Blanking after barbel

July 4th

For the last week or so I have been able to have a walk down by a local river first thing in the morning.  I have been baiting up half a dozen swims with hemp and boilies in the hope of attracting some barbel.  As usual, there is a strong expectation that fishing for barbel will prove very tough, but I am prepared to give it a few trips.  So finally I can actually have a morning fishing. 

I had intended to fish quite close to the car park (as I was loaded down with kit) but on the spur of the moment, decided to slog it down to the two swims I'd baited about a mile or so downstream - one of those moments when instinct takes over.  So at just before 5:00 I was in place, and ready to fish till late morning at least.

The swim I eventually chose was one where I've had a few decent enough chub in the past.  I had baited it three of the last four mornings with yesterday putting in about a gallon of hemp and 50 or 60 boilies.  If there were any barbel about, surely they would find this morning's bait irresistible

So unusually for me, it was a "bait and wait" approach today.  Another load of hemp went in when I arrived plus 30 boilies.  Then two rods cast out, fishing perhaps 5 yards apart.  And a comfortable chair to sit in - also unusual for me and the main reason which today's kit was so heavy.  Both reels were set up as bait runners, so I could read a book or try and take photos of the two hares that seemed happy to approach quite near to me in the meadow behind

By 9:30 I had managed to read nearly half of Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, but was wholly undisturbed by fish.  I'd also failed to get a good picture of the hares, which ran off faster than I could photo them.  A group of young swans did come by, getting very close to my bait

Then around 9:30, the farmer appeared with a team of people to mow and collect the rest of the grass from the meadow.  Five tractors and a combine harvester were involved.  One cut the grass, another arranged it into strips, the combine collected the strips of grass and chopped them up, firing them into a trailer behind another tractor.  Up and down they went for the next couple of hours.  Not too noisy, but certainly breaking the peace and quiet.

Packed up around 11:30 and met fishing-friend Mark on the way back, who was fishing one of the pre-baited swims near the car park.  He has had a few chub in the last couple of weeks but no barbel either.  He thinks perhaps we need a bit of rain to bring the barbel on - he could well be right.

I can't fish now for a couple of weeks and may switch to evening fishing from mid-July onwards.  That at least might help my hayfever, which was set off by the mowing this morning and lasted most of the rest of the day.

Opening day

For various reasons, my opening day session had to be curtailed - but as we'll see, that might not have been a bad thing.

I was at the river by just after 5:00 and set up in the long glide that I've often fished on opening day.  The water level was about 3 ft lower than this time last year!  Bait was sweetcorn over hemp, tactic floatfishing.  Just as I was getting ready to start, another angler appeared who had obviously planned on fishing this same spot.  Finding me there, he decided to fish just 20 metres upstream - an odd decision given the miles of fishing to choose from.  Maybe he was hoping I would move on quickly.  He moved on about an hour later.

It was nice to be back at the river after close to a year without fishing - amazing that it could be that long.  It was a lovely morning to be out.  Loads of birds around, including my first sighting of a kingfisher this season.  But what there wasn't was any sign of fish in residence.  A steady search of the swim produced no bites whatsoever.

And then after about 2 hours, the elastic on my catapult broke and I was unable to set feed to the swim.  So that more or less ended the first session.

However as I was walking back to the car, I got chatting to another angler who was also packing up.  He said he worked for the Environmental Agency and had been involved in an electro-fishing exercise on a stretch of river a couple of miles away.  On the negative, this revealed a total fish population that was much lower than expected - probably why the chub are so large there at the moment.  But on the positive, there were apparently a good number of small barbel present (less than 1lb) and these weren't stocked fish.  And there were some other results that were of interest and which might result in me altering my season plans.  Without an earlier than planned finish, I wouldn't have seen this guy.

It rained most of the rest of the day.  Hopefully it won't rain so much that the rivers rise significantly.  My next opportunity to fish might be early morning next Friday, but then there are less chances until mid-to-late July when I might be able to fish an evening or two.

I have ordered two large sacks of hemp as the rats in our garage seem to have eaten their way through about 20kg over the winter (having chewed a small hole in the plastic container the hemp was in).  And I need a new catapult.

Plans for 2013-14

Last season was just about the worst fishing seasons I have ever had.

In June, the rivers were very high and I couldn't seem to locate the chub at all.  One five pounder was all I managed in the early season.

Then in July I contracted some form of "viral arthritis" in my right knee and for a period of three months was not able to walk freely.  This curtailed all fishing activity - indeed, for a time I wondered if I would ever walk properly again.  But it did clear up completely and ultimately, I recovered fully from it.

By the time I was walking well again, it was October and the rivers were in flood again.  But then I spent quite a bit of the winter in France and missed out on the few weeks that were ok towards the very end of the season.

The only plus from last year was that I did learn how to make videos and I was actually quite pleased with what I produced from such meagre raw footage.

So it is June 2013 and I am considering my goals for this season.

For various work reasons, I won't be able to fish much until mid-July, but then I should get a reasonable run into the autumn.  My initial goals will be chub on the Thames (as usual), with some attempts after barbel as well.  After catching my 15lber in March 2012, I haven't had a single barbel fishing trip. 

So one specific target - a 6lb chub from the Thames

Second target - 3 barbel from the Thames

Third target - a big river pike (greater than 15lbs)

I should be able to manage a very short trip on opening day morning - so after nearly a year without posting anything, I am off and running again.