Rare couple of days for me so I ventured further afield. The river is a lovely place with a big head of Barbel which along with Chub, Bream and some nice Dace came my way but nothing exceptional. Early next morning sitting there with mist rising off the river it looked perfect but I had the strong urge to move. I only had the day left & Its not easy to turn your back on guaranteed action in a nice place but that’s whats I did, so I found myself making the 50 Mile drive across country to a different river. This was a different kettle of fish, much lower stock, difficult access but the potential for a big one. I arrived at 10am and spent the next 5 hours getting stung & cut to bits in scorching sun looking. I didn’t see a single other angler, I didn’t see a single Barbel either & with time running out I had to make a decision if I was to wet a line. I settled on a spot with the worst access (of course) & droppered out some bait then I sat back behind the rods to wait. Not even a tremble troubled me for the next 7 hours and with dusk closing in and my finish time rapidly approaching I started to pack away. Glancing up the rod tip gave a slight knock. Bat ? …I was not sure but it was enough to make me squeeze every last second I could. With just the rods & net left out I sat on the bank in the deepening gloom staring at the rod. The atmosphere was electric, with darkness closing in I felt something was going to happen. Suddenly the rod knocked and started to pull round, I hit it & the rod hooped over. Fish on ! It didn’t tear off like Carp and held deep. There were snags everywhere and I piled on the pressure & it gave a couple of heavy head shakes. My first instinct was this was a very large Barbel. Gradually it started to come up in the water then suddenly in the gloom the bronze back of a huge Barbel loomed up from the depths in mid river for a split second before powering back down again. I really didn’t want to lose this ! The rest of the battle was fraught with tension, I didnt have my head torch on & only saw an outline as I pulled a large shape over the rim of the net…it was mine ! I heaved it up the steep bank & carried it to a grassy spot. Pulling back the net a big bronze flank greeted me, only problem was it was a Carp !
Now don’t get me wrong, I love catching Carp but I was gutted. I don’t often make these mistakes but the fight coupled with my conviction that I had seen a Barbel on the surface had convinced me. However the fact was in the space of a few seconds I have gone through a range of emotions ranging from major anxiety, sky high joy and deep disappointment. I guess thats what makes angling so great
A nice place to be..
Look closely & you can see a shoal of Bream on my bait...I took the photo through my Polorizing glasses...
Its difficult to walk away from a stack of these, but I did...
Frustration, anxiety, joy and disapointment, all in the space of a few minutes...I Iove fishing !
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