Tuesday 8 March 2016

Curse Of The New Net


With only 30lb to catch before hitting 500lb of small river barbel I thought I'd make a day of it - five hundred or bust, it was happening today! Two problems; I'd broken my landing net and had to wait until the tackle shop opened at 9am - AND all new landing nets are unlucky!!

I was on the river at ten, cursed net in hand - and met James after lunch. By 3pm, despite being photographer twice for James I still hadn't had a bite! James disappeared off to another river in search of dace, I had to christen the net.


Eventually I had a pick-up, first barbel in the net 7lb 8oz, the curse was gone! And to prove it the next cast was nailed by a 7lb 10oz barbel, followed a few casts later with a 6lb 1oz fish. Only 8lb 12oz from my target...

An hour or so later, like it was in the script, I saw one about 9lb grab the rolled meat - but what wasn't in the script was me bumping it off the hook after less than a second - crap! I tried to find another but eventually ran out of daylight...


Well I managed 491lb 4oz of small river barbel this season - 119 fish - am I going to leave it there?

12 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Got to find the time... One or two more fish...

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  2. Oh no he isn't!!
    'Cause c'mon 491Lb of barbel would be a total failure, haha

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  3. Not sure I'd like to catch that many Barbel, everyone I catch (not that many) really is something special. Best of luck in your Quest anyway Brian.

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    1. I would probably say the same about zander, but you fish for what you have access to. Hoping I get another crack at it. Cheers.

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    2. Yeah, there were a few but not many - difficult to avoid - every shoal contains one idiot fish. I did fish the whole length of the river to keep recaptures to a minimum.

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  4. Nice fish, still think you should catch more :P.

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    Replies
    1. Will try and get a couple of hours in tomorrow...

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    2. Unfishable up here :( best of luck Brian.

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    3. Yesterday was written off here, visited two rivers via public transport and didn't get the kit out of the bag. Just hoping that extra water pushes through fast or it's all over.

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