Barbel Days & Ways DVD Premi

The gathering

I was as surprised as anyone when Graham announced I’d won, and as the showing was the next day I had little time to prepare.

For info, a little about my background. I guess at most I spend about 5-10% of my fishing time after barbel. Add to that the fact I have no interest at all in the modern wave of ‘underwater films’ (I still like a bit of mystery in my fishing).

The show begins

This film then would not normally appeal to me, and has no right for an automatic thumbs up. I should find it easy to pull apart I thought.

To add to this, I’d never met Bob before and although I’d admired a number of his magazine articles in the past, I’m also well aware of some of the controversy he’s been involved in on the FM forum. I do like to keep an open mind though and generally I take people as I find them.

Stuart, Mark and Bob

With all this in mind I was expecting to do the full ‘Jeremy Clarkson’ (another Doncaster lad I believe) with no trouble at all. How wrong could I be! After a small detour (courtesy of the AA Route Planner!) I finally found ‘Castle Roberts’. I was greeted with a very warm welcome from all the lads, followed by the largest number of pizzas I’ve ever seen in one go – at only a fiver per person it really is good value ‘up north’.

The DVD

I don’t want to give too much detail away on this, purely because it really is worth watching. It was not the technical underwater film I was expecting (the underwater shots you see accompany the main footage very well). Add to that the fact that ‘product placement’ was less evident than expected and the quality of the filming and editing was as good as any I’ve seen. You are also left with a very sound DVD that would be enjoyed by anglers from all branches of the sport.

I’ve tried to find fault with it (to try and give a balanced review) but in all honesty anything that comes to mind is so ‘trivial’ it’s not worth mentioning.

The film even includes a discussion with the Environment Agency on the subject of Stillwater Barbel, which I’m sure will cause lots of discussion. The film was not meant to be an instruction on how to catch barbel, but a way of re-creating the passion that we get from angling that we can enjoy in the living room. It achieves this very well, and makes want to leave home and head to the river bank!

To sum up

I had a great evening, with good company and the film stacked up really well. For those who live outside Yorkshire the dialog at times can become difficult, with plenty of ‘chuffin-ells’, ‘all-reets’ and ‘eee-by-ecks’. However, modern DVD’s usually come with language selection – with English as an option. Failing that, subtitles can be used, so all should be well!

A final note

In anticipation of the raft of negative remarks about this idea of Bob’s to premiere the DVD. Is this a ‘stunt’ by Bob to get lots of coverage for the DVD for free? I would say yes, absolutely! Bob’s no fool, and I would do exactly the same. I see it as win, win, win! The interest it creates is good for him, good for Graham and the site, and good for everyone following with anticipation!

To end I’d like to say a big thanks to all involved, and I’m looking forward to Volume Two!

The Trailer to ‘Barbel Days & Way’s Volume 1

Barbel Days & Ways Volume 1 from Stuart Walker on Vimeo.