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ROB KAVANAGH.
The inside line on fishing.
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I'm Rob Kavanagh, your Artful Angler artist and dedicated angler.
My fishing blog is here to share my fishing adventures, ideas, stories, tips, anecdotes, techniques etc.. tight lines!
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24/09/2007
Tewkesbury Weir
Rocks at Last!
Al Fresco
Matt's Mini-Barbel
Mini-Barbel
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13th September
Arrived above the weir on a cool morning thick with mist. It was too dark to safely work our way down to the water's edge, so we sat on the bench to scoff a pasty while we waited for the gloom to lift. Through the murk we saw that the water-level was sufficiently low enough to expose a large enough rocky patch for us to both fish comfortably. Much encouraged we happily munched our makeshift brekkie and fidgeted impatiently, eager to get fishing.
Half an hour later we were sat under the steep bank by the waterside. The trusty John Wilson Avon was cracked out and rigged up with 6lb line, with a free-running feeder and 5lb14oz Reflo Powerline hooklength (I really rate this line; it's supple, has a very low diameter for its strength, and seems to have just the right amount of stretch). A size 10 hook was attached using a knotless-knot, with meat, corn, cheese or 11mm Hali-Hooker pellets as options for the hair.
Sport was slow to start. Matt was getting rattles on his quivertip on bread, and small pieces of meat also produced a few fish. I caught a couple of small chub up to 2lb8oz to pellet early on, but bites were hard to come by.
The mist finally lifted a few hours later and bites became a little more forthcoming. Matt hooked and sadly lost a good fish, probably a decent barbel. A few maggot-caught perch and chublets on the float helped to pass the time, and Matt had a small barbel of about 3lb 8oz on the feeder.
I noticed that the water-level had risen quite quickly an inch or so at about midday. Within 10 minutes we found ourselves rushing to get packed up and get the kit up the bank as the water rapidly lapped higher and higher. Once we were sorted we sat and chomped a scotch egg or two. Although we had packed the feeder rods away the float rod was still in action.
The water had risen about 2 feet, completely submerging our previous fishing positions, but the spot by the pipe would provide a suitable stance for a bit of trotting. The float was set to trip the bait along the bottom with a lively worm on the hook. I had an initial couple of trots then passed the rod to Matt. On his second trot the float buried 15yards down, and to our surprise the culprit was Matt's first float-caught, but smallest barbel ever, possibly the smallest in all the Severn! He passed the rod to me for my trots, and at the same spot the worm was taken and a scrappy little fight resulted in a slightly bigger mini-barbel for me too. I gather that really small barbel are caught very rarely, and it's an encouraging sign for the future, especially after the summer floods.
Well suited with our first ever float-caught-barbel-triumph! we plodded back across the Ham, discussing the day and planning our next trip.
Rob, 24/09/2007
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| 1. On 24/09/2007 18:14:10, jack wrote: |
quite a good day at tewkesbury then.
im looking to go up there soon for a weekend, realy looking forwward to it now seing all this talk and pictures of it being really good. how big do the barbel get up there? the biggest iv seen around the severn at shrewbury is about 12lbs!
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| 2. On 24/09/2007 20:11:22, rob wrote: |
Hiya Jack.
Not a bad day at tewkes, but poor compared to its usual standard. I think the flooding has unsettled the fish and they've relocated. Usually fishing in the faster water close in gets you barbel. We've had all sizes, generally catching several up to about 5lb with the occasional 7 or 8 pounder. If you fish over the current you could catch 50lb of chub and hybrids on a good day. I'm not sure how big the barbel go, but we've lost a few monsters! (Possibly low doubles.)
Congratulations on those massive barbel you keep catching! Stunning fish, I wish I could catch ones like that! Great pics, keep 'em coming.
Tight Lines
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