Back in July, along with two brothers who had not met up for many years and Nick, an experienced carp man from Sussex, I spent four hugely enjoyable days at various venues giving it my absolute all to get Hamish his first barbel.
Hamish had made an extraordinary long trip from New Zealand via California and the South of France to meet up with his brother Matt for the first time in many years and my mission was to ensure he caught his first barbel.
Nick, also from Sussex, was happy to experience anything the Wye threw at him.
Back at Caer Beris, Luke was in charge as Peter, his dad, was away in Italy along with mum enjoying the likes of Elton John and Billy Idol performing at the Lucca Festival in Tuscany.
While mum and dad were rocking the night away, Luke held fort and did a first class job and I simply have to mention the hotel food – it was quite simply superb.
Without a doubt the best I’ve tasted at any hotel and at the end of our four day break not once were there any remnants left on a plate – which speaks for itself.
Monday, and we were fishing just above Hay. The conditions to all intents and purposes were ideal: overcast and mild. But no matter how hard we tried just the one barbel came our way and that fell to Nick. Chub were more active and Matt had his share rolling a piece of meat alongside a sunken tree late in the afternoon when the canoes had finished: wading out into the flow was no longer as dangerous as trying to cross a motorway!
Tuesday, and we were back at Hay. The second day often produces the goods as the fish have located the bait from the previous day and they stick around in the area – not this time though!
That’s not exactly true. Nick found a few barbel but this enigmatic species eluded the brothers once more even though we stayed on the river till well after dark.
Never mind, the fantastic barbecue that Luke prepared for us went a long way towards making lasting memories to take back to New Zealand as we said goodbye to the upper Wye to seek out pastures new below Hereford.
Down amongst the wigwams, I’m sure some of you may have been there, an interesting stretch that produces some nice barbell: Was it going to happen for us? I was certainly hoping so.
Unfortunately it didn’t work out; just the one chub to Nick and a lost fish for Hamish.
To cap it all this was the last chance for Hamish because the following day he set off on the long drive to Edinburgh without that barbel to his name. The Wye had not been kind and I felt as though I’d let him down.
But Hamish is a Funologist – least that’s what it says on his business card – and also a pragmatist, and he knew how hard we had tried. The subsequent email I received from him when he was back in NZ confirmed how much he had enjoyed the trip. If I get the chance to visit (which I may well do) I will certainly take him up on his kind offer to stay; he was quite a character and the story of his travels – which took in Hollywood and the French Riviera – will stay with me for a long time. Indeed it would make a very amusing film script!
The last day found us on a most picturesque Wye and Usk stretch, The Creel.
I walked the whole length and at first glance it appeared to have everything.
We decided to have a go close to the island; the flow was that much faster and it looked as though it ought to produce. I suppose it did – but just chub!
Once again the barbel were conspicuous by their complete absence.
Driving back home along the A49 I concluded that we had just been unlucky and found the Wye (well at least the venues we visited) in unresponsive barbel mood.
What a difference a few days can make! Just four days later on a new stretch near Ross and, along with Ian, we fortunately experienced the Wye in its other guise – barbel city!
Let me describe the most productive area and I’m sure if you have fished the Wye you will recognise the type of features that make these swims a veritable barbel magnet.
Bedrock, clearly visible and creating the illusion that the river is shallow with just a handful of fish flashing beneath the surface. Careful plumbing reveals adjacent depths in excess of seven feet and that flat rock beneath the surface obviously goes right down to the river bed concealing a vast network of subsurface caves – home to not one or two but one or two hundred!
Small but very welcome…
By feeding the area far enough away from the edge of the rocks the barbel were more than happy to come out to play.
Basically I’m talking a third of the way across and lots of hemp and mixed pellet introduced via the bait-dropper.
To cut a long story short, we landed more than twenty barbel and probably the same number of chub.
I suppose the biggest barbel were around the eight pound mark and the largest chub about four and a half, but each and every fish fought like crazy to get back into their cave!
Ian, an ex-serviceman, was amazed at quite how hard these fish pulled and I suspect he was happy to recover back home along with his amazing collection of Star Wars memorabilia!
I mention that because I’m intrigued by ‘collectors’ and always watch the TV series, and here I was fishing with a fully paid up member of the Star Wars club!!
So the tide had turned, the river was smiling and I was confident the good fortune would last.
Would my luck hold out with Frank who arrived on the river a couple of days later?
Well, yes it did. A similar sized catch was made and this time the barbel reached nine pounds. One of the chub took us an ounce over the six pound mark – wonderful fishing!
A 6lb chub for Frank
Most of the fish came to a simple drilled halibut pellet although the bigger barbel seemed to like the pellet to be wrapped in a large piece of Crave paste.
A Fisky feeder filled with a pellet and ground-bait mix along with a two foot tail was all that was required.
After another four day break it was back to Hay and to Geoff Maynard’s fantastic Llanthomas fishery.
There I was to meet up with Alfie and Henry.
Now I make no secret of the fact that there are parts of social media and internet land that I simply detest; if you want my in-depth thoughts on this then you might want to check out Coarse Angling Today where I will shortly be writing the guest editorial expanding on this very topic.
But Social Media has a very positive side and Facebook is a place where I am very comfortable and this is how I met up with Alfie and Henry.
These lads posted on the Barbel Society page and came across so well I felt I simply had to help them out. They received a lot of encouragement and good advice from other members and I decided to offer them the opportunity to spend a couple of days with me on the Wye to see if I could give them a head start with their barbel fishing.
Rob Swindells, another BS committee man also offered the lads the chance to fish the Teme so they basically had a week’s barbel fishing to look forward to.
Two more polite and courteous guys would be hard to imagine and factor in that both turned out to be very good anglers there was no doubt I had made a good call!
We were to spend two full days on the Llanthomas Fishery close to Hay on Wye and they were both ready and full of anticipation as they had already spent Sunday at How Caple where they captured their first ever barbel.
My mission was therefore to keep their spirits running high, maintain the momentum and perhaps locate one of the bigger barbel that often frequent this particular stretch.
We had two days to go. The first was spent on the upstream pegs where I hoped the lads would pick up barbel and chub and there was also an option of getting the chest waders on and rolling baits around from the island.
It proved to be a tough day but they both stuck at it and as we all enjoyed a couple of burgers while taking a late afternoon break. I assured them the barbel would switch on later in the evening but we would have to stick at it till midnight at least.
Being young and super keen they were not fazed by this prospect but after an hour into dark and just the one small barbel I decided to call it a day and left them to it; ‘made me realise I’m not quite so active as a seventeen year old!
When I drowsily stepped out of the caravan early in the morning, Alfie and Henry were all set and ready for another full day.
I asked if anything happened after I had left them to it. Alfie replied that yes, he had caught…………………..an eleven pounder!
Ian with a stonking Ross fish
Mega result and I wish I had stayed up to see it!
Henry only located the chub but he had previously taken the honours at How Caple catching the lion’s so honours were now well and truly even.
We set off across the field to the bottom end of the fishery where I hoped the Oaks swim would come up trumps.
Once again it took a while for things to develop. The lads kept the bait dropper going so a bed of hemp was always in place and we each had total confidence in the drilled pellet so it was just a matter of sit and wait.
I decided to shoot down to Woody’s to pick up a few bits and pieces I needed: more feeders. And the lads needed some supplies as well.
I suppose I was away for ninety minutes or so – it’s impossible to get out of Woody’s quickly!
Back at the swim I picked up the distinct vibe that something had happened during my absence and yep it had! Alfie had done the business once more, this time a ten pounder!
Two doubles from different swims on the Wye for young Alfie – a brilliant result!
You couldn’t have wished for a nicer couple of fellas!
Henry had a smaller fish so, all in, all they were both really pleased and I have to say I was over the moon with the outcome!
We said our goodbyes, the lads gave me a box full of their local beer as a thank you and I set off for home as I knew I was back on the same stretch for another two days later in the week.
I will definitely fish with Alfie and Henry again. Here were two lads who were just the best, a credit to their family, their generation and themselves.
Their fishing adventure didn’t end there either! When they left the Wye they headed off to catch up with Rob Swindells. I know they had a great time with Rob on his Teme fishery as well, but that’s another story!
Matt concentrating hard at The Creel
So after a one-day break I was back at Llanthomas on the Thursday to catch up with Frank once again – he just enjoys my company!!
The fishing was good. We managed ten barbel over the two days we shared including one that was two ounces over ten pounds and another two ounces under. Usual tactics: drilled halibut pellet, groundbait feeder over a bed of hemp mixed with very small pellets.
Canoes! Always a hot topic when anglers are talking about the Wye and even more so when we’re talking above Hay, but to end I’ll recite what turned out to be our good deed for the day.
It had been very obvious that a large contingent of Chinese youngsters had chosen this same day to spend time on the river; we had counted a great number during the day, all of them very courteous and doing their best to cause minimal disruption to our fishing.
So it’s late afternoon. The last canoe had long since passed by, but on the opposite bank a lone Chinese girl suddenly appeared on the gravel beach looking and sounding very distressed. She told us she had capsized and had no phone and was hoping we could help!
As my hearing is so poor and I’m not conversant in Mandarin, Frank acted as message bringer and interpreter!
That’s how I found myself speaking to someone at the canoe hire company making great play on how helpful and decent us fisher-folk actually are; always ready and willing to help someone in distress!
Eventually help arrived and the girl and her two friends were escorted back to Hay and as they paddled past they really made their appreciation known. Frank and myself felt good they we had done what every angler would have done in the circumstances.
It does make me wonder though. Sooner or later something really serious is going to happen and there won’t be anyone around to help.
And that brought to an end the first Wye adventure of the season and most enjoyable it was too!
Another is soon to start………………….
