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the tuesday swim…

the tuesday swim…

Category Archives: Barbel

Mad dogs and an Irishman

30 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by The tuesday swim in Barbel, Fallon's Angler quarterly

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

angler, barbel, days, fallon's, kennet, river, roberts, steve, thames

After my last post I was feeling a little sombre, fishing trips deemed to be put on the back burner for a while, but as it turns out the last fortnight has been blessed with a couple of fruitful and quite diverse experiences.

An editorial meeting for issue four of Fallon’s Angler took place in south London which ended with an impromptu visit to the Ravensbourne with a single rod and a few left- over maggots. Sharing a rod, myself and Garett the editor of Fallon’s we managed to winkle out some chub, rudd, roach, perch and gudgeon, larger chub were visible in the clear shallow water but they eluded us this time. As dusk fell we retreated to the safety of a couple of pints and discussed the final touches to issue four. For those who take the periodical it won’t be long now, and those who don’t shame on you. Personally I think Fallon’s is getting better and better, we are finding our feet with the look and editorial content becoming much stronger. Issue four sees new contributors such as John Andrews and Luke Jennings  and there are some exciting names coming up for the future from some angling legends.

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With some final amendments to issue four I required to get some extra images especially of our regular contributor Steve Roberts who is the River guide and face behind Rivers Days, stationed at Pangbourne on the Thames. With the Ashes in the bag we had a relaxed day drifting in his punt with an opportunity to catch some perch and pike, and to get some shots. By the time I had turned up (by train) ordered lunch and a couple of pints it was mid afternoon but there was no rush, the temperature was high and we were soon afloat on the Thames with a cool breeze to make it comfortable. While Steve fished I got in the Thames in my waders and started to get some shots. I stood on a old part of an island know as the cliff, “why the cliff Steve?” I said, “well if you step over another yard or so the waters drops off into eighteen feet of water!”

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A day on the Thames with Steve is a whole experience, the secret places that you visit, the fishing, the lunch, conversation and hopefully a fish or two. Our afternoon was a lazy one and I had a few perch but as the afternoon faded Steve offered to take me to a private stretch of water on the Kennet where the chance of a barbel was possible. As the light faded we turned up on the lawn of a private house and running along the side of the garden was the river Kennet, it was warm and the air quite still, there was a sniff of barbel in the air.

At the start of the year I bought an early Allcocks Wizard and it has sat in my basement, dormant awaiting a christening. I had heard a lot about the versatility of these rods and I was keen to catch a barbel on it and see if it was capable of handling such a fish in a fast flowing river. As the light faded I was lucky enough to do just that and soon had a nice Kennet barbel in the net of around 7lbs. The rod was exceptional and does have a wonderful sensitive top with a solid backbone, now my rod of choice! By ten I was heading back from Newbury on the train to Paddington, the contrast from an hour previously could not have been greater, people heading from Reading to London for a night out while I with my fishing bag and rod set off for home.

DSC_7902_72dpiSteve needs a little help with the camera on occasions!

The Wye in autumn & a barbel.

08 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by The tuesday swim in Barbel

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Aerial, allcocks, barbel, fishing, wye

Just over a year ago I started this blog after returning from my annual pilgrimage to the river Wye. I’m still not too clear why I write this blog as I generally find anglers writing about their catches uninspiring. There are a few that paint an interesting picture on such outings through words, but with the Tuesday Swim I guess I wanted to write about the little things in angling that I found to be interesting and any related items, whether it was tackle, places, anglers, some history, a song or indeed an interesting capture. I have in fact been on a  few trips this year and caught some good fish but fail to record them here as I felt there was no point in turning the Tuesday Swim into a diary. So I will tell you this now, the catch for the Wye for 2012 was one barbel around the 7lb mark caught in the dark and in the pouring rain, only one blurred image was taken as the camera failed to respond in the wet! The catch was a little disappointing but there is still a tale to be told…

So rather than words below is my photo story for my three days on the Wye.





Rolling meat the Ray Walton way…

15 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by The tuesday swim in Barbel

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Tags

barbel, channel, fisher, four, izaak, meat, nick, ray, reels, rolling, screaming, walton

Here’s a video from Nick Fisher’s Screaming Reels series broadcast on Channel Four back in the 1990’s. I used to see Nick walking about in my neighbourhood here in the east end. He used to live just a street away, where his garden backed onto the canal by Victoria Park. Only last week I spotted a few large carp cruising past his back garden but alas no barbel!

From Izaak to Ray, the Walton way…

Cane’d on the Wye and a juicy plum!

13 Saturday Aug 2011

Posted by The tuesday swim in Barbel

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Tags

410, allcocks, barbel, cane, carp, fishing, mitchell, pellets, reel, river, rod, split, superb, wye

Sometimes the summer slips by too soon or just never seems to really heat up, this year it seems to be a case of both. So when a fellow piscator friend of mine invited me for three days on the Wye, I grabbed the opportunity for a late summer session.

I’m lucky, as the spot on the Wye near Hereford belongs to my friend’s parents. I spent a week there last year so I knew what to expect and more importantly I knew this stretch of the Wye.

A Georgian house sits one hundred meters back from the river, where a large sloping garden meanders down through an orchard and then through some over-grown shrubbery to the river bank. This makes fishing very comfortable, a cast or two for a few hours then back up to the house for diner, a glass of wine (or two) and then returning to the river, grabbing a few plums along the way and back to our quarry, barbel.

My approach to fishing is simple, anything held in the hand is traditional  the rest i.e the terminal end is completely modern, for me it makes sense.

Rods were held high using very long bank sticks, bites are so severe that the bend in the rod or a ‘churner’ from the reel is enough to tell you a fish is hooked, at night Starlites were attached to the rod tip. No bite alarms, simple.

Traditionalist look away now! The terminal end consists of PVA bags, hair rigs, pellets, boillies, braided hook links and chemically edged wide gape hooks when presenting a bait. The general technique on the Wye was to use two small 8mm pellets, hair rigged with a PVA mesh bag attached containing 4mm pellets, this was cast out on most occasions.

Traditionalist, you can look back now!

Rod and reel consisted of an Allcocks Carp Superb and a Mitchel 410. Cane rods fit well in a natural environment and performs just how I need them to, soft on the strike but as the cane loads with pressure it comes to a stop and then becomes a powerful tool to land bigger fish, this is certainly true on the Wye and the barbel.

Fishing for three days undisturbed, allows you to approach the whole experience in a different light, as you have time on your side.

Firstly, building up a swim can be done methodically adding ground bait in certain areas, resting them for half a day. The theory is that smaller fish arrive instantly and hoover up the smaller ‘cloud’ of ground bait, the activlty from the smaller fish attract the larger fish which move in and start feeding on the bigger offerings in the ground bait mix. At this point after allowing the swim to ‘rest’ another bombardment of ground bait is delivered along with a hook bait. This baiting technique leaves the barbel competing for food and then it’s just a case of waiting…

Also, a three day session can allow you to really get to know the river as the day progresses, observing patterns with the fauna, a peregrine hovers at dusk over the opposite bank for small mammals or possibly a chance sighting of a fish. Salmon were leaping at night although at times it was hard to distinguish between salmon or a carp, either way the splashes created were immense. On one occasion we saw a salmon leap in the late afternoon, it’s silver and pink flanks defining it’s status.Understanding the feeding patterns of the barbel was our priority and it seemed on this trip the evenings were most productive. At night we had some success with the barbel but generally it did tail off and the chub moved in. Fishing during the day was slower but still resulted in a few barbel including one I had on the last morning, I had a hunch to get up and have a final go and literally on the last cast caught a lovely seven pound specimen, a nice ending to the trip.

Three days resulted in some great fish all in pristine condition and all hard fighting, no rods were lost although it was close on a few occasions. The Wye is a great river to fish, in summer it generally glides past but as the autumn rains start it can quickly become quite a brown torrent of fast flowing water, my return to the Wye will hopefully be in October when the river becomes a little more angry…

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Off to the marshes #hackneymarshes
I’ve been here before but this is reassuringly familiar, an antidote to the boutique homogenous lifestyle that is rife in our city. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
Watersmeet- Our current winter film set on the Hampshire Avon with @adamchetwood @kgparr link in my bio. Where to next? #anglingfilms #chubfishing
Watersmeet - Chub fishing on the Hampshire Avon, our new film for winter #hampshireavon #hampshireavonfishing #chub #fallonsangler #fishingfilms #winterfishing link in bio
A reunion on the Hampshire Avon. Our new film for Fallons Angler ready to view in time for Christmas. Friends, pints, and fishing #chubfishing #chub #fishingfilms #fallonsangler #hampshireavon
Surely it’s time for a perch?
Epping forest #eppingforest
The fading light plays a strong roll on us at this time of year. The Witching Hour film available to view, link in bio. #embracethedarkness
Next week I travel to France and begin filming a life in Normandy over one year. A man whos footprint on the planet has the lightest touch, where his life and the natural world sit side by side. #dustthefilm …
The Witching Hour our new film launching at midday today 15th October link in bio #fishingfilms #fallonsangler
Last week we spread my parents ashes on the South Downs. In life they were inseparable, so we did the honourable thing and mixed their ashes with our own hands, returned them to the chalk on the Sussex Downs at a geographical point between birth, life and death.
The Prince of Peace is dead, thank you for the musical and spiritual journey of my life. 1940-2022 #pharoahsanders
A quick over nighter by the river and under the stars with @fallonsangler_magazine for a new film. Packing light - bedroll, camera, drone and a Katsu Curry Pot Noodle or two. Film out in a fortnight. In the meantime please order our new issue of Fallons Angler capturing the bewitching hour. #autumnequinox #fallonsangler #fishingfilms #canonuk
Norway, reassuringly boring with some hidden surprises #norway #oslo #snorway

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