A bend out of the blue...

I had to go over to Shifnal in Shropshire on business, ... "but hang on" I thought,  "isn't the Severn near there !"

So after my work was finished and with the tackle tucked away in the car, I headed down to a stretch of river I'd never tried before, near Bridgnorth.

 

I fished two rods in the faster water first, with maggot and pellet respectively, thinking that there would be more fish in the oxygenated water.  After an hour had past producing just one small chub, I had itchy feet - so moved to some slower, slightly deeper water upstream that I liked the look of.

 Swim two, and first cast with the pellet rod I managed a splasher of about 4 - 5 lb that fought well for it's size. It's probably because it's been so long since I experienced the feel of a Barbel on the end !  The bite came suddenly and out of the blue , as they usually do with Barbel,  just as I was starting to curse my luck.
 Another small chub was landed on the maggot rod, while the barbel was resting in the net after landing.

Darkness had fallen by the time I had returned the fish and when a rain shower passed over shortly after, I decided It was time to go, so I wound in the rods and called it a night, happy to have felt a nice bend in the rod again.