This time it’s all about the River Kennet and make no mistake the Kennet I see today is a totally different proposition to the river I first fished for barbel back in the eighties. Back in those days it was all about the numbers, how many was I going to catch and it wasn’t uncommon to catch well into double figures as it seemed as if every barbel in the river was willing to snap up the piece of meat that rolled by as they hid under the trailing fronds of ranunculus; multiple catches were what it was all about, not big fish.
Over the past five years or so I’ve witnessed what appears to be a reduction in the barbel population and, as a consequence, my expectation levels have been reduced accordingly.
A glance through my fishing records show that just six years ago my average catch rate was eight in a day with one in six being a double. The numbers of fish caught has gradually reduced to the point where my par is now down to three chances in a day but with every chance that one of those fish will make ten pounds plus.
The reasons for this will make for an interesting feature in the future, if I didn’t know that they had been caught I would have suspected that some of the fish that haven’t found themselves in my landing net this summer had disappeared for good.
It’s what we often do as anglers, make excuses or find a scapegoat; after all I know that otters dwell not too far away. The likelihood is that the bigger fish have scattered, results seem to suggest this, perhaps they are ‘learning’ to adapt to a new situation, and after all they only have to concern themselves with survival, food and reproduction!
But let’s get back to the actual fishing and the present day.
When you spend a day in the company of someone like Neil you tend to get things into perspective, life has dealt him a rough hand and if my concerns are for lack of fish numbers Neil has the power to bring me back to earth and put me in touch with what really matters.
Just getting out and down to the river for a day’s fishing is a real struggle for Neil but does he moan about it? Oh no, he gets on with it and keeps a positive attitude going from first to last cast, it’s a humbling experience fishing with this man.
We baited, we fished, we talked and we waited…boy did we wait. Eventually though, twelve hours after we had started the rod top went round and Neil was attached to a feisty fish that although not quite a double was close enough and to be honest pounds and ounces were not really important to the pair of us. That night as I put my head down I reflected on the day and realised that I too had learned a helluva lot.
Tuesday and a day with Martin, who not only knew his fishing stuff was also a very good golfer, when you play off scratch and can call Justin Rose a friend you know the man is good! The fishing once again was very slow and try as we might the only barbel to come our way arrived late in the afternoon and weighed less than seven pounds. However, there is a postscript to this little tale.
Along with every other tactic I could think of I had ensured Martin was totally au fait with the way I fish casters on the Kennet. He told me he was going to put this new found method to good use at the earliest opportunity. When I eventually managed to get back home from my travels I noticed there was an email from Martin with a picture attachment, I opened it up and there was Martin, a smile as broad as you like, holding a huge fish which he had just caught, you’ve guessed it – on casters. I love it when I receive feedback like that, it happens a lot, and I sleep well in the knowledge that there is now another happy angler on the rivers who will have plenty of success because he has the magic ingredient – confidence.
The rest of that week was spent up on the River Severn and then it was back to the Kennet for the weekend and a barbeque on the bank with the rest of the guys who fish the stretch. The sun, for once, decided to shine and we were all thankful for that especially as a few days later the rain decided to fall and from then on it seemed to me that it hardly stopped while I was on the river.
The start of another week and, having caught a nine pounder on the Sunday, I was optimistic for a good result for Tim who I was meeting up with on the Monday. Tim is based in Sydney and we had fixed up our date while I was in Australia at the start of the year, he was over here on a month’s holiday and his return flight was on Tuesday.
As always we put in a huge effort but the results in terms of fish caught was slightly disappointing, just two, with the biggest slightly over nine. Tim had a great time though and we made plans to meet up when I’m back in Oz, sometime in November. We will be fishing for kingfish in the harbour and mulloway off of the Northern Sydney beaches and I can’t wait.
The rain that I mentioned earlier had lifted the Severn by 12 feet and more – perfect conditions – and here I was on the Kennet, getting very wet, and the river had barely risen!
By this time I was beginning to wonder where all of the double figure barbel had gone, getting on for five days fishing without one is a pretty poor show on the Kennet these days but I never let too many negative thoughts enter my head, things could only get better.
Although casters are always my first choice on the Kennet I had decided on a slight change of tactics in respect of what was being offered on the menu and I had been tinkering with small pieces of meat, fished pellet style by Superglueing them to the hair; size-wise the hookbait was not much more than a 10mm Elips Pellet and the barbel certainly seemed to like it.
Peter arrived bright and early, we had previously met up on the Wye, where the barbel didn’t play particularly fair with him, and the pressure was on me to somehow produce the goods. After a slow morning fishing casters we set off to take a good look at some of the other inviting swims on the stretch, casting one of the meat baits into a number of likely looking spots.
The fish were still not playing so it was back to base camp for the last couple of hours and lo and behold we had three good chances, which resulted in a barbel weighing 9lb 10oz, one lost fish and then a stunner tipping the scales at 11lb 4oz – Peter was a very happy barbel fisher! I’m not a huge curry man but it tasted very nice later that evening as we sat in the pub reliving a really excellent day.
No rest for me though, the following day I was back on the river with David trying the same tactics once again, a mix of casters and small pieces of meat. It worked well as four barbel came to the net including two doubles, the best just making eleven.
Next day and I was joined by Mark, another repeat performance, more barbel and another eleven, three consecutive days producing the goods, things were certainly getting better.
Another Saturday, another day on the river but a day to myself to chill out this time and taking it really easy I was fortunate to land yet another eleven before being joined by my cousin Brian, when the day turned into more of a family affair.
We spent time up in the tree watching a couple of huge perch lying doggo against a submerged log and I then looked on as Brian went through his regular routine of rolling a piece of meat under the cill on our very picturesque weirpool – and he extracted one of the resident barbel! We then watched the red tip of a float as it glided along the surface, steadfastly refusing to go under, we had a good time…
Monday morning. Was it going to be all that I hoped it would be? Hard to guarantee but I was hoping it would be as John had travelled a long way; Grimsby to Newbury is some journey and I knew he was hoping for something special. We had met before on a River Wye trip and, just like Peter, John was determined to have a crack at the Kennet but the morning did not produce and we decided to spend a few hours roving.
The rod equipped with a caster set up, a pint of casters, the landing net, the mat, a few bits and pieces, the camera and scales – I’m always positive! Off we went, a cast under the bush on the opposite bank didn’t get a response, we moved on. A flick across the river landing perfectly under the overhanging branches and, before the rod was in the rest, line was pouring off the ‘pin, John was in!
We could see the fish in three feet of water and John knew he was attached to his biggest ever barbel, the atmosphere was charged with excitement and eventually the fish rolled over the net, the rod was put down and we took in the moment.
After a good rest for the fish and much elation between John and me, the fish was weighed and photographed, just two ounces short of twelve pounds – yet another eleven pounder!
The steak tasted especially sweet that evening as once again I found myself sitting in the pub with another very happy barbel man, the long journey home for John would not seem so bad and I was very pleased!
Three more barbel the following day to Chris who came up from Somerset, no elevens unfortunately, but a nice nine pound fish to seal a really pleasant day. However the roll was not quite over, I had two days in the company of one of life’s true characters, Allan.
When fishing the river for a few days I’ve found it easier to obtain my casters locally and Tony in Thatcham Angling has done me proud, excellent quality bait at a sensible price. Allan is a regular customer in the shop and had mentioned to Tony that he wanted to learn all about barbel fishing and that’s how we came to meet up. It would take a chapter, make that a book, to cover all what we talked about for two days but suffice to say we had a brilliant time and Allan cracked it with an 11lb 12oz stunner.
The east end boy did good and I know we’ll be spending time on the Severn and Wye next year and I’ll love it because this man talks more than me – and that makes my life so much easier!
As far as the rest of the month was concerned I managed to call in on my great pal Fred Crouch last month too and I’ll talk a bit more about that next month. Chris Ball also got in touch and we did an interview for his monthly magazine, I managed to finish my bit for the upcoming Barbel Society book – I’ve been busy! I’ll be back in Australia before the end of November and I’m hoping there will be lots of interesting fishing tales from there to share with you over the next few months but there’s still time for more barbel before I set off!
Until next time.
