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The 8th March finally arrived with
the prospects of a decent weeks fishing to come. Myself and Ade had made
our usual arrangements to finish the end of the season at our
Worcestershire head quarters; only this year I was more keen than ever
to get back on the bank, having set aside limited time during the year
to wet a line. Work and girlfriend commitments had seen me spend fewer
hours on the banks than I had for a season or two, and I had really
missed the sight of the rod hoping over. Although Ginger and Ade had
keep me up to date on current affairs and shared stories and pictures of
some of their success during the year; a quick glance though my fishing
log (I weigh and record every Barbel I catch) show I had not felt the
magical scrap of a Barbel since the end of June, with the exception of a
solitary Wensum fish in September. Don’t get me wrong I had fished a bit
in between times, but conditions were not favourable. If there is one
thing I’m going to put right this year it is to make the most of my
fishing again. Don’t worry me and Ade have already planned our diaries
to see where our days off match between June 16th and the end of the
year! Anyway I decided not to ponder over what I could have done in the
weeks and months that had past, instead I would get on where I could
make a difference – the last week of the season.
The 8th of March saw me turning the PC at work off at 15:55 ready for a
prompt departure, the plan being to get back home for a change of
clothes and a load up of the car before hitting the delightful A11, A14,
M6 & M5 which would take me to the Severn. Ade, working four on, four
off had managed to get down to his holiday home just outside Bewdley
three days earlier and had already put a few fish in the bag, so I was
keen to join in on the action. By the time I got down there and unpacked
it was near 22:00, so I settled for a cuppa over a chat with Ade about
events so far. The river was bank high, in fact probably the highest I
had seen it over the past nine years I had fished the stretch, but with
mild weather and a warm south westerly blowing I was gagging to get a
rod out. The 12ft of flood water was not a worry, we had had some
excellent catches in similar conditions and the fact Ade had managed
eight fish that night in just a few hours reinforced my thoughts. Better
still the lower river was properly in flood, and the head of water there
meant the river our end, whist high was not running off too hard.
The first afternoon (we tend to fish from lunch time to dusk) saw us
fishing the pegs at the far end off thee stretch, which is probably a
mile of so to walk from the front door. Ade dropped in a peg we call
Paddy Banker, and I sat in the peg immediately downstream of him. The
thermometer displayed 48oF which was reassuring as was the first bite of
the day which came within 10 minutes of the feeder hitting the water.
Only a small fish a 3lb 13oz, but having not seen a Barbel since
September, it was very welcome. This was followed by four more fish in
consecutive chucks – after five in five chucks I was starting to realise
what I had been missing out on all season. The only problem with
catching a few fish on the middle Severn is inevitable someone spots you
and it wasn’t’ long before a couple of Duncan’s (Team Barbel terminology
for those who reside in London) turned up to quiz us on what we were up
to; Ade who had also enjoyed a few pulls by then fielded all enquires
but before our mate Duncan retired to his peg he informed us he “wasn’t
bothered with those shoal fish; he only went after Mavericks”. We soon
found out there were a group of five lads staying locally who would be
fishing the stretch until the end of the season, a bit of competition
for pegs perhaps, but that’s always part and parcel of the Severn and if
this fishing carried on like it was who cared! We both managed a few
more bites before deciding to up sticks and move so we could fish into
dusk at an area we fancied slightly closer to home.
The peg we moved to was a more open piece of bank rather than the ‘gap
between trees’ we had left. This was an area we knew always fished with
water on, with a gully close in which progressively worked further
across the river as it went downstream. As with all our pegs it had a
name Oak Tree Banker. We decided to have a social at the upstream end of
the peg where a shorter chuck and less lead would see you on the fish.
Ade had caught here yesterday and we knew this end fished better whilst
the river was still high. Just to test the water thought we did place a
sleeper rod ten yards down the bank on a Delkim TXi with the remote sat
beside us. We both managed to hold out with 4oz (we had been fishing 6oz
feeders in the other pegs) and within 15 minutes both had a fish on the
bank, mine being 7lb 3oz, number nine and biggest of the day. Ade
immediate replied to this with two fish on the sleeper rod, the later
topping the 8lb mark. We wandered back home not long after this for a
well deserved can of beer after what was a nice start to the trip.
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Part of the plan for the week was to spend the Saturday and Sunday with some mates on a piece of the lower Severn below Worcester. Dave Mason of Teme Severn baits fame called however to tell us this had to be called off due to the river having burst its banks – a gut wrencher for me and Ade as we were looking forward to catching up with everyone and having a fish or two. A ride down to see the sight of a flooded lower river the next morning showed Dave was not wrong with the river about three fields wide and the Worcester cricket and rugby pitch in about 4ft of water. Whilst the lower river was virtually unfishable the middle river was still in good form having only dropped a few inches and a repeat of the previous days events saw me sneak another five fish from below Paddy Banker.
The next couple of days saw both me and Ade have fish, the water temperature remained at 48oF and sport was steady with fish coming to a single pellet fished under an open ended feeder full of our Team Barbel secret winter groundbait. The concoction was such a secret even me and Ade didn’t know what was in it – not for any other reason than it was a typical end of season mix up with a half bag of this and a hand full of that which, if it didn’t get used, would only feed the mice in the shed for the next three months. The only variation to the rig was the length of the hooklength, with the river dropping off and clearing out a 2ft hooklength found more fish during the day, whilst a shorter hooklength was just as productive into dark. Saturday saw me net a dozen fish all from Oak Tree Banker, with Sunday bring half a dozen fish from a mixture of the Paddy Banker and Oak Tree Banker pegs. According to their frequent updates the Maverick hunters seemed to have been struggling for numbers of fish, and despite Ade singing some of Raul Malo’s top hits quite loud they continued to visit us to relay their news.
By Monday the water level had dropped quite considerably with something like 5ft of flood water left on the river. This meant a number of other pegs started to look fishable again. With the water temp now up to 49oF and the far end becoming a bit of a Maverick circus we decided to drop into a peg called Gassy which we both love to fish in the summer and which now looked like 6oz of lead would sort out nicely. The peg has a big snag mid river and we elected to fish either side of it, Ade taking the upstream peg – a real corker on the pellet in the summer, whilst I elected for the downstream peg which had a huge slack created by the snag about two thirds out. My first chuck was launched across right bang on the crease of the slack water, a couple of big swishes of slack line allowed the feeder to sit tight and within five minutes a big drop back bite saw us underway. Having fished the peg before under similar conditions I remembered there was a bit of a technique to ensure you connected with the fish – the method involved tightening down some of the slack line, about three of four turns on the reel handle, followed by the ‘strike of zorro’. After a real good scrap across half a flooded river a fish of 7lb 2oz was slid over the net. This was followed next chuck by another at 7lb 8oz, not a bad stamp of fish for the middle Severn. Ade upstream of the slack had not managed a bite and with me experiencing a quite hour we decided to get back down to Oak Tree Banker to get settled in an hour or two before dark. When the Severn is in flood we have often found two or three moves a day (sometimes more) can put more fish on the bank, fish often come in the first few chucks and moving on after things slow up often finds a flurry of fish at the next peg. Today was no exception with Ade having fish straight away at the downstream end of Oak Tree Banker, and me managing half a dozen over the course of the evening from the middle of the peg, albeit three of these under the 3lb mark.
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With the penultimate day of the season ahead me and Ade were both keen to get a couple of personal targets under our belts so we could start the last day of the season without too much pressure upon us. I had 40 fish so far and wanted to make that 50 for the week, meaning I would beat Gingers total for the season. Ginger had stayed back on the Wensum hoping for a big fish to finish off an otherwise depressing end of the season having had his gear nicked in February. A few calls from him had shown a big fish was on the cards but numbers wise it looked like I was on for a winner. Ade wanted to crack the half century, meaning a team 100 for the week as well as being within striking distance of his 400th of the season. We started along the same lines as the day before opting for a social day in Gassy with both of us fishing the big slack with success; I had fish on my first five chucks with Ade finding similar sport. A couple more fish came before heading back down to Oak Tree Banker for the evening where I managed four in as many chucks the third being my number 50 and the team 100th for the week. By this point Ade was on 399 for the season and it looked like we would break all our targets leaving a relaxing days to finish off the year. However as the sky cleared a heavy frost settled in and sport slowed, I managed to winkle two more fish making a dozen for the day, but we returned home with Ade needing one more tomorrow.
The 14th March saw the river near enough at normal winter level and we decided to deploy the same plan as we had the two days before, starting at Gassy and moving down to end the season at Oak Tree Banker. Ade had number 400 first chuck in the big slack and I joined him with twos up and a fish of 6lb. Sport was otherwise slow, with both of us only finding one more fish before moving on. The water temperature had dropped a degree after last nights frost and that was reflected in the fishing.
Oak Tree however saw me manage five other fish, one a corker which as it slide over the net looked like it might be the illusive middle Severn double I’ve been yearning for over so many seasons, however the scales stopped at 9lb 9oz, still a brilliant fish for the stretch and certainly a great end to the season. As the final chuck of the session and season approached I found myself contemplating how much I had missed my fishing this year, and what great mates I have in Ade and Ginger. We wandered back home recalling stories as we passed pegs we had fished in the seasons gone by. Despite both of fishing to targets all week I remembered that in fact fishing isn’t ever about the biggest fish or how many you catch, it about the experiences and friends you meet whilst on the bank.
I’m sure Ade knows how much me and Ginger appreciate being able to make use of his static caravan at Bewdley – thanks again mate, my Barbel count this season wouldn’t be half what it is without it !
Words : Tom Sayer
Pictures : Ade Kiddell and Tom Sayer
