This and that

The Barbel Show 2014, Sunday 4th May 2014

Chesford Grange Hotel, Coventry Road, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2LD

Speakers include;
John Bailey all round angler, author, TV presenter
Bob Roberts barbel angler supreme and latest DVD available
Paul Witcher presents his new DVD Magical Waters
Terry Theobald barbel fishing my way and assorted tales
Dr Mark Everard the science of barbel and roach

Large trade room, bait, tackle, books, DVDs, etc all at pre-season prices.
Mega raffle
Tickets available from address below or via Paypal on the BS website.
www.barbelsociety.co.uk
Members £8 Non Members £10
Wives/partners/children under 16 free.
Tickets in advance from The Barbel Society 17 Mayford Road Poole Dorset BH12 1PT, include SAE.
Cheques payable to The Barbel Society
Paypal surcharge of £1 if paying online

Message from Steve Pope

It really would be good if we could get the next Barbel Society magazine, our tribute to Fred Crouch, out before the Barbel Show. 

For this to happen I'm going to need all the features in by the end of February. 

So what I'm asking is this. 

Anyone who has their own story to tell about Fred please start work on it now, it doesn't have to be long, a mixture of short anecdotes together with a few 1500 word essays will be great. 

Photos as well, I have plenty for back up but if you have your own personal shots that would be brilliant. 

I really want to make this special so I'm relying on a really good response. Many thanks.

Fishing


Having been watching river levels of both the Trent and Witham I have decided that I don't want to drive for an hour on the off chance of finding either location fishable.

The Lady Pitt stretch access is I'm sure difficult, hearing second hand reports about the long slope up from the river,it was bad enough on my last visit but a lot of water on the fields since then.

The upper Witham is at it's highest so far this year, so not ready for the chub yet.

Praying for a dry patch and frost.

So I decided to go down in the valley for a go at some roach in the big reservoir, but the place is waterlogged access was difficult, the natural springs must be full to over flowing!

So I abandoned that, not wanting to get towed out of the mud.

Another holiday

Having dealt with some things that needed to be done in respect of Jim's house, and still not in a position to progress the sale or clearance,I decided to check out Australia.

I've been wanting to get down there again for some time, picking the time has been difficult.

Anyway we've  bitten the bullet, decided that the best time to visit my brother was out of the cyclone season and to miss high summer and the 40 plus centigrade they've recently been "enjoying". It's tipping it down today!

As I've also been promised some sea fishing from my nieces husband on his new boat, I thought,why not ? I may not get the chance again.

So it's now booked, we are off to Kuala Lumpur for a two night stopover, then Sydney for a few days, fly up to Brisbane, and then fly onto Cairns for a few days.

We have arranged to hire a car to skip down the east coast back to Brisbane, for another couple of days, and then flying across to Perth.

We then fly up to Exmouth to stay with my brother for a week. Australia's coral coast

After that back to Perth for another couple of days with my two other nieces, and nephew.

All in all, a month away from blighty.

As can be imagined we are looking forward to our latest adventure before time closes in on us too much.

First snow of winter

We had some big flakes this morning, heavy for a while and it settled for a while.

It's now gone!

Well,fancy that!

Guardians of the waterways!