Hot, hot, hot, it would seem we are finally, after several years of near misses having a summer. Unfortunately I, like many Brits, don’t enjoy the prolonged hot weather we have been experiencing (Speak for yourself, Lewis! Ed.). It’s unpleasant to work in, sitting in it is out of the question, as indeed is a few swift pints down the local pub due to the extortionate prices most places charge these days – and the fishing is invariably average too. Don’t get me wrong, I do love hot weather but generally speaking only when I have a cold beer in hand and a swimming pool in front of me whilst sunning myself in a foreign land.
Well we are now several weeks into the new river season now and, apart from the odd good report, the general fishing has been anything but exceptional. I missed the first few days of the season but I did get out towards the end of the opening week with a good friend.
Five days after the season’s start I decided on a trip to the Wye and given that my sous chef was celebrating his birthday that day I invited him along as he’d never fished the river before and a birthday barbel from a new venue would be a great present. Generally we never get time off work at the same time but with Andy being on holiday leave we had a rare opportunity to fish together.
I’d chosen the venue on the recommendation of a friend and it was a section that I’d never fished before so armed with what little knowledge I had of the Wye we headed off for the 60 mile drive at first light. Come 7am we were parked up and following the course of the river downstream. I was looking for any area of broken water that offered shallows either before or after a deep pool or run. In the distance I could see what I was looking for so with a quickening of our steps the long walk was over rather quickly and even in the dour and wet conditions we were faced with scenery straight out of a picture book.
Having fished the Wye before on a handful of occasions, I gave Andy the choice of swims. He chose to fish alongside me but towards the downstream end of the swim in the hope that we would be drawing fish upstream – and therefore they’d come to him first and it wasn’t long before fish were coming to the net regularly, unfortunately the plan wasn’t working and whilst Andy’s rod remained motionless mine was regularly in action.
Thankfully after my third fish Andy was finally into a birthday barbel and his first off the river. I was as pleased as he was to see him bag a great birthday present and it made the day worthwhile regardless of whether I caught anything or not. It wasn’t long before the heavens opened but the fish just kept coming, albeit in short bursts rather than one after the other.
One thing I have found, especially early season, is you can’t give them enough bait. Barbel are ravenous at this time of year, especially post spawning as they are looking to feed heavily to build up energy levels after their exertions. If bites dry up, as they did with us, a quick fire 10 casts with fully loaded Fisky’s Feeders was enough to bring them back onto the feed. On an average day 2kg of ground bait and 3kg of 3mm and 6mm Fish Frenzy halibut pellets would be a minimum I’d go through. Food for thought for many anglers, literally!
We finished the day with a very respectable 15 fish and a few lost due to hook pulls and the treacherous rocks that littered the river bed. One thing that did surprise me was the quality and quantity of the chub I caught. Over the course of the day I managed seven and none of them were less than 4lb; a species to consider for another day maybe?
The following week I was to fulfil a long standing offer from good friend Rob Swindells for a day’s fishing on Staffordshire’s River Dove. We arrived at the venue mid-morning and faced with a very low, clear river coupled with a bright sun that was beaming down into the watery depths we knew it was going to be a difficult day but as the old saying goes ‘nothing ventured nothing gained’. The plan was simple: travel light and find the fish, half an hour here, half an hour there and hopefully bump into a fish or two along the way. Rob took me on a guided tour of the venue and I can honestly say it was as beautiful and picturesque as the Wye was the week previously, I was quite taken aback by the views in front of me.
We fished well all day and covered a lot of water to no avail and unfortunately for Rob come late afternoon his severe hay fever was causing him real problems. I’d decided I was going to find myself a suitable swim and stick it out until I had to go home once early evening was upon us and taking some advice from Rob I settled in and took the opportunity to employ a second rod to help explore the water in front of me more thoroughly.
Both rods were set up the same, just fished in differing areas of the swim. Rob had decided to set up in the adjacent swim and it gave us the opportunity to have a bit of a social. The evening was turning into night quite rapidly and with me continually finding myself dropping off in my chair I decided to start packing up because with a near 70 mile drive home I didn’t fancy falling asleep at the wheel!
Everything was packed up, leaving just a single rod and the net to put away, when there was the tiniest of taps on the rod top followed a few seconds later by a savage lunge and it was ‘fish on’! There was a big, overhanging willow to my left and before I knew what was happening the fish was underneath it. Thankfully it was just the lead that was snagged as I could still feel the fish on the end of the line. After a panicky minute or so the lead came free and I was back in contact with the fish. She was soon tiring and I had her safely engulfed in the net.
I had the barbel down as a decent ‘9’ maybe a double so imagine my surprise when the scales confirmed a very healthy weight of 11lb 3oz! I was (and still am) delighted that on my first trip to a new river I’d not only managed to catch a nice barbel but that it was a double. That proved to be my very last cast and what a fantastic end to my first visit on the lovely River Dove.
After my exploits on the Dove my fishing was severely curtailed but for a very good and welcome reason. After several years of saving and dreaming of one day owning our own home that dream finally became reality for me and my good lady in late June and we moved into our very own house and kissed goodbye to paying rent. With all the emotions and time it takes to move and settle in my fishing was put on the back burner, only for a couple of weeks though.
We were organised much sooner than anticipated and with my new garage fully kitted out to house my fishing gear I was as organised and ready for a few sessions on the river as I’ve ever been. Carp were my quarry and having spent the previous six weeks religiously bating three times a week without wetting a line I was as keen as mustard to get a baited rig in the water.
The carp however were very conspicuous by their absence. I had seen them on occasions so knew they frequented the area but matching my time on the bank with their presence was proving very difficult and my initial three sessions proved fruitless without a single bleep on my alarms.
On my fourth overnighter I was feeling strangely confident considering I’d endured three blanks. I carefully positioned my rigs and sat back to watch the sun go down before retiring for the night. I’d only been in the sleeping bag a matter of minutes when one of the rods went into meltdown and it was fish on. Whatever was on the end was pulling back particularly hard and didn’t feel very carp like, in fact it felt very barbelly! Now this particular stretch has no history of barbel whatsoever and is rather deep with no shallow water for some distance so imagine my surprise when a barbel was indeed the culprit and at 10lb 8oz it was a good one to boot!
After that session I flitted here and there doing a bit of fishing but in all honesty the hot weather was making things difficult and sapping my motivation. The rivers were very low and I felt that without some rainfall they were best left alone until they had a good flush through, or had at least been freshened up by a couple of days’ rain. With that in mind I gathered my surface fishing gear together and headed to a carp fishery not too far from home that I’d neglected.
Upon arrival I was astonished to find the venue deserted – great a whole 11 acres to myself! I did a quick circuit and counted in excess of 200 carp on the surface looking ripe for a floater or two. The majority of fish were in a bay following what little breeze there was so naturally that seemed the best place to start. Over the course of the afternoon I worked hard for a total of 16 takes, unfortunately only four made it to the waiting net but you won’t hear me complaining I had a great afternoon and caught some lovely fish.
