It has been a lovely time to be on the bank this last week or so, the leaves on the line have caused some problems, but the colours and crispness of air, has really showed us the next season is upon us. With some beautiful sunrises and sunsets and migrations of wildlife too, its been a treat to be out whenever the chance has come. In my last post I was pretty sure of bites, almost certain, so it was a little surprising to find myself waiting a long while before getting bites on Thursday afternoon and evening. The greedy Gudgeon were obliging though, with three of them hanging themselves on my maggot feeder approach! As for the bigger fish, a couple of Chub made an appearance after sunset until then, – late on – and the 4th or 5th change of swim, the rod in hand was given a sure pull and we were indeed “off” with a Lovely looking 7lb 8oz Barbel!! As I was realising the batteries in my camera were flat after taking pictures of Gudgeon, (the spares were a 20 minute walk away in the car) I turned to see that my second rod (the upstream one) was being dragged around in sure Barbel style. I grabbed it and started to play the fish, as it took line the hook pulled! I was annoyed with myself, but happy to return the other fish and try for a third bite, but alas there was no other bite for the next hour and it was time to run home.
Friday afternoon then saw me on the banks of the B.A. getting ready to meet Conrad for his next attempt to catch one from this river. A front was coming down the country and we were hopeful that the mildness would affect the water temp enough to start them feeding, or at least make one turn their head. This did not happen, the water was cold and again I caught three Gudgeon on maggot feeder!! Mr Chub…

It`s now going to be very much a matter of timing, right place, right time, right method etc etc
Good luck and Tight lines to all out there and trying!!