Two Casts

A day on the small river with James - would the barbel want to play after the cold weather? Oh yes. And I managed my best two barbel of the season (so far) in two casts - 8lb 10oz followed by a beautiful double, 10lb 9oz - brilliant! With back-up fish of 7lb 0oz, 6lb 0oz and about 3lb - a fantastic day on the winter river!!

Fourteen Pound

A wander about with the stick 'n' pin & a pint of maggots, and James. One point for a roach, dace or chub - two points for a gudgeon or perch and -10 points for a barbel. It didn't take long before I was on -10 points! Then we struggled to get another bite between us.

I lucked in & found a shoal of feeding fish - and caught most of them; 1x gudgeon, 1x dace, 6x roach, 6x minnows & about 20 chub. No need to add up the scores; James really had a day to forget - he's still buzzing from his Kennet barbel so I don't feel too bad for him!

Friday The Thirteenth

Last Saturday I joined James on his mission to land a River Kennet double barbel. A miserable day but we covered a lot of water - not sure it would be possible for two people to cover more water! A blank for me - but James finally got the bite he wanted - nice one!

So after a week of rain I hit the small river to try & get a bend in the rod. And a barbel first cast - just what I needed! A wander about for a few hours and nine barbel plus 2 bonus chub found the net. I'd like to add a few barbel from some more rivers to my account though.

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James' new river double, number eighteen, is here. On target to reach 20 doubles from different rivers before the season ends?

Two Hundred To One

Afternoon on the river & barbel number two hundred of the season! One of four that found the net, that's 200 barbel to one pike! I'm not complaining about the barbel - far from it - but I need to find some more local pike fishing next winter - to the Google!


And I found the shoal of big chub, they had moved about quarter of a mile. More spread out on a shallow glide I bagged three; 5lb 8oz, 4lb 14oz, & 4lb 12oz. Even though there are 12-15 chub in the shoal the five was a recapture - at least I know it's the same shoal!

Twenty Twenty-Three

A roach fishing trip with James, six hours and no roach. The Roach-Man couldn't catch one either - they just weren't feeding - so I don't feel too bad! Two barbel and three OOS trout found the net though - not the target but great fun on the stick 'n' pin and light line.


So a morning mission to find the shoal of big chub - found them! And bagged this beatiful 5lb 8oz fish on the first cast. They'll disappear now - but I'll find them again. A wander about and I added five barbel to 7lb 3oz - great stuff. Happy New Year - tight lines for 2023!