Bluemoon Angling Thread

Here is my best Barbel from a couple of years ago. The chap that took me out weighed it and said it was 10lb plus but I have wondered ever since wether he was angling for a (bigger) tip. What would my Bluemoon angling buddies say was it’s size?
And yes I know I’m hardly an oil painting. Just concentrate on the fish :-)
View attachment 26856

It's a good fish certainly but really hard to judge from a photo (not that I've ever had one to compare). Without weighing it, I'd just take what he said at face value and go out and catch a bigger one to prove it !!
 
Here is my best Barbel from a couple of years ago. The chap that took me out weighed it and said it was 10lb plus but I have wondered ever since wether he was angling for a (bigger) tip. What would my Bluemoon angling buddies say was it’s size?
And yes I know I’m hardly an oil painting. Just concentrate on the fish :-)
View attachment 26856
Here’s my PB (terrible self take) which is 12-2. I’d say it’s slightly bigger than yours. My guess at yours would be about 10-8. Lovely fish mate. EDIT: Sorry, just reread it and your was weighed so yes, yours looks the 10+ he claimed easy.

Im going barbel fishing in a couple of hours and am champing at the bit.97ED3CED-9E2A-4EF6-8AEA-3F11886D18B2.jpeg
 
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Here’s my PB (terrible self take) which is 12-2. I’d say it’s slightly bigger than yours. My guess at yours would be about 10-8. Lovely fish mate.

Im going barbel fishing in a couple of hours and am champing at the bit.View attachment 26859

Lovely fish that mate. Shame you are not at Chelsea, be good to have a pint and a catch up.
 
Here’s my PB (terrible self take) which is 12-2. I’d say it’s slightly bigger than yours. My guess at yours would be about 10-8. Lovely fish mate. EDIT: Sorry, just reread it and your was weighed so yes, yours looks the 10+ he claimed easy.

Im going barbel fishing in a couple of hours and am champing at the bit.View attachment 26859
Yeah, thats an absolute beauty!
You have given me confidence that mine was over 10 so thanks for that. It was caught on a stretch at Bridstow on the Wye. I had another two as well as a couple of Chub that also broke my PB by a county mile. I only course fished as teenager on the Swale near Richmond. A lovely piece of river but the Barbel averaged 3lb and 5lb was a monster. Likewise the Chub, one of 2lb was considered a great fish. The older I get, the more I hanker back to course fishing. I just wish there was more opportunity in Scotland.
 
I was that eager to get in the car and get driving yesterday that I forgot several things. My chair, a buzzbar for my tripod, my feeders and my bait apron: /

Googled butchers in Newark and several came up, parked up in the town and the only one I came across was closed, went to Waitrose instead as i was having a BBQ.

Got on the river about 4pm and had a mooch about the top swims, all very popular (I'm told) but pegged too close together. So I decided to fish right at the bottom length on the the outside of the bend. My thinking behind this was it's is deepwater so I won't have to chuck too far in the night. After much faffing about setting up my stall i set up 2 rods and cast them halfway, downstream rod i had a 20mm krill pellet on, top rod a source boilie. It literally was chuck and chance because I put no bait out whatsoever. I was going to put some PVA bags out but I couldn't be bothered.

As it went dark i had my BBQ with a couple of beers and got in my sleeping bag about 10pm. I nodded off to be woken by the screech of my bite alarm receiver. I scrambled down to my bottom rod nd the alarm stopped, this was about 11-20pm. Got back in my bivvy and nodded off again to be woken at 11-35, this time i was in, anbd thought I'd hooked into a big chub the way it was scrapping. Soon realised it was a barbel as it took about 10-15 yards of line on a run.

There's something magical about drawing a good fish towards the net when night fishing, especially on a full moon. Where I am is shallow sandy bay so as I drew it towards me it started thrashing about in one last make for freedom. Í let it calm down and gently brought it into the net and soon realised it was my biggest Trent barbel. Not a monster but worth weighing, and the scales went to 8lb-3oz. Due to me being a full-time carer for my mum it's a first trip out and first fish this summer so i mut admit i felt happy. I cast back out and didn't have another bite all night.

Woke up about 8 and made some breakfast before heading to Future Fishing in nearby Farndon. Must be one of the best shops have ever been in because they have almost everything there.

Set up my heavy 1.5lb TC float rod with a 7bb stick-float to combat the blustery side winds and plummed the depth to find i had 9 ft of water 2 rod lengths out. What i didn't realise that when I waited out I was in quicksand, literally. I couldn't get my left leg out of the mud so I had to slip my foot out of my waders before a sunk anymore. I couldn't fish in the wind and and in quicksand so knocked it on the head. I caught half a dozen perch before a cheeky swan polished off a pint of maggots from the tub on my bait waiter, but it was obviously hungry so fair play.

Gonna have a snooze for an hour and then launch about a dozen large feeder casts to get some bait out of my top rod. I'll fish feeder on that and fill PVA bags on my downstream rig with pellets.

I feel confident about catching a bigger fish tonight, here's hoping...
 

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I was that eager to get in the car and get driving yesterday that I forgot several things. My chair, a buzzbar for my tripod, my feeders and my bait apron: /

Googled butchers in Newark and several came up, parked up in the town and the only one I came across was closed, went to Waitrose instead as i was having a BBQ.

Got on the river about 4pm and had a mooch about the top swims, all very popular (I'm told) but pegged too close together. So I decided to fish right at the bottom length on the the outside of the bend. My thinking behind this was it's is deepwater so I won't have to chuck too far in the night. After much faffing about setting up my stall i set up 2 rods and cast them halfway, downstream rod i had a 20mm krill pellet on, top rod a source boilie. It literally was chuck and chance because I put no bait out whatsoever. I was going to put some PVA bags out but I couldn't be bothered.

As it went dark i had my BBQ with a couple of beers and got in my sleeping bag about 10pm. I nodded off to be woken by the screech of my bite alarm receiver. I scrambled down to my bottom rod nd the alarm stopped, this was about 11-20pm. Got back in my bivvy and nodded off again to be woken at 11-35, this time i was in, anbd thought I'd hooked into a big chub the way it was scrapping. Soon realised it was a barbel as it took about 10-15 yards of line on a run.

There's something magical about drawing a good fish towards the net when night fishing, especially on a full moon. Where I am is shallow sandy bay so as I drew it towards me it started thrashing about in one last make for freedom. Í let it calm down and gently brought it into the net and soon realised it was my biggest Trent barbel. Not a monster but worth weighing, and the scales went to 8lb-3oz. Due to me being a full-time carer for my mum it's a first trip out and first fish this summer so i mut admit i felt happy. I cast back out and didn't have another bite all night.

Woke up about 8 and made some breakfast before heading to Future Fishing in nearby Farndon. Must be one of the best shops have ever been in because they have almost everything there.

Set up my heavy 1.5lb TC float rod with a 7bb stick-float to combat the blustery side winds and plummed the depth to find i had 9 ft of water 2 rod lengths out. What i didn't realise that when I waited out I was in quicksand, literally. I couldn't get my left leg out of the mud so I had to slip my foot out of my waders before a sunk anymore. I couldn't fish in the wind and and in quicksand so knocked it on the head. I caught half a dozen perch before a cheeky swan polished off a pint of maggots from the tub on my bait waiter, but it was obviously hungry so fair play.

Gonna have a snooze for an hour and then launch about a dozen large feeder casts to get some bait out of my top rod. I'll fish feeder on that and fill PVA bags on my downstream rig with pellets.

I feel confident about catching a bigger fish tonight, here's hoping...
Well in BMR! Get that bait in and get some fish! You are directly opposite one of my old stretches there. Keep casting, even through the night if you can, and on the same spot and you might just break that PB tonight.
 
Well in BMR! Get that bait in and get some fish! You are directly opposite one of my old stretches there. Keep casting, even through the night if you can, and on the same spot and you might just break that PB tonight.
Cheers mate. I've just catapulted 20 balls of groundbait laced with hemp and pellets. I'm gonna fish with pellet and crushed boilie filled PVA bags. I think it's easier to play a big fish with a bomb on rather than a big 4oz feeder.

Good luck yourself. Are you on the Ribble tonight?
 
Cheers mate. I've just catapulted 20 balls of groundbait laced with hemp and pellets. I'm gonna fish with pellet and crushed boilie filled PVA bags. I think it's easier to play a big fish with a bomb on rather than a big 4oz feeder.

Good luck yourself. Are you on the Ribble tonight?
Your groundbait will probably just explode a foot below the surface and spread those particles all over the place 20-30 yard downstream, especially the hemp, so I’d be careful thinking you’ve baited up accurately if you’re balling in to be honest. Maybe Chuck your downstream rod a long way down.The PVA bags will do the job though of course. Ribble trip cancelled because of poorly wife but rescheduled for tomorrow after the game.
 
Your groundbait will probably just explode a foot below the surface and spread those particles all over the place 20-30 yard downstream, especially the hemp, so I’d be careful thinking you’ve baited up accurately if you’re balling in to be honest. Maybe Chuck your downstream rod a long way down.The PVA bags will do the job though of course. Ribble trip cancelled because of poorly wife but rescheduled for tomorrow after the game.
I made sure i made the balls rock hard mate. I always wet my hands and squeeze again before launching my catty. Only fishing about 30 yards so am happy with where a pulted them: )
 

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