Harry and Geoff fish the river Wye for the very first time.

Harry and Dad Geoff

I met Harry about 3 years ago now working on a building project and we soon found out we had a common interest for angling. I gave him my business card and said if he wanted a guiding session the he could always contact me.

Times goes on and out of the blue he contacts me, or his Mum and askes if I could guide him fishing as a birthday present.

So talking to Harry he said he would like to catch some barbel from the river Wye. Also would it be possible to bring his Dad, Geoff along. How could you say no to a father and son fishing together.

So arrangements were made and so we met on the banks of the Wye for a days barbel fishing. The weather was very kind with some sun and cloud and warm at about 20c. Both chaps had caught barbel before mostly on the river Severn so they knew the fighting qualities of these fish.

We started on one stretch where I had caught a few barbel in the past. The river was still carrying a slight tinge of colour which helped for sure. We set ourselves a target of 6 barbel for the day which wasn’t high but considering the low river it felt about right.

It was slow going with the barbel not obliging. Time for a change of tactics, well not really mention the word tea or start to make tea and inevitably the rod slams over and true to form it did.

First off the mark was Harry with a lovely looking barbel of 8lbs 9oz.

Harry with a 8lbs 9oz barbel

Next it was Geoffs time and he caught a small one of about 1.5lbs.

About 1.5 lbs

Harry shortly afterwards had another one of about 1lb. Now we have not seen small barbel of this size in this area before so it’s great news that different year classes are coming through. Having said that we were not here to catch the tiddlers. So we moved to another area.

Again we had to wait until the tea word was mentioned before the rod slammed over and Harry was playing a hard fighting barbel of just  4lbs 8oz. This was followed by Geoff landing one of 5lbs 12oz.

5lbs 12oz

Soon after with the tea effect still working  Harry had a 5lb barbel.

5lbs

With a lull in the action for a while it was time for another tea and sure enough Geoff hooked a large barbel that fought really well in the strong current. This one tugged back proper and it took Geoff ages to move the fish upstream to the waiting net. On the scales she went 9lbs 2oz and a new pb for Geoff.

9lbs 2oz barbel

Harry then had one of 7lbs 2oz which again gave a great fight in the fast flowing water. This was fish number 8 so we had beat our target.

7lbs 2oz

Geoff was again on the rods and had a beautiful barbel of 6lbs 11oz. So all was good with the chaps.

6lbs 11oz

Harry then lost a good fish where the line went across a rock as the fish tore off downstream. It looked like a good fish from the fight too. He then had another one of 4lbs 8oz and another little one of 1lb. Then he had one more bite and we had the fish nearing the net when the hook came out. It was about 6lbs.

Father and Son

So with good company and plenty of tea coffee and banter we called it a day. It turned out to be a good day with 11 barbel caught beating our target of 6.

Happy days!!!