Day 1 After weeks of preparation and all the build-up on the forum, it was quite surreal when the day of the fish-in actually dawned. I have to admit, I was nervous… ‘Will anyone show up? Will they catch fish?’ And more importantly, ‘Will they enjoy themselves?’ It was a relief then as (Lunghi) Jim, Phil Smith and myself arrived at the venue before first-light to find Wendy Perry, Cakey, Jeff Spiller, Claudia and Mike (Mithrandir) already unpacking their gear in a blur of good-natured banter. I needn’t have worried, this was evidently going to be a lot of fun. Steve (DB) and Wendi Spiller had already hot-footed it down to the river in their excitement to get on with the serious business of catching their first ever zander. In fact ‘firsts’ were a bit of a feature of the weekend with Claudia, Mike and James (Speci-Hunter) all trying for their first barbel. In the half-light, we made our way down the steep path to the Severn and by the time we reached the river, most folks had already fallen under the spell of the mighty weir. It is a magnificent stretch of water and there is nothing quite like fishing with the roar of the water in your ears and that glorious smell of the river pervading the air. Sabrina however did not look at her best. For late October she was as low and clear as I can remember seeing her; I crossed my fingers and hoped that somehow the fish had not noticed the crappy conditions. As the sky began to brighten a few more FM’ers started to arrive, and I was having a chat with Clive (Compact Angler) when Wendy’s rod hooped over and she was in to the first fish of the day. There was no mistaking the energetic lunges (from the fish, not Wendy!) and after a short tussle, I helped her net a lovely little Severn barbel. It’s always a pleasure to see these smaller beasties caught as it confirms another successful spawning and means the future should be bright for barbel fishing on the river. The weir stretch was filling out nicely and with Fred Bonney arriving it was already a very social affair. After an impromptu trip to get some more water for Clive’s very popular Kelly kettle, I decided to set up a little further downstream opposite the lock. A text, shortly after my first cast, confirmed that Jim Hinchley and Bryan Baron had made it down safely and were settled-in a fair distance downstream in one of the most famous pegs on the fishery. Jim had enjoyed some early success with a modest barbel but other than that it was fairly quiet. Quiet was certainly the word for it. After a couple of fruitless hours half-heartedly fishing an un-inspiring swim, I decided to up sticks and have a wonder downstream with Phil to see how things were going. The first FM’er we found was Martin Womble who was fishing a usually reliable peg in the first meadow, but so far he had been unable to tempt a bite.
It was clear the river was not really playing ball today. Further downstream we met (Lunghi) Jim, who like me, had decided that the weir was not the place to be today. Surprisingly he had also suffered a bite-less morning in another good swim, ‘I was going to move down to my favourite peg, but Neil’s (Maidment) beaten me to it, and he’s got his bait in the right place. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t catch today.’ We carried on and met Brummie Paul who was also walking the banks for a socialise, before heading back to the weir for a bit of chub fishing. Phil and I dropped in to an empty peg in the next meadow that I had not fished before and decided to make ourselves comfortable for the rest of the day. I cast out a few feeders of mini-pellets into my side of the swim and then wandered on to see who else was about. Steve and Wendi were next along the meadow in my personal favourite peg and it was obvious from Steve’s big cheesy grin that the zander were proving a little more obliging. He’d popped his Z cherry with a lovely little fish around the 3lb mark. Even stabbing himself through the thumb with a barbed hook point couldn’t kerb his enthusiasm, ‘I had to grit my teeth and rip it out… ouch!’ Neil was one peg down from Steve and was really getting amongst the fish. After just an hour of regular casting with his feeder, a couple of taps on the tip signified that there were whiskers in the area and in quick succession he had landed a fine 6lb 14oz barbel followed minutes later by one of 7lb 4oz and another at 5lb 12oz. He had clearly got them feeding and was gutted to then lose an absolute clonker, ‘I’m afraid I cocked up big time with the net as I almost lost balance on the rocks and only succeeded in watching the barbel gently glide into the tree on the left and throw the hook. It was possibly around 10lb maybe a bit bigger!’ I completed my rounds with a visit to Jim and Bryon at the end of the fishery, but there had been no more fish since the morning. They couldn’t even get a bite maggot-fishing for livebaits, so Bryan was launching lures in the hope that one of the Severn’s monstrous pike or zander could be tempted to strike. On the way back to my peg it was great to bump into Steve Pope from the Barbel Society who had managed to pop down for a visit. On a day when the barbelling was very hard, his friendly advice was certainly welcome. I finally started fishing in earnest at about 2pm, and decided that everything needed to be scaled right down if I was going to break the deadlock with the river’s reluctant fish. I carried on with the feeder approach (with dampened 4mm pellets) and reined my hooksize back to a size 14 Drennan barbel hook with an 8mm pellet on a short hair. All was quiet for a while and then the rod juddered in my hand and I struck into a lovely chub that may have just scraped 5lb. This was followed and hour or so later by a barbel of similar dimensions. Hooray!
By the end of the day more successes were recorded despite the harsh conditions. Up on the weir Mike and James each landed their first ever barbel (with Mike’s fish going 7lb 10oz), Wendy managed to land another couple of barbel and Fred winkled out a chub. Clive hooked a whopping perch but unfortunately lost him to one of the weir’s many snags and Brummie Paul banked the first bullhead I have seen in years. Downstream in the meadows, Wendi joined Steve in the first-ever zander stakes with her toothy pb scaling 6lb 8oz! Steve was philosophical, ‘I managed another Z about 4lb but I’m getting used to having my butt whooped by the missus!’ Jim (Hinchley) landed another barbel in the afternoon and Neil brought his impressive tally to five beards with the biggest 8lb 6oz. We ended the day at a local pub overlooking the river with a hearty meal, a few(!) drinks and a lot of fishy talk and laughs. It was a brilliant evening and a perfect example of the ‘magic’ of FM fish-ins where a bunch of like-minded people can come together from all over the country and share their passion and enthusiasm for our great sport in good company.
Day 2 An early start was out of the question for various ‘logistical’ reasons (like my head hurting somewhat!) so Phil and I arrived on the bank fashionably late at around half ten. We found Neil, Mike, Claudia, Clive and my mate Pete all fishing on the weir. Pete had already landed a small pike. Conditions seemed a little better. There was a good deal of cloud cover and the night had seen a little rain. After a chat, we headed off downstream to the peg that Steve and Wendi had been zander fishing the day before. As Phil hadn’t had a bite the previous day I put him in the spot I had landed an 11lber from a few weeks before and we set about a disciplined feeder approach with 3ft fluoro hooklinks and the same small hooks/ baits tactics as the day before. After a bite-less hour Neil dropped by to see how we were doing and proved to be very lucky. As we chatted my rod tried to exit stage left and I was in to a hefty fish. After a few hairy moments with bankside snags I netted a 9lb barbel. A great start to the session. Neil fought his way through the vegetation to a peg about 15 yards upstream and began a similar line of attack.
It was quiet for a little while after that with only the clonk of feeders on water breaking the silence as the sun pushed through to create a beautifully warm afternoon. It was nice to get a visit from Pikey Paul and his girlfriend Helen who had popped by on their way back to Derby from a break in the West Country. In fact once again visitors proved very lucky for me and within minutes of them showing up, I landed a 5lber. After such hard fishing the day before, I would have settled for that, but just as Paul and Helen got up to leave, my rod attempted a somersault and this time the resistance from the fish was truly terrifying. In classic big barbel fashion, it held deep and took line powerfully and relentlessly. I took my time, coaxing line back onto the spool when I was allowed and holding on for dear life when I wasn’t. Finally, a huge head broke the surface and it was only when she was finally in the net, that I was able to take a breath. At 12lb 8oz, she was a new Lower Severn pb and one of the most beautiful fish I have ever seen. Thank you fishing gods! Neil managed to catch later on in the day from his jungle swim next door and Phil landed a lovely little chub, but the weir remained fishless. As late afternoon approached a mass of leaves was flushed down the river and fishing became virtually impossible, so it was time to pack up and say goodbye. A big thank you to everyone who came along and made it so much fun, to Jim for all his hard work helping put it all together and to Ellen and George for making it possible. Suffice it to say we will be doing all again next year. Hope to see you there!
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