Part two

   

By the Thames
I fished a private weirpool on the Thames yesterday, by kind invitation and in the company of Nigel Connor.
I should clarify that, and say it was a charity day auction lot that I won on a angling forum some while ago.
Our home, being about as far away from everywhere, the drive took me what seems to be the usual three and a half hours. Setting off just before 8 am gave me time to arrive at our meeting place adjacent to the Thames at noon, in fact I arrived at 11:15.
We had learned that the fire brigade were due to carry out an exercise in the weirpool in the afternoon, but we decided to go ahead anyway and fished a couple of swims downstream under the willows.The water was up and coloured, must have had a bit of rain further upstream.
All in all a rather unproductive afternoon, but switching from pellet to an apple corer cut, core of garlic spam on a size 8 bought me a sharp bite, which I missed and assumed it was perhaps a chub. Half the core was still on the hook so I immediately put it back on the same spot, a sudden take and what felt like quite good fish in the current turned out to be, to me, a sizeable eel.

Having no idea of the scale of length to weight of eels, after removing easily my barbless hook, I put it in a plastic bag and weighed it just out of interest, it came in at 2lb12ozs.
Pauline asked me later, when I reported in, if I was bringing it home for the pot, my response was in the negative, but I did think about it for a short while, before the thought of rarity and having no smoker at home, jellied and stewed eels are not to my taste, won me over, so I watched it kick and swim off stongly.

Kites overhead all afternoon

The fire brigade moved off just after 4pm so we decided to move up into the weirpool, that was after I had brewed a fresh cuppa rosie lee for us both from my Kelly kettle.Forgot the strainer so standby bags of Assam used.
Did you notice how my East London accent crept back in there! ;o)
I had already booked an overnighter in the High Wycombe Travelodge, which as it turned out proved to be a good investment of £50. We fished until late and I don't think I would have fancied the journey home after a tiring day of fishing.
Anyway, duly ensconced in the weirpool I decided to fish two rods for a while.
By the way, I took my two Young's John Wilson barbel travel rods, it didn't appeal to me to have my other rods on show overnight in a public car park at High Wycombe!
One rod down the inside with my Purist II and the other with my 5010 out into the maelstrom of the pool.
The inside line remained motionless, other than the constant tug of leaf debris, the other rod I decided to try out a new pellet to me, but a batch that had been in my garage for quite a while, Teme Severn Lamprey.
My very first Thames barbel arrived after about an hour, now I had been expecting big fish as I understood from Nigel that smaller barbel were in short supply. My fish at just before 6 o'clock surprised him as it came in at "only" 5lb 6ozs! In fact as far as I can recall my first barbel of the season, having not been in the right frame of mind to fish the rivers more than a couple of times.
Jeff Woodhouse turned up just after this for a fish, but mostly a chat, and was standing with me when within the half an hour the big twitch occurred and I had my second, again a "small" fish at, about 7lb 12ozs.
I was hoping for the off chance of meeting Frank Guttfield turning up as he fishes this stretch. I have been a fan of his writings since the early 60's, unfortunately Jeff advised he wasn't too well, a bit of a head cold.
Never mind maybe I'll get another "invite".
Just before darkness set in we had a break for a chilli, pre-cooked and reheated by Nigel along with a bottle of Adnams finest Ghost Ship. All very nice too and a welcome change to my usual sandwich.

Unfortunately, no more fish were caught by Nigel or myself, but I did learn that many a blank takes place on this stretch, a couple of them by a self proclaimed local-ish expert !
So off to Wycombe for a nights rest, followed by something close to a good breakfast, and then home to help Pauline shift our just delivered wine order from Laithwaites into a "safe" location, in the hope it lasts until Christmas...I very much doubt it will though!!.

Tomorrow

For me a car is just a method of transport, I keep ours serviced, full up with the essentials and very rarely clean it, but our eleven year old Octavia  is due it's MOT and a full service tomorrow  .
I know it 's due a new timing kit, and probably new bushes on the front suspension, so we'll see what else it needs the keep the ol'girl on the road, or if it's time to buy the replacement I'm thinking about, before she becomes more costly than it's worthwhile to keep her roadworthy.She's served me well.


Barbel Tales, from the Barbel Society   

As I was the collator and gatherer  of many of the chapters for a new book before I resigned from the Barbel Society committee I thought it only right to give the book a push on my blog.

So here are the details

The Barbel Society is proud to announce the forthcoming publication of a milestone publication, probably the most definitive book on barbel and barbel fishing ever produced. The book is a celebration of barbel fishing to date, and of the impact and successes of the Barbel Society in the last fifteen years.
The book is a rich blend of the best of articles published in the renowned Barbel Fisher magazine, and of guest chapters written by a long list of barbel anglers, both those with long-established reputations and with contributions from a host of modern writers.
There will be over 300 pages of barbel fishing stories, advice on baits, rigs and tactics, and this detailed work will include a mine of information on a range of barbel fisheries and rivers.

Guest writers include; 
Peter Wheat,Fred Crouch,Steve Pope, Pete Reading, John Wilson,
Neill Stephen,Dean Macey,Phil Smith, Phil Buckingham,Len Arbery, Bob Buteux, Rob Swindells
Dave Steuart,Ade Kiddell,Simon Asbury, Jon Berry,Trevor Harrop, Budgie Price

Books are available to pre-order on the Barbel Society website, and there will be a total of 50 leathers and 1000 hardbacks.
Website
Leathers £180 inc p&p
Hardbacks £35 inc p&p
First 500 hardbacks are numbered and reserved for members only.
Members may purchase both leather and hardback at a reduced rate of £200 inc p&p

The book will be published in June 2013 and launched at the Barbel Show on 9th June.

Please note, that if purchasing online using PayPal, then a surcharge will apply to cover Paypal costs.
Alternatively, send a cheque for the appropriate amount to :
Martin Howell: 7 ABBOTTS CLOSE, PURBROOK, HAMPSHIRE, PO7 5ET.