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So, last few days I've been in the Wye valley. Staying at Symmonds Yat, I had taken a good friend away for his 40th. A surprise, all he new a week ago was he needed Barbel gear. Suffice to say, he was certain we were heading to the Seven. Until we turned left after crossing it near Gloucester. We had a B&B on the river, it was ok, nothing special but was a pub, so could be worse! First day was arriving and sussing out the surroundings, going to the local tackle shop and booking some beats for the next 2 days. We had a fish from 21:00 till 22:00 on the first night (Thursday) but not much more than my rod being pulled from the rest and the fish evading me! With the low water we were advised the fishing was hard, but this only dulled our excitement a little, after all, we had an adventure on our hands! After a relaxed start friday we headed to the mile of river we shared with another couple of guys for the day. Packing up to go for a pub lunch (we knew evening would be best) my rod doubled over with my PB 8:15 barbel, beauty! After lunch we moved swim, (not knowing the river / how it fished / where was best) we struggled through the hot afternoon. I had a couple more barble and lost a chub. Nothing for nick who was still staying positive. I persuaded him we should move swims for the last hour, so we went back to where will had my earlier fish. I nearly instantly had a perfect Chub or 4:12 and then another within minutes. Poor old Nick. The it was his turn, he had a super take and a barbel was shortly followed by another. Great, he had deserved a flourish at the end. Day 2 (Sat), we had chosen another stretch of river. Stunning setting again, this time the gorge of Symmonds Yat. But what does Saturday mean, more yakkers, swimmers, boaters, lilo ers, SUP-ers and the odd person floating past on an inflatable slice of pizza! All this traffic was entertaining and the only way we could get info on the football score!! Roles were reversed today. Having found a good looking spot, to be honest, it all looked good. We chose a run where it was a pain to get to, I had a rope and we lowered ourselves down holding it. Prominent seats setup in the river meant the various floaters could see ups early and avoid our lines. Worked a treat! Nick fluffs his first cast, how we laughed, it went only a couple of meters, bang, fish on! And it started like that, he caught 5 barble and I couldn't buy a bite. He had a few eels in there too (haha!). So, I went off and got dinner (steaks, disposal BBQ and some ice-cream beers, coffee, and other essentials), apparently I missed nothing, result. My time had come, I got back once the sun was off the water with 4 barble in quick succession! The it was his turn to struggle, yes I was loving it! We ended the 2 days with 9 barbel each, he did get the biggest at 9:8 but I was the chub king. Average stamp was 6/7lb seriously great fishing, can't imagine what it would be like in 'good' conditions! Might not be boating, so apologies! Tight lines Rob Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Leave the money in the bank and save up !

What a small world, I also used to be a member of the ‘ Twicks’ but mainly fished the matches back then late 60’s / 70’s. Then moved on to fly fishing, mainly Kempton, Barn Elms and Queen Mother reservoirs. Still love my coarse and fly fishing but having moved to Christchurch have now added sea fishing to the list. On the Royalty tomorrow/ Thursday , fly fishing with disabled children on Friday and boat fishing on Monday. Too much fishing, too little time. Funnily enough another well known (in coarse circles) ex member of Twickenham Piscatorials and Francis Francis club has just moved to Christchurch. Peter

I used to fish the Kennet for barbel too when I worked in Reading, that was my thing for many years. Fished also over the RDAC waters including the sections you mentioned and the section the Red Spinners have. For shear quality it was the Backstream for me (used for matches on weekends), so many doubles. Had to be a bit careful down there mind in the evening, had my car done over there once and often didn't feel too safe. I caught a 'golden' barbel down there once, it was about 8lb, was very light in colour and had a red/yellow tail. My friend and I developed a special bait which we mixed up overselves, it was brilliant, we would go an a stretch and throw in a few pounds of it at likely spots and then fish it a few days later, once they were on it, they stayed on it you could catch them in the middle of the day and in the winter, it was hard to keep quiet what we were using, I would have a some luncheon meat on show to try and put people off but sometimes they would just hang around so I stopped fishing and talked or used meat while waiting for them to move off. There's photo's of all my catches including the golden barbel. Sad to hear the Kennet is not what it was. Glad you are have a great time on the Wye Rob, it's a beautiful river along that part and I loved my barbel fishing. I just don't have the time to do it and sea fish as well and to be honest I was ready for a new challenge and sea fishing certainly is that.

good news just a wire joint pulled on the capstan, easy fix after work as it cools down a bit.