and introduced 3 medium sized balls on my top 4 line.
Down to my right, in the margin swim I started to flick in some casters and dead red maggots. I tackled up with a 4x12 Preston Chianti float, 0.13mm main line and 0.11mm hooklength with a size 18 Drennan Silverfish Maggot hook.
I was instantly getting bites from roach and rudd and soon had a few in the net. I kept the bait trickling in and was lifting and dropping the rig so my hookbait fell at the same rate as the free offerings. Mark was also straight into a good run of roach and we also had decided to fish a longer groundbait line as I had. This got him some early skimmers and he was soon into an early lead.
My margin line produced a 1lb rudd and a 1lb roach in successive bites but Mark's bream had him clearly in front at this stage.
I swapped to my longer line and setup with a 4x16 KC Belter float, with 0.13mm mainline and a 0.mm hooklength to which I tied a size 16 Drennan Silverfish Pellet hook and fished soft expander pellet over the groundbait and used a small Matrix Toss Pot to deliver a small amount of damp micro pellet with every put in.
I caught a few good skimmers and a bonus crucian carp and swapped between both the lines trying to keep up with Mark, who was also catching steadily.
I went back to my margin line and opted to fish on the deck, this produced a couple of very decent skimmers, just as Mark's swims had gone a bit quiet! I saw that I had been catching on my 6mm soft expanders which I prepare, so he hopped off his box and stole some, typical!!
As the final whistle sounded we both thought we had won, we hauled our keepnets out and looking at our bags of silvers if was hard to call! To keep things fair we called it a draw, between us we had caught nearly 80lb of silvers in 4 hours! Excellent sport and I'm sure it won't be long before we are back again to have a rematch!

Lure Fishing for Tarpon in Cayo Coco, Cuba

As you may have read in previous posts, Dan has been to the Melia hotel in Cayo Coco, Cuba a couple of times and on his recommendation Gemma, my girlfriend and I booked a 10 night stay there.
I was given the names of a couple of trustworthy guides to contact out there. As soon as I got to the hotel I was on the phone to book one of them ASAP.
The weather in Cuba had been brilliant leading up to my holiday but I thought I pack some English rain and wind in my suitcase to feel at home! With all the poor weather and the 'Cuban Time' philosophy on life I managed to book just one day fishing, the day before we were due to fly home.
The Guide Alex, had told me with the weather Cayo Coco had been experiencing the fishing wasn't great but I told him I wanted to give it a try and go for some tarpon and grouper amongst anything else that we could find.
I setup with 50lb braid on my Shimano 8000D Baitrunner with a Greys Missionary 6 Spin 10ft travel rod, which is rated up to 100gm casting weight. I also had with me a new Fox Sport Fishing Tarpon Trek Spincast rod which I was hoping to try out for the first time. I also spooled up with 50lb braid and was using an Okuma Solterra multiplier for this setup. One invaluable piece of kit I had with me was a Buff UV facemask/scarf which kept the sun off my face and saltwater spray out of my mouth, you can see other anglers in the background of the picture below with similar masks! A must have!!

http://www.foxsportfishing.com/catalogues-products.php?section=1&product=8&catalogue=6

I took some of the Halco Roosta Poppers with me to try out in the 135mm size in the H53 White Redhead and H50 Pilchard colours along with a selection of other Rapala's.

http://www.fullingmill.com/index.php?c=340&p=RP135

As the wind was up and the deep water was too rough we opted for some inshore trolling near some reefs to start with in pursuit of some lively groupers! Within an hour or so we had a barracuda at the boat and shortly after a stonking take from a grouper. After a fierce 25 minute battle where the grouper was determined to get back to a hole in the rocks it unfortunately sheered the braid on the rock! I won't forget the sound the reel made on the first run for a while!!!!!!

1 of 6 Barracuda caught on lures in Cuba.

After a couple more barracuda trolling we opted to fish the channels between the sand flats. The tarpon were very spread out and pretty spooky. One fish we sight casted to had a half look at a popper but wasn't having any of it! We tried for the rest of the day with casting poppers in various locations which the guide picked out and I thought my luck was in when a big tarpon (guide estimated 80-100lb) propelled its self from the water like a missile after my popper, but the excitement was short lived as the hooks didn't set. With a few more barracuda and an hour long 'lumpy' motor back to the quay in choppy water we had to leave the elusive tarpon.......until next time!!

See below the beating the Halco Roosta Poppers took, these lures work amazingly whilst trolled or cast. They made a big surface disturbance and 'spit' water up causing a fantastic display which induces takes! I will NEVER leave these poppers at home when lure fishing on holiday!

Barracuda Chewed Halco Roosta Popper Pilchard.

The 'Munched' Halco Roosta Popper Rehhead.

An Afternoon Session on the Paddock Lake, Acorn Fisheries, Kingston Seymour

Thursday afternoon greeted me with a sharp, cold northerly wind and fairly low air temperature. Mark Bartlett and I decided to fish the some of island swims on Acorn's Paddock lake as a friendly match/practice session.
I set up a KC Angling Carpa2 4x12 float to fish the deeper of the two shelves which can be found on the far bank of nearly all of the pegs on the Paddock Lake. I decided to fish with carp in mind so had a 0.15mm mainline and a 0.13mm hooklenth tied to a Drennan wide gape pellet size 16. I also set up a rig for fishing the upper, shallower shelf. For this I used the same line and hook set up but with a Matrix Series 3 0.3g.
We both set up and at 3pm we called 'all in'. Mark and I have both fished the Paddock many times and Mark, being the fishery owners son, knows the lake very, very well. I began fishing the deeper shelf using a Fox toss pot to deliver small amounts of damp micro pellet with every put in. I had a selection of hookbaits to choose from but opted for 6mm soft expander. Mark had also chosen a similar approach.
Mark had the much more productive first hour, netting a few small carp along with a few skimmers, all coming to the upper shelf on the far bank at 13m. I had struggled in the first hour and only managed a single carp and 3 skimmers. I changed tactic or else I faced handing Mark the sacred £1 which we always have as a wager.
I set to task on the upper shelf, still cupping in with every put in damp micro's and now a few Dynamite Baits 4mm soft feed amino natural pellets with each cup with the intention of trying to hold the carp if and when they turned up.
I began to get a few signs of life and after a few lifts of the rig I began to get solid bites. Over the next hour I caught 5 carp and a few meaty looking skimmers.
At 5pm we took a tea break, cupped in a bit of extra bait on our favoured lines and retired to the clubhouse in an effort to thaw out if we could!!
We headed back out, cup of tea in hand and set to it again. Our friend Rob Fogg had joined us by this point as we wanted to see how the lake was fishing.
I caught steadily for the next hour and half and Mark was trying to get the skimmers feeding in his swim.
At 7pm we called all out. Rob, manned the scales and we proceeded to weigh in. Mark had weighed 9lb 12oz of silvers, mainly comprising of 'hand sized' skimmers. He also weighed 13lb 8oz of carp.
I ended up weighing 13lb for my silvers which was made up of 1lb to 1.5lb skimmers and also managed 30lb 6oz for my carp. I had managed to win by 20lb, which given the conditions I was very pleased with and more importantly I had the bragging rights and the £1!!
Mark, Rob and I have all booked in the the Saturday CostCutter match being held on Acorn Paddock Lake with weekend so no doubt Mark will have a chance to win his £1 back!

Autumn Barbel (..and Carp) Trip to the Biblins, River Wye

A very wet day was forecast for Thursday but after viewing the Wye and Usk website and looking at the webcams my friend James Marlow and I decided to fish the popular Biblins stretch of the River Wye.

After obtaining our day tickets from Forest Tackle in Lydney we headed down to the river to find it at a good fishable level with a healthy amount of colour in it. Despite the heavy rain the river wasn't pushing through too hard and we expected 2oz feeders to be plenty heavy enough to hold bottom.

We settled on a large double swim down stream and set about tackling up for the day ahead. James and I both opted for 2oz Korum open ended feeders, fished on a Fox run ring system in conjunction with a 10" Korda N-Trap hooklength and at the sharp end, the ever successful Drennan Super Specialist Barbel hooks in a size 9.

James mixed up a tasty looking method mix using Dynamite Baits marine halibut groundbait, a few handfuls of micro pellet and some mashed Baittech hot and spicy luncheon meat.

We both opted for different hookbaits to try and find what would work. James went for a glugged Dynamite Baits The Source 10mm boilie and I chose a SonuBaits 12mm drilled crab pellet.

With the rods cast out James baited his left hand margin down stream ready for later on in the day.

After a few re-casts with the obligatory 25-30 minute wait for the feeders to empty my rod ripped into life, a typical vicious barbel take, stripping line off the baitrunner. There was the unmistakable 'hugging the bottom' barbel fight and after a 5-10 minute tussle the fish boiled close to the bank and as expected it was a good sized barbel. The fish made a few last lunges and then was ready for netting.    

A prime example of what the River Wye has to offer, a 6lb 8oz beauty.

With this fine specimen safely returned I reloaded the feeder, re-cast to a similar spot and crossed my fingers for another take.

James had been pre-baiting his margin swim now for a couple of hours and he decided to try that area as the main body of the river had only produced the one bite between both of our rods.

Shortly after the margin cast James' rod bent over on the rest and the baitrunner fizzed off. The fish made its way into the deep, middle of the river and made several hard runs, taking more and more line each time. James gained line back each time, only for the fish to take it back! The fish was holding deep and refusing to give up the fight.

The fish made a few deep boils and kept us in the dark as to its size. I was expecting this to be a BIG barbel!

The fish rolled on the surface and to our amazement, it was a mirror carp. A beautifully deep coloured fish weighing 12lb 8oz.

This was a shock to both of us, we knew from Dan's previous exploits on this stretch that carp reside here but the fight had seemed very 'barbel like'

James was happy none the less with his first fish from the Wye. The fish went back without a fuss and James reloaded for another margin cast.

The day went on and we both regularly re-cast and changed hook baits, alternating between Mainline Activ8 dumbells, Dynamite Baits The Source 10mm boilies and SonuBaits 12mm crab pellets.

We did lose a few set-ups to snags but kept re-baiting and re-casting, exploring the far margins and mid river in the pursuit of another bite, but sadly without any joy.

We moved up stream with the hopes of finding some more fish but with darkness upon us we had to call it a day.

In the cold, wet conditions we were pleased with a fish each and with our days efforts so we will most definitely be back to try our luck again.

Tight lines for now! Toby