Well it’s certainly been a busy few weeks and I’ve been lucky enough to spend time down by the river with some nice people, my kinda people!
We’ve caught some good fish whilst on my continuing mission to re-dedicate as many as possible to the power, the passion, the mystery and the ministry of barbel fishing……………and the ‘pin!
First up were Fred and his son Danny and they spent two days with me on the Kennet to celebrate Fred’s 70th birthday. Now Fred is one of those guys who belies his actual age, not only that, he also flies in the face of my theory that to have two hobbies – like golf and fishing – is a recipe for marital disaster, Fred has it all worked out!
I think golf is his major passion, he plays off four and remarkably only took the game up in later life, if he had started earlier he would probably have been teeing off at Sandwich instead of fishing with me!
So, did the barbel read the script and play their part in making Fred’s birthday that little bit more special? They certainly did. We managed a dozen with the best two going 12-13 and 11-4, both personal bests for Fred, it doesn’t get a lot better than that! Well actually it did when Fred Crouch decided to pay us a visit to put the seal on a great couple of days.
How did we do it?
Simple! Six pints of hemp and six pints of caster, continuous drip feed with the bait dropper and at times it all comes together.
No complicated rigs, the key to success with this method is location and getting the feeding pattern right but as the season progresses I may well incorporate a back lead – just for Welchy!
After that it was off to Worcester for a Barbel Society committee meeting, I’ve lost count of how many I’ve attended over the years but I’m still as keen as ever. I must have been more efficient than usual as we finished early although it was more likely Pete Reading telling me to get a move on to be honest! Anyway knocking off early meant I ended up on the lovely River Teme by about 5pm to while away a couple of hours with my long time pal Phil Buckingham.
We each managed a couple of small barbel by presenting small hair rigged pellets and then it was off to the Lower Severn to put in an eight-hour session.
Nothing showed and I was not really surprised, it’s a bit too early for me but come November I’ll be fishing it hard and with total confidence; until then I’m happy to leave it hardier souls than me.
Back to the Kennet and for the next trip I was joined on the river by Barry and his grandson Lewis, what a lovely day we had. Lewis is only eight years old but has already landed big pike and seen his picture in Total Coarse Fishing where he won a badge for a bream just shy of ten pounds. Barry too has adorned the same pages but neither had caught barbel so the first task was to ensure I put that right.
When the bite came young Lewis handled the situation brilliantly and with no help whatsoever successfully brought his first ever barbel to the waiting net. To say he and grandad were pleased would be a huge understatement – just look at the smile on his face.
The day was made even more special by the trio of red kites which put on a majestic aerial display in front of us over the freshly cut farmer’s field, a truly marvellous spectacle. I told Barry that he was a very lucky man to have such a great fishing buddy and Lewis that he was very fortunate indeed to have such a teacher as Barry. Barry really has laid the foundations that will see Lewis go on and enjoy a varied and exciting fishing life; great stuff and great people!
The next couple of days were shared with a chap called Bob and his son in law, Sean, but I need to fill you in with some background details here before I go any further.
Back in the sixties when I lived in Tottenham my local tackle shop in Lordship Lane was Charlie Rew’s. It was situated very close to Broadwater Road where, long before the name became synonymous with society breakdown, it was the home of the best London match team of the time.
Broadwater AC were LAA Championship Shield winners three times, the guys in the team were local heroes and they always congregated in Charlie’s shop. Now at this time I was just a schoolboy, not worthy in such esteemed company and when I entered their domain to buy a bob’s worth of maggots I could only look on and listen in awe and then wait to read about their latest exploits in the following week’s Angler’s Mail.
Fast forward nearly fifty years and here was I meeting up with Bob – who was the captain of that very team – fishing really is a funny old game because he wanted a couple of days out with me!
To be honest there was not a lot I could tell Bob about barbel, he’s caught plenty in his time, but due to a serious work accident he has been unable to fish for barbel in recent years and he desperately wanted an opportunity to make their acquaintance once again as he had found that pole fishing on the commercials just wasn’t the same.
And meet them we most certainly did catching sixteen barbel with 3 doubles and 4 nines all to the same caster tactics with the bait fished tight to the bank. I truly enjoyed my time in Bob’s company and we will meet up again next year to continue our 60’s North London reminiscing whilst hopefully putting more barbel on the bank.
As The Boss says, we spend our entire lives sorting out the early messages we received.
Next up on the Kennet to join me was Neil, his lovely partner Victoria had contacted me last year and the upshot of our conversation was that Neil received a Fred Crouch centrepin reel for a Christmas present as well as a day out with me……………the pressure was on! Thankfully once again the well-honed tactics did the trick and Neil landed 4 barbel including a new PB of 11-9, it was a good day.
As I said goodbye to Neil I was already thinking about the next day, which would be spent with barbel virgins Geoff and Kev from the Fenlands. Thankfully it was job done once again as they both caught their first ever barbel and are now well and truly hooked.
I have to tell you that these days I get so much pleasure from seeing others having a great time as they enter the world that us barbel old stagers have known about for so long.
I also found myself on the Wye just downstream of Hereford where along with Chris and Sam I spent a great deal of time up a tree watching a huge shoal of barbel flashing over the rocks and stones as they searched feverishly for every pellet. The bright sun coupled with the low and clear river made catching difficult although we managed to winkle a few out. The following day however when the weather was much more favourable the pair caught fourteen so all’s well that ends well!
I’m looking forward to fishing with my dear friend Fred Crouch very soon on a trip to the upper Lea that will take us way back to the very start when a barbel of a pound in weight was the norm, I’ll be telling you all about it.
Before I sign off a blatant plug, I’m fortunate to be a consultant for Nash Peg One and have to say that the Transformer Chair has quite literally ‘transformed’ my fishing comfort, it’s simply the best and the attachments make life so easy when showing people different baits, rigs and techniques.
If you don’t believe me pop along to the Evesham Festival over the Bank Holiday weekend where I’ll be on the Peg One stand and I’ll do my best to convince you.
That’s my lot for this month, enjoy your fishing and I’ll see you soon.
Steve
