We planned our annual trip to the Wye for Saturday 28th August - well i say annual but its been 2 years since i have been to this fantastic river.
First thing i noticed when i got there was how busy the stretch was, Hereford AA day ticket that 2 years ago gave me the whole of the stretch now was far busier. Talking to the bailiff, east europeans and many visitors like me made it very popular these days - i was talking to guys from various parts of the UK who had made the journey.
Well the river never disapoints, we were first to the best pegs after leaving Salford at 3am - Geoff a mate who lives near this river was first in the water and within 5 mins had a great chub of about 2,5lb on halibut pellet
First thing i noticed when i got there was how busy the stretch was, Hereford AA day ticket that 2 years ago gave me the whole of the stretch now was far busier. Talking to the bailiff, east europeans and many visitors like me made it very popular these days - i was talking to guys from various parts of the UK who had made the journey.
Well the river never disapoints, we were first to the best pegs after leaving Salford at 3am - Geoff a mate who lives near this river was first in the water and within 5 mins had a great chub of about 2,5lb on halibut pellet
Chris was next to take a chub at 3lb - pic below - on meat.
The barbel where there Geoff could see them role but they were not having any of it
Dad was bit bashing with a 3-6oz chub a chuck on maggot, there must of been millions of them as your feeder wasnt even hitting the deck - you had little chance to get through to the bigger fish - but we ploughed on to try and feed through them but it wasnt working - there was no so much a big head of big fish so you had to change your bait and be patient. I the middle of this he had a good trout pic below - which he duly returned
Dad was bit bashing with a 3-6oz chub a chuck on maggot, there must of been millions of them as your feeder wasnt even hitting the deck - you had little chance to get through to the bigger fish - but we ploughed on to try and feed through them but it wasnt working - there was no so much a big head of big fish so you had to change your bait and be patient. I the middle of this he had a good trout pic below - which he duly returned
I decided to go for a walk with Chris after a peg or so with nothing we settled in to a wide stretch that had trees on the far bank.
I was talking to Chris and i only turned to him for a spilt second when i saw his face change - i turned round to see my rod which was 6inches from me be dragged into the water - the drop was about 4ft so once i missed it - it was gone. The fish was dragging the rod and reel over tó the overhanging trees - you could see the top 3ft of the rod stick out of the water and tight line taking you to the fish under the big tree braches on the far side. To be fair it was my fault as i had my rod in a tip position due to the landscape.
This happened to me witha cheap whip 3 years ago when it was by my side when i was legering with the 2nd rod - its not as if i was nieve and left my rod unattended!!!!!
Just then some canoeists approached and they looked like they were from the local army base - i asked them to retrieve my rod - the lad said he could feel the fish on - i asked him to take the bale arm off and paddle the 40 yards upstream to me - they needed to be athletic to get up against the current.
The lad passed me the rod but in his journey he must have smashed the rig as the hooklength was gone - still a bonus i got my rod and reel back.
So i headed back to the main pegs and the water was getting very busy - i decided to go on maggot and corn and with a 6lb hooklenth i was still catching chublets for fun - Chris managed one on a 12mm halibut - but on meat you wernt bothered by them - strange eh?
Dad was sick of catching em so was on meat - at about 3,30pm with only a couple of hours remaining Geoff was into a Barbel it was a great fight and weighed 9lb dead - it looked similar to the fish dad had a 8.6 2 years before from the same peg - it had a funny shape to the backbone and head, this was soon follwed by one lost before it was netted - straighted the hook and a 4lber
. 
Dad then switched to pellet and within 30mins he was in - another good fish just short of 7lb graced his net.(sorry about the pic dad i keep doing this to you!!!)
Dad then switched to pellet and within 30mins he was in - another good fish just short of 7lb graced his net.(sorry about the pic dad i keep doing this to you!!!)
While the fishing wasnt prolific due to the stretched being overfished everyone left happy and that included me - no big uns but it flet like i had gained a new rod and reel.
