It was that time of the year again. Can it really be 12 months since our last visit to the Wye Valley for some early summer barbel fishing? It’s flown by, which is frightening really. Still they say as you get older the faster the times seems to go and it looks like ‘they’ are right.
The only worry we had was that the barbel may not have spawned by the time we got there. In fact they did the weekend prior to our arrival. We suspected that the fishing would be quite slow and looking at reports on BFW and one or two other forums, it looked like pretty slow going indeed.
Still if there is one thing that can make up for some slow fishing, then its the scenery. The Wye Valley is simply breathtaking. Rolling hills, thick forests, pasture-land, pretty villages, wonderful cottages and some rustic old pubs all go to make this place so special. I often sit back and just gaze in wonder at the spellbinding beauty of the Herefordshire countryside. Throw into this mix some amazing wildlife and its a privilege to have the freedom to be out there enjoying the sights and sounds this country has to offer.
The River Wye
We arrived at the farm around late morning, much earlier than normal, due in the main to a quiet and unusually benign M25. It didn’t take long to get the caravan and awning set-up and we headed down to the river. It was the lowest I think I have seen it, certainly for some time anyway. I had planned on a two pronged attack….float rod to start with and then move onto a feeder later on.
Once the waders were on I headed onto the shallow gravels and opted for a big float, which would hold its line easily. I wanted to trot the deeper gulley that ran down the opposite bank. I had decided to feed with 6mm carp pellets and fish a banded 8mm carp pellet on the hook. The shot was bulked around 12-14″ from the hook and a No 4 dropper shot employed around 4-6″ from the hook. The float had a nice pronounced tip that would easily be visible at distance.
I initially bait droppered in around 6 medium sized droppers of hemp and a couple of mini pellets and then left the swim for half an hour to hopefully get the fish feeding. Sadly after a couple of hours trotting without so much as a bite, it was becoming obvious that the barbel were either not in residence or simply not interested. I had hoped to fish the end of the beach area here, but unfortunately there was someone fishing on the opposite bank. The area lower down had a very deep gully that I thought might hold some fish, especially as the flow is very good here.
Drennan Power Float Rod
Kevin was float fishing above me and Geoff was feeder fishing from the croy slightly further upstream. All these areas have produced fish in the past but not today. Geoff decided to walk upstream and I stayed put lower down but switched to the feeder. I like the Fisky type feeders and use a hemp and halibut groundbait and add pellets of all sizes; 4mm, 6mm, 8mm and a few 12mm elips. I also sprayed some of Trefor West’s ‘sausage sizzle’ flavour to the mix for some of that extra bit of magic.
Nothing materialised for me but Geoff came through on the walkie talkie and had caught a couple of fish from the top end. Enough was enough and I headed up top. I was loaded up like a sherpa and just about made the hike in one piece. I found a nice swim just above Geoff, who had now caught again. He continued to catch steadily and the fish seemed to be of a good size and included Geoff’s first Wye double of exactly 10lbs. In the meantime Kevin and I struggled for bites, despite flanking Geoff on both sides. He ended up with 10 and Kevin and I had 1 apiece.
Geoff’s first Wye double
Still our first barbel of the season had been secured and we looked forward to a wonderful week ahead of us on the river Wye.
The River Angler 
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