First I would like to say welcome to all our new members, Gary Lucas and myself really value and appreciate all our members and without your input the page would not be the fun place it is. Thanks guys and girls...
For our first blog I am going to be slightly self indulgent and explain how I came to catch a magnificent fish and new PB. It all started after a 15 year break and a Facebook friend request to one of my oldest friends. Having spent lengthy periods living abroad I finally came back to settle in the UK. After contacting Gary Lucas back in 2008 my love for fishing was rekindled. A season or 2 later I visited my local tackle shop and after a brief chat with the owner I decided to join a local club as he told me it held Barbel, which was music to my ears as most of my trips had been a couple of hours away.
Despite more than 60 visits and 2 seasons to a particular stretch where I had been told was my best chance, I had still not caught a Barbel, only 1 small Chub of about 1 lb. The next season I decided to give the club a rest and have a break from the stretch to concentrate on learning more about fishing, rivercraft, and trying to become a better angler? (Still trying) This season saw me want to get back on the river and a friend who I had met through our page, Dave Chambers was more than willing to help me in my new quest to catch a Barbel from this low populated tough river!
I met Dave one summer evening on the bank and he kindly advised me on tactics, rig set up, swim and bait choice. With a new found enthusiasm and a little more knowledge I cast tight to an overhanging tree and my trap was set, first cast I hooked into a small Chub which had already equalled my catch rate of the previous 2 seasons, I was already happy with his guidance, another cast saw my hook into a dreaded eel (cant stand the bloody things) I managed to unhook that a send it back safely into the river. I cast into the swim again and as I sat talking to Dave my rod wrapped round with that unmistakable Barbel bite, Dave shouted hit it and as I did my line caught round one of the tall weeds that lined the bank, by the time we had freed my line the fish had buried itself in the snaggy swim and eventually my line snapped under the pressure of trying to get the fish out, all I was really doing was trying pull a tree out of the river. Despite the loss of potentially my first Barbel from that river I went away a happy man!
After another 8-10 trips to the river and a couple more lost fish I decided to change tactics by way of bait choice, I contacted a friend and the owner of Threefoot Twitch Specialists Baits, Richard Easom, I am lucky enough to be on their field testing team and a buzz was going around with the testers of a new pellet the guys are testing, The aptly named Twitch Pellet was working its magic and catching a lot of fish so I had to try them out. After taking delivery of my new bait I set off to the bank for a short session, unfortunately despite fishing 5 or so swims my net stayed dry that day. Knowing what I know about this bait the next day I got up early and set off to the river, my thinking was that the bank would be empty due to the time I got there, I was correct!
Upon arrival I unloaded the car and set off for a swim that I have been wanting to fish that had always had someone in it. I got to my chosen swim set up and cast in an area I thought my bait should be placed. 20 minutes later I saw the unmistakable wrap around of my rod, I hit into it and had my first Barbel of the river on after about 20 seconds of playing the fish and actually seeing it in the water which looked around 7lbs the hook came out! A few swear words later and checking my hook to make sure it had not straightened out,
I placed my re-baited double pellet hair rig back in the same spot. 35 minutes later and another massive wrap around of my rod saw me strike again, this time I struck with a bit more confidence and once again I had a fish on, this fish felt a lot more powerful, I concentrated hard on playing the fish and keeping pressure on the line, all of a sudden after a few very purposeful runs it went into a snag near the bank, I kept the pressure on my line, after about a minute I decided not to try to bully the fish out and allowed my line to go slack, my heart was pounding as the adrenaline flowed through my whole body. My plan worked as around 10 seconds later the fish came out of the snag, after a couple more monstrous runs and about 10 minutes I finally saw my fish and boy did it look Big, with the adrenaline pumping more through body I finally got the better of the fish and its head turned and my net was in the water, I slid the fish tentatively into my net a proceeded to lift the net vertically up to the top of the steep bank. (It felt very heavy) I quickly placed her on my mat and I had caught my first proper glimpse, that's definitely a new PB I said out loud to myself. I quickly got the hook out and lowered her back into the water to rest this magnificent fish, with everything set I lifted her back out carefully placed her in my weigh sling, picked up my zeroed scales and watched in amazement as it went to 14lbs but then settled on 13lb 15oz.
What a way to christen my new Rueben Sports Scales. After a couple of quick pictures I lowered her safely back to the river, after about 5 minutes and making sure she was fully recovered she swam off with a powerful kick.
What a first fish and what a cracking new PB, my previous was 10lb 1oz. As I sat back in my chair with the biggest smile on my face I shouted out loud YES YES YES and proceeded to get up and perform a little dance whilst shouting WAHOO. (Glad know one was around)
Our Facebook page has seen a dramatic rise in members this month, hitting a new high of 644 members and still climbing, we have seen some decent fish being posted too. Roy Lancaster has been having a cracking month and has bagged numerous Barbel and posting them on our page so thank you Roy for sharing your adventures and captures.
We would also like to congratulate 3FT partner Christopher Mutton for posting his Drennan cup winning fish with a fantastic 15lb 3oz Barbel and new PB, also we thank him for his write up that has been placed in our files section at the top of our page.
September has also seen one of our original fun competitions and as ever it was a good laugh with loads of interaction from the guys and girls. The classic "How Long Is A Piece Of String" comp was won by none other than John Lovett, well done John a cracking guess and thank you very much to all the guys and girls that took part, as always it was a good laugh with some great banter. I think Dave Roach and Chalky got a bit carried away but there again what's knew there!!!
Our Cheezy pic competition comes to a close at the end of October so if you haven't entered please do so as there are no clear winners at the moment but I must admit there are some very strong contenders.
The prize as always is well worth winning, over £100 worth of bait and tackle kindly supplied by G-Force Tackle and Pure Barbel & Carp Baits so if you haven't posted a pic yet you have one month to go.
We would just like to remind everyone that early November we have another Q&A with none other than angling legend and all round top bloke Des Taylor. Please make sure you are looking in on the night? "Its going to be a good one" You will see more details on our page early October.
So from Gary and Myself, thank you all so much for being a part of our page and making it as quoted many times by our members, one of the best Facebook pages out there.
Tight Lines Guys and Girls...
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