After coming back from a glorious week in Cornwall on hols it was great to be back on the bank again. This time it was to try and catch Phil and Ed a decent barbel each on the Wye.

Now down Cornwall way we had very little rain and sat outside for lunch most days, but I can see that the rest of the country must have had some as the rivers were back up high again. This was true for the Wye.

However the good news was that the weather had remained fairly mild.

However as I made my way to the river early Sunday morning the temperature on the car went down to 3c which is a tad cold.

I had guided Phil and Ed about 3 years ago so it was good meet them again on the river bank. They had arrived later than me and settled into a swim that I had been baiting. Just before they arrived I had a chub of about 3lbs. The river was dropping but still 3 ft above normal height. The colour was also leaching out and you could see to a reasonable depth.

Sure enough the fish don’t normally play ball at this time of year until the afternoon. It was Phil who caught a nice chub of about 3lbs followed by Ed catching one similar. The barbel refused to feed though.

Phil moved to another swim that had recently produced a couple of doubles. Whilst he was trying his luck there Ed had a barbel bite and true to form the barbel tried to pull him in. The fight was fantastic and had Ed’s rod arched over.

Ed playing his barbel

Ed was astounded by the fight of the barbel and uttered a few words I can’t put in here. Soon we had the barbel in the net. It looked very fat but not too long. On the scales she went 8lbs 12oz and a new pb for Ed.

Ed with his 8lbs 12oz barbel

Phil came back up to join us having spent an hour or so without a touch. With what we though were barbel feeding it wasn’t long before Phil was playing a barbel which unfortunately slipped the hook near the net…..oh buggar.

One that got away

Then a short while after he had another chub of about 3lbs

Phil and his chub

The fishing was difficult pellet and boilies were being used, and to be fair most of the fish were coming to the boilies (2x10mm).

Sure enough Phil had another chance at a barbel when a really good one had the clutch going on the reel. It headed out into the main flow where it fought really well unfortunately for Phil again it slipped the hook. Now it’s very rare to lose fish like this and to lose two in an afternoon was really unlucky. The barbel god’s just weren’t with Phil.

With a couple more hours fishing remaining I was expecting more action. However it was not to be.

It looks like the barbel are feeding at short intervals in the afternoon. So not the greatest of days but both of the guys said they had a great time. I really think when the colder weather comes at the weekend that will be the end of the barbel fishing for a while.

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