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He is also a very keen angler, having come back to the sport in 1995 following a break of several years. In this regular column he will tell us about his progress as an angler – his thoughts about the sport, what he learns, the fishing trips he makes, the anguish, the humour, in fact everything he experiences as his angling career develops.
Pilgrim’s Progress – read it everyThursday!
A Brace Of Dove Doubles
Regular readers of Pilgrim’s Progress will know that since the endof July I’ve been conducting a campaign on the River Dove. If you’reone of those regular readers you’ll also be aware that I’ve beendoing quite well, with a number of 8’s and an average fish (after thefirst dozen caught) of 7lb 7oz.
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However, as the title of this weeks offering suggests, I’ve beenhitting the dizzy heights of success since the last report on my Dovecampaign. In my last but one session of August I caught two barbel,both of them weighing in at 9-5-0. Caught within an hour of eachother, it is difficult from the photographs to actually tell if theyare different fish. Not that there is a problem with repeat captures,as far as I’m concerned, but it would be nice to think there are twoseparate fish of that weight at the venue.
I’ve been doing a lot of overnight sessions on the Dove. I’ve beenarriving late afternoon and fishing through till the next morning.What I’ve discovered so far with the Dove barbel is that there is noset feeding time. The fish I have caught up till now have beentempted literally around the clock. This has created a sense ofexpectancy, that at any moment, the rod could bend double to signalthat yet another barbel has taken the bait.
In my final outing of August I finally accomplished what hasbecome a target of mine over the last couple of river seasons – adouble figure barbel. I was on another overnighter, which hadactually proved fruitless. If there is one thing I hate aboutfishing, it’s packing up. I am one of those people that has to have’one more cast’. Then another one, and another. On this occasion, Ipacked up all the gear that I could and left the rod itself until aslate as possible. I was just about to bend down and wind in, when thebarbel took the bait.
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Striking into the fish, I knew this was a decent one. Like all theothers caught, it certainly put up a good fight. Slipping it into thelanding net, I could see it was a special fish. But was it a double?Well, the scales never lie (Salter electronics in my case) and whenthe digital read out showed 10 lb 10 oz, a feeling of joy came overme that I am struggling to find words to explain. Driving home thatmorning listening to one of my Northern Soul CD’s I found itdifficult to sit still in the car. It was like being at Wigan’sCasino, The Twisted Wheel and The Top Of The World all rolled intoone. In fact, that’s where I was – on top of the world. When DobieGray came on singing ‘Out on the floor’ I felt like stopping the carand doing some Northern Soul dancing in the streets. Mind, I did drawthe line at that. I don’t think I’d be able to get up if I threwmyself on the ground these days.
I wasn’t back on the Dove until a week later. Again I was doing anovernighter. I arrived a little bit earlier than my usual trips andhad baited up and was fishing by 2.00 pm. At 3.30 pm I had a bite.The Dove is very much like the Teme – small, intimate, snaggy andfull of hard fighting barbel that give their all. The moment a fishis hooked it heads straight for the nearest cover. Often during thefight, it will come to the net two or three times, only to strip lineoff the reel again and head across to the far bank cover (or whereverthe snags are). This fish proved to be no exception. As it came tothe net for the first time, I saw it was another special fish. But itwasn’t ready to submit and it would power away on three occasionsbefore finally submitting itself.
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As I carried the fish to the unhooking mat on the bank, I sensedthat again, I had connected with a double. My suspicions wereconfirmed when the read out showed that I had caught a fish of 10 lb3 oz. A number of photographs later, and an extremely happy angler isholding a barbel in the water as it recovers. This is an importantpart of barbel fishing to be aware of. They often require a level of’nursing’ that other fish don’t. Before returning a barbel to thewater, it’s important to ensure it has recovered fully, otherwise itmay ‘belly up’ and float downstream. All that’s required is to holdthe fish, gently but firmly, and as its strength recovers it willgradually make its way back into the sanctuary of the main streamfrom whence it came. The rest of the night was extremely windy. Itwas also fishless until 6.30 am, when a ‘baby’ of 5-9-8 was landed.
So bringing my Dove campaign up to date and re-capping thestatistics so far, the river has yielded 17 fish. They have weighed atotal of 2,152.5 ounces, which has meant an average of 7 lb 15oz.
The breakdown of fish weight brackets are as below :
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I’ve been fishing 10 lb line. It’s important not to go too lighton a river like the Dove. My hooklength has been Sufix Invisilinefluorocarbon. As many of the trips have found the river quite clear,this has given me the edge as far as confidence is concerned. I’vebeen fishing a simple running leger rig, with the weight depending onwhere I’ve been fishing and the current conditions. I’ve used a 3 ozto anchor on the far bank when there has been a reasonable flow,whilst I’ve fished as low as 1/4 oz when fishing down the side in lowlevel conditions.
I haven’t encountered any rats or bulls yet. In fact the only’animal’ I’ve come across was a member of ‘The Barbel Police’, whoobviously felt I wasn’t a ‘proper’ barbel angler. ‘Real barbelanglers don’t fish with two rods’. As far as I’m concerned, we needto apply the following criteria : a) Am I causing any harm to myself?b) Am I causing the enjoyment of others to suffer because of myfishing? c) Am I breaking any rules? and d) Are the fish themselvessuffering because of my actions?. If we can answer in the positive tothose points, then I don’t have a problem with boilies, hair rigs,bivvies, bite alarms, bait runners and two rods for barbel fishing.All of which, incidentally, I have employed in my barbel fishing whenthey have been beneficial, and in the right time and place. Live andLet Live, I say.
As I’m continuing to fish the River Dove at least over the nextfew months, I hope that I’ll have more tales to tell of double figurebarbel. But the truth is, I’m enjoying my visits, whether I bag up orblank. Which actually reminds me. I haven’t been fishless for ages.Maybe I shouldn’t be tempting fate by mentioning that. Who knows? Ahwell, I’ll just have to get back on the Dove and find out…..
The Reverend Stewart R Bloor
Sedgley International Christian Ministries
PO Box 1216, Dudley. DY3 1GW.
Telephone : 01384 – 828033
Web site : www.sicm.org
e-mail : missionscentre@sicm.org
