Mainline Latest News
Barbel Delight For Deano!
Top Mainline angler, Dean Macey has been in touch with report following some careful observation of the weather. Over to Deano for the full story..."Winter fishing for an all rounder like myself is all about those small windows when all the planets align and its bang on for your chosen quarry. This winter has been quite tricky. With all the rain fall you could be forgiven for thinking that its been a barbel anglers dream, but as good as the rivers that aren't over their banks have looked for a bite, the temperatures have been quite low and its that small increase in temperature that quite often bring the fish on the feed.
On my last outing everything looked right. The river was slowly rising and the extra water that was coming down
was very warm - perfect!
On arrival it was clear that I wasn't the only one that had been watching the weather forecast carefully, as there were
a few cars already in the car park. The swim I wanted however was free. In the summer this swim would only be a foot deep but with an extra three feet on and clean gravel under my feet its a perfect area for barbel to hold up in the heavy flow.
That said, I have still found that even though I'm sure they sit out of the flow when resting, they almost always feed in the fastest water, so heavy gear is needed to make sure
you can hold bottom: 12lb Sub-Line, Micro Lead Clip, 4 to 6oz Grippa, 15lb N-Trap and a size 8 Wide Gape is the tackle of choice for me.
Yes, I could catch on lighter gear but in these condition barbel can really put up one hell of a fight and I'm always geared up to land the biggest fish in the river. You can never brag about lost fish and on this gear, I DON'T LOOSE FISH!
My first cast produced a spirited barbel of about 7lb, which was a great sign, as these open water swim at this time of
year tend to only do bites after dark. I rested the swim for a hour after bait dropping a small handful of pellets and
a few broken New Grange 10mm boilies into the area. Just
enough to get the remaining fish searching.
On dark I made my next cast and not long after all hell broke loose. I kid you not, this fish took 20 yards of line and flat rodded me in the process - it was brutal! Never have I felt so under gunned while barbel fishing in my life.
Once the initial run was over everything became much easier. As with most big barbel she started swimming up stream and pretty much stayed mid-river until she surfaced for the first time, at which point my good friend, Dave slid the net under a very big framed fish.
We both thought she was a good double right from the start but I must admit that it surprised both of us when she registered 13lb 11oz on my Avons. A belting fish by anyone's standards and my biggest of the season by 1oz. So it goes to show - you've got to be in it to win it."
STOP PRESS!
As we are posting this news we've just recieved news that he just laned another huge barbel weighing in at 15lb 8oz - setting a new PB for Deano!
