James joined me on the Small River for an end of season fish-off. Most barbel wins a pint. And there were no extra points for breaking into the others swim and poaching out a fish - but we did it anyway!
To be honest there was quite a bit of faffing about, clearing swims and a bit of litter picking but when we got going I took an early lead - the first three barbel were mine - including a 6lb 9oz & 7lb 0oz barbel.
But James wasn't going to be beaten on his home-river, especially by someone new who had only been fishing the river for fifteen years! And soon started bagging - including a 7lb 2oz barbel.
Action was hectic - and included four double hook-ups - we were going to get a photo of us both with a barbel, so I left one in the net - James took too long to land his, so I had another while waiting!
And then we forgot to take the photo - but does explain the top photo - none of those fish were kept in the net for more than a couple of minutes. First time either of us has had a three barbel photo.
A cracking afternoon and the final scores on the doors: James: 10x barbel to 7lb 2oz, Brian: 10x barbel to 7lb 0oz. Ten each - which was the perfect way to end up. Can't beat a twenty barbel afternoon!
And as a bonus we found a couple of stag beetle grubs where someone had broken a fence post. We put them out of the way and built them a little log pile - hopefully see them again buzzing along the riverbank.
Friday 14 March (6 hours)
Barbel: 6lb 7oz, 3lb, 7lb 0oz, 5lb, 5½lb, 5lb, 5lb, 6½lb, 3½lb, 6lb (10)
So just 9 short missions on the Small River this season, with 57 barbel added, taking my total up to a nice round 1,700. Need another 7+ though - I'll be back next season...
| Season | No | 5+ | 7+ | 10+ | Best |
| 2010/11 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6lb 6oz |
| 2011/12 | 44 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 9lb 12oz |
| 2012/13 | 56 | 34 | 20 | 6 | 12lb 4oz |
| 2013/14 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 7lb 13oz |
| 2014/15 | 71 | 33 | 16 | 1 | 10lb 1oz |
| 2015/16 | 127 | 45 | 15 | 0 | 9lb 4oz |
| 2016/17 | 70 | 31 | 15 | 2 | 11lb 15oz |
| 2017/18 | 132 | 56 | 23 | 2 | 10lb 9oz |
| 2018/19 | 101 | 36 | 13 | 1 | 10lb 3oz |
| 2019/20 | 164 | 69 | 28 | 5 | 12lb 1oz |
| 2020/21 | 250 | 77 | 20 | 6 | 14lb 2oz |
| 2021/22 | 180 | 34 | 8 | 2 | 11lb 1oz |
| 2022/23 | 228 | 47 | 8 | 1 | 10lb 9oz |
| 2023/24 | 185 | 59 | 16 | 4 | 10lb 14oz |
| 2024/25 | 57 | 22 | 5 | 0 | 7lb 6oz |
| Total: | 1,700 | 563 | 199 | 30 |
For a minute there, I thought you were using stag beetle larvae for bait :o(
ReplyDeleteA mad session to end the season, you deserve a rest but I have no doubt you have plenty planned for the next three months.
We did joke about using them - bet they’d tempt those shy Small River chub.
DeleteGreat session to end on - and now I’m a man without a plan..!
Great session on the little river. 1700 looks great, 200 7+ would of been 1701 which looks odd! Catch some more please Brian! I might venture down post June 16th.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the number after the slash on the year??
Cheers. One of the sixes could have been a bit bigger for 1,700 / 200 but it’ll keep me coming back. Might see you there next season.
Delete2024/25 is the season that starts in 2024 and ends in 2025 - made sense in my head but obviously not very clear.
Ah. I was reading it as 2024/2557. There is no space on my screen. I see now, it's 2024/25 57 caught then then weights. I was not reading it right! Sorry
DeleteWrote my own Blogger interface, didn't like the standard one, sometimes it doesn't like small screen sizes. I'll fix it at some stage...
DeleteWhat a way to end the season nice one Brian and James. Barbel soup nice to see 😎
ReplyDeleteCheers, cracking last trip. Sometimes it’s barbel soup, sometimes it seems to be devoid of life!
DeleteThat was me btw !!
ReplyDeleteI can only login on Chrome now - think Blogger needs some updates…
DeleteA cracking social
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Got to fish hard (and fast) when you’re fishing with James!
DeleteNice to catch up on the bank Brian. You went on to have a great session I see. A couple for me which was a good enough end to the season. Hope to see you again in the new season. Let’s hope the Wye starts the season better than this one did.!
ReplyDeleteReally nice to catch up, your tails of monster Wye pike may keep me on the river for another season! Glad you went on to get a couple, saw you heading down into big fish territory… Hope one was a double!
DeleteThat was good fun aye! a nice feeling to break up those runs of blanks in search of leviathans! well done mate you did well ( even if you did poach FIVE barbel out of my swim ) :-) Good to fun indeed.
ReplyDeleteIf you’re going to keep casting into a tree I’m going to keep poaching fish out of your swim! I think we hooked 10 fish in 12 casts between us.
DeleteI hope Stu reads this, imagine how many he’d have had that afternoon…