To the river, armed with soft lures and a new reel to christen - and the target was a perch. On arrival the river was high, dirty and pushing through - perch fishing was out - but I had a bag of bread and a back-up plan - a January barbel or two...
I was soon into the barbel - conditions were perfect for them. Including a walk to my office to pick up the reel, walking too and from the river and wandering about on the riverbank I walked a total of 19.52 miles - and 7 barbel found the net - totally worth it!
I can't recommend the
Mitchell Tanager reels as I broke them both in less than a year (but a hell of a lot of fish), the new ones are
Shimano Sienna 2000 FG. They're heavy and don't come with a spare spool - but on the initial test they felt fantastic - let's see how long they last.
I'm hoping to get out once a week or so over the rest of the lockdown (unless they tighten restrictions). Conditions permitting I'll target the perch - and there are also roach, chub, carp and gudgeon to target - and always a barbel back-up plan!