River Wye with Rob and Steve 4th and 5th Oct

Both Steve and Rob had wanted to share in the success of the Wye barbel fishing this year. So after some discussion we decided on the 4th and 5th of October as a good date to fish. Both Rob and Steve are accomplished carp anglers and have been fishing together for ages so it was good to meet them both.

First session was to be on the Wyebanks beat. Hopes were high as the fishing had been quite good and the last time I fished it Richard had caught 30 barbel. However since then the rain had fallen even heavier and the first frost of the autumn had arrived and fishing had been difficult with not even the chub obliging.

We met at 7am and saw that the river was high there had been an overnight frost too. Looking at the EA web site at 5am just before I left home indicated the level would be dropping throughout the day.

However our first choice of swims just couldn’t be reached because of the high river level, it was up by about 4ft. The entire path to the swims was under this much water!

We did dare to cast out in number 3 swim but all the feeders got caught between rocks. I think that the debris coming down dragged the feeders into the traps.

The 4th choice was OK and it was here that we concentrated our efforts. Don the owner of the beat came and gave us the thumbs up on swim choice but alas even with his blessing things turned out to be very difficult. Rob had a barbel of 7lbs 8oz, his very first barbel too.

 

However after another two hours blanking we moved to another swim where in about 6 casts we snagged up on 5. The swim looked ideal, but thinking that it would soon clear out our feeders we moved back to the original swim.

The only consolation was that the day had been a perfect mild autumn with some cloud and sunshine. It was due to rain during the night and again the following day at 4pm, so that might also be a challenge. So all in all we should have caught more fish in swim 4 but they didn’t appear to be feeding.

We agreed to meet the next days after Rob and Steve had had a good breakfast. This time we were on a different beat and in the going swim. The river had dropped about 1 ft, however it had rained for about 4 hours during the night and guess what, I knew it would be rising again later in the day.

Methods were the same as normal, pellets hair rigged and a feeder full of ground bait. The river level didn’t change much during the day. The swim though was like an ice skating rink with mud. I don’t think Steve liked it too much.

One barbel came along at 11.45am this was a small one of about 5lbs. Then one later, Steves rod gave the tell tell signs of the feeder being dragged along by a barbel. Sure enough he was playing a barbel and steering it away from the snag area. His Fox barbel rods were handling the fish well and the curve in the rod showed it to be a slightly larger barbel.

Sure enough after a spirited fight a short fat barbel lay in the net. For it’s length it really was big in the belly at 7lbs 6oz

 

We now thought that the barbel would feed in earnest. Sure enough Steves rod arched over and he was playing another barbel. Again he drew it away upstream from the snag. This barbel really did pull back and had Steve loosening the clutch at times.

 

Finally netsman Rob had it in the net. Again this was a short but very fat barbel. I thought it was slightly smaller, however on the scales it went 7lbs 12oz.

 

We thought things would really pickup now. However apart from a couple of chub and a new pb for Rob of about 3lb 9oz things were far from active. Rob did lose a barbel in a snag, I think it was more of the feeder becoming lodged between two stones if anything.

Sure enough at 4pm the rain steadily fell until we packed up at 6.45pm. So not the most exciting times on the banks of the Wye. So at least the guy’s caught a few but it was hard going believe me.

It was a real pleasure to guide them in very difficult conditions

Here is a little of the video taken too.