I had got among the barbel of late, filling my boots with quite a few fish, the rivers after all were perfect with plenty of flow following all the wet weather. Last time out was a bit hit and hold, fishing a snaggy swim trotting with 6lb line, not really the sort of trotting I like doing, feeling a touch over gunned and whilst the barbel were a decent size they need filling out a bit, perhaps all the extra water is making them fitter.
Fast forward to today and after a whole night of rain I fancied a bit of lighter trotting on a stretch of river where the barbel aren't usually as prolific, hoping for a bit of a mix of species on maggot with the roach gear. I turned up just after 9am, everything was wet and gloriously green, certainly when compared to the yellow parched look of this time last year.
What a difference the rain makes, as what is usually a gin clear slow trot was zipping through wonderfully, I hoped as much and sure enough the first handful of feed was hit by small chub with the odd larger fish ghosting around below in water that wanted to go clear but was still carrying the previous night's run off. The river seemed so alive.
Running the float under the overhang was a dream and after the compulsory start of a few chublets I was into something decent. Despite starting shallow the first barbel was on and even the small ones pull on the lighter gear, there was so much more jeopardy and more involved getting them in than last time even if they were half the size.
The next couple of hours saw a mix of small chub and barbel, it was terrific fishing with my float rarely getting to the bottom of the swim, the average size was quite small but I didn't mind, it's all relative then a couple of nice roach showed and even a crazy little perch, living it up in the fast water.
I stopped for coffee after a couple of hours and a whole heap of fish and said to myself "This is the life" Everything was so green and fresh, the chub and barbel were going nuts. The birds were flitting from tree to tree, a dunnock took flight from the overhang startled by the next barbel on.
After yet another break to soak up the morning I switched to pellet as the sun came in and out. Stepping up slightly to 4lb line saw more fun with the barbel, once again crazy strength for their size pulling as hard as they were pulled, they could have took me to the roots of the tree but didn't each time. It was side strain, clutch screaming action in the narrow swim with the odd splash on the surface, different to the roach gear, less controlled, but giving them more stick, despite this it seemed to take just as long to get them in, it was a whole lot of fun.
The barbel were slightly better now, pushing a mighty.... wait for it.... 3-4lb but I still managed a couple of dace sized barbel trotting 6mm pellet, you kind of know your set up is tuned when you get them this small.
Similar with the roach, as I finished off with nice one, it's blood red fins matching the colour of the pellet that was it's downfall.
I fancy a proper pellet session for the roach soon but today it was mostly about the small barbel and chub, a lot of the time my bait and line was picking up algae so I was glad there was some flow on today. I finished with 19 barbel which was the best I had done at this stretch of river and a similar number of chub. I could have pressed on for more but packed up just after lunch.
Even though the barbel were half the size of the previous trip they were twice the fun.
