Boilies for Barbel Blow.

The relentless, rhythmic nodding of the rod tip coupled with the roar of water passing over the weir eventually became tiresome, two and a half hours into my first river session of the new season and with no bites to show for it I decided, pretty much at the same time Phil did, that it was time for a move.

Phil had fared slightly, but not much, better than me so far having taken a chub of about a pound and a half and a couple of eels from the weirpool on his luncheon meat approach. Boldly and determinedly I had opted to fish boilies in an all out attack on the resident barbel population, an idea which throughout the close season seemed a certain winner but in practice had flopped horribly and knocked my confidence into the bargain.

Now the onus was on catching a fish at all costs but fortunately this stretch of the Avon is narrow and feature packed therefore lending itself to a roving approach well. Phil dropped in on a sharp bend just down from the weir and I moved further downstream where the river narrows dramatically and is fringed with thick reed beds. Cover for the angler here is provided by tall bankside nettles, cover for the fish consists of the reeds, an overhanging tree and a small weedbed.

A small lead in conjunction with a big bit of meat plopped under the far bank cover brought an instant response from a lovely looking little chub of about a pound and a half. Next cast produced another bite which I missed and a third cast tempted a confident bite and resulted in a fish of about two and a half pounds on the bank.

After this flurry of excitement we were to be frustrated for the rest of the day with most pegs tried producing no bites at all and at others the tip would never settle as (what were presumably) small fish attacked the bait.
Never mind though, I've been back on the river on a beautiful June day and caught a couple of fish...It's got to be better than watching England.