10.07.15

Dean's on the barbel trail again!

Time has been at a premium of late with all the filming and coaching, so when a friend ask me to accompany him to the River Wye for a day’s barbel fishing for his 40th, I couldn't resist and it was on one of my favourite stretches at Lower Canon Bridge run by the Wye And Usk Foundation.

The first day was a real treat for me as Jeff had never caught a barbel before and so I soon decided that rather than wet a line for myself, I would make it my goal to help him achieve his wish.

After an hour spent prepping several swims, he had his first barbel on in the net within five minutes. And that wasn't the end; we continued with the magic formula of him fishing and me helping and he ended up with 20-plus chub and barbel throughout the day from six different swims.

The second day I met up with another pal and wet a line for the first time this season for myself. We fished a reasonably new stretch of river run by Adam Fisher and Angling Dreams. As with most newish beats there was an element of hacking our way to the river, which I love - proper wild fishing!

The sun was high and the heat was oppressive but the barbel still decided to chomp away at my mix of Hinder and Mainline Baits. By the end of the day we managed to nick a few nice fish in far from ideal conditions.

For all the fish, we used 10lb Drag line to a micro lead clip with a 10lb IQ2 fluorocarbon hook link and size 10 MWGB hook with a variety of pellets and pastes as hook bait.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before or not but here goes, just in case - I bloody love the Wye!

For more information on fishing the River Wye, check out www.anglingdreams.co.uk and www.wyeuskfoundation.org Details of bookable stretches and guides can be found on both websites.

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