Barbel Gathering

I headed down the A46 once again to the wonderfull Warwickshire Avon.
Fishing in the same area as last week but this time I tried fishing the hemp & caster filled feeder across the river as close to the overhanging trees as I dared.  First cast and within two minutes the rod ripped round and produced this fine 6lber, my first on caster and my biggest from the Warks Avon to date.

The next cast brought a nice 6 oz Perch but then the caster line went quiet for the rest of the session.
I put the pellet rod out after a while,  casting it further downstream to separate the baited areas. I soon had a bite after about 15 mins, but like an idiot I forgot to disengage the baitrunner and fluffed the strike completely.  The rig came back without a fish.

A bit later on I caught this Bream though, which may explain the earlier missed fish, as Barbel generally hook themselves I find.

That was it for tonight,  a session with its own soundtrack provided by the Global Gathering festival in the distance, the bassline pounding out and being carried over the fields to me on the wind.  It made me think back to my raving days, another lifetime ago.  Some 18 years earlier  and  I'd have also been in a field in the dead of night somewhere dancing like a lunatic (has it really been that long !).  Now I'm still out in a field in the dead of night, but it's fishing that I go 'loco' over these days.

Lights in the Sky = Global Gathering at Long Marston Airfield

I also fished the canal on Thursday night for an hour, that produced just one small Zander of about 2lb.

I hit another fish at the end of the session that was on my single hook for a second or two.  It felt more substantial than the usual stamp I get here, but it was not to be as it must of spat the roach head out, the hook missing its target.