The day on the Stour had gone well with David he caught a couple of good chub and a roach of about 1lb. Andy (you should have been here yesterday ) Cowley had a great day whilst I was on the Stour he had this beautiful barbel of exactly 11lbs. On 6lb line whilst fishing for chub. That was great angling and skill Andy in a very difficult swim with plenty of weed.

Andy and his 11lber

The day saw me looking around at various locations for the elusive barbel. They were thin on the ground and spotting them was difficult as there was plenty of cloud and the breeze which rippled the river surface. Great in terms of the fish not seeing me however for me it was not the best conditions. I could make out huge shadow shapes in a couple of swims which were barbel. Then the smaller ones were chub.

I looked for most of the morning and spotted an enormous barbel that was picking up the odd pellet that I threw in. It’s probably the largest barbel I had seen with my own eyes in the river. There were a couple of others that came up to feed. Another double and a much smaller fish. Of course there was the chub that kept coming in and feeding.

It’s not the easiest of swims to fish. An underarm cast saw the bait land in a tight gravel channel surrounded by weed. And that was it nothing showed up again. It’s often frustrating when this happens however with the river so low and clear you have to accept it, even with everything pinned down and back leaded.

I moved off to feed another swim where I had seen 6 fish two days ago. I put in a few pellets and waited an hour and nothing, correct nothing showed up. Walking downstream I noticed 2 doubles through the rippled surface by a small  amount of streamer weed. They would come out have a little feed then disappear. It was fishing blind however I still stood a chance.

First fish was a small chub of about 4lbs which didn’t help the cause somewhat.

Then 30 minutes later another chub hung itself on the rod and this one was just around the 5lb mark.

Just 5lbs

That was it for me I wandered off to look at other spots. A few barbel came out to feed in one area however when I cast out nothing showed including the hordes of chub. Another angler was on the opposite bank to the swim where I wanted to fish.

I moved again to one which I call the best chub swim on the river. It was but had altered over the years and it’s difficult to present baits in there during the winter. Summer is different however it’s the winter when it comes into it’s own. Well I only had about an hour in the swim. One gudgeon, chub and dace later it was time to pack up and make a move for home.

So not the best of days but still very satisfactory for the soul.

August started very hot again with little or no rain and temperatures in the 30’s. Most of the clubs on the river Wye had stopped fishing. The only people that hadn’t done so was the Wye and Usk Foundation. Which I found to be very strange. This is a short video showing my meadow from […]

So I ended the previous blog with saying so very very lucky. Well that has deserted me today. I could only fish for a few hrs this morning and fancied a go at a swim where in the past I had seen a few barbel. Well I turned up at 8am and found 6 barbel […]

My partner in crime Andy (you should have been here yesterday) and I were down on the Avon for a couple of days. The weather had gotten even hotter if that was possible. Now I’m old enough in the tooth to remember the summer of 1976 which was one of the hottest and driest on […]

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July the 3rd and here we were again Andy (you should have been here yesterday) Cowley starting another two day session on the H.Avon. The weather had been very hot now since the start of the season. The temperatures started to reach toward the 30’s. On the positive side the the visibility in the river […]

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Well after a rough but not shabby tench fishing season the river season was soon upon me. The weather had been warm and dry. My mate Andy (you should have been here yesterday) Cowley and partner in crime had a great tench season on the Cotswold water park. The latterly east winds had proved to […]

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