Autumn 2020

 Two's a crowd

Without wanting to embarrass him or sound like a name dropper Dai Gribble is a bit of a specimen hunting legend. We'd struck up a friendship on social media and through Specimen Hunting UK. It wasn't until a few weeks back though that we'd finally got out together with me guesting him on a section of the middle Trent. 

We'd settled in our swims and not much happened for the first couple of hours. I started off fishing two rods right in front of my seat at the top of some concrete steps. I sometimes over-think situations so when the going gets tough, the tough get stupid. I'd convinced myself that because barbel spook off lines I should split my rods so the angle they entered the water was as wide as possible. So I had a rod either side of the concrete steps, one directly in front of me and one a couple of yards to my left.   

A few minutes later Dai came along for chat. Turns out like all good anglers, Dai was very inquisitive. "Split your rods have you?" he enquired. Not really having a cogent answer I brushed his question off and set about re-tying a rig with some coated braid he'd kindly given me. Dai looked on while providing a running commentary- "hmmm, palomar knot eh?" and the like. Super analytical with a keen eye for detail, I'm not. I was using three of the four knots I actually know in the rig. It was a bit like Phil Neville performing a football skills test in front of Lionel Messi.

I glanced up to see my left hand rod take on an alarming curve. The baitrunner was singing but I had it set quite tightly to set the hook so the rod began moving. If Dai was writing this story he'd swear my rod rest head saved the whole lot from going in as the reel jammed up against it, but he isn't, I am. Despite him distracting me, tying a complicated rig and not really paying attention I heroically rose from my low chair like a sprinter from their blocks and was on the rod in the blink of an eye. I bent into a heavy feeling fish that almost instantly snagged me solid. "Think it'd had probably built up a head of steam," Dai added, stating the bleeding obvious as he wandered off shaking his head.

Barbel

Alfie Naylor, Me and Dai Gribble

As you can see we were joined that day by Trent regular Alfie Naylor. Now it was only my second visit to that particular section of the middle Trent and with all my research, hard work and long journey I thought it only fair I gave myself the best peg. After my lost fish described in the introduction I caught a small example and then followed it up with a fine fish of 11lb 11oz......

Some time later I hooked a really good fish and was on it straight away. Even though it is a notoriously snaggy peg I still didn't expect to be cut off on 35lb coated braid a short time in to the battle. I vowed not to fish that swim again after that day. Sure, it has some great fish but the odds of leaving hooks in fish are just to great for me to feel comfortable targeting them.  

Late in the afternoon Alfie gave up in an unfancied area while Dai got off the mark with a tiny little barbel that we did our best to make look as large as possible....

As the light faded I was keen to go but Dai wanted to make the most of the opportunities dusk sometimes afforded. Sure enough as I was packing up he hooked another fish, this time a better one. I scrambled over and grabbed his net only for the hook to pull in the latter stages of the fight. He was trying to reconcile his loss, playing down the size of his quarry. "Don't worry, it was probably just an 8lb chub," I added helpfully.

A week or so later a few of us had arranged to meet on a day ticket stretch of the tidal Trent. James Edwards, James Hunt, Dai, Martin Barnatt, Mike Lyddon and myself all spaced ourselves out in the 200's at Collingham on a Friday afternoon. I was first there and the pegs on the bend were free but as it was a socialish session I elected to go upstream were we could all see each other. Turned out to be a big mistake as someone had a 15lber that night from that area. 

James Edwards had a few small chub, James Hunt had a 9lber while Mike, Dai and Martin remained biteless. I had an 8lb fish in daylight and thought it was to be the start of a bumper session as it was caught right over a big bed of bait I had put out.....

Weirdly it took another six hours to get another one, also a mid-eight....

Just as I was returning it my nearside rod screamed out and it turned out to be a lovely 5lb 6oz chub......

Now I've had some heart-stopping battles with chub, mainly in small stream-like rivers. Steering them away from snags, dealing with powerful runs and lunges and that's only after you finally hit one of their notoriously finicky bites. This wasn't one of those times. Catching chub on barbel gear requires no skill, none, not one bit. Still lovely to see though.

Dai was upstream of me and a big fish kept rolling right in front of a bush between us. I was pretty sure it was a barbel and after it showed two or three times I went up to ask Dai if he'd seen it. The bush was slightly obscuring his view and he hadn't but he put in a speculative cast on my recommendation. Sure enough a short time later he had a bite and began to do battle with his foe. Unbelievably it came off leaving Dai wondering what he'd done in a previous life to be subjected to such rotten luck. He tried to convince himself it was a rogue Salmon as he never normally loses barbel, If it was the fish I'd seen rolling it was a 20lb barbel I told him, again just to be helpful. 

Sadly I had work looming and had to leave mid afternoon. By that time I'd endured nearly fourteen hours without a bite so reconciled I had given it a decent go. Unfortunately it meant not seeing my friend, latecomer David Frame. He and Mike ended up being the last men standing and Mike had a small zander while David had the best barbel of the weekend, a lovely 11lb fish from a rapidly rising river. Little did he know at the time but that fish earned him a case of red wine for his efforts....

Mike Lyddon

Framey

A few days later, no doubt buoyed by my barbel masterclasses Dai went and fluked a massive barbel all on his own. Luckily this one didn't come off........

17lb 4oz

I did have one more visit to the Trent before the area went into level 3 covid restrictions. This time I went with my old friend Steve. We hadn't been fishing together for a number of years and had a great time, vowing at the end of the day not to leave it so long next time. We only had one barbel each but the conditions were pretty horrendous. We fished for barbel together twenty plus years ago on the river Soar so it was a real pleasure to meet up again....

Staying local

Lincolnshire began to be surrounded by top-tier covid restricted counties. A quick chat with our friend Martin and a trip to a local river was arranged. Perch were the target and we both met at first light. Regular readers will know that I usually manage the better fish when we go out together, purely by luck and by not getting snagged up every five minutes as Martin usually does. Sure enough I was quick off the mark, taking several two pounders on dropshotted worms while Martin set about rapidly depleting his hook supplies. I then hooked a perch that led me a merry dance all over the place, it really was a powerful little fish. "That's a three," I declared as Martin set about weighing it. He looked up from the scales with a wry smile- "2lb 14oz," he said with rather too much happiness. 

 Spurred on by my success Martin then miraculously didn't cast in to an immovable object and started to catch fish of his own. The latter part of the session was fairly forgettable as bites became very hard to come by but for half an hour or so we could do no wrong. I think I had another 2 14 and a few more decent ones while Martin's two best were fish of 3lb exactly and 3lb 2oz. The bastard.

3lb 2oz

Torksey Lock

About three years ago I was afloat on the Fossdyke canal with a friend when we bumped in to a fellow angler. "You want to try Torksey Lock," he enthused. Now I'd had a look at the lock section and it was the most angler unfriendly place I'd ever seen, no fishing notices up everywhere you looked. Our new friend assured me it would be ok in my boat though. So a few weeks later I went and launched my boat. Over the next couple of years I got to know the people there and all was well. The fish shoal up there every winter and there are an abundance of predators. My perch PB from there is 3lb 13oz and I've led several people to their own overall PB's there. It's a brilliant venue. 

Sadly the controlling club has banned fishing from boats, probably because none of them have them. So it has come to an end. A rule for a rules sake. I've said this many times before though, when on a boat you have to be super friendly and if you do fish near boats you must not under any circumstances interfere with them. Whether that's bouncing lures off the hulls or tying yourself to them. I did go back recently but fishing isn't all about the chance of big fish for me, it's about mystery and relaxation. I feel privileged to have fished it but for now, it shall remain out of bounds, a real shame.

Pastures new

The Louth canal intrigued me although I'd never fished it. Around fifteen miles long it is the canalised river Ludd which starts off in the chalk hills of the Lincolnshire Wolds. The water quality should be excellent and ideal for the odd big perch or two I thought to myself. Information is thin on the ground though so I had to go blind so to speak. Sure enough I searched the lower reaches until my motor battery flattened. I travelled around four and half miles and after trying every perchy looking spot gave up and just trolled lures for several modest pike. I remain fairly sure there will be a pocket of big perch somewhere along the canal but it's going to be both a question of time and good furtune if I am to find them. 

I'm never too shy to receive venue advice and I given enough out over the years to more than welcome some return traffic. You can contact me here-

shukphil@gmail.com

An old favourite

Right, after the Louth canal providing little in the way of perch I decided to launch on a river I'm more familiar with. By now we were in full lockdown again and it's about as far from my house as I am comfortable travelling to. Again I had my new boat in the car and after a brief workout with the manual hand pump I was soon afloat. I do have an electric one but a bit of mild exercise warms one up on a cold morning.

 After covering a couple of miles I came across a few fish, mainly Pike. I'd already caught a couple that day slowly trolling a small lure downstream after my usual perch spots proved unproductive. These ones I could actually see in the clear water though. The level was perhaps three feet below normal, very unusual but it provided me with a window into the depths. I saw perhaps twelve pike in total, most I thought to be high singles and low doubles. Indeed I went on to catch seven pike that day with a couple scaring ten pounds. There was one standout fish though, bigger than the rest but try as I might I couldn't entice a take from her. 

I went back a few days later to try again. The water had coloured up slightly but as luck would have I hooked her within the first ten minutes on a large TRD. Fortunately she didn't go too far but I saw her quite early in the fight so it was a nerve wracking experience. I was glad to have taken my newly purchased Korum 30in net when she finally surfaced....

19 lb 14oz river Pike

I also had a couple of modest perch that day on lure but I got the feeling I could do a lot better with bait.

With some worms I had ordered landing on my doorstep I returned. Again I elected to hand pump my boat up and this coupled with the unseasonably mild conditions saw me in a t-shirt on a mid-November morning. Despite a frustratingly slow start I went on to catch over fifty fish, including over ten two pounders, It's strange, some venues I'm happy to catch two's from but some I don't feel I have done them justice if I don't catch a three. After a couple of big two's one after another I finally got my target, just......

3lb exactly

It was a strange day. I had to anchor the boat up in one spot and just wait for fish to pass by. I saw quite a few of them which was novel and infruriating at the same time. One big perch swam straight past my dropshotted worm, not taking the slightest bit of notice, only for another one swimming directly behind it to happily engulf it. 

Word on the lure fishing streets is some are disappointed I don't catch all my perch on lures. Honestly, aren't some anglers just the dreariest bunch of dullards, mainly but not exclusively in the single-tactic or single-species camps? I've said this countless times before, angling has so many facets I'm happy to try them all. Bait doesn't always out-fish lures and in those situations I'll happily use lures all day. Not that I have to answer to anyone, least of all some motocross clad rubber fetishists.

Sorry about that, here's a case in point- At another venue I found a few perch on lures but they shut up shop very quickly so I went back with some bait and had a wonderful couple of hours fishing worms on the tip. My Greys Toreon rods providing some nerve racking fights with some more proper wild river fish, these the best three of another big hit.......

SHUK Roundup

Andy Lobel with a massive Scottish skate from his inflatable

Bobby Brookes with some Dove Grayling

Lee Fletcher with a couple of nice perch

James Aris with a Severn Zander

Nate Green finally catches something

Nick Owen with a nice perch

James Aris, Ouse Chub

James Hunt, Dove Grayling

Martin Barnatt with a Nene double

Leo Heathcote with a rare smile

Tackle Talk

Korum 2.5lb TC Barbel Rods

I didn't actually want these rods but my self-imposed ban on internet purchases limited my choice. My local tackle shop Big Catch Tackle said the lead time on the Fox EOS's I actually wanted was a couple of months as Fox were out of stock. I ordered some Korum ones from them and two days later they arrived at the shop. 

They are budget rods, that said I like them. They haven't got fancy wraps or rings but the action is nice and the handle and reel fittings are more than adequate. A touch on the heavy side weight wise but largely irrelevant as they spend most of the time in the rests. I have been using the MK1's in 2lb test curve and while never knowingly undergunned I fancied a bit more umph so plumped for the 2.5lb TC in the new models. I'm totally over the matt black obsession and wish we could return to the good old days of unpainted lovely looking carbon but I guess I'll just have to go with the flow. More than happy with them and super pleased I gave my local shop some business as they always treat me very well. 

RRP £64.99

Talamax Aqualine 230 Airfloor 

Looks small doesn't it? Don't be fooled, I've come across several anglers and non-anglers over the last few weeks and they are all pretty much smitten with it. I passed respectfully by a old chap on the Louth canal who was Pike fishing, he was amazed and as I left him I felt very lucky not to be stuck in one spot, catching nothing while reading the paper. If that sounds harsh I don't mean to be, it just gives me the freedom to explore which is pretty much priceless, let alone the paltry sum these boats can be bought for. 

So, the Talamax. I can pump it up in five minutes or so. It has five air chambers, it's not a toy, it is a proper inflatable boat. I'd prefer fixed straps for the seat instead of the fiddly rail system but other than that it's really great. If I was buying again I'd go for the 250, not for the increased length but just because the tubes are a slightly bigger diameter so you sit a touch higher. I was absolutely obsessed with weight saving at the time and it's certainly very manageable. Even rolled up carrying it up steep Lincolnshire river banks it's not a problem. I reckon I can launch it just about anywhere. I've used it with my petrol and electric motors and it performs just fine. All inflatables have the majority of buoyancy in the tubes so there is none of the pitching and rolling of normal boats, they are incredibly stable, even small ones. 

Aim to pay around £400 for the boat. Factor in your motor and battery if required, anchor and lifejacket and you can be afloat for less than a decent set of carp rods. 

Daiwa Hyper Sensor

For years I've used 5lb Drennan Double Strength for my perch fishing. At a push I'll also use it for roach and chub. Pre-stretched line isn't for everyone. Certainly the Drennan stuff needs changing with annoying regularity. So I'm giving the Daiwa version a run out, First impressions are good. Overall strength is greater than the Drennan and I'm guessing the durability can't be any worse so I'll keep you posted. Fishing rivers, even small ones I need the fine diameter so I can use as little as weight as possible to hold bottom. As perch are usually tight to the far bank a fine line really gives you an advantage. 

£7.95 for 300m 

Photography

Dawn on the Trent

Not a perch

Going back

Till next time

Summer 2020

Wiping the smile

As I crested the sand dune a sparkling vista greeted my eyes. A beautifully flat sea and sparsely populated golden sandy beach with just a few dog walkers and a couple of anglers present. I ran back to the car and removed the wife's pink camouflage kayak. When I bought it a couple of years ago I accidentally on purpose chose her a fishing model, with rod holders and a seat and the like. I excitedly dragged it from the car park and up the sandy ridge and on to the beach.

The two anglers were a reasonable distance apart and me being my smug, self-righteous self, strode purposefully between them. Some really lovely people dedicate themselves to beachcasting but all they ever talk about is how far they can cast. They even have casting competitions in fields, which seems to me to be a fairly pointless use of ones' time. Anyway, I glanced at my fishing compatriots while thinking to myself- watch this Fatima Whitbred and Tessa Sanderson, in two minutes I'll be further out than you could ever dream of casting. 

I gingerly eased the kayak on to the water and carefully lowered myself into the little fabric seat. Just as I sat down on the craft a small wave crashed over the front and dragged it underwater, taking me and everything in the kayak with it. I was completely soaked from nipple to toe and after a couple of seconds to regain my senses I conducted a rescue mission for my bait and tackle that were floating about on the shoreline. Needless to say, I didn't look around to see my peers reactions.  

Lockdown Lifted

One of the very first places I visited when the covid-19 restrictions eased was the wonderful Withern Mill Trout Fishery. I had a really great day with lots of hard fighting Rainbow trout coming to my ham-fistedly presented flies. I even managed a few from the river that runs through their grounds, the remarkable Great Eau.

Lake 1

Great average size

Going back

A 5lber released

One on in the river

Tench Envy

After a couple of fly fishing forays I had satisfied that particular itch and was keen to target something else. Specimen angling rules dictate spring is time for tench. The perennial problem I have with this particular species is lack of venues, or more accurately my reluctance to pay carp syndicate prices to catch them. My friends however, have a rather more pragmatic approach and they began sharing their catches with me. The bastards.

Martin Barnatt with a double-figure tench

Luckily for me I found a rather fabulous distraction- an exceptional run of bass on the Lincolnshire coast. Despite my more experienced counterparts telling me I'd struggle with squid as bait I took over thirty fish in a couple of weeks. Nothing massive but a couple threatening four pounds. I also started taking my mat although most sea fish are incredibly tough so probably unnecessary.....

Most were between one and two pounds

Shiny

Spiky

One of the best

Another better fish

While fun it got a bit samey, I was averaging three fish a trip and it was all getting rather predictable. The vast majority were returned but I took two home. My trout priest came in handy for dispatching them, far better in my opinion than letting them suffocate. They are incredibly tough fish, gutting a bass is a totally different to preparing a trout. They have a remarkably sturdy bone structure. Also I suffered a bit from bass finger. A little like perch finger but worse. My thumb and index finder looked like I'd been competing in The Great British Sewing Bee having handled so many of the spiky blighters.

Eventually the weather turned and the sea flattened off which saw the arrival of the smoothounds. In fact I was on the beach when they turned up, I caught a couple of Bass on the flood and nine hounds on the ebb that day. In the following few weeks I had four sessions which were those crazy ones where you can only fish one rod because the action is so brisk. I have to admit to cutting a couple of those short because while novel at first the stamp of fish wasn't really what I was after with most being between two and six pounds....

I tried various venues and enlisted the help of some local experts in my quest for a bigger fish and eventually I got a new PB thanks, in part to Skegness Pier Angling Club stalwart- Chas Tibble. Watching this fish swim off in the relatively clear shallow water was a really beautiful sight. She was so calm and serene, a great memory......

12lb 2oz

As is the norm for us I was keen for an even bigger one and there were certainly a few being caught up to nearly twenty pounds. I joined forces with reluctant local angler Paul, usually somewhat of a lone ranger. I kept up with him during most sessions but with an onshore wind and his wading and pendulum casting he had the better of me when the fishing was tough. In fact we went through a rather patchy few sessions with just one or two fish between us. 

Paul with an eleven pounder

Now nobody cares how many hounds I caught but just for some perspective I had well over a hundred fish and only one of them was a double. That can be the reality of hound fishing, it certainly was for me this year. Others just seem to drop lucky and travel for miles away and get a couple in a single visit. It really is very frustrating. Anglers are like gamblers though, they only tell you when they win. That age old saying of comparison being the thief of joy rings true. I thoroughly enjoyed fishing for them though and probably the best thing was taking my friends to catch a few. The size to them being largely irrelevant. My really big one can wait a while longer although I had some better fish in my last attempt.....

Lee Fletcher with a small bass

Lee with a hound in the same session

Zac Flay with his first hound

Near double

Another close one

We might as well stay with sea angling for a short time while we're on a roll, bear with me. I'm ashamed to say I got rather caught up in the macho 'I can cast considerably further than you' mentality of some of the more successful anglers on the coast. Rather than spending money on new equipment and many hours I didn't have practising casting I found a solution in my garage- my boat. Having recently acquired a petrol outboard I carefully checked the sea conditions and went for an initial foray with big hounds in mind. It was a titanic effort to set up and launch on my own but I was soon out over grounds unreachable by any shore angler. 

I set up two running ledger rigs with full squid as bait while at anchor about five hundred yards out. I was soon getting bites although not what I was expecting, constant little taps on the tips. Slightly intrigued I set up a dropshot style rig with a small hook and a sliver of squid for bait. I was immediately into fish, Mackerel and some good sized ones too. It was the first time I had ever caught any of these summer visitors and I found it absolutely brilliant. I also caught a few Scad, another new species for me. On the light outfit the Mackerel were great fun and I concentrated on catching as many as I could. For three hours it was a fish every drop down. I released most, crimping my barb down and being careful not to touch them but I kept a few for tea.........

All around a pound and a half

The opening of this blog was the day after my boat trip. Not wanting the effort of getting my boat out again, I took the wife's kayak. Eventually I did manage to get out and even caught a few more mackerel. With a 40 gram Lure rod, ten pound line and a two ounce weight it was incredibly entertaining. Like the best Perch fishing session ever with harder fighting fish. They really do pull back.

Never a bad day afloat

My final trip on the high seas saw me joined by Paul again. With two of us it halved the effort of launching from the gently sloping beach. Sadly the only two big fish hooked that day were lost by Paul. Frustratingly we didn't see either of them. Probably hounds but at least one could have been a big bass. Now a convert Paul messaged me a few days later to say he'd bought an inflatable. Watch out for him next year, he's going to get some belters. Me on the other hand got distracted by Mackerel again. Probably the least impressive looking fish in this blog it gave me a fight I'll never forget. They really are turbo-charged little tuna on the right gear. This one of 2lb 2oz convinced me I had more than one on all the way in.....

Coarse Roundup

 

Even though I was enthralled by the fishing opportunities the sea was affording me I was keen to mark the start of the river season, still a magical time for many, me included. A few weeks before the start I tested my new boat engine out on a local river. As usual I encountered several bream shoals while afloat on the crystal clear water. Two fish in particular spiked my interest, they must have been close to double figures. I made a mental note of their position and vowed to return with some bait to get them used to it. 

On my return I made a schoolboy error. I parked up and walked downstream a short distance before I stumbled across a big shoal of fish over a clear area among the otherwise thick weed. I immediately stopped and put some bait in. Quite why I did this is a mystery, maybe I just got too excited by seeing some fish. These weren't however the really big ones I was after. 

On the next visit I decided to do some gardening, cutting a peg out and raking the swim to ensure I maximised my chances. Again, this turned in to a bit of a disaster. I managed to let go of the rope attached to my weed rake and it floated downstream about three quarters of the way across the river. Bugger, I was going to have to go in I thought. Remarkably and despite never grabbing a rope in her life one of my Labradors, Daisy understood my frantic encouragement and retrieved it. I could have kissed her, I did.......

Good girl

Great work

The night before the start of the season I went again, sadly seeing another angler on the far bank with a spinning outfit. As I was accompanied by the wife she wouldn't let me confront him. He was probably just a local teenager who knew no better. Seeing him spinning from a bridge on my way back to the car with absolutely no hope of landing anything over a pound further disappointed me. Anyway, back to the bream. I stopped at the clearing and put in some more bait. Louise and the dogs wandered further downstream and by the time they returned the swim was absolutely full of bream, eagerly ripping up the bottom in a feeding frenzy. 

I was back at first light and sure enough they were still there, a remarkable sight and I was raring to go. Sadly in the tap-water clear shallow water they didn't take too kindly to being caught and I only managed five fish before the remaining fish departed, not to be seen again. The biggest weren't even five pounds and I knew then I should have searched out the bigger fish I'd seen on their own. Despite this I had a lovely time and it was nice to see these never-fished-for fish on the bank. 

After a fruitless couple of hours on the beach one day I headed over to another river and took a few roach on the stick float. This one looks slightly dodgy in this photo because of the way I'm holding it but I've got one on a mat that looks 100% roach. Not that it's big enough for anyone to get their knickers in a twist over....

1lb 11oz

Carp

Some carp anglers are full-on bat-shit crazy aren't they? One of my favourite and only places I fish for carp was getting a battering on social media. Word on the munga-mixing, lead-donking streets was that the place had been 'Ottered'. I did think to myself at the time if an Otter went in that particular eel infested lake and ate a carp it would be like me going in to KFC and eating one of their plastic chairs. 

Sure enough and typically the first time I went the carp were highly conspicuous as they were spawning. I conservatively estimated between forty to sixty carp were present. Probably exactly the same amount as there always has been. Now usually I'd turn up on the spur of the moment and try and tempt a few fish off the top. However this year there was a booking system in place due some previous dubious behaviour of our carp angling friends. This made timing my visits slightly tricky as the spawning debacle proved. I did manage to go again when there were no other anglers present and wandered around and caught one of the old buggers a foot from the bank......

Another much maligned fishery is Chapel boating lake. Just to be clear it's been a great season so far there. Plenty of carp to just over twenty pounds and one of the regulars hooked what was certainly one of the catfish that gave him the run run around for nearly an hour before escaping. I've only been once to try for the roach and although I caught plenty the big ones eluded me. Just to prove a point I did get a carp gatecrash the party......

I'll finish this section off with a rather disastrous barbel fishing effort on the river Trent. I was rather surprised to catch one carp, specially a ghostie from the river but when I added another, albeit a less remarkable common I was aghast......

The mouth suggests an escapee

Barbel

As I write I've been on three trips to the Trent so far. The first a highly unusual blank on the tidal. My fishing partner for the day was our friend Andy Wilson. Obviously he needed all the help he could get so I put him in the best peg. He started off with a nice chub and then a decent barbel just shy of ten pounds......

The second visit resulted in the two carp above. It really is a most infuriating bit of river. The barbel become really active as the light fades so realistically you only have a half hour window where your chances are greatest as night fishing is prohibited. It's a long way for me to go for such scant rewards so I scoured the recent match results on other sections. One particular area stood out and I arranged a guest ticket for my friend James Truscott to join me. Sure enough within minutes of casting in I caught a barbel, albeit quite small. The next fish was a little better though......

I continued catching steadily all through the day and was absolutely delighted to catch a new PB........

13lb 6oz

I'm really pleased with this picture, mainly because you can the water droplets coming off the fish. Nobody has ever made it to the end of that turgid Barbel Society handling script. Just keep them out of the water for as little time as possible. Unhook them in the net and let them rest for a while before putting them back. They can't breathe out of water, the end.

Thankfully James caught a few too including one on my rod when I had a double hook-up at the end of a marvellous day, netting them within seconds of each other.....

Tackle Talk

Talamax Aqualine 230 Airfloor

Ok, for a few pennies shy of four hundred pounds you get a 2.3m inflatable boat, repair kit, hand pump, bag and adjustable seat. My other boat is a 2.9m hard floor and is right on the cusp of being manageable on my own hence my reason for wanting a lighter one. And lighter it is, maybe too light. I have only used it once and with my little 3.5hp Mariner it performed really well. It's massively uncomfortable though so I've ordered a proper seat for it. I've fallen foul of recommending stuff before and it turning out to be be rubbish so I'll reserve judgement on this one until I've had more use out of it. On its one and only trip though it did tow our friends Leo Heathcote and Jamie Potts up the river though when we went a bit far and they developed battery anxiety......... 

Judgement

The elephant in the room is my PB barbel picture. The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed my hat which I want to touch on briefly. I'm an Otter lover and an a passionate angler. Despite whatever anyone says the two don't have to be mutually exclusive. The Wild Otter Trust is run by a lovely man and has the full backing of Chris Packham, so probably not a great idea for anglers to pick a fight with them. And why would you? We can like different stuff, life would be very boring if we didn't. David Attenborough recently revealed a pathetic four percent of mammals on the planet live in the wild, real food for thought and maybe a change of attitude towards some of them?

 Anyway, enough explaining. During my furlough I had a chance to spend some time on my local river executing a fairly thorough clean-up. Time well spent and unbelievably I've had people mocking my stance on litter. It's incredibly simple- It relies on the fact that the if the number of people dropping litter remains constant then all you need is the same amount of people or more picking it up and the problem ceases to exist.  

River Bain, Coningsby

Photographs

Made a friend at the boating lake

Goose family at Withern Mill

Bass sea

Double rainbow

Moody sky

Deserted beach

Andy Wilson at dusk

Waiting for a bite with Harriet

The pink kayak

Till next time...........