Return to the pool

Well as much as i tried not to i returned to the magical pool on the Thames yesterday to find someone sitting in the hot peg. So putting a brave face on it i went and said hi and broke my own rules and asked what he had caught to which he replied "nothing mate not even had a bite".
Now i became a bit happier at this news which is wrong but well hey what you gonna do? i then thought discretion was the better thing to do and wandered around the weir sill and set up thinking that i would pick a few off by a willow tree which was hanging over the bank. Well after a hour i still hadn't caught and the other guy came around to tell me he had packed up and did i want to go to the peg he was leaving.The words hadn't left his mouth before i was moving.I asked him what bait he was using and he told me maggots and that he had not caught a thing,so i pinged out a few boiles which is what i have been catching a few on from this peg and sat down and rested the swim for a bit and made my first cast.
true to form i then had a clonking great bite and after a good fight a 6lb barbel graced the net.I didn't enjoy catching this fish as i had foul hooked it in the pelvic fin which was not on purpose but i feel it suggests a few barbel competing for the freebies in the swim.
so the next cast didn't produce too much but then the last cast of the afternoon produced a fine bream which just about made my day.

Next trip to the river will see me there for a longer session going into night and will see what i can find few more of these size bream would be nice though this one went 8lb very fat dark fish which was the broadest bream i have seen for a while.

My Barbel Day and My Ways

Let me remind you of my earlier post which said this is my year.... well after yesterday it is. I arrived at a weir pool on the Thames and saw i was the only person on the stretch and after thanking various deity's (like to hedge my bets !!) i put all my tackle out ready but i followed Des Taylor's advice and before i had even set up my chair i put some bait out not a lot mind you but about 15 boiles and some pellets.
So i then set up all the tackle and tied a new rig and used a new brand of hooks to nylon which sort of confused me a bit because who ever had tied them had made them too small for boile stops,not to worry said my friend who had come and sat near me use some grass so i did.
I use a Shakespeare mach 2 barbel rod and a fox reel and the end tackle was a running ledger rig with a single 16mm boile and i managed to cast the bait to just in front of the weir pool gates.As many do i put the rod in a high rest to keep the line out of the water as the snags in front of me are quite bad and sat back to wait while chatting to my mate.
We watched the rod tip and after a couple of minutes the rod tip banged down twice and then hooped over with the clutch screaming "that's a barbel said my mate" "no kidding "was my reply. after a spirited fight 6lb of barbel was landed and i was a happy chappy. i didn't tell my mate until afterwards that this in fact was a first for me as i hadn't caught a barbel previously so happy was a understatement.
So after calming down two pictures later and a fish safely returned i re-baited and recast and it happened all again this time the fight went on a bit longer and a barbel of 81/4lb graced my net. The whole session after that was a blur but i finished of with two bream the biggest going  9lb and i got smashed up by something i just couldn't stop possibly one of the big carp that live in the river pool.
So is this my year i think so.................