An angler's journal

An angler's journal

Tuesday 19 June 2018

Season up and running

As ever, the 16th was earmarked for a return to running water. It had been a busy week leaving me a little under prepared compared to recent years but I was all set to hit the Warwickshire Avon after lunch on the opening day. I was in no rush and managed about 15 minutes in a new swim with no result. Then a series of events occurred curtailed the session. The result of this was meeting up with friends on the lower Severn instead. To be honest I had lost my enthusiasm for the opening day by now so much of my time was spent chatting and catching up. I did manage a couple of hours fishing but one tap was all I could muster. That said, there were some cracking fish caught over the weekend with some saying it was the best opening weekend on the lower Severn for some years.

As for me, I tried the Avon again on Sunday evening. I simply threw a few boilies in the swim and
made my first cast at 7.30pm. After 15 minutes, a chub of a couple of pounds got my season up and running. I then decided to get the bait dropper out and put in about 8 deposits of hemp and pellets. My boilie baits were recast and I waited. About half hour had passed when the downstream rod wrapped around. A fish was on. An initial screaming run left me in no doubt as to the culprit. The fish stayed low, now moving upstream with purpose. It went on to be a great battle before I was able to catch sight of the fish. It looked a decent specimen and it was soon netted. A cracking looking barbel lay in the folds of the net. It came out at 9lb 10oz which was a fair return for the first barbel of the season and more than made up for the previous day's disappointments. I fished on until just gone 10pm but no more fish appeared. The fish itself was an outstanding example of a barbel. There was not a blemish on it and it's one I'd like meet again later in the season.

1 comment:

  1. Fantastic start Lee, well conditioned that barbel considering its exertions just a few weeks ago!

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