Family commitments are restricting my time on the bank at the moment but with the river so low and clear it would be pointless fishing all day anyway. Same scenario as last week then, a morning only session but a 4am start gives me enough angling time to satisfy the itch.
There were two swims that I wanted to fish and in my experience they require two different approaches. One is an extremely popular swim and the fish that reside there are used to man made baits like pellet and boilies. The other is barely fished and I tend to attack it with particles and feeder. I ended up in the former mainly due to the walk being only half a mile and not the full mile. It was early and I had not had a lot of kip!
I fished boily with stringers and my usual approach is to cast as little as possible in the shallow fast water. It took about half an hour before the rod did a two foot twitch and after an excellent battle through the weeds I had my first Barbel of the season safely in the net. I was happy with that but even more pleased that the scales went just past the double mark by six ounces.
No wonder the fight was good with the paddles she had!
That wasn't quite the end of the whiskers action as I also landed another of about 5lb. As the light started to increase and the sun came out the Barbel sulked off and I added six Chub to 4lb 9oz.
A cracking mornings fishing and I was back home by 11am for a sausage and bacon brunch.
What a stunning looking Barbel Joe. Well in.
ReplyDeleteI'm yet to catch one this year, in fact given my preoccupation with other species both last year and this I last caught a barbel on 17th June 2010.
I'd better pull my finger out.
What a lovely fish Joe! Well done.
ReplyDeletePlenty of time Keith and it's not like you're desperate for points!
ReplyDeleteThanks David, kind words as always.