we have had . The weather for everyone has been extremes of rain , and drought, all in a 6 month period . During this time we had to catch regular on what ever conditions were in front of us when we arrived at the waters edge , and never really seemed to hit a patch of consistent river conditions . But we did have a nice time , catching fish , and watching lots of wild life. The highlight was when a sparrow hawk chased a songbird around our heads for what seemed an age , eventually losing it in a bramble bush, magic times.Last trip then , and we picked a weekend of rain , and high winds , but we wont moan as the river looked a picture . The added advantage of winter fish , is the lack of other anglers . Winter clothing was dug out , and Sue grabbed the minus 10 jacket , and I tried out the new prologic boots that had replaced the leaky ones returned to leslies .We fished a dayish session on the Saturday , having 3 fish , but it took some working out , and coming to the end of the day we were fish less. We dropped into a consistent swim , and tried a new tactic, and stayed longer than normal to try and sit them out . We dropped a lamprey flavored paste bait into a thick matching dip , then the whole lot dipped into a bag of liquidized boillies . The result looked instantly good , and tripped one up almost strait away. We took this strait into 2 other swims with the same result. No big fish , 7 1/2 lb was the best , but boy did they pull back. The thing with barbel at this time of year is they are mint , and have lost their tattyness from the bashing they took in the floods .
The Sunday was alm
ost a copy , but had gale force winds added ,and a bit of sleet mixed in . Although the river had got better overnight , we moved stretches , as going back over the same swims as the day before would have been just given us similar results , and its nice looking at different swims .Once again the rope was used in all swims , with a dog spike clipped to it , and screwed in the ground to make it safe . 3 more fish gave as unbelievable fights , and were whacking the baits right back looking at the hook position when we got them in .The bags were working well , with a minimal amount of feed , and powdered boillies adding to the pulling power. It was a shorter day , as we layed in bed , not really looking forward to another 2 hour fight on the m40, but that's our choice , and you cant catch them watching telly !!. The trip home is much better for Sue , she closes her eyes , and hey presto , home in 10 mins !!!!!!!!.
