It sounds strange does'nt it, last week the river was running fast with clouds of mud n silt and I was fishing tiny floats and fine lines that gave me a lovely bag of superb redfins, yesterday it was calm, very clear and I,m doing the exact opposite, still float fishing but this time with a slightly longer, beefy rod with a battered , old, forty year old reel with eight lb line, a big home made quill and balsa avon that needed three SSGs and two number six droppers with a size ten hook and three/four maggots.
It was no good trying for the roach, such clear water just isnt much good so I had opted for a few hours trying for a barbel or two.
I have several areas I favour with the float but when I arrived I was dissapointed to find there was someone else on the opposite bank of my first choice so I left and went to option B.
A good move as I was very much on my own which is as I like it.
The first run down and I clipped a snag but was able to get te gear back ok but justin case I lowered the float a few inches or more and ran the gear downstream again and this time it cleared the snag, ok, I was up and running.
At this point I,d better say that over time I have learned never to put any freebies in for perhaps the first half hour as very often a fish will often secumb to what they see on the hook and yesterday was no exception.
The third trot down and right on the snaggy bit of river the floats under and on striking for a split second thought I was maybe going to have to start pulling for a retrieval. Not so tho as a tiny "thump" on the line told me I was connected to a fish.
At first it just hung there , not doing much but eventually it strarted to come upstream without to much effort on my part but something told me I had a better than average fish , its easy enough at times to be fooled with barbel when flote fishing, some six n seven lb fish can have you thinking its far bigger and vice versa --- the one on the end of my line was in the "versa" class, just coming upstream but with an air of quite menace about it, if it was a biggie then I was in for a long protracted struggle under the rod, an experience that I,ve had before and one where you need plenty of patience that if lost for a split second cn end in tears.
It was maybe a full five minutes before I saw my float appear in front of me, not for long tho as the nearer a barbel comes towards daylight out of the gloom there off , mostly in my experienc a little way downstream but sometimes midriver.
Finally I had my first sight of the fish, only a quick one but it looked B I Ģ !!!
Away it went again, and again, and again, but each time a little less with my noticing I was seeing my float come into the air a little more and for longer each time.
The swim was deep but with sloping banks made up of sharp rocks was now my main concern as twice in the final stages of the fight I felt two or three definate "twangs" as the fish turned to power of on one of its now shrort runs that had me nearly having an embarrassing accident ---- not now lord after all this struggle and having come this far--- please !!!!
One more time close to the landing net , only inches away and it had one last run but it was his last, up he came on his side and just camm the slightly downstream to the waiting net.
WOW !!!! Er WOOOOW !!! My pb barbel on the float is-- was a superb 13-13 a few seasons ago I've had them much bigger but on heavy lines n leads but this looked bigger .
I unhooked the fish in the net and then positioned it safely to rest while I composed myself with a drink and a bikky. A friend nearby came over to do the honours and witness the wieghing which he did and on both our scales the fish went 14-1 -- I was over the moon, who would'nt be, a quick pik and the fish was away into the deeps.
We sat there bankside chatting for over an hourabout various things, fish caught, fish lost, anything really but we kept coming back to the barbel.
Anyway my friend had to leave and a little bit of me thought the same--- whats there left to fish for after a stunner like I"d landed earlier ??. But it was only about two thirty so I thought why not, it was forecast rain around four so on the slightest sign I would up sticks.
Maybe it was three thirty, no bites, no nothing when the float dissapears again and I"m connected to another nice fish that again had me thinking " big" , and so it was, another hard fighting barbel that was just a little over 11 lbs ! , it doesnt get much better than that on a days float fishing for barbel -- well, maybe three.
I saw the rain coming and I was in the car pretty quick but going thro a small market town nearer home Was held up by serious flooding that put an hour on my trip.
Footnote -- I checked my line after landing the big one, those "twangs" were definately rocks as my 6lb hooklength looked like hairy string but due credit to ultima , it did a great job.
mg:
