Gareth and Dave fishing the Wye for barbel

Gareth and Dave had contacted me regarding catching some barbel and chub. Now normally people want to fish the H.Avon or the D.Stour. Both are difficult at the best of times so I try and steer people towards the Wye particularly if it’s going to be their first barbel. You can have a great days sport there for sure, however nothing is guaranteed in this life for sure.

They were travelling down from north of London and even further for Dave.

I arrived early on the river as it was my first time this season. Normally I don’t guide there until July as sometimes the barbel can be very late in spawning. During the previous days it had rained hard and I knew the river would be high and coloured.

I arrived to find the river very brown which normally means that the rain from the west midlands had the river Lugg in flood.

It was great to be back on the banks of this fabulous river. The plan was for me to get a swim which I did then feed it to get the barbel going.

I won’t go into too much detail other than to say that my bait was West Country barbel slick sense which is about the best you can get. After the first cast the rod top belted around and I was playing a super fit barbel of about 6lbs which had me thinking it looked like it could be a good day. Second cast the rod belted around again and sure enough another fighting fit barbel was landed.

I phoned the boys who said they were 1 hr away. I didn’t want to catch too many, however after 5 in almost 1 hr I decided to cast out with a full feeder but nothing on the hook. Result I foul hooked two barbel that came off and kept on having barbel picking up the feeder. I think they were hungry.

Dave and Gareth arrived and it was Gareth who sat in the hot seat first.

Within 5 mins he was playing the biggest barbel that swam in the river Wye. It was a foul hooked monster which took 50yds of line of the reel. Luckily it came off. Phew!

The next bite had him playing a good barbel that turned out to be 5lbs 2oz. So the day begins me thinks!

Dave was next on the rods. It wasn’t long before he too was playing a barbel. These are not big fish but at about 5lbs in the current they do pull back a little.

I asked Dave to rest the barbel and then release it. While I was rebaiting and getting ready for Gareth to sit in the “Hot seat” when I heard a big splash which was not a barbel going back but Dave falling in the river. Dropping everything I rushed to see him scrambling up the bank. Then I saw the landing net floating down the river. Not worried about the net we made sure Dave was OK which he was “Thank God”. The landing net was gone!

After a change of clothes Dave was OK. 5 mins later Gareth was texting Dave’s wife to say he fell in. Bad news always travel’s very fast.

This was a first for me. Was Dave going to be trouble for the rest of the day………..no.

The chaps carried on catching barbel through-out the morning.

To be fair the barbel fed all day.

A friend Adrian and his lad Tim turned up struggling to get a bite further downstream. Adrian is a great chap and I fish some of his fisheries. He asked if he could fish the next swim up, and with the river in flood there were precious few swims available so I agreed.

The barbel kept feeding in both swims and everyone was happy!

I’m not going to go on too much however the fishing was awesome to say the least.

Do you think we mentioned Dave falling in during the day………..nooooo

Every now and again I could hear Gareth chuckle to himself. Don’t know why but I bet it was about Dave falling in.

Tim caught a fantastic summer barbel of 9lbs 14oz which will be a big fish later in the season, his Dad, Adrian was so pleased for him. As we all were.

The barbel continued to feed and as the day drew into evening and with a 4hr drive ahead the chaps decided the last fish would be packing up time.

I think the guy’s had a great day for sure 20 barbel and a couple of chub was a great result.

“Happy Days”