Sunday – The morning was spent organising rigs and bait for anglers participating in Farnham Angling Societies First Barbel Teach-in. I was expecting eight anglers and knew that it would be a push to locate them all in the top stretch at Stanford End, so when nine turned up l had a problem on my hands, however everyone enjoyed the day and hopefully learnt that catching barbel isn’t all about complex rigs and technical bait application.

It didn’t take long for the first fish to be caught, a small barbel of around 3lb which is great to see and hope for the future. A chub was then caught around 3lb 8oz before things went quiet. Most anglers had enquiries, yet it seemed obvious that the recent rain that had raised the river some three-foot just days before had seen every fish go on a feeding frenzy and were now full up and content. A small chub around 2lb 8oz came from one of the fancied barbel swims, yet two of my favourite swims had failed to produce. We were all blessed with a fantastic sunset as well as a barn owl hunting the fields at dusk, however the barbel weren’t playing ball and as dusk set in a couple of better chub livened things up, one from a fancied swim downstream.

All in all, l have to say that l enjoyed the session immensely, the fishing was tough, but the group of anglers were a joy to be part of and hopefully they will take my approach back to the river and catch a few whackers. Tight Lines guys! 
         
Monday – An eel article with a deadline saw me tapping away on the keyboard again, along with taking some close up’s of the Okuma reel that I’ve been testing for Anglers Mail. I also had to get the pictures from the FAS Barbel Teach-In up on my blog as well as lots of other angling bits and pieces. I also had to drop the van off at the garage so having a tiny Peugeot 104 with a boot that doesn’t open it looks like a few short barbell sessions for the rest of the week.

Tuesday – After a restless night l dragged myself off to the doctors due to aches in my upper arms and shoulders and now need to get my neck x-rayed, joy.

The weathers terrible and a day at Gold Valley with my girlfriends dad was postponed till next week due to him suffering when it’s damp. Needing an angling fix l grabbed the barbel kit from the Teach-In on the weekend and headed to a stretch of the Loddon that I’ve never found easy, and true to form, roving around, testing out nine swims produced just two half hearted chub pulls.

Back home I spent the evening answering loads of anglers questions for Anglers Mail. 

Wednesday – With the river becoming busy and watching how a client lost a massive barbel last week l knew it was about time to start thinking about trying to beat my best of 16lb 10z and if l was to stand the best chance of doing this then l needed to time my arrival and departure when others weren’t around in order to get in the best swims. Arriving at 6am l dropped into the best swim and straight away missed two good pulls, not from barbel but chub, and both were missed. I then headed downstream and with five minutes had a small barbel. Back to my original position and within twenty minutes the tip flew around and one almost identical to the first appeared. As long as l keep getting the bites eventually a big one will come along, however the stretch lm going to be looking at is far from easy so it’s going to be a bit of a learning curve.

Thursday – Spent most of the day organising numerous guiding enquiries, designing a leaflet for the local tackle shops as well as making some paste for a barbel session tomorrow. Unfortunately l should have been guiding at Frensham Big but the forecast is for heavy rain throughout the night, lasting to 1pm so it’s going to be a case of grab the waterproofs and go for a walk about. 

Friday – The day started at 5am when l made my way to the Loddon in search of a big barbel. It had rained all night and as l arrived their was some colour reaching it and l hurried to a known hotspot in anticipation. It took all of five minutes for the tip to whack round but the heartbeat that was racing soon dropped as the smallest barbel I’ve caught for years dropped into the net. I moved out of the swim and dropped into another swim as Alan; a customer from a couple of weeks ago arrived and headed off downstream to the other noted peg. The second swim was given half an hour for just the odd tap so l chanced my luck and made a second cast into my original position and the tip pulled round again, this time from a 4lb chub. I was away by 7.15am and headed to a hard stretch where l fished four swims till midday in a complete downpour. The tip moved just the once, but any fish on this stretch is good and another good chub fell in the net. When l got home l noticed that Alan had sent a photo of a personal best 6lb 4oz chub that he had caught, a great fish and not bad for someone who was struggling to get a bite in the day before coming out with me. Obviously he has learnt well and now wants to progress to a harder stretch.

In the afternoon l headed to the river Thames at Walton to help out at the TAC annual summer/night match. To find out more go to www.rivertac.org or read my blog on the early stages of the match.

Saturday – No fishing just a few hours uploading photos to the TAC and writing up bits for the website.