20/10 River Severn

10 of us met up for the annual Barbel Adventures forum 'Barbel Cup', semi competitive social/ barbel fishing match. These events have never been prolific, due in part to usually being in the middle of winter. This year on the Severn in October we thought there might be a better chance of a few fish. We did get a couple but that was all, both coming very early on. Was still a good day out, heres Leyton with the winning fish

09/10 Trent

Fished for barbel on one and deadbait on the other. Frustrating on the deadbait rod with missed runs, fish lost due to user error - striking with baitrunner on - and lost hooked fish that came off. One barbel, just after 9pm if I remember correctly and just under 12lb...11lb 15oz I think

01/10 Derwent

Late update of blog...cant remember too much about this eveing other than the fact I caught 1 barbel. Weighed either 10lb 0 or 10lb 1oz. Must get back into the habit of posting quicker...

02/09 Trent

First time on a new ticket. Everything looked spot on, nice colour to the river but failed to register a barbel (a few small fish on maggot before it got dark). Karma caught up with Jay who hit a bump on the track on the way out and ended up with a flat and a damaged wheel...

26/08 Derwent

Took a mate fishing on the river for the 1st time and the inevitable happened - he caught more and bigger fish than me.
I had the first barbel, estimated at 8lb but wished I'd weighed it now as it looks a bit bigger

Jay then took over, his first ever barbel weighing 12lb 9oz, he also had 2 more about 6lbs each...

14/08 Derwent

Fished one of the more popular pegs on the stretch but struggled a bit...2 fish in short succession, both chub about the 4lb mark. Not sure why its so popular here...

07/08 Derwent

Ended up fishing the swim where I caught my PB last year...and will probably fish it a few more times between now and the end of the season.
Went out with the intention of catching perch. Took a while to get a livebait, quite a slow start on the maggot feeder. Put a small chub out on the paternoster and sat back just fishing the one rod. Something had a go at it but it never hooked up, changed it for a dace which didnt get any attention at all. Surprised to not even get a visit from a pike. Crossed off the list of perch swims...
Put a barbel rod out later (well 2 eventually) and did get my 1st of the season, a good scrapper of 7lb 14oz (21:10).

25/07 Trent

The Trent had returned to near normal levels and fortunately only a couple of other people fishing a bit further upstream. And it wasnt raining for a change. Missed a fish early on suspect it was a bream. Then did catch a small bream, my first fish of the river season

Was getting the odd indication fish were about and just as it was getting towards dusk hooked into what I thought was my first barbel of the season. Turns out it wasnt a barbel but a carp of about 10-12lbs.

16/06 Derwent

16th June, 1st day of the season, conditions looked ideal for barbel fishing with the river up and coloured. Unfortunately it turned it out to be a big dissapointment, despite fishing a swim thats usually very good in those conditions failed to even register a bite.

14/03 Derwent

Another season ends, not been a bad one either. Had a few lean spells but not bad for barbel probably at the expense of all other species. One last try today saw 3 perch, the biggest 2lb 9oz. Did try for barbel as well at the end but nothing happening and it dropped pretty cold so decided to call it a day (season).

13/03 Derwent

First time out for a while and not much time left...

First swim very quiet apart from minnows but did notice a pike hanging about when I left so that may explain that. Second swim lost What looked to be a good perch before catching one of 2lb 8oz.

Quiet again before a pike took my minnow livebait, must have fancied a light snack.

Hopefully time for one last try...

23/02 Derwent

Worth waiting all week for the mild weather. Same swim again, going to leave it alone for while after tonight though. Forgot to note the time but 15lb 1oz barbel at about 6ish, the fish which holds the current Derwent record from earlier this year. Caught a smaller barbel of about 5lb and a chub at packing up time. To be honest, should have packed up after the 1st barbel...

16/02 Derwent

Same swim I fished I fished last time out, which was a while ago to be fair. Steady start with 2 chub and a small barbel (17:55) in the first hour. Slower end to the evening with no further fish caught.

25/01 Derwent

Success on the barbel front at last - it had to happen sooner or later. In my second swim of the evening, I noticed the tip of my right hand rod bent over. The alarm hadnt made a noise, I picked the rod up and felt the resistance of a fish on the end. Obviously not very big but on a barbel drought so made sure and played it carefully into the net...all 3lb of it.


Having returned one fish and sorting my rig out to re-cast, my other rod sprung to life and I was into a much more solid fish. Safely netted and weighing 13lb 0oz it was worth the wait. The fish came at 19:00 and 19:05.

23/01 Trent

Another quick one after work, somewhere I've not fished for a few years but a friend reported losing a couple of decent fish here recently so worth a try. Tried in 3 swims for the familiar resulting blank.

19/01 Derwent

Snatched an unproductive couple of hours after work on the (tough) local stretch. No fish, biteless again. Was able to hold out for 40 mins and an hour or so with my first couple of casts then a heavy squally shower/ micro storm passed over and changed things almost instantly. The swim became almost unfishable with debris attaching itself to the line moments after casting in. One possitive from the evening, noticed a new fishable swim for future blanking.

12/01 Derwent Trent

Sneaked the afternoon off work and back out to try and catch a fish. 1st stop off perch fishing on the Derwent. Constant bites from the off, only small fish though and the only proper one on the worm turned out to be a small jack. No takes on a small roach livebait.

Moved to the Trent later on and fished a deadbait and boilie (on separate rods obviously) and caught a chub. Not the prettiest I've ever seen - looks like its swam into a brick wall, but after my run of blanks it was more than welcome.

11/01 Derwent

Tried again on a stretch thats usually a bit easier just to try and catch something...

Arrived at 5.30 then at 6 something happened that I've not experienced for a while - fish on! Obviously a barbel, and the way it was fighting felt like a good fish. Plodding around, I was making slow but steady progress, although the fish was still taking line off a fairly tight clutch when it wanted. I had probably got it 2/3rds of the way in and I felt it turn and...that horrible feeling of realisation that it had come off.

Sat down gutted that I had lost my first fish for ages and it felt like a really good one, but then the ones that come off usually do.

10/01 Derwent

A change of river for the same result - another biteless blank. Time to fish some easier stretches...try somethng different at least.

01/01 Trent

Not been out fishing lately despite having a bit of time off work - Christmas and playing a lot of golf has been getting in the way. Same result as last time out, blank. No bites. Thought this area might be a good winter one, obviously not.