Summer Fishing 2025

Quick look back at the summer (written monthly as I went along). Very hot, very little rain & not much water in the rivers. Instead of my usual summer barbel quest I turned my attention instead to carp - both running & stillwater. I did land 84 barbel but carp provided my main fishing fix (landing 33). Oh, and there was those eels...

June: I started the season chasing barbel. Opening couple of days on The Wye saw 5 landed from a rare summer flood - before a drought that last months. And then back to London for three afternoons on the Small River - 35 barbel in the summer sunshine - mostly on floating crust. No big fish, but a cracking way to start...

July: No water in The Wye & too hot to target barbel, I turned my attention to a small Farm Pond - a bit of an unknown. Initially using bread, then adding boilies to the mix I caught common carp, mirror carp & a beautiful fully-scaled. And while trying to catch a perch I landed a surprise 3lb 7oz PB eel, plus a (targeted) back-up 2lb 10oz eel...

August: I continued my carp quest, initially on the Small River - stalking out a mirror, common & ghost carp from the clear water - plus 19 barbel. Then back to the Farm Pond for a few short evening sessions to get my fishing fix - getting into this carp fishing! And an afternoon on The Wye with the stick 'n' pin provided some great chub action...

September: Last trips to the Farm Pond included a double full-scaled mirror carp - a great way to wrap up the summer carp campaign! Three afternoons on the Small River added 25 barbel to my season. But I did lose a Wye double - that Wye double still eludes me. A bit of rain, a wash through the river and few nice chub rounded out the month.

Winter is coming. The weather has turned, and that can mean only one thing - pike time! I'm going to start once again on The Wye - and expand my search as the winter progresses - fingers crossed for a few crocs..!