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Highs and Lows, Best and Worst, season so far.

Jon Frisby

Jon Frisby

Senior Member & Supporter
Just a thought that this year so far has been a bit up and down for me fishing wise and just wondering what other fellow BFW members season has brought so far to themselves, and their best and worst tackle or accessory etc..

My high so far as whole, has to be the season so far, meeting new friends and fishing new areas and catching some fantastic fish on the way.
I had a low point in the season where i had a lot of multiple catches and a PB, well it was burn out i caught, so i altered my fishing from ledger to float fishing for Barbel and reaped the rewards. It was a very strange feeling and i hope i never get it again, variety being the key word.
I have numerous good buy's so far, my best has to be a Cree headlight, which is amazing with such a true light, Garlic spam and good old ESP D-7 hooks without these two it would have been very different.
I cannot seem to find a poor bit of tackle so far, but i did buy a couple of True pins, but found out my Okuma pins were better.

Jon
 
I haven't really bought any bad tackle this season. My best buy this season must have been the twin tip Bob Church rod along with one of the famous dragoncarp pins. Tend to use accumulated advice from this site to avoid bad tackle and so far so good, keepup the good work lads. Now all I need to do is find where all the barbel on the Tees are hiding :p
 
Been a poor season for me this year barbel wise, can count how many I have had on one hand, the thames carp on the other hand.. Has been the best year I've had with my pb being broken twice.
Best buy this year has to be a stalking set up, roving with one rod and a pair of polaroids has been brilliant.
Low point, has to be losing a couple of mid 30 carp at the net in the same day :-(
The worst item I brought myself (which for a short while was the best thing I ever brought) a shimano tribal 25ltr rucksack, great bag until it fell apart after using it less than a dozen times...
 
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High point was catching a pb from my local river which Jon kindly photographed , low point was losing a bigger fish the week previous ...
Tackle wise i don't think i bought anything that was that bad really
 
High point, breaking my pb constantly and i think i've improved a lot the last 2 years. Caught more barbel this year than ever before :)
Low point was trying out a centre pin and getting hooked....
 
Apologies to those who have already seen this on the Rivers thread but this was my high of the year:

I posted this on another site, but thought it might be of interest to those who fish this lovely river.

A quick reprise (for those who aren't aware). My Dad used to fish the local farm ponds as a lad and when I was old enough, took me
to the very same. Small Perch, Roach and Rudd were the order of the day but it got me into the sport. Whilst I stopped at the age of
eighteen, I returned just over four years ago after an opportune meeting with Mick Hill (Mod) from the YF site. My parents have been
visiting this week and after a round of golf on Wednesday, a day's fishing was on the agenda. More importantly, I wanted my Dad
(who's now 78 years young) to catch a river barbel (he'd had a couple of stockies a few years ago when we fished at The Oaks at Sessay).
So, with an EA day licence and day ticket sorted, it was off to the Nidd.

The river was low as expected, but clearer than at any other time I've fished it this year, so it was not going to be easy. I baited
several swims so that we could drop into them later and settled into a spot with an overhanging willow on the far bank to target.
We started on naturals, and he had a few plucks but no real bites. After an hour or so we moved to a new swim with a deeper channel
on the nearside which had produced in the past. Not a flicker, so he tried the far side and this produced a perch of just over a pound
(bigger than those of his youth!)

DSC02133edit-1-1.jpg


Soon after he had a proper take and as his rod bent into the fish I thought we were on a winner. Unfortunately (and I will have to
follow this up) the hook sheared at the start of the bend! This had happened to me at the start of the season (same make of hook)
and I had just put it down to 'one of those things'. And that was that for that swim.

We moved on again but without success so dropped into the last of the pegs I'd pre-baited. My Dad was rather sceptical about the
pellets I was using (he'd been fishing two rods and hadn't had a tap on the one baited with pellets to that point). I reassured him
that they were well worth persevering with and shortly after he had a nice chub in the net. At 3lb another PB!

DSC02137edit.jpg


Still no Barbel though, so it was off to the final peg and a last opportunity as the day was drawing to a close. I've had success before
here, away from the obvious feature. So in went the pellets and we sat back and waited....and waited. It was depressingly dead until
'last knockings,' when a couple of short pulls signified the arrival of the fish. I was literally praying for a Barbel when my Dad's rod bent
round and he lifted into a good fish. I'd told him about the strength these fish possess and it didn't disappoint. I was dreading the
moment that the hook might pull, or the line break, or the fish get solid in a snag, but never thought he'd lose it because I failed to
net it properly! Whilst this very nearly happened, fortunately it didn't and the fish was landed. This brought smiles all round and I was
as pleased (and relieved) as my Dad. At 6lb 5oz it was a lovely fish for the Nidd and a great way to end the day.

DSC02143edit.jpg


Job done! :)

As for a low...missing numerous runs (probably Catfish) at Lakemore in Cheshire during a three-day session. I'll be back!
 
Jon Frisby said:
This one Jason,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/300L-ZOOMABLE...ing_LightsLanternsTorches&hash=item255b352288
or very similar. So impressed with the true light my next one will be rechargeable.
Click to expand...

Cheers Jon, just ordered the rechargable.

Back to the thread, I haven't done as much fishing as I'd have liked this year but the high would have to be my first and only Warks Avon barbel of 11-4, the low definately the trip to Newark hospital to have a hook removed from a finger, ouch!!
 
I would say this season has been a real eye opener. Not so much in what I have achieved but the excitement of what Is still out there to achieve. I have come back into fishing after about 5 years out. Before I was very young and just happy down the canal with a friend catching Roach and the odd perch or bream. I returned to fishing after discovering a colleague's love of the sport. And now it has taken off stronger than ever. It has taken over as my main hobby and I would now describe it as an obsession. I haven't caught a great deal of fish but have still been have enjoyed the time I have spent in the countryside in such peaceful surroundings. Realising that its not just catching the biggest fish or as many as you can. It's such a bigger picture than that and I am so glad to be the one of the lucky people to have discovered it. So I would say that fishing is the high point of my season. And may it continue to be.

I am also very grateful to have discovered the people associated with fishing. I can't think of another hobby that has so many genuine and kind hearted people involved in it. From the people on the banks, people in the tackle shops and of course the people on site's such as these ones.

My lows would be the lack of consistency with catching, but if it was easy it wouldn't be worth achieving and there is nothing like failure as a motivator.

Best tackle or accessory would have to be my Ruck bag. Don't know how I would have coped with out my "fishing hub". Helps me keep organised and confident that I have everything I need.

Worst is not necessarily bad but I wasn't overly pleased with the Korum Quick Lock Cam. Nice design but I use it on my landing net handle and when I had to reach out over some reeds to get a 3lb 10oz chub it flexed quite a lot so am wondering that it may not cope with a bigger fish if I was in such a situation again.

Tight lines all:)
Chris
 
Definate low point, would be my long time fishing buddie emigrating to Australia. Only returning to fishing about 5/6 years ago, he has taught me so much, as well as introducing me to river fishing. I only wish i had discovered rivers a long time ago. But thanks to him ( Tony Churchill ), i have some great days ahead of me.

High point, would be an invite by a member of this forum, a man i,ve never met, to take me on a recce, to a new river for me, and give me a guided tour at my convenience. Thank you so much Clive Kirkman.

As for tackle, i,ve finally bought a pin and can,t wait to give it a try. I also got a bit of Tony,s tackle that he couldn,t take with him. Hopefully i can do it justice.

To Tony and Clive, i raise a glass to you both. Cheers. :)
 
Worst season ever as regards numbers of barbel (7 so far) and not looking likely to get many more if this weather continues.

Getting a pair of waders for the first time and getting in the water with the fish has been very enjoyable and eye opening. Having a 9lb barbel swim between my legs during the fight was higly amusing, especially to the missus!

On the tackle front, the Dragon Carp centrepin was a good buy for £30. Got a mate one for christmas and he's well chuffed. (it's his first pin)!

Roll on the end of the season.

Good luck to all.

Jeff
 
A poor season for me barbel wise also, but I wasn't trying as hard as previous years.

My low point came after the death of double figure barbel on the Thames during the summers low water / low oxygen conditions. Despite spending an hour & 20 mins trying to revive the fish I lost it. A very upsetting experience that really effected me as I'd never lost one before. In away though it did me a favour as it made me concentrate my efforts on the rivers carp instead.

I found a stack of a fish that, despite what some people might think, were not easy to catch but did manage 4 fish averaging 24lb. Not a bad return that. The high point of my season came in the form of one of those fish which was my first Thames 30, a stunning common.

I'll get back to fishing for the barbel but the carp have proved to be a real eye opener for me and an exciting new challenge that I will be eagerly pursuing next Summer when conditions aren't right for barbus, which on the Thames is usually till October. :( ;).

Duncan.

ps Echo Jeff's sentiments in respect of the Dragon Carp pin, for that price I bought two and have not been disappointed. Best tackle purchase in 2010 for me by a country mile.
 
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Only three barbel this season so far and seriously doubt if there will be any more.
The high point was a week on the Hampshire Avon at the end of June with my wife Tina,in her first full season fishing.We fished the Parlour twice and although she didn,t catch a barbel she caught a wide variety of species in good numbers.Whilst fishing the Royalty she did hook a nice barbel and played it right to the net where its final turn saw the hook in the bankside vegetation and the barbel sliding off back into the depths.We now have to book for next year so she can go back and get the b......!
On the tackle front the best purchase would have to be Tinas brolly:mad:I have pulled it out of the river,chased it across fields,repaired it when it fell to pieces and had an eighty mile round trip to retrieve it after being left on the river bank.
Like Jeff,roll on the end of the season.
Tight lines
Uremad
 
From my (and others) experience Steve, you did well to hook anything on the Royalty this year. The good point is it surely can't be as bad the next time you come down!

Good luck when you do.

Jeff
 
High point of the season was my first session in June with all the anticipation and hope for the new season....

Low point was only getting my second session of the season 3 weeks ago :mad:
 
Must say ive had my best season for some years for catching big Barbel & Chub. I moved to Dorset early on in the year and couldent wait to fish the Avon & Stour. I had fished the Royalty for a few years as a visiting angler and never caught one Barbel. This changed this season, i fished the Royalty the first couple of weeks of the season and caught 11 Barbel in total two of them being good doubles..But better was too come, I started fishing the Stour more often employing stalking tactics, so far ive caught 5 big Barbel up to 12lb 10oz, two of them i was actually able to watch them take my bait which was amazing!! i also had a few smaller ones between 8 to 9lb+..Ive also had some big Chub with the biggest going 7lb 4oz..The low point has been this very early cold snap!!!!!:eek:
 
The high point, for me, was catching a barbel on the opening day, then a couple of productive days on the Teme with Jez, Paddy and BBH in August. No low points apart from the early start to winter and the receding prospect of any barbel before February.

As I posted on another thread; there have been some cracking fish caught this season, so well done to all....
 
High point, was on the opening weekend, 10lb barbel and a 5lb chub plus a river carp about 5lb in one short evening session on the wandle, low point having my garage broken into and my fav rod stolen still waiting for it to come through insurance, have not been motivated enough to go out since!!
 
Low point was smelling the source boilie and thinking it ould catch me loads of Barbel on my local river whilst only leaving smelly trail where ever I went. High point (1) was float fishing the River Itchin and catching Grayling and Trout yesterday. It's given me a future goal of catching a Barbel on the float. High point (2) was catching a 8-9lb Barbel on curry spam after having waded across a river to get to a back river in order to catch a 9lb Barbel and needing to jump into 5ft deep water in order to land the beauty in a very tight swim.
 
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