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Patrick Cooper

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Well not long now till the end of another season. Looking back at the season, what are your highlights and low times? My highlight would be upping my barbel and pike pb's. The frustrating low of my season would be the lack of hours on the bank coupled with a poor river state when I was free to fish. So what where yours?:rolleyes:
 
Been Barbel fishing since i was 14 years old, started with my father on the Severn and the obsession grew, fished many of the rivers all around the country that contain Barbel and over the last 16 years i have caught literally hundreds of them. But untill this year i had never caught a double figure fish in fact i had never caught a Barbel over 8lb!!. A good friend of mine said enough was enough and invited me up to the Middle Trent for the night, first fish that night broke my PB by one ounce, next fish was my first double at 10lb 8oz, i then went on to catch another double at 11lb 3oz and lost a much bigger fish. On my return to the river Severn my duck had been broken and in the space of a week i caught 6 fish bigger than my old PB that had stood for 10years!! They have been like buses ever since.
This year i also promised myself i would catch my first river carp and i did that too with a very welcome 12lb 13oz common that went like stink on the Barbel gear.
Its been my best year fishing by far as between the river fishing i also targeted a small Nene Valley pit for the carp it held, there were only 12 carp in there and i caught all of the big fish in the pit after a mad baiting campaig that ran from Jan-April, I upped my Mirror carp PB to 36lb 13oz and caught my second 40lb+ Common Carp at 44lb 12oz which made it into the News Section of Carp talk as the fish had been uncaught for 18months and was persumed dead.
I can only dream that 2013 will be better than 2012, this year i want that elusive 40lb mirrror. But the season is not over yet, i have two nights on the Trent this weekend fishing a spot that by friday will have seen nearly 40kg of bait!! Hopeing to finish the season with a 12lb Barbel then its on to the new Nene Valley syndicate to chase that unknown 40lb mirror.
 
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Thats fantastic Kris, I hope this year brings you plenty. Amazing what confidence does for you.
 
highlight for me was getting nice and early to the swim on the wye and having an angler walk past me and totaly ignoring my good morning gesture..clearly ****ed i had got the swim before him:rolleyes:
then having him come back late afternoon saying not even a bite all day up there how you doing..to which i reported 11 caught so far..he then asks any room down there..which there was plenty and i took great pleasure in replying NO:D
the conversation then kinda stopped dead there..cant think why
 
Way below average year.. not enough time to go and when i could the rivers were out of sorts..
not fished the bristol avon at all. first time i can ever remember and it's nearest spot for a chance of a barbel is 15mins by car...
looking at doing some tench fishing when season ends on the rivers because we have a lovely estate lake which i haven't exploited as yet only touched upon, looking at a new club water on the wye, wrapped in my local club water as cormorants have decimated the place leaving only the mud pigs in there. not one of my best seasons by a long chalk but hopefully it's all change from now on as got stuck in a bit of a rut and looking forward to the weather warming up and getting out and catching a few..
 
Phil Maggs said:
Way below average year.. not enough time to go and when i could the rivers were out of sorts..
not fished the bristol avon at all. first time i can ever remember and it's nearest spot for a chance of a barbel is 15mins by car...
looking at doing some tench fishing when season ends on the rivers because we have a lovely estate lake which i haven't exploited as yet only touched upon, looking at a new club water on the wye, wrapped in my local club water as cormorants have decimated the place leaving only the mud pigs in there. not one of my best seasons by a long chalk but hopefully it's all change from now on as got stuck in a bit of a rut and looking forward to the weather warming up and getting out and catching a few..
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Amen to that Phil, its been very poor on the whole, The amount of cormorants ive seen on the lower severn is unreal, if I was a bounder and a cad I would have shot a few with my 12 bore;)
 
Possibly one of, if not the worse season ever, nothing memorable at all, can't wait for it to end!
 
Nothing memorable for me either poor fishing barbel wise. The only bright spots have been one good session on the Severn and some nice days out fishing for other species with mates. The one and only highlight was a friend catching a monster fish. He along with a few others switched species due to the poor barbel catch rates on my local water and after nearly a couple of years targeting them surpassed what anyone thought was possible. I say well done that man unsung hero.
 
Forcing myself try new swims on a regular basis and successfully catching barbel in them; not having sufficient skills to fish the rivers in bank-high conditions (which would have been really useful this season).
 
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My first season of barbel fishing having had to curtail fly fishing due to an elbow injury so no previous seasons to reflect upon.

Highs
Catching a barbel within an hour on my first trip.
Catching more barbel this season than I had caught in my life time.
Very few blanks.
Finding a delightful stretch of water containing barbel within 10 miles of home.
Early morning sessions and going to work having caught a barbel.

Lows
Finding out my waterproof jacket was no longer waterproof in the middle of a productive session.
Too many days with the river over its banks.
Not enough time when conditions were right.
Would have liked a double!
 
highs............ having ceri learn how to fish, catch a bigger barbel than my pb, her reading my fishing mags, asking me loads of questions, buying gear & generally really wanting to learn
lows,.............i wished i hadn,t opened my mouth
 
Highpoint last June,first day out sat with a mate of 30 odd years watching the rod butts lifting off the floor every 20 minutes on a flooded river and the power of my first double.Lowpoint,c'est la vie,me fishing bud of 40 years sell his tack and enter the abyss.
 
highs have to be a successful spring on an old yorkshire estate lake upping my tench pb to 6lb 15oz, and getting onto the trent and catching my first double and pb barbel, and pb carp:D

lows though have to be the rivers been over the banks to often, pulling off the tench water too soon. and not getting down to the trent enough.

looking forward to this year though with lots of new found knowledge;)
 
A really mixed season for me.

Highs
Had three doubles
Caught more barbel this season than ever before
Caught my first barbel on the float

Eels drove me insane on the lower this season
So much of the season wiped out by poor conditions
Unable even get near my stretch of the lower Severn for probably a third of the season.
 
Alex I know, I fished the Kennet once, they were a right pain.

I guess it's just a matter of time till they reach the Severn.:(
 
Apart from a very short season due to weather my high as got to be catching my first double and then another a few weeks later,2 dubs from 2 rivers,just hope i can match that next season.
 
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