With the season less than a month old I am well pleased to say my Barbel total has already passed the 50 mark, no doubles yet but a couple of nice 9lbers from The Trent being the best, The Severn and Wye have also produced their share of fighting fit Summer Barbel and chub.

With a spare day this week in between what has been a hectic few days at work and a 7 day trip to the Severn Valley, I decided to see if the Wensum would be kind enough to give me a Barbel or 2. Good mate Tom and Ginger had done the groundwork and managed a few fish themselves after finding a shoal of Barbel willing to feed even on the brightest of days.

The downside was to every Barbel in the swim there was 6 chub and the whole swim was on the far bank and between our bank and the fish lay the thickest of weed beds that no Barbel or Chub would ever be pulled through. The only answer was to put on some chest waders and get in the river, both to get the baited rig into the swim and land any hooked fish. The river has a lovely solid gravel bottom and averaged about 4 foot in depth a little bit more in places but quite safe to wade without a problem.

I arrived at the swim just before nine, happy to see it vacant, with the river looking in fantastic condition. My plan was to feed for 3 hours before even thinking about fishing, the first few pouches of Hemp and Pellet mixture were catapulted into the swim, and within seconds chub appeared from all corners of the swim, intercepting the particles as the travelled into the swim.

After feeding for half an hour or so I climbed a handy nearby tree and could see into the far bank swim, there were plenty of chub but I was pleased to see 3 Barbel making their way up into the baited area having a feed and then dropping back into the cover before again making the same journey.  My temptation to start fishing there and then was almost overwhelming, but I stuck to my plan and had a tea from the flask and kept up the feeding routine.
I tied up a fresh rig and Hooklink to pass the time, nothing fancy just a nice free running rig with a 1oz lead and a small drilled bullet as a back lead 18 inches above the lead. A Korum S3 hook in size 12 being a nice match for the 8mm Sonu “0” pellet hook bait, all tied up with some 12lb mono.

Another look up the tree had me nearly falling out with excitement around 30 chub were now competing with the 6 Barbel that were much more sedately feeding than the ravenous chub, in all honesty the chub were darting about and making the Barbel a bit nervous at times. I felt if I continued to feed for the remaining hour the Barbel would become even more confident and the plan being I could extract one or 2 without sending the whole shoal back to cover and sulking for the rest of the day.

12 o’clock finally came and I baited up the rig and waded out to the weed bed and lowered the rig at arms length into the swim under some over hanging willow branches, once the rig was in place a slow wade back feeding line as I went until the rod was in the rest, with the tip high to avoid the line being effected by the thick weed bed.
Within seconds of the rig being in place the tell tale pulls of chub started and it wasn’t many seconds later that I waded out to land the first chub of the day, a good specimen around 5lb not the hoped for Barbel but it wasn’t yet 2 minutes past 12. Out went the rig again back to the rod rest and a few pouches of my mixture went out to settle the fish, as I put the cattie down I had to grab the rod which without any prior warning was taking on an alarming curve, back in up to my neck, net in one hand trying to play a lively Barbel with the other, after a couple of scuffles with the thick weed I slid the net under a lively Wensum Barbel.

Not the biggest of fish but close to 6lb and in pristine condition, I was happy and a look at the time confirmed 12.07, 2 fish in 2 casts proved my patience was worth it, in getting the fish feeding confidently before fishing. A climb up the tree proved my theory the swim was still heaving with chub with Boris Barbel still paying the odd visit. Instead of going straight for number three I decided to feed again for a while and get the fish confident again before fishing.

Four more chub followed in the next 4 casts, after every fish I rested the swim for 10 or 15 minutes always continuing to feed with the hemp and pellet mixture.  The sixth cast of the day had me hook the smallest chub so far but some how he managed to make the most commotion splashing and flashing in the swim before the hook pulled. My worst fears were proved when I climbed the tree to see the swim empty, not a single fish, even a tempting pouch full of pellets couldn’t persuade them to play. I decided a good rest of the swim was in order and decided to wade out put a good helping of the mixture in the swim and give it a complete rest. 

I returned after a good walk around the fishery stopping for a chat along the way, and it was well over an hour when I finally got back. A pouch full of hemp in the swim and one or 2 chub with there big white rubbery lips were soon out to feed, but better still 3 Barbel were there, this time they were feeding well, ripping at the bottom for every morsel with clouds of silt the tell tale sign.

I waded the rig out, Ginger had now turned up and from the tree could see the Barbel and confirmed my wading out and placing the rig in the swim had not disturbed their feeding. With the rod now in the rest it was a waiting game, I didn’t wait long thou within a minute or so the rod tip was wrenched round as a hooked Barbel could clearly be seen flashing in the swim. A good tussle followed with the fish trying to embed its self in the weed but finally giving up and into the waiting net. The Barbel went around four and a half pounds but none the less a pleasing result.

Ginger confirmed the swim was again empty, the commotion of a hooked fish just too much, I baited heavy again with hemp and managed another chub about an hour later. I was quite happy thou, 2 Wensum Barbel and 6 chub all from the same swim, an exciting days fishing with plenty of action.