I picked a swim that had produced barbel for my customers on guided days the week before so I decided to spend the evening fishing it myself.

Because the swim was just above a fallen tree that laid across the river and was fairly shallow I changed my normal tactics.This time I cast out with a 16mm tough 1 pellet as hook bait and a big bag of 4mm halibut pellets.

I was hoping that this would be enough to draw the Barbel up stream and away from the sanctuary of the fallen tree.The bait remained untouched for an hour so I re-baited and then started spraying a few 4mm pellets up stream so they drifted under the tree. After 30 minutes of this and right on dark the rod was nearly pulled from the rod rests as the Barbel tried to make the sanctuary of the tree. At 11lb 4oz it was my third double in as many trips to Burghfield and my third double on the tough S pellets.

 

On the Saturday afternoon I headed off to the Lodden.This was my first chance to try the new tinned hemp. I baited a deep bend with two tins of hemp and a bag of 4mm Halibut pellets. The swim was left for an hour and I had a wander down stream.There were 5 other anglers fishing and two of these had fished for 36 hours with only a chub each to show for it. On returning back to the swim the usual 16mm tough 1 S pellets was cast out with a bag of 4mm attatched. I waited an hour for the first bite which was a small Barbel of 6lb of so. This was around 3.30pm and from then untill 9pm I managed to land 5 barbel up to 9lb 14oz. Things are looking good for the new tinned hemp and hopefully tomorrow evening I,ll be back to the Kennet to try it along with some castors to see if I can keep my run of doubles up.