July 21st and Double trouble on the Bristol Avon

On Tuesday I walked the river quite alot and spotted more double figure barbel again. I probably only cast in twice and had one large fish bolt off the hook rig……almost

It was now Thursday and I had a window of opportunity to fish in the morning. I had decided to change my approach from the other anglers who have been catching mostly on pellet.

I would still keep the hemp going in as an attractant in tempting them from their home into open water. The idea was to build the swim up over the morning and really get them going and fishing it around midday.

As I arrived I peeped into a spot where a few doubles have come out and sure enough there were 4 barbel swimming through the cabbages and feeding in a clear area. Quickly I tossed out a few pellets and saw that they started to feed after 10 minutes or so …….yippee!

I left them for a while and wandered away to feed the swim which held a good sized double that I spotted on Tuesday. Out went about 6 droppers of hemp and 3 of casters. These all settled in a clear patch between some boulders. With the job done I returned to the original swim and sure enough the barbel were still there feeding away. I had to wait until they vanished from the swim before casting in. The rig landed in the right area between the cabbages. I was fishing a back lead to pin everything down so that the barbel could feed without picking up the line on fins etc.

The bait had been out for about 10 minutes before the barbel moved back in. It’s great to see their tails waving around in the water as they feed away. One flick of that big tail takes them in and out of the cabbages rooting around for the pellets.

As the 4 of them fed away, two of them looked to be doubles and the other two looked 8 or 9lbers. I fished a slack line which hangs down in the river and as close to the bottom as possible.

So with everything adjusted just right I sat back and watched.

So half expecting a take I was poised over the rod. Sure enough the line started to creep tight to the back lead as one of the doubles took the pellet, I picked the rod up to hit the bite as it was close enough to a snag and I didn’t want to let it get it’s head down and charge into it. Bang the rod hooped over then sprang back as a double figure barbel shot downstream. Oh dear or words something like this came forth.

All I was looking at was a cloud of silt amongst the cabbages slowly moving downstream in the flow. That was it for that swim.

I returned to the swim baited with hemp and casters to see 4 large barbel coming in and feeding on the area. When they left the swim I put more hemp and casters and soon they were back again.

I met another angler who had a 9lber just upstream earlier in the morning. We had met before, he has a 75 mile drive to get to the river so i try and help him as much as possible. He wanted to show me an area where there were lots of small barbel further upstream. So I left the swim and followed him up. Soon we were feeding small pellets into the swim and watching the chub and barbel feeding. The barbel were only about 3-4lbs and in very shallow water. Mostly they were bunched up under the bankside vegetation but would come out and intercept the pellets and return again to their home. Soon he cast out just behind a bunch of reeds while I fed a few pellets. Within 4 minutes the rod hooped around and he was playing a larger barbel on his center pin reel. He didn’t give an inch and soon the barbel was ready for netting. It turned out to be a fish of about 7lbs and you just wouldn’t believe that a fish of this size would be present, we certainly didn’t see it while feeding.

I left him a happy man!

I returned to the swim to find only one fish feeding, but it was a very big double and very long. That big old tail thrusting itself forward trying to find the casters and hemp. I waited for the fish to move out before casting in my rig. I was high up on the bank and had already thought through a plan of playing the fish around the big boulders.

I use a PVA bag just to get a few extra casters around the hook bait which is 3 plastic ones. The back lead was fixed about 6ft away from the lead and so I settled back with the rig in position and waited for the big old girl to return. After about 15 minutes she returned and left the swim after about 3 minutes feeding. Slowly she was getting closer to the baited hook.

The line was practically under the rod top and going out over the river. The line flicked then pulled tight as she hooked herself. Because I had thought through the battle I needed to keep her my side of the river and away from the large boulders everything was going my way. The big old tail wagging in the river trying to break for freedom and the clouds of silt being kicked up looked impressive, I kept her just where I wanted her, my god she was huge,then suddenly she just got one big lunge and I hung on but luck was on her side as the line just touched the boulder just above the lead and the line went slack. So I played her for about 30 seconds and had a good look at her in the gin clear water. Now I was just looking at the cloudy battle field river, silt was everywhere in clouds. Cursing loudly I threw the rod into the grass, now that’s very very unusual for me, I’m normally very placid.

Shortly after this I met Kevin who I’ve known for years and he is a very good barbel angler, I shared my disappointment with him. While we were watching and chatting in the swim for an hour or so we saw a couple of barbel return, with another being a good double. He urged me to recast, however I left him putting some pellets in as the another big old girl arrived to feed.

I wished him good luck and with the swim primed he should get one I think or hope.

With this disappointment diminishing with time I’ve already planned another assault on the barbel in the stretch, lets hope it’s not a repeat performance of today.

Sometimes things go well but today not!