diary

Autumnal Afternoon

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:18:43 +0100

Ok, so today really feels like autumn. Gone are the ridiculous temps. of the last week or so and here are the cooler, blustery days that signal the real beginning of autumn.

I decided to fish a few hours this afternoon as the river was dropping after a brisk rise of a foot or so. The weather was still mild for the time of year at about 18oc and there was some good cloud cover. I knew that the sport may well have slowed down with the turn in the weather so settled in for a not so frantic session. I didn't get a bite for over an hour, but eventually I had a small wrap and struck into something that felt like a small barbel!

I was pleased with this as the later in the year it gets the harder the sport will be.

This was followed quite quickly by a very chubby knock and a lovely little fella was in the net in no time.

As the afternoon drew on I usually get more and more confident as darkness approaches. Today however the bites completely dried up for over an hour until I changed to the Pallatrax Whisker sticks, the rod whooped over and I was into a nice fish.

Surprisingly a large Chub of over 5lb on the Whisker sticks - I would never complain about such a clonking Chub tough!

Everything fell quiet as a massive full moon rose and beamed across the water. I just knew that I was going to catch another Barbel as in all my years on the river I have never caught more chub than barbs and my hunch was proved right as my rod was almost taken on whilst I answered a call of nature.

A great little scrapper and a good end to a session as my headtorch gave up the ghost and I was left with the light of my mobile to pack up. Nightmare!! I think now is the time that I will be starting to cut down my feeding rate as the weather is definately going to start affecting the water temp. soon.

Quick trip after a hot day in October!

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:27:40 +0100

Ok, so its been 25oc+ for a week. Its very dry, hot and pretty windy today. I'd decided to get out on the banks and try out some new gear sent to me by Pallatrax. I was using their 'Elixer 6 Squabs' superglued to a hair below a size 14 Pallatrax hook. This was on a 4inch hooklink, which is considerably shorter than I'd normally use, but on advice from the manufacturer I thought I'd give it a bash. I was also using their Stonze system as a kind of method feeder, which was surprisingly effective when teamed with Pallatrax's own method mix.

I had been float fishing trying to catch my first Barb on the float all afternoon in the baking sun and having spoken to lots of people was not to hopeful of a fish. As the sun began to get low in the sky I thought I'd get back to what I knew, although with a very different approach.

Almost instantly I had a knock, not form a barbel, but a very nice chub of 5lb 2oz

So a good start. Second cast and another fish, this time a barbel of about 6lb.

I then had a bite on the third cast and somehow missed it! 4th cast and as darkness had fallen I thought I'd wrap the squabs in a big piece of Elixer paste and see if I could lure out a bigger fish.

That seemed to work pretty well too. I'll certainly be giving this gear a further try out and another report will follow!

A good few days with Billy and Chris

Sun, 02 Oct 2011 20:35:57 +0100

Billy contacted me some months ago about a fishing trip in September. The weather can be dodgy around then, but as it turned out the weather was fabulous - well for sitting in, not really for fishing. I had them fishing mainly on pellet and paste with the odd boilie and lump of meat thrown in for good measure. The river fished really well and some of the tips and tactics I taught them really paid off. These are some of the fish and photos I took over the 3 days I fished with them

I think they enjoyed themselves and caught a few fish!! Cheers boys, it really was a pleasure.

An Interesting Evening Session

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:26:35 +0100

Having previously hooked a large fish and lost it I had spent a day or two studying books by Trefor West and the like to try to come up with a cunning plan to catch the beast that I have now lost twice.

I setup my gear in one swim and went to the next swim to throw a handful of bait in. I alternated between fishing and baiting up the next swim for nearly 3 hours - Taking 3 barbel in the peg I was fishing during the build up to catching the big boy.

I approached swim number 2 as dusk was taking hold. Doing my best to sneak about not wanting to undo all my good work. I crouched behind my rod having cast into the pre baited area. The idea of the pre baiting is to feed off the chub and smaller barbel and hopefully leave the big boys for me to cherry pick.

It wasn't long before the rod wrapped around with a good size fish taking a whacking lump of paste which was smothered around 2 elips pellets.

This fish was bigger than the average for the venue.

Second cast and another thumping bite!

Another above average fish.

3rd cast and same again!

A bit smaller.

4th cast and you guessed it, a wrap around almost instantly.

So, the fish are certainly average size or larger and they were certainly feeding voraciously. I just wonder if I'd pre baited for longer would I have fed off these average and slightly larger fish to get to the real big ones and the big one I've named Bertie?!?!? As is always the case the action stopped after the swim had been disturbed a few times, so I packed up and went home.

Food for thought from my point of view. The only way to be sure that I will get to fish a swim I pre bait is to sit in it all day whilst I pre bait it. Can I sit all day baiting without wetting a line?

A short session with a Barbel virgin!

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:15:33 +0100

Bernard contacted me a while back, having never fished for barbel he wanted me to show him how to read the river and a good place to catch a few.

I met him at 08:30hrs and we walked to a good looking peg. I explained the plan of spending the morning baiting up and that the afternoon would be when the fish started to come on the feed. After 5 mins he had his first bite and within 10 minutes his first ever barbel was on the bank!! Goes to show what I know hey?!

A very angry looking Barbel , much appreciated by Bernard!

The pressure was somewhat off now and he could relax into a pleasant days fishing. I had a rod out, which I don't normally do when guiding, but as we had come to an arrangement for half a day I thought I'd be able to show him just as much by him watching me. I sat for half an hour before my first bite and yes you guessed it - 6mm pellets and Super paste!

Lovely chubbly and me looking a bit rough round the edges having fished the previous evening too!

The next few hours were pretty slow. I reassured Bernard that if he kept doing the same thing that the fish would eventually arrive in the afternoon. Thankfully I was proved right, although it seemed to be more in my part of the swim which doesn't normally produce too much. I caught 2 barbel one after the other and Bernard started getting bites.

Couple of decent fish.

Bernard was definitely getting some bites but my rod crashed over again. This time on plain pellets.

A more traditional Middle Severn Barbel, the first two being quite short and stocky.

Half an hour later Bernard had a a clonking bite and was into a good fish which he unfortunately lost. Not to be outdone he recast and was into another barb pretty soon after. This time playing the fish in a more controlled manner after I had gave him some advice on correct setting of the clutch.

A better picture with a bit more of the fish visible!

Just as Bernard was putting the fish back and I was putting the camera away I turned around to see my rod balancing end up on my rodrest. This was the closest I'd come to losing a rod this season, luckily I was quick enough to jump on it just in time!

A good end to my session.

At this point I had to leave for a hospital appointment, so there could be more pictures to add if Bernard caught anymore!
Nice to meet you anyway mate, stay in touch and I'll see you on the banks again.

Back on the Fish with a new trial bait courtesy of A.Roberts.

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:54:43 +0100

I have been chatting to a lad, Andy, for a fair while on by email and on Facebook. We have discussed tips and tactics and most notably new baits - My Super Paste and his new boilie recipe.

I arranged to meet him for a few hours at the end of his 36 hour session. I arrived at about half 3 and we had a good chat under by brolly as the rain started to fall. I gave him some super paste and he gave me a mixed bag of boilies and dumbells with a little bit of paste.

I left Andy in the swim I'd suggested to him and went to the next peg. Andy had caught a fair few and I was keen to try out this bait. First cast, first fish!!

Short and stubby but spirited!

So, not a bad start. Cast out again and a second fish within 10 minutes - maybe a challenger for the Super Paste!!

Another good looking fish.

I cast out again and was sat messing about with my phone when the rod went over, a hatrick I thought, good work - until the hook pulled after probably not been set properly!

I went back to chat to Andy who was packing up and jumped in my favourite peg for the last couple of hours. It took about half an hour for the fish to start biting and boy were they biting!! I have never seen such savage raps, I could actually hear the rod whipping over. I caught another 4 over the next two hours, one of which was approaching 9lb.

A pretty good haul on a bit that the fish weren't used to. I have enough to try one more session or possibly two with the new bait as hookbait only. We'll see how we do!

Cheers Andy, good to meet you and thanks for the bait!

Well, it couldn't last forever!

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 07:00:25 +0100

I arrive on the banks just before 5am in the pitch black in the middle of nowhere!

As soon as I saw the river I knew it wasn't going to fish as it had risen by nearly 2ft overnight. I measured the water temp and it had fallen by several degrees and I knew the Welsh had been up to their old tricks, releasing ice cold water from their dam.

This peg was being fished around 10 hours ago and was my chosen swim for my first early morning session in about a year!

I setup and cast into the muddy, cold water not expecting much. I was right and had nothing but piles of weeding pulling the tip round on my rod and my feeder right into the edge by the bank. I only had feeders up to 5oz and that wouldn't sit still, so I packed up and came home for a nice coffee.

I have been spoilt of late with consistent catches, so a blank - even though I only fished for less than an hour - was inevitable at some point. Hey, ho, as soon as the cold water pushes through it should fish well. Probably Saturday I reckon.

Morning session after work

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:15:24 +0100

Just a quick entry today as I'm tired after two nights at work. This morning I decided to give a full day session a bash as a friend had some success a few days before during daylight hours.

I arrive at about 09:30hrs and cast out the one rod I'd taken with me. I had gone back home to get my 'Super paste' that I'd forgotten and it was only 5 minutes into my session that I was glad I had.

A small, but well appreciated Barb.

I caught three more in quick succession before deciding to change swim in favour of my favourite swim on the beat.

My favourite swim was taken, Damn it, but there was one next to it that I knew would produce the goods. The chap in my swim hadn't had a knock which didn't give me the encouragement I was after, but armed with my super paste I was still confident. I tied a fresh rig and put new pellets and a glob of the paste around them, cast out and sat back to enjoy one of the brief moments of warm sunshine. The guy next door and his mate came to speak to me and having recognised me off here were busy picking my brains when my rod went over. I grabbed it and struck into a powerful barbel which sped of downstream. I played the fish to the net and asked one of them to take a picture.

A spectacularly coloured barbel of about 5lb.

After I landed that fish I had a moment of intense tiredness and nodded off curled up in my army parker. When I woke up I thought it best to leave and get home. I went to see the two chaps who were still struggling and gave them the rest of my super paste in the hope of improving their luck and headed for the hills.

A pretty good morning really. I don't normally bother with mornings, as the majority of my fish have been caught in the evening. I may go again early tomorrow depending on the weather!

Another evening with the Boy Steve.

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:41:15 +0100

My mate Steve was up for the weekend again and as is usually the case I was working. I decided to go down for a few hours on the Sunday when I finished my second day shift and fish with him for a bit.

I arrived to hear that Steve had already caught 8 during the afternoon, but it had gone quiet for the last few hours. As I sat down and asked how he'd been his rod hooped over and he was into number 9. I must be a lucky charm!!

I fished in the peg next to him, which hasn't always been the best to me. I knew Steve would have a few more, but would just be happy with the odd one with no baiting up etc.

I setup my rig - 2ft length of Sufix Camfusion in 10lb with a size 11 Barbel Maxx hook on 3 inches of the stripped back braid. Below this I dangled 2 small pellets and a big wadge of, the now familiar, super paste moulded round them. I used a 4 oz Andrew Whitham feeder stuffed with hali method mix with pellets in. I would normally have hemp in it too, but I was rushing to get fishing and forgot it!

I cast in and had nothing for the first hour whilst Steve was reeling them in like nobody's business! He was upto ten when I had my first fish.

Just as dusk was settling, classic barbel time!

The action then picked up significantly, presumably as I began to lay down a decent carpet of bait. We were both having a fish every 20-30mins fairly regularly. We had two double hookups, only one of which came to fruition and Steve landed a total of 14 during the session with me landing 4 in a couple of hours and losing one very big fish to a snag!

One of two double hookups.

A good little session, shame about the rain, but hey, I'd have rain and fish rather than sun and no fish!

5 on the Super Paste

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:42:22 +0100

After a busy few days I decided to take the chance to hit the banks for a couple of hours this evening. Armed with my rod, centrepin and Super Paste I set off, not really expecting to get my favorite peg, but to my surprise it was free.

I started off on the pin, casting perfectly on my first attempt!! I waited with heart in mouth as I am getting a real kick using my pin. Within 10 minutes my rod ripped round and I lifted into a fish, but the pin over span as I didn't cup the drum well enough. Damn! I recast and had a great bite straight away and a great battle ensued, resulting in a lovely little fish and bruised knuckles from poor pin control!

I decided to change the pin for my baitrunner as my hand was pretty sore and as dusk arrived I needed the confidence from a familiar piece of kit.

The session pretty much ran like clockwork with a fish a cast for two hours and then it all just stopped. I had 5 fish in a couple of hours and may have had more, but it was starting to feel decidedly autumnal!

The best of the bunch at about 8lb.

Nice grass!!

I have been testing out Sufix Camfusion, which is a coated braid. It seems to be getting results similar to the herculine and magician, but lasting alot better. I was struggling with the braided hooklinks being stripped and damaged, but the protective skin seems to prevent this with no impact on catch rates - give it a try.

I packed up at about 9pm, due to the cold and something rather large rustling around behind me in the bushes!