No more matches please.

After the division 1 national I fished 2 open matches at Brookside. Needless to say I did not do very well and showed that you cannot stay out of touch from this type of venue for very long as the regulars have it nailed spot on.

After this I was feeling a little deflated with fishing once again. I don't seem to enjoy travelling to fishing after spending a lot of time in the car with work. The early starts do not help either. I needed a bit of a break and a change.

So I managed to have my first proper go at Barbel fishing on the River Severn at Emstrey near Shrewsbury. I would finally get to use my new Barbel rod for what it was intended for.

I had also managed to persuade my Dad to come along as well. We went to Total Angling in Shrewsbury for some bait and advice on where to fish. We got to the River and had a look at some pegs. We were told to fish around peg 44, which was near the car park, so that was were we fished. I set up a stick float rig and a pellet feeder on the barbel rod.
The fishing was not brilliant, I could catch a few small dace on the stick float, but nothing any bigger. I spent most of my time trying to catch barbel. I was casting a feeder loaded with 4mm halibut pellets and marine halibut groundbait, and fishing a 10mm banded pellet on the hook. I caught 2 barbel, the first was just under 5lb and the second about an hour later was 7lb 14oz. (see picture)


My dad brought a set of scales with him, thought that might be the kiss of death, but was good to weigh them and get a picture. I once had a good session on the Ribble a few years ago catching 8 barbel. I am not sure if any of those were bigger, but seen as this one was weighed this is the one to beat. I am sorry to say that my dad did not manage to catch any barbel, but caught a few other fish on the maggot feeder. My dad enjoyed the day, but we both agreed that the fishing was not great. It was good to be out with my dad again and we fished on until it was starting to get dark, none of this 10 till 3 rushing about. Hopefully we will get back on the Rivers again next year. I think we are both yearning to fish the Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour again.