I Decided to start my challenge for this year, hunting down a barbel on the upper river river. This high up, im told, you got one barbel for every ten you get on the lower or middle reaches. If i get one i'll be over the moon!
Arrived today with the river at normal summer level, and decided to try a nice deep glide that came after to shallow rapids. A two rod approach, one with pellet and the other a big bunch of maggots with a swimfeeder.
First chuck in and the maggot rod was soon bouncing, this lively trout put up a short but spirited fight.
I recast regularly, topping up the swim and hoping to draw any chub or barbel in. The rod slammed down again, and it felt a good fish, but it was a grayling holding its dorsal against the flow (they do fight well size for size!). At 1lb 5oz, this beats my pb by 2oz...
Nothing happening on the pellet, but I felt that there may come a time when a barbel swam through, so plugged on with that. The maggot rod was away again, a small trout...
And that was it, no more bites for the next couple of hours until i called it a morning. Lovely place to be, i saw three kingfishers, and plenty of other wildlife. I'll keep trying the upper swale, one day i may just get a barbel...
I love challenges especially if it involves fishing. Last time, me and my husband went for some Reef fishing Vanuatu where we ranked 1st in the challenge. It was a very nice experience and I'd love to do it again!
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