Bluemoon Angling Thread

First barbel trip of the new season last night after some rain flushed through the river and the temperatures dropped a bit. The Ribble was up a bit but most of the coloring had gone and I settled in for a sedentary evening trip. I always fish on summer solstice night and it’s always a lovely day for some reason.

I was fishing for about 5.30pm, 2 rods, boilie, pellet, PVA bag approach. I baited fairly heavily as the river is always alive with small stuff who will scoff your feed. Second cast and I had a battered old chub which came in like a wet sack and I managed to release in the water which was still very warm. It was quiet then until after sunset, usual summer situation, then around 10pm the rod tip just started to rotate as a fish moved slowly and directly downstream. The tell tale headshakes told me it was a barbel but it didn’t feel massive so I gave it a fair bit of stick. You don’t really want them fighting long in warm water for their own sake. I got quite a shock when I looked in the net. It was a good one, blind in one eye. I didn’t want to weigh it. I rested it before unhooking, whipped out the hook and a single photo then rested it again in the net. Without lecturing anyone, this is what you should do in warm water like this or they can be in trouble. I’d say it was over 9lb but not a double.

Great to be back barbel fishing, particularly as there’s been a huge fish kill in my local river/canal system.8383C9CE-6EE1-49C5-84DA-791B70CFDF2F.jpeg
 
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Just got back from my 5 days on the Wye. 6 of us shared over 50 barbel up to about 8lbs and hundreds of chub to about 5lbs. My contribution to the barbel total was 3 barbel.

River was very low as you'd expect but still running cool. The fishing was a bit "peggy" in the sense that certain swims produced multiple fish whilst others didn't. Being a contrary bugger I avoided the productive swims and tried to develop my own which explains my lack of success.

The fish were all very lean, possibly due to recent spawning (I hope) and most had lice on them, the significance of which I don't know. They responded extremely well to heavy feeding especially towards dusk although odd ones did come throughout the day. All were caught from our "home" stretch because we were able to feed swims over multiple days. We take 2 rods every day on other beats for a bit of rotation and variety but didn't manage a single fish off other beats, probably because you can't set up a regular feeding pattern or identify the productive swims if you aren't there every day.

Very interesting few days. The fish are clearly there but shoaled up tight.
 
Newman Noggs said:
Just got back from my 5 days on the Wye. 6 of us shared over 50 barbel up to about 8lbs and hundreds of chub to about 5lbs. My contribution to the barbel total was 3 barbel.

River was very low as you'd expect but still running cool. The fishing was a bit "peggy" in the sense that certain swims produced multiple fish whilst others didn't. Being a contrary bugger I avoided the productive swims and tried to develop my own which explains my lack of success.

The fish were all very lean, possibly due to recent spawning (I hope) and most had lice on them, the significance of which I don't know. They responded extremely well to heavy feeding especially towards dusk although odd ones did come throughout the day. All were caught from our "home" stretch because we were able to feed swims over multiple days. We take 2 rods every day on other beats for a bit of rotation and variety but didn't manage a single fish off other beats, probably because you can't set up a regular feeding pattern or identify the productive swims if you aren't there every day.

Very interesting few days. The fish are clearly there but shoaled up tight.
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They’re always lean at this time of year in my experience because of spawning.

Sounds a great week mate. What condition was the river in? I know people have worried about its colour and weed the last few years.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
They’re always lean at this time of year in my experience because of spawning.

Sounds a great week mate. What condition was the river in? I know people have worried about its colour and weed the last few years.
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The river was okay. Water was a nice colour, brown rather than geen, receding after a slight rise due to storms but still very low. I'd say the same as last year. Curiously, no abstraction going on that I could see which was unusual.

A complete absence of ranunculus or any other weed though which is concerning As an aside, my mate had another Twaite Shad on corn. He gets one every year.
 
Newman Noggs said:
The river was okay. Water was a nice colour, brown rather than geen, receding after a slight rise due to storms but still very low. I'd say the same as last year. Curiously, no abstraction going on that I could see which was unusual.

A complete absence of ranunculus or any other weed though which is concerning As an aside, my mate had another Twaite Shad on corn. He gets one every year.
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Glad you had a good week. After the reports of the fish kill in the Avon, (coupled with the fact that one of lads wives, who had a stroke a short while ago, was having a bit of a bit of a bad time) We contacted the Alcester Inn and they changed our dates to back end of August. Had nice afternoon on the Dane though, 5 hours virtually a fish a chuck with about 10lbs of mixed Roach, Dace and Chublets upto about half a pound. No big Chub showing on the length yet, I was informed by a local.
 
its grim up north said:
Glad you had a good week. After the reports of the fish kill in the Avon, (coupled with the fact that one of lads wives, who had a stroke a short while ago, was having a bit of a bit of a bad time) We contacted the Alcester Inn and they changed our dates to back end of August. Had nice afternoon on the Dane though, 5 hours virtually a fish a chuck with about 10lbs of mixed Roach, Dace and Chublets upto about half a pound. No big Chub showing on the length yet, I was informed by a local.
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Trotting ?
 
Newman Noggs said:
Trotting ?
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Yes, very responsive to a caster and plenty of hemp, only a couple of rod lengths out, in about 3ft of water. Not exactly a great examination of skills. Still it's nice to be back on running water and to see the float going under. But it was tiring 4 hours of standing, chucking and feeding in 70 degrees is plenty enough. Off to Shrewsbury on the BAA stretch at Underdale next week.
 
Had a fairly long session on The Ribble on Friday afternoon/evening. Conditions were pretty good because it was overcast and rainy. I moved three times and couldn’t find the barbel. Had one chub but to be honest it was a bit of a crap session and I never felt like I was on fish.
 
Afternoon trip north to The River Nidd last night. Perfect conditions - overcast with showers. I got lazy to be honest, not wanting to hawk my big wet brolly around, and stayed in one swim which probably cost me. One rod, boilie/pellet, close in.

Had a chub and a barbel. Made friends with a wood mouse and a toad. Nice evening to be out.
 
Just as an aside for any of us interested in the birdlife, a mate put me onto an app for identifying bird calls. I've tried a few but rhey've always been crap. Anyway, this one is brilliant it's called, Merlin, and you can download it from playstore by searching "Merlin bird".

I've been utterly amazed what's out there. I tested it on a lark/meadow-pippit reserve near me and it was spot on. Over the last two days I've heard sedge warbler, marsh tit, linnet, yellowhammer and all the usual stuff. Remarkable app and free.
 
What does everyone think of Commercial fisheries ?
Went to Hampton springs on Sunday for a change of scenery. Great days fishing with loads of F1s, carp ,roach, rudd and bream. I have to admit by the end of the day I was a little sick of catching fish. It really is like shooting them in a barrel. I will probably go again, but not sure how people fish them week in week out.
 
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