Stewart Bloor
The Reverend Stewart Bloor, perhaps better known as Sedge in the pages of FISHINGmagic, is an ordained Minister and Director of the Sedgley International Christian Ministries.

He is also a very keen angler, having come back to the sport in 1995 following a break of several years. In this regular column he will tell us about his progress as an angler – his thoughts about the sport, what he learns, the fishing trips he makes, the anguish, the humour, in fact everything he experiences as his angling career develops.

Pilgrim’s Progress – read it every Thursday! (Except this week, ‘cos GM put it up a day late)

A Slimy and a Whiskers from the Severn and Stripies from the canal

As we entered the fourth week of January the weather changed dramatically. Gone were the almost arctic type conditions of frost, ice and biting cold winds. A change in wind direction saw south-westerlies attack the country, bringing with them lots of rain. For me, this meant one thing. Bring out the barbel gear.

As an all rounder the previous conditions had seen me, in the main, fishing for chub. But as the weather changed, the opportunist within saw the potential to exploit Mr Whiskers. So, a quick trip down the M5 and I’m on the lower Severn, home to some big barbel.

A silver bronze bream!

It had been a long time since I had last been on the lower reaches of the Severn, due to the extreme cold weather we’d had during December and the first three weeks of January. However, as I was informed when I reached the banks of the river, the barbel die-hards had continued to fish through thick and thin, and although fish have been hard to come by, nevertheless they have still been coming out from time to time.

When I arrived at the river I was expecting to see it higher than it was, due to the rain that we’d had. The Severn is well known for its floods, I’m sure we can all remember quite vividly the television images of last winter’s watery scenes. Driving down to the river, while still a mile away, it may be puzzling to some to discover water gauges at the road side. But, once the Severn tops its banks and we’re in the middle of a wet spell, there’s no stopping it. Watching the river advance across the fields is like viewing the tide as it comes in on a shallow beach.

Level indicator
But on this visit, the river was still well within the banks. There was a little colour, the river was rising slowly and water temperature was up. All of this combined to raise my confidence level sky-high as far as catching my first barbel of the year was concerned. I put out half a dozen bait droppers of particles and then set up a couple of rods to fish over the mixture of hemp, trout pellets, meat, corn and boilies that I had deposited on the river bed about a third of the way across.

Fishing a simple running leger rig I cast out two rods, one baited with a boilie and the other an old favourite of mine, crab and mussel flavoured Peperami. The wind was very powerful, and although there was a certain amount of rod tip movement, it was not as bad as I expected it to be. I caught just one fish, on the Peperami rod. However, it wasn’t a barbel, but a bream.

I have been doing well with unintended bream in recent months. My last barbel trips on the Dove saw me regularly catch them. In addition I’ve had them while chub fishing on the Sow, and also when after roach on the canal. And now I’ve had one on the lower Severn while after barbel. I hope this is a sign of what is to come, because in a couple of months, when the river season has ended, bream will be high on my agenda. I’ll probably struggle then!

Simple rig
Anyway, back to the one caught on the lower Severn. Just for a moment, as it came to the net, I thought I had hooked a giant flounder. The bream was very pale, and looked momentarily, in the dark, just like a big flatfish. But before you think I’ve gone mad, let me say that flounders are caught occasionally on the lower Severn. And as I was fishing way down the river, it certainly is a possibility that one could catch a flounder. But they usually come out when the angler is fishing maggot, not a piece of hair-rigged meat. Still, I was grateful for the fish as it was the only bite I had during the session. Even though the conditions looked perfect I was the only angler out of four on the stretch who caught.

Wanting to take full advantage of the rain, which was coming in on south-westerly winds, therefore being warm, I was back on the lower Severn a couple of days later. The river looked great, and if rivers could talk, then this one was definitely shouting ‘Barbel, Barbel, Barbel’. Now, when I say that the river was looking great, I mean it was up, coloured and rising. There would have been a time when that scenario would have meant that I wouldn’t even have set out to fish a river. Clubs call off contests and switch them to canals when the Severn is in flood. But to the barbel angler this is the time to target Barbus Barbus.

I chose my swim very carefully. The heavy rain meant that the banks very wet and treacherous, so wisdom was called for in swim selection. For as much as I want to maximise my chances of catching a good fish by being in the right place, I also want to travel home in my car at the end of the session, not being transported to the mortuary in a coffin after my body was found washed up in Tewkesbury.

I ended up in a swim that I have never fished before, but the lower Severn is not the same as the Teme or the Dove. Exact area is not as crucial as it is on smaller, more intimate rivers. Certainly on the stretch I fished, big fish have come from everywhere along its length. So, putting out a few baitdroppers of goodies, I cast my two rods into the baited area and sat back and waited.

Not quite a double
Again, as with the previous session, I only had one bite. But this time it was the fish I was after that had taken the bait. A violent bite, pulling the rod out of the rest, and stripping line off as if there was no tomorrow, meant that as I struck into the fish, I knew that on the other end was a barbel. Giving a good account for itself, eventually it submitted to my waiting landing net. First impressions were that I had a double in the net. And as I set up the scales, if I was a betting man, then I’d have put all my money on the fish being weighed reaching double figures.

Well, it was just a good job that Billy Knott wasn’t around otherwise I’d have gone home penniless. The fish was just a few ounces the ‘wrong’ side of the magical mark as far as barbel are concerned. Still, I wasn’t disappointed in any way. After all, a January barbel is a good fish, whatever the size.

Now for the canal

My next opportunity to fish saw me having limited time, so I decided to tackle the stretch on the Staffs/Worcs canal that is my back-up water this winter, when the rivers are unfishable. With the Sow and the Mease out of bounds for chub because of the rain, plus I didn’t have time to get to the lower Severn, a short trip into Staffordshire saw me on the canal.

My plan was to fish for perch while it was still light and then go for roach once darkness set in. As a genuine all rounder I get great pleasure from targeting specimens of all species. The area of the canal I’ve decided to fish isn’t a noted big fish water, although I’ve expressed my own thoughts on what exactly defines a specimen fish in a previous Pilgrim’s Progress.

I certainly hit the right button as far as the trip to the canal was concerned. I ended up with a number of fish, some of them not even landing net size. The truth is that even when you target specimens you’ll still catch smaller ones along the way. The first perch weighed in at 0-15-8. Bringing back memories of my barbel that was just the ‘wrong’ side of the 10 lb mark, I was hopeful that I would at least be able to catch another that would add half an ounce to this fish, during the session. Certainly from the water I was fishing a perch of a pound or more could rightfully be considered to be an excellent fish.

My next perch was a little smaller, weighing 14 ounces, but again, a good fish for the water. After a couple of tiddlers (small perch will wolf down a bait that’s almost as big as them !!) I hit the pound mark. With a fish of 1 lb 5 oz, I was indeed a satisfied angler. This was followed by another fish that was just half an ounce lighter, at 1-4-8. As darkness fell, no more perch came to the net, but with a couple of fish just under 1 lb and two the other side, I was already looking forward to my next perch session on the stretch in question.

Not a bad perch for the water
I had three bream one after another as darkness set in. Not big fish, but enough to put a nice bend in the rod and require the landing net. After that it went quiet. Although I did have the tell-tale signs of interested roach, ie, the odd lightning dip of the float followed by a strike into thin air that revealed a sucked maggot. The reality was that roach weren’t really up for it. Still, after the perch I had caught I wasn’t disappointed in any way. In fact, I felt such an accomplishment at the catch of perch that I still had a smile on my face the next morning. Now that’s what angling is all about in my book. Don’t you agree?

I did actually lose a very good fish when I was in the middle of the perch spell. For a few moments before slipping the hook I knew I had a decent fish on the end. I know it’s the ‘one that got away was the biggest’ stereotypical angler’s tale, but believe me, in this case it was true. I’m sure it’s safe to say that it won’t be long before I’m back on the venue. And all will be revealed in Pilgrim’s Progress. ‘Sedge’s four pound perch from the canal’. Reality or fantasy? Who knows? But I do know one thing, I’ll enjoy the experience of trying to make the headline materialise. And I’ll still have fun even if it doesn’t. I can’t lose, can I?

In next week’s Pilgrim’s ProgressI continue to take advantage of the weather conditions in pursuit ofbarbel. But I switch my attentions to a different river. So read howI get on in ‘Barbel Bonanza On The Dove’.

I definitely hit the jackpot, butto find out the details, check out FISHINGmagic next week, when allwill be revealed. Until then, tight lines.

The Reverend Stewart R Bloor
Sedgley International Christian Ministries
PO Box 1216, Dudley. DY3 1GW.
Telephone : 01384 – 828033
Web site : www.sicm.org
e-mail : missionscentre@sicm.org

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