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Showing results for tags 'barbel'.
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River Kennet - Hambridge 1300 - 1600 Warm, overcast and breezy - with a couple of very light showers (much lighter than was forecast!). AT 23ºC. River still with good flow for mid July though down an inch or two on 3 weeks ago. 3 Chub: 4lb 5oz, 2lb 3oz & a 'pounder'. 1 Barbel 2lb 2oz (hooray!), 2 Perch; 1¼lbs & a tiddler. 9 Dace, 4 Roach (nothing noteworthy), 1 Gudgeon, 3 Brownies two in the 12oz - 1lb class (possibly same fish!) and one half that. Normal service has been resumed with most of the fish from my two usual hot-spots - really nice to get a barbel trotting (and my first gonk of the season!)
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River Kennet - Hambridge 1730 - 2145 Warm, clear evening. AT 23º -> 16ºC. River very low. 3 Chub: 4lb 11oz, 2lb 13oz, 1lb 12oz. 1 Barbel (hooray!) 2lb 1oz. 7 Dace, 2 Roach (all small). 5 Bleak. Been a while since I did an evening here - used to be a banker swim for ledgering for a barbel - so much so I've even brought a couple of my 'occasional' angling friends here in the past to (succesfully) catch their first barbel. Those were in pre-otter days (who made an appearance again this evening!). Now such trips are always preceded by a couple of hours trotting to inoculate me from the risk of a blank. And once I'd got through the bleak and small dace I managed to find some decentish chub from an unfamiliar spot, before a real treat in the shape of a small barbel turned up. This is now the 3rd season running I've had them from this general area - the green shoots of a recovery - lets hope so! Dusk brought the ledger rods out which produced no further fish - the only excitement to my isotopes being caused by crayfish or bats crashing into the line!
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0700 - 1300 Warm, overcast and quite muggy - though that might just have been all the exertion to hack my way through the undergrowth to my swim - clearly no one has been here since MY last visit back in July! AT 10º - 20ºC. River low with a little colour - typical for this time of year. 7 Chub; 3 over 2lb - the best 2lb 12oz with another an ounce or so under. Other 3 were around the pound mark ± a few ounces. 1 Barbel (!!) unweighed but probably just shy of a lb. 1 Pike; 4lb 8oz. 20 Dace and 8 Roach - nothing of any size. 1 Bleak, 3 Brownies: one of 1¼lb the other 2 around half that (and possibly the same fish!) Well that WAS fun! And for the 2nd weekend in a row I get a Kennet barbel trotting - though this one may have been recently stocked judging by the size of it. In years gone by barbel of this size were quite common here - so much so that I used to call it the Barbel Nursery! I had planned to make this a 2 venue morning - but as it turned out it was a 2 swim session - giving each an hour in rotation. Started off in my usual hotspot and had what would prove to be my biggest chub of the morning within the first 10 mins of fishing after the usual 'bait and wait' tactics at the start of the session. However most of the fish then came from my second swim upstream - one that often only produces in low water conditions (it's usually too pacey). This produced 5 of the chub and the barbel - though the pike was caught back in my initial swim on a plug after it had chased in a couple of the dace.
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River Kennet - Thatcham 0915 - 1130 Cool (for August) and overcast. AT 14ºC. River low and clear. 1 Barbel(!!) 3lb 15oz. 5 Chub; a 'pounder' with the rest a ¼ of that - nice to see some juvenile fish in the river. 1 each of Perch (¾lb), Roach, Dace & Gudgeon. Well, THAT's put a grin on my face! A couple of hours trotting to use up some maggot that's on the turn having languished in the back of my bait fridge for weeks! A decade or so ago - this was THE venue to get a barbel on the float - in fact my all time most viewed blog entry was of just such a trip back in 2011. My last barbel caught trotting from here was back in Sep 2013 (actually my last barbel of any description from this venue). There are still some decent chub to be had here and in truth that was my target quarry this morning - and starting off in the weirpool I was soon into a mixed bag of smalluns. I then dropped downstream to fish a swim I had decent chub from back in July - not a sniff of one this time around - but running a float through the glide below produced the barbel - which I suspect had been holding station, mopping up the free offerings. First barbel from the Kennet since 2016 (apart from the smalluns I had last Sep at Hambridge)
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River Kennet - Hambridge 0700 - 1330 Cool (5ºC when I started), bright and breezy. River quite low - normal for Sep. 3 Chub; all 1-2lb. 5 Barbel (!!!); all 12oz-1lb. 8 Dace - all chunky ones in the 6-8oz class with a couple a tad bigger. 4 Brown Trout; one close to 3lb the others circa 12oz+. Another recce session - following up on some recently acquired intelligence (cheers Martin - spot on! ?). Been a few years since I last exchanged my NAA card for a CSAS one to fish this stretch. Fished over a dozen swims but had all the fish bar one dace from just one of them - which I kept resting and returning to! Bright conditions and low clear water are never a recipe for good sport so it's no surprise that my hotspot today was a lovely long glide under the shady canopy of bankside trees. First Kennet barbel for 4 years - and whilst these had clearly been stocked it was doubly nice to get them on the float! Lets hope they evade predation and put on some weight!
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River Wye, Llanthomas 1630 - 1930 Warm,sunny evening. 2 Barbel: 5lb 14oz & 7lb 7oz. Mission accomplished! I usually make a point of NOT fishing when I'm on holiday with Mrs P - I tend to stay married that way! However when a long weekend in the Brecons became a week's stay in Hay due to our Greek holiday falling victim of Covid it would have been churlish not to drop in on Geoff's! I've known Geoff over 20 years and around 9 years ago he acquired a mile (double bank) of the Wye above Hay - and a visit has been on my to-do list ever since. Geoff was ever the genial host when we called in for a cup of tea, a couple of days into our trip - and were treated to a whistle stop tour not just of the fishery but of Hay and its environs! I was back the following evening - this time with some borrowed tackle and a bag of 10mm halibuts. I was only really interested in getting a barbel - not having had one from the Kennet since Oct 2016 and I didn't have long to wait for my first wrap around, resulting in the 5lber. 90 minutes later I was treated to a repeat performance on the other rod - thankfully just before Jacqui declared that she was getting cold and it was time to pack up. It won't be 9 years before I'm back!
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1745 - 2215 Cool, clear evening under a bright half moon. New thermal trousers made their debut - so was quite toasty! River quite low and clear. 1 Barbel 10lb 4oz, 6 Dace (all around 6oz), 1 Brownie of 2¼lb. Quick half an hours trotting - rather hoping to get a chub followed by the expected long hours of staring at stationary isotopes - so somewhat surprised to see the boilie rod wrap around after ¾hr of casting out. Had intended to stay longer but thought that would be pushing my luck!
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1800 - 2315 Warm evening - still 17ºC when I packed up. 1 Barbel; 5lb 3oz. 1 Chub (sub 1lb), 3 Dace & 2 brownies both over 1lb. Beginning to get the hang of this! 2 Hours trotting for the obligatory chublet/dace/brownie combo, followed by an expected 3 hours staring at stationary isotopes - but again within an hour of darkness my downstream rod gave a familiar 3 foot twitch and I soon had my 3rd barbel of the summer on the bank - deja vu again...
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1800 - 2330 Warm and breezy evening - still 15ºC when I packed up. River quite low. 1 Barbel; 9lb 1oz. 1 Chub c1½lb, 7 Dace, 1 Roach, 3 Brownies to 2lb 4oz. A barbel for the 2nd river trip in a row - and a decent one too! Was hoping today's rain would have gingered the river up a bit and so it proved! As usual, I started off with the trotting rod until it was too dark to see my float, but within ¾hr of settling down over my ledger rods the upstream rod baited with a snailz boilie was wrenched from the rod rests and I was into a battle royal. In truth I was a little disappointed with the size when I eventually got it to the surface - was convinced it would be a good double - but, none the less, really just pleased to see it on the bank!
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River Kennet, Newbury. 1800 - 2315 Cool, overcast evening. River down to usual summer levels. 1 Barbel; 6lb 2oz. 1 Chub 1½lb. 30+ Dace. 1 Roach. Hurray, a barbel at last! Started off with the trotting rod as per usual - and again found a bit of river with stacks of silver fish. Then expected to spend a few hours looking at near static quiver tips (apart from the odd bat crashing into the line). However, just as it got properly dark the pellet rod (fishing a boilie on the other rod) nearly got pulled in and I was in to my first barbel of the summer - and a very welcome one it was too!
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Hi, I'm new on here, so this is first post. Last night we were fishing the Trent at gunthorpe for Barbel. No barbel showing but caught this and a few chubb and Roach. not sure if If I'm allowed to post photos , but unsure of the species, looks like may be Chubb even considered Common carp but the shape of the mouth seems to resemble neither. Hey ho will just have to put it down as unsure. oops was going to attach picture but don't think I can do this Cheers Trev
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1815 - 2315 Cool, clear and calm (despite being a very breezy day - the wind died down at dusk). 9ºC when I packed up but felt cooler. River low with a fair amount of leaf litter - autumn is here! 1 Barbel 6lb 10oz, 1 Chub 5lb 5oz. Again no trotting rod - but still no blank - and I even had my target species (barbel) for a change - only my 3rd of the season. Both fish were caught in the first hour - just as well as I had a couple of otter sightings later on. It mooched downstream at around 2100 and did the return trip an hour later - thankfully just passing through, not stopping to look for a meal. My biggest chub from this venue since 2/10/04. A long fairly lanky fish - be a fair bit heavier next March!
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River Kennet - Newbury 0830 - 1145 Warm (ish) and overcast with milky sunshine. River low and clear. 1 Barbel; 5lb 6oz, 2 Perch (both circa 1lb - possibly the same one!), 15 Dace, 4 Roach, 1 Gudgeon, 1 Grayling and a Brownie - un-weighed but must have been close to 2lb... At last a barbel on the float - but in truth I'd all but given up on getting one and had other plans for this morning's trip! I was in a couple of swims that have given me pike trouble over the last few visits so I actually started with 20mins in each swim throwing a lure around. No interest at all - and no pike attacks when I switched to trotted maggot - so the barbel was a VERY welcome surprise!
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1830 - 2345 Cool,(cold!) clear evening under a full moon. AT down to 6ºC when I packed up (it got down to 2ºC in our greenhouse overnight). River up a couple of inches and looking in better nick than it has for a couple of months. 1 Barbel; 11lb 7oz. 1 Perch; 1lb 12oz. 11 Dace; (5 of which were over 8oz). 7 Roach; (all small save for one of 11oz). 1 Gudgeon. Hooray! After nearly 40 'rod hours' ledgering (and countless more trying to get one on the float) I finally get off the mark on the barbel front - and with a real lump too! As usual I started off on the float and was soon into some really nice dace - followed up with a nice bonus perch. By eight o'clock I was hunched over my isotopes waiting for something to happen. I planned to fish a bit longer than normal - and would in all probability have normally packed up when at a quarter to midnight my downstream rod gave that familiar 3 foot twitch and I was into my first barbel of the summer. Right from the off it was clearly a big fish - a real struggle to get it off the bottom - but once I did it was quickly mine! And with that it was off to bed - much earlier than I originally intended! Not the most sylph-like barbel I've ever caught!
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1830 - 2315 Warm, calm and mainly overcast evening. River quite low. 3 Barbel (!): 8lb 14oz, 6lb 4oz, 5lb 7oz. At last - the frustrations of the summer evaporate under a benign autumn evening sky. Fished a swim I'd not frequented for a while (01/09/10 was the last time) but it certainly won't be 4 years before I return. Smallest fish at around 2000 then a flurry of activity just after 2200. Was putting the 6 back when the other rod went off to produce the biggest of the night.
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1815 - 2315 Cool and clear - temp down to 6ºC when I got back to the car! 1 Barbel 8lb 2oz, 1 Chub 2lb. At last a barbel and a decent one too! Quite a few rattles during the first couple of hours - which I'm kicking myself for not hitting - thought they were crayfish - but when I did eventually decide to hit one it turned into a 2lb chub! Rattles stopped when it got dark and at around 2215 had a very strange juddery kind of a bite which when I struck connected with nothing - however on winding in realised I WAS connected to a fish - it had taken the bait and shot upstream - was right under my rod tip by the time I tightened in to it- when it then proceeded to go absolutely mental. Can't remember ever having such a hard fight off a barbel, which when I eventually got it in the net went 8lb 2oz. Un-suprisingly it took a while to recover.
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham. 0930 - 1300 Bright with sunny intervals after early rain. 10ºC. River low and carrying a bit of colour. 6 Chub - all over 1lb, biggest 3¼lb. 1 Barbel; 3¾lb. 6 Dace. 1 Roach & 3 spotties. Well its been a while since I've had a session like that from here! In fact the last time I caught more than 3 chub in a session from this venue was on the first day of the 1993 season! (when I also had 6). Nothing particularly huge, 3 of them were around the 1½lb stamp bur very nice to see some 'schooly' sized fish coming through, All the fish bar a couple of the troot were from the same swim too. Plan for this morning had been to start with a dawn raid on the canal and then switch to a trotting session on the river. Part one of that plan was abandoned at 0530 when I got up, poked my head out the door, checked the rain radar and went back to bed for an extra 2½hours kip! By the time breakfast was over so was the rain so part 2 was put into action. Had planned to cover more water but in the end just fished 3 swims with the bulk of the time spent in just one - really didn't need to move! Cracking sport!
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River Kennet - Near Thatcham 1900 - 2230 Clear evening becoming very foggy. Lovely evening to be out! 1 Barbel - 11lb 2oz I've had a pretty patchy summer on the barbel front - a few schooly sized fish on the float have been fun but I was going into the last week of September not having had a barbel over 8lb for the first time since 98/99 season. So at the weekend I vowed to have a concerted effort between now and when the clocks go back to try and get a decent one. Plan was to target some 'reliable' swims of old (though spots which aint produced much recently), go back to using 2 rods and be prepared for a few blanks in my quest. First outing and in fact first cast and its mission accomplished - I feel almost cheated! My biggest barbel for nearly 6 years - since this eventful evening in 2007. Had planned to fish for a lot longer but the arrival of crayfish shortly after 10pm plus the dense fog which was starting to chill the bones made a warm bed and a warm wife a mucher better prospect!
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River Kennet - Thatcham 1400 - 1700 Fine and sunny. 18ºC. River quite low. 1 Barbel; 5lb 6oz, 2 Chublets, 8 Dace, 3 Roach & 8 Spotties Unexpectedly had a ½ day so seemed a pity NOT to spend it up to my calves in river water trotting a loafer through various runs. Fished a number of swims and had dace a small trout from all of them. Barbel was a real struggle to get in - and spent most of the fight trying to get downstream of it to coax it out of a weed-bed, wasn't even sure I still had it on for most of the time!
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1915 - 2315 Cool, clear evening - though felt quite snug under the trees. River carrying a tinge of colour after recent rains. 3 Barbel; 7lb 4oz, 4lb 13oz, 3lb 10oz. 1 dace, 1 brownie. This stretch of river is certainly 'saving my bacon' on the barbel front this year - and with Paul getting a brace of 9lbers from here last week there are some bigger ones to go at! As usual I started out with the trotting rod and as usual was fairly quickly into a fish (the 3lber). This is the 6th time in as many weeks I've trotted this swim and it has produced a barbel or a chub (or both!) everytime. By 2030 I was staring at 2 isotopes in the gloom and it didn't take too long for one of them to hoop round resulting in the 4lber. A repeat performance on the same rod an hour later coincided with the EXACT moment that I started to pour myself a cup of coffee - resulting in most of it ending up in the river - adequate compensation though for a very hard fighting 7lb fish.
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1800 - 2015 Warm and sunny. River quite low now after a dry summer. 1 Barbel, 3lb, 1 Chub, 2½lb, 4 Dace, 1 Roach & 9 Spotties - including 1 of nearly 3lb! Yesterday I took my bag of pellets out of my tackle bag to refill it, groove up some hook baits and flavour them up with some monster crab - the only flaw in that plan was forgetting to put said bag of pellets back into tackle bag - Doh! Didn't forget me maggots so had to make do with a couple of hours of daylight for a cracking session on the float. Fished 3 swims - following the bait downstream and had all the biggies (including the troot) in the 'bottom' peg.
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 0930 - 1430 Warm and sunny. 1 Barbel, 4lb. 4 Chub - all between 8oz - 1lb. 18 Dace most really chunky - I weighed one at 11oz. 1 roach. A doz spotties most small save for a couple of pounders. A lovely morning's trotting - accompanied for the first hour by Jaq! Bin a few years since she came fishing with me - but it was a lovely summer's morning and she did have an ulterior motive. And that motive was Blackberries! I've never seen so many and such huge fruit - Jaq picked 6lb in just 45 mins - all now converted to bramble jelly (lovely!). The fishing weren't bad either - some really nice dace and chublets to start and after I bade the missus farewell I ended up in a familiar swim where I snaffled the barbel to finish off the session. We'll be back!
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1930 - 2345 Cool (down to 10ºC) and clear - perfect evening to be out watching perseids - and with no moon nature put on a stunning display! River down a couple of inches at least on my last visit here (29 July). 3 Barbel; 4lb 10oz, 3lb 15oz, 3lb 9oz. 1 Chub 4lb 5oz. 4 Dace (all chunky ones requiring a net!), 1 Roach and 4 spotties. Wayhay! So there are still some fish in the Kennet!! Trotted until it was too dark to see my float and all the fish bar the biggest barbel came to these tactics. Switched to ledgered pellet for last 2½hrs and had the 4lb+ barbel at around 2200. Missed another good bite due to spending more time staring at the sky than looking at my isotopes! A couple of obligatory fish plus pin pics...
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1630 - 1900 Heavy thundery showers. River looked in good nick, reasonable flow with some colour. 1 Barbel; 4lb 9oz. 2 Chub; 4lb 5oz & 1lb 13oz. 7 brownies including one of nearly 3lb! Curtailed trotting session. Had planned to stay all evening and have a couple of hours of darkness on the lead. However I really don't like being out in a thunderstorm and having watched one storm skirt north of me and another south I could tell a third one was heading straight for me - so a hasty retreat was beat - pity as it was turning into a cracking little session. Fished 4 swims each one downstream of the other. Larger chub in the top swim, barbel and smaller chub in the 4th - hence no pic of the barbel - camera was in my bag where I'd started!
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River Kennet - Padworth 1930 - 2330 Warm evening with a nice breeze to keep the mossies off. Still 16ºC when I packed up. 1 Barbel; 5lb 11oz Unusually for me ledgered with two rods (and even more unsually left the trotting gear at home). One rod on boilie and one on halibut pellet. Pellet rod went off within ½ hour of arriving - a great start. Unfortunately it was then down to the crayfish to move in. Bait thieving activity died down for the last 45 mins - but it was false hope....
