Reacquaintance with my cyclops Barbel mate.

A busy weekend of visiting relatives and kid's birthday parties meant my only opportunity to wet a line was a couple of hours pre-breakfast on Saturday morning. The forecast was hot and clear so the early morning represented the best opportunity of catching a Barbel or two anyway. I fished my usual tactics of trotting luncheon meat below a 2 swan loafer, 12lb line, the bait hair rigged to a size 8 hook.
It took a couple of hours of feeding hemp and bits of meat to get the fish interested and eventually I landed a three-ish pound Chub. The very next cast saw me strike into a Barbel, not a monster but when I pulled apart the folds of the net I saw a familiar fish. It was the same one-eyed Barbel that I had caught twice last year! Last year it weighed about four pounds and this time around it looked no bigger so I put her straight back.

That battle had disturbed the swim and it took a while for me to hook another Barbel but I eventually did and following an excellent scrap I weighed in the final and biggest fish of the session at 7lb 7oz.

An immaculate really golden fish that shimmered in the sunshine.
On the way back I stopped for a chat with the two blokes in the next swim. They were sat behind static ledger rods and had been since the previous day. Whilst the average stamp of fish seems to be larger fishing that way I much prefer the moving bait methods. Faster water seems to give more bites and more action. The bigger fish definitely preferring a more sedate pace of life, those two other anglers must like the same!