March on the Wye

[John Bailey]

Enoka gets the baiting done...​

March 1st... here we go. A last barbel to top off the winter quest of a barbel every winter month.

Yesterday, I baited around 3.00pm, and the river looked in superb order. No point in casting in, as it was the last day of February, but I drooled. Then the rain rolled in, from the West, from the Welsh mountains where the damage upriver would have begun.

This morning, even as I write at 10.00am, the gauges on the internet seem to be holding relatively steady. There is a slight rise from Hay downriver, but I have hope when I get bankside in four hours or so, I’ll still find swims fishable.

Can I knock off that March barbel first day of the month? It would be good. I’d be out of there then, and could leave the swims to the others... my mates who travel from afar, and could do with a barbel more than I do...

Time today will tell...

 

[LPP]

get in there, get the fish, and ................away!

Today is the day

 

[John Bailey]

All Quiet On The March Front

Well, March 1st could not have been more of a damp squid for me. I arrived on the Wye at 1.40pm, walked, baited and, eventually fished 'till dark. The river looked in fine fettle, and all six swims had been baited nicely for days. Not a single flicker of interest did I see. Not a nudge. Not the slightest suspicion of a fish, chub or barbel.

Of course, being neurotic, I stress that recent floods have cleared the fish out, and they are swimming off the North Devon coast right now. I do actually think that floods do push fish about rather, certainly smaller fish, but if I’m reasonable and calm down, I see other reasons for a blank here.

Let’s stick with my 10 degree hypothesis. By 5.00am on March 1st, temperatures on the ground were down to minus 2 degrees. At best, during the afternoon session, they reach 7, just perhaps 8, degrees. That’s a plus temperature reading of 5, or at the most, 6 degrees, way beneath the 10 degrees I have found necessary to get Wye barbel interested. Indeed, after a fairly sharp frost, I would have wanted 12 degrees yesterday pm to have felt confident.

Nor was I alone in my struggle. I had an email last night from the truly talented, truly lovely, Tim Pryke, who is down on the river. Now, Tim is a genuine maestro, and he apparently struggled all day for a single chub, despite his feeling that the river looked perfect.

Today? Well, last night there was no frost. This afternoon, temperatures are forecast to reach 8 degrees... do plus 2 and plus 8 make the longed-for 10 degrees and barbel action? I’ll know by 7.00pm tonight, I guess.