Piscatorial Quagswagging

...the diary of a specialist angler in around the Warwickshire Avon and its tributaries.

Thursday, 12 July 2012

Wasperton's Whacking Whiskers - 12.07.12

Wasperton doesn't have a big head of Barbel but the Barbel that do reside there are big'uns. A quick evening session found me at Waspertons top meadow, It was a spur of the moment decision to go as I did plan to fish Hampton Lucy Brook with my mate Simon, he lives in Shipston and as there wasn't a let up in the rain, he decided against. I just had to get out, the thought was if it really did bucket it down I could be packed up and in the car within 5 minutes, at Hampton Lucy Brook, there would be no chance of that.


I keep my rig simple, Korum K-Grip In-Line Lead, 2.5 - 3 ft of 10lb flurocarbon leader and a nice big bait on the hair. Bait for this session was a 30mm diameter of garlic spam cut with the pastry cutter I use for bread.

With both rods cast out, I turned my back on the rods for a second to find my unhooking mat which also doubles up as my seat, I heard the clutch go on one of the reels and turned back to discover my right hand rod heading towards the river and taking my other rod with it, I'd say the bait had literally settled for 10 secs before a Barbel took it, the rod rest was holding firm as if it hadn't it might have been a completely different story. Wasperton top meadow is snaggy and if you're not on top of the fish straight away you will lose it, it felt a proper'un for a good few seconds before it broke me off under some overhanging branches.

I re-baited and settled back into the waiting game,a fellow Leamington AA fisherman moved from his fishless swim further downstream and settled in to the next swim along from me, as he came over for a quick chat, the left hand rod wrapped round this time and I was probably into the same fish, again not a fat lot I could do about it, more powerful than the pressure I could put on the 10lb line and my 1.75TC rod, I tightened the clutch to try and prevent it heading to the same snag but again it go under some overhanging branches and again it quickly broke me off.

The rain started to fall and produced the most perfect rainbow I've seen in a long long time, shame the picture doesn't do it justice.


I changed my line and leader, decided to fish into dusk and was hoping for 3rd time lucky. The right hand rod was now getting some interest and eventually after lots of rattles of the rod tip I was into a fish, nothing like the power of the two previous, it turned out to be a nice Chub, it was big in size but was skinny, but I still weighed it, bob on 4.5 lb's. You can always rely on a Chub to save the day. I'll be back to Wasperton soon to catch the one that got away. :)


8 comments:

  1. Lee Fletcher12 July 2012 at 12:14

    Hi Mick, unlucky losing those fish, sometimes there's nothing you can do. The few barbel I've had from waspo have all fought really hard, so I empathise mate.

    There's always next time ...

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  2. Unknown12 July 2012 at 12:57

    Mick, in my experience 10lb line is not strong enough for Barbel when snags are in the vicinity, dont be afraid to go up to 12 or even 15lb mainline with a 2lb TC rod. Gear up and get back and nail em!

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  3. Piscatorial Quagswagging12 July 2012 at 13:29

    I've never felt so undergunned when playing a fish, so, yeah I need a rethink :)

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  4. Leo Heathcote12 July 2012 at 19:56

    Hi mick, I had similar problems with losing fish until I switched to 30lb whiplash camo braid. I've only lost one to a snag since the switch and I've never been broken. Had a couple of hooks pull due to the bullying required sometimes to turn a fish from the snags but it's a small price to pay. 30lb braid sounds heavy but it's only the same diameter as 8lb mono and has zero stretch which makes for some hair raising battles! No need to to keep respooling either as its should last well over a season, maybe even two seasons.

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  5. Piscatorial Quagswagging12 July 2012 at 20:08

    Cheers Leo, my reels have spare spools anyway so I can have a dedicated Wasperton set-up, hopefully have a picture of the culprit soon

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  6. Leo Heathcote12 July 2012 at 20:13

    Use a strong hook pattern too, braids lack of stretch means that lesser hooks will simply straighten under pressure. Never ever use braided mainline as a hook link either, it's thin diameter will cut through a fishes mouth like cheese wire. I use a coated braid hook link in 15-25lb depending on swim conditions and a size 10 or 12 Korda Kurv shank hook.

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    Replies
    1. Lee Fletcher12 July 2012 at 23:08

      Well said Leo as its something that's happened to me in the past using sink braid, really shocked me, not a good feeling. Coated braid or a decent strong mono for me.

      Not tried braid main line for barbel yet but there's a spare spool doing nothing in my shed that I might just load up to try.

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  7. Leo Heathcote12 July 2012 at 20:18

    My setup sounds very heavy I know and I guess many barbel purists would cringe at the very thought of using it but at the end of the day it does a job and it does it very well indeed. Don't be afraid to bend the rod to the cork if you have to cos unless you've tied a poor knot then the line will certainly not break

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