I decided to try a different peg tonight. I chose peg 5 for the following reasons: -
- Less of a walk to get there
- Large flat area to sit and lay out all of my gear
- Not too far above the low-level of the river
- It has an overhanging bush/tree on both sides of the peg
- The depth seemed reasonable near the overhanging bushes - some pegs currently have just a few inches of depth close in
My plan was to fish a large piece of luncheon meat near the upstream bush and vary my baits between lobworm, bread flake, cheese paste and luncheon meat near the downstream bush. I also decided to use a very light link (just 1 swan shot) near the downstream bush so that I could try touch ledgering near the bush and also allow the current to pull the bait very near or under the bush.
All sounds great in theory but, in practice, I was getting nothing other than tiny knocks on the cheese paste and bread flake. I guess that meant small fish. After a while I decided to put luncheon meat on both rods, place them in a their rests and just wait.
I was just starting to contemplate a blank session (thankfully not getting too many of them recently) when my downstream rod bent right round. I hit into a Barbel that took me a long way downstream. My line was right under the bush so I was not hopeful of getting this fish out. After letting it run for a while I tightened my drag slightly and managed to turn the fish. Eventually it moved out into mid river and I heaved a sigh of relief as it cleared the downstream bush. Then, after rolling on the surface, it made a lunge for the upstream bush and I saw the branches moving - not a good sign. Fortuitiously it untangled itself and swam back out into mid river. Finally I slid the net under this 8lb 8oz Barbel that was in perfect condition. If you look carefully at the anal fin, you can see a trace of what I believe was milt so perhaps the Barbel are still spawning - albeit a little late for that.
That was the only bite of the session. Still, I had now got to know another peg and had a lovely Barbel to boot.
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