Feedback & Reports

My first try at barbel fishing. I had a fish of 9lb 8oz
fished middle of river as edges very snaggy, only 1 bite.
River conditions good but banks a bit dodgy. Boilie bait with a few free thrown in.

1 Barbel

My Nephew and I were guided by Kenny Parsons and I am pleased to say his deserved 100% record is intact. The river made us work for it but in the last knockings two immaculate upper 6lb Barbel were caught exactly where Kenny said they would be.
Tricky conditions on the river but what a beautiful day and after some great advice the fish turned up in the end. We also returned to the lower wood swim the next day, with the same feeder and pellet tactics and managed to tempt 7 more fish to 9lb 3oz.
Thank for a great weekend Kenny, WUF and the beautiful Wye.

2 Barbel, 2 Chub

My "brother of the angle",(MS from Rubery) and I made a visit to try the traditional grayling method on this the penultimate day of the season. The river was at a perfect height for trotting a maggot (Titley Mill gauge was reading 0.27m) so we set to work!
We weren't the only anglers there since we "flushed" some piscivorous birds half-way down the beat, but they didn't catch the two silvery 14" brown trout and two 12" grayling that we did.
A delightful beat which perhaps will be enjoyed even more through the winter months by those of us that enjoy trotting on a small river. Thank you WUF.

2 Trout, 2 Grayling

An originally overcast day became increasingly sunny but with recent bank erosion making access difficult in some areas and water temperature remaining very low, memories of a previous summer visit to this beat were soon fading. Nevertheless, we persevered and after a helpful discussion with Adam, we explored further options. It’s fair to say the first barbel was sliding over the net less than ten minutes after bidding Adam farewell, so thanks Adam.
Only one group of canoes all day, but debris from up-stream tree-cutting caused a degree of disruption and resulted in some losses of terminal tackle for us both.
Met Simon later in the day who timed his presence perfectly to photograph barbel no.2. Thanks for taking the perfect photo Simon.
By the end of the day, we had deceived the following into taking our baits:
CH - 2 Barbel (6lb 6oz, 5lb 8oz) and one small Brown Trout of approx. 8 inches.
BP - One solitary but memorable freshwater mussel.
All were caught on maggot, all were in excellent condition and all were duly returned in good health.
Overall, another enjoyable day in wonderful surroundings. Buzzards overhead, Pheasant and Partridge commonplace, all in the shadow of Goodrich Castle.
To both Adam and Simon, many thanks for taking time out from your clearance work to chat. It was an absolute pleasure to meet you both and to see the Foundation ‘in person’.

1 Trout, 2 Barbel

Bright sunny day, river near normal levels and clear but still pushing through. Took temp of water around 6-7 deg, chose to fish first swim over the foot bridge. Fed the head of the swim (from behind the willow) with 2 balls of heavy halibut ground bait laced with small pre-soaked micro pellets, gave this 20mins to work down into the swim. Fished over this with hair rigged elipse pellets for 3 hrs with out a touch. A change of bait resulted in 2 small salmon par and a 1.5lbs chub. Went back on the feeder and pellet and at aprx 5-30pm took a 4-5lb chub. Lovely to be out and warm in the sun even though fishing was slow.

2 Chub

1 Grayling

Worm.

1 Trout

Had a day on the river on Saturday at Courtfield. Unfortunately I blanked, but my partner had 2 x Barbel, best 8 1/4 lb and a small chubb. River in good condition, spoke to the riverkeeper who was very informative and told us that no barbel had come out of there since January.
Will be back in the summer.

2 Barbel, 1 Chub

River very low & clear could see the bottom half way across in many swims. Moved around but only had bites in two smims. 3 chub caught 3, 4 & 5lbs all on bread. Very enjoyable day & although it didn't help the fishing it was nice to see the sun.

3 Chub

Surprised at how low the river was. One 15" grayling and two out-of-season trout at 16" and 18", all from the gutters with weighted nymphs.

2 Trout, 1 Grayling