Ok here goes, not sure if this is the best place for it on the forum but here goes.
Mymate who I hadnt seen for over a year asked me to go out with him as he fancied catching a barbel. I'd been out fishing fri, sat and sunday so it really was pushing it to say the least ! 4 days on the trot ! Seem to be breaking new ground all the time these days but I gave in and went.
We toddled off to the middle Severn with me trying to put some reality into the trip ( or am I just a depressive ) talking about how the most important thing was to to find somewhere he could get down the bank ! He's getting on and not very mobile. Also if he caught a barbel, (we were going on spec without prior knowledge of the pegs) it was a reeeesult and anymore a bonus. You can see why no one wants to come out with me
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He doesnt get out much, watches too much John Wilson/Matt hayes and thinks you just turn up and reel 'em in, well something like that anyway and I continued in my positive vein explaing how often they take all the local expert advice going, bait up, condense two days filming into half an hour etc etc. Always been one to look on the bright side me.
Anyway as luck would have it we found some pegs, with the summer gone, people have had time to make a few but there were only two or three he could possibly get down to. I think he thought I was nuts on the phone when I advised him to bring a stake and a rope and consequently he didnt. But he found a peg and after much wheezing got there, even travelling light. I unloaded my advice as to how to fish it, whether he wanted it or not. The trouble is we often want people to do well dont we ? Not sure he was receptive, but there you go.
Meanwhile, i'd my thoughts on roach and there were too many roachy looking swims for me to do anything else. I am still agile and fit enough to scramble up and down the banks for now, (praise be to the Looooord) and settled for a peg he thought 'impossible' to get down to. No problem actually, as long as approached on your wobbly cheeks
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I set up a feeder and proceeded to wang out a dozen or so feeders full of pellets in quick succession without a hook on to get some bait down and then put a pellet on the hook and waited. No fish. But all the time I was feeding a few grains of hemp down the inside.
Picture the scene, river cock on, weekday, quiet, overcast, mild temperature, hardly any wind except a slight upstreamer, medium paced steady flow, and i'd all the time in the world. The hemp was kept going in, half a dozen grains, very regular. Perfick.
After an I hour I put the stick through. Just got what I though were some very light touches, but I wasnt sure. Eventually I had two slightly more positive bites and connected, or so I thought , before the fish came off. Bill came down to see how I was doing and I sheepishly replied, I think , i've just pulled out of two. Sheepishly because I wasnt sure if they were fish or the bottom. They were only of briefly and I was wondering if hope was running away with me and I was kidding myself, because, if they were fish ...they had been good ones.
I was using a fairly heavy rod, described as a power float rod. Yes, I know I was after roach predominantly, but there are barbel and chub there. Last week I had a 3lb 12oz chub while hemping for roach and it played merry hell with my swim on light tackle and with the barbel present , well they can pull you all over the river on light tackle, for ever, so hence the rod and it really isnt that heavy at all. I hadnt been heavy handed either on the strike, so I was puzzled, fish or not ? A few minutes later, decision time. Rod up the bank and I set up a light tipped stick road, a Matchtek 13 footer. first time i've used it. Glorious rod as it turned out . Delightfull action.
First trot down and a fish, not losing it this time. 1lb 6oz of pristine Roach cushioned by the rod. I was gobsmacked.
To cut a long, long story short I went on to catch 22lb of roach with two small dace among them. Best 4 fish were 1lb 7oz, 1lb 6oz, 1lb 6oz and 1lb 4oz. Probably another three or four over a pound, cant quite remember. I swung in two fish, riskily. Everything else was a very good clonking fish to be netted.
Didnt go for weight, as I really wanted a big fish. Had this notion that they would / could be spooked easily so I rested the swim from time to time, not fishing just feeding. Whether that helped or not I dont know, but think I could have had a bigger overall weight, but who cares. I couldnt have hoped for a better day.
I've had much bigger weights of Barbel , over a hundred pounds of small carp fairly easily but nothing compares to this for me. I know large roach are caught frequently elsewhere in the country but these are very good fish round these parts and especially in my world. Gorgous looking plump wild river roach.
In truth they looked so big compared to my normal fish, they looked like something off the moon.
One thing's for sure. I'm going back. Just wish Bill had had his Barbel.
:'(
