Bigrivers

Some of you may recall my LostRiver topic - a long polluted local river that's returning to it's former glory with a few (very few!) barbel thrown in for good measure. After years on the well trodden banks of the Teme, Severn, Dane and Wye I decided to forget the numbers and concentrate all my efforts on the LostRiver. Anyway after two years and two barbel the recent rains have finally brought some joy! It's still only five barbel in two years and more sessions than I care to count but they were beautiful, bronze and fin perfect. I've had some really nice comments on my LostRiver blog in which I've documented my fishing, my failures and my success so if you'd like to have a read please visit The LostRiver If you want to read from the start, click on the January 2005 archive in the right hand menu and scroll down to the bottom. All feedback really welcome. Tight lines to all BigRivers LostRiver

Cheers Newt - I've had some good feedback on the Lost River blog http://lostriver.blogspot.com/ - glad it appeals to you folk over the pond too! It's funny how whats familiar to you is exotic to somebody else (and vice versa) isn't it? I'm looking forward to when I can post some more pieces on actually catching some fish again but its snowing again and you should know that here in the UK it only takes an inch or two of the white stuff to bring everything to its knees - including the barbel!

Jim Doyles mention of the roach of of the River Tay took me back to my times there. I've just posted some memories of our sessions there on my Lost River weblog (mentioned elsewhere on Anglers net) - if you're interested please take a read at http://lostriver.blogspot.com/. It was a strange time in my life, where I was kep afloat by a fantastic river.

For the past 16 months I've been slowly mounting a campaign to find and catch the barbel of the lost river. This river was heavily polluted throughout my childhood, has suffered a number of ongoing pollutions but is slowly returning to life. Flowing for much of its lower course through the urban fringes it varies between urban scruffiness and rural idyll, sometimes changing character from one bend to the next. I finally caught my first barbel from the lost river last month. I recorded my feelings on my Weblog where I am now maintaining a record of my progress on the lost river. Its kind of a diary of my fishing trips and the thoughts that run through your head when you're alone in the dark by an unyielding river. You can read my LostRiver Weblog at http://lostriver.blogspot.com/. Like most Blogs it works in reverse with the most recent post at the top so if you you want to read from the start you'll need to scroll down to the bottom.If you go to the January archive in the right hand menu first you can read the Weblog from the beginning. It's not all about barbel fishing but I'd welcome your comments, good or bad. If you do guess the river feel free to join me but please keep it to yourself. We all need a little mystery in our lives!