I've only just found this section of the forum and although it was back in june i thought some may enjoy a report i wrote after a trip to the Bristol avon, in search of barbel...........
I made the effort to get up and get out early this morning, it was my first crack of 08' at the Bristol avons barbel and i was looking forward to it!
I enjoyed the 45min drive for a change as there was very little traffic knocking about, saw plenty of rabbits and even the odd buzzard scavenging some road kill. I arrived at the river at 6am and after a quick look at the level and colour i set about donning the waders and setting the gear up. I'd decided on the Wizard teamed with my favourite 3.5ins aerial popular loaded with 6lb line, bait was nothing more complicated than a lump of spam(now with REAL bacon! ) and some worms taken from the compost heap last night. Drink and malt loaf went in the creel which was thrown over the shoulder, and i was ready........
By 6.20am i'd walked a short distance and picked my spot, on wading out to some faster water that oh so familiar scent hit me full in the face. There's nothing quite like the smell of the river's faster white water gurgling and slapping on moss covered rocks, winding it's way through reeds and sedges. just wish i could bottle it!
The line went through the rings sweetly and on went a size 12, a yard above it a 3 swan link ledger stopped on the line by a no 4. One, two, three, four and a fifth of the delicate little worms went on the hook. Devastatingly appetising!
A rusty wallis cast later and the tasty little tempters were out in the broken water just on the edge of the main flow, And after paying out some line the swan shots could be felt slowly trundling over the gravel and pebbles, making their way down stream at the right pace. It was nice to feel the sensations on my left hands finger tips as i felt the line for bites once again, i could feel tiny nibbles from minnows and other small fry as they pecked the tips of the worms. The shots hung up on some weed for a second but a short tug on the line sent them on their way, they travelled maybe ten or so yds down the swim when there was a pluck on the line. I dropped the rod tip and paid out a little line, the plucks got more positive until THUMP...........STRIKE, and nothing, missed it!
In came the remains of the worms, on went four more and out they went. Just as before everything was transmitted to me down the line, the gravel, the minnows, i even got hooked up in the same patch of weed again! Once the worms were free there was a tap on the line, again i gave it some line and lowered the tip. Tap......Tap.....Tap..................THUMP!!! I lifted the rod into a lovely heavy resistance that after a second tore off upstream a good 10yrds in about 2 seconds flat! The wizard curved into one it's most advanced bends to date, and the line sang in the wind. I had no choice but to let it have some line on more than one occasion, powerful surge after powerful surge the unseen brute hugged the bottom using the current to make me look like a fool! Eventually i turned her only to be caught off balance as she shot off downstream determined to get me in a snag of some sort, there were reeds and the odd boulder within her range and a frantic, heart pumping 5mins followed before i saw her. I managed to prise her off the river bed and up she came, a long, well built, torpedo of a barbel. After a couple boils where she belted off from just under the surface it was obvious she was tiring, and once she was lying on the surface i slipped the net under her.............
10lb 2oz of beautiful bristling Bristol avon barbel! I was so pleased, my first barbel this year and she was absolutely perfect. A really bonny fish, and after a couple of snaps back she went. fit as a fiddle and not a mark on her. After a quick brew and some time to soak it in i had another half a dozen casts, resulting in a perch of around a pound and another barbel of 4lbish(this time on the spam). It went quiet around 7.30am as other anglers began to arrive, and it didn't feel the same as when i'd had the stretch to myself. So i decided to leave before the traffic got too out of hand with sunday drivers,all in all a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours spent in one of my favourite places on the river, and once again the wizard had worked it's magic!
Cheers,
Graham
Barbel before breakfast....
SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.
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