It’s not often I fish on a Monday but having seen the forecast for such mild weather coupled with a few extra inches of water it just screamed barbel but boy was that wind strong again!
I think I can keep the stick floats in the bag for this one…
Fortunately I had made the decision to get in just before daybreak which allowed me to get the brolly up, staked down, roped down and tied off to a tree with the storm poles fitted before it got too rough to do anything and still it nearly went flying during the afternoon!
I’ve got more suitable rods but decided to take the Ultralite Avons again through nothing more than sheer indulgence and one was rigged with a free running 100grm method feeder to a two foot 10lb hooklink to fish a single 10mm hair rigged pellet below the pre-soaked pellet based munga mix which I had put together last night…
All nice and ready to go…
I like this method and there really aren’t any rules on the length of the hooklink, the first fish I ever took with it was a 13lb barbel using a six foot link and it’s literally a case of going with the flow but be sure to check the mainline after a fish as the bouncing around of the feeder can chew the surface of the line up a bit… It’s also a nice profile which I reckon holds bottom better than conventional feeders and if squeezed hard enough into the mould (or nose warmer!) it still looks like this after retrieving forty minutes later so you know you’re getting a good constant trail in the water…
Anyway, in it went and shortly after the second rod was in too which was rigged with a simple running leger with a piece of hair rigged meat.
I was just settling down and contemplating pouring my first cuppa when the tip of the method rod bounced, sprang back and then doubled over and certain that I was into a barbel I lifted into fresh air!
Never mind, back out again and this time I did get a cuppa poured but it wasn’t long before the tip rattled over again and this time I lifted into something solid that gave a nice blip on the drag and shortly afterwards a nice, well fed winter fish of around 8lb was safely in the net…
What a great start!
Out went the rig once again and around forty five minutes later an almost identical bite resulted in another tip top fish around the same size as the first, if not slightly stockier…
By now I was having a good day and it got even better shortly afterwards when, after putting the rig out once again, the tip just belted over without warning and as I lifted into it the dogged push into the main flow told me that it was a better fish.
After a bit of the usual heave ho with a bit of give and take I had the fish below me but she was still staying deep, I eventually got her head up and slid the net under a deep and broad bodied belter of 13lb 3ozs…
It was barely even 9.30am and I’d had a bit of a rude one already, if I’d have packed up and gone home there and then it would have been a great session for the time of the year but I had planned to fish until dusk and that is what I did, taking a further three well fed winter fish throughout the day, two of which were similar in size to the first two and the other a baby of around 4lbs.
All six fish fell to the pellet and free running method without even an enquiry on the meat rod.
The rods were blown off the rests several times during the day but I can cope with that if the outcome is anything to go by!
Who said Mondays are dull? :w
) for 5 chub in tricky conditions. No monsters but good to get out and get a bend in the rod................
