Back on peg 13
I decided to try an evening on peg 13, fishing with my seat-box mid-river in the hope that the big fish might like that faster water. I was fishing for about 6:30pm and had out two rods. One concentrating on Chub using bread or cheese-paste and the other on luncheon meat.
An early take
At around 7:05 I saw a few light taps on the meat rod. Then at 7:25 the meat tip bent over and I was into a Barbel. It shot off down river and was a lovely fight as I slowly drew it back up the channel toward me. I am usually sat on the bank so have never been down at water level when playing a big fish. I eventually netted a fish of 8lb 6oz and it was great not having to lift the fish out of the water whilst I unhooked and prepared for weighing. I was also able to photo the fish just above the water level. Had it jumped out of my hands it would have been free so I made sure to weigh it first: –
More early taps
At about 7:45 I saw more taps on the meat and then some taps on the cheese-paste. I was hoping that this would become a great evening. However nothing took the bait so had a long wait ahead.
Another Barbel
At around 9:50 my meat rod took off again. This resulted in a Barbel that I hoped would be a double as it seemed very big in the net. However it went 9lb 5oz: –
Light was now fading fast so I was about to pack up when the nearer rod started to go. I think I had meat on it by now. This resulted in a Chub of about 2.5lb.
Summary
I was really enjoying my start to the 2022 season. Three Barbel in the first two outings and they were all of a decent size.
