24.10.09

A recent session really brought home to me how much luck can play in the capture of a good fish. We all like to think that all the fish we catch are down to things like angling ability and top notch baits etc, but sometimes pure luck can play a large part in success.

My latest bit of good luck came on my first visit of the season to the Lower Severn. I was fishing has a guest on a Midlands region Barbel Catchers Club ‘fish in’, on a stretch of the river which I had never even seen before, let alone fished, so it would be a case of hoping for the best and waiting to see what, if anything came along.

We met up at about 12.30pm and were greeted with leaden skies and persistent rain. The river itself was really low with very little colour (as are all of the rivers at the moment), so it would probably be a ‘scratching’ type day. The only plus was that at least the river was flowing, as at times of very low water the Lower Severn can sometimes appear as still as a lake.

I dropped in to a swim that I fancied and by looking at the trail of leaves on the surface could see that the strongest flow was at between a third and half way across the river, so that is where I would fish. First cast in slightly downstream and I’m snagged up solid and lose the lot. A bit of bad luck, but something that will happen when you are fishing blind. A further few casts in front of me and well up stream revealed water that seemed to be snag free so I concentrated on these areas, above what should hopefully be a fish holding spot.

Because of the conditions I was only fishing small baits, a single frozen Quest Barbel Chops (wrapped in a bit of paste) and mini pellets.  A few knocks were had on the rod fished in front but nothing at all on the one fishing 20 yards upstream. These were ‘bream’ type knocks, but at least it showed there were some fish in the swim.

Just before it got dark the rod straight out in front pulled round nice and slowly and the strike was met with what was obviously a fairly heavy fish which made its way slowly upstream and whilst bringing it back towards me after about 3 minutes it snagged me up solid.

Now I had been casting to this area all afternoon and not found a sign of a snag (more bad luck). I tried exerting pressure from different angles, slackening the line, leaving the rod in the rest for 10 minutes until it became obvious the barbel was no longer attached. It had left my hook in the snag and because of the relatively strong tackle I was using the hook was all that I lost.

Soon after a bream of about 5lbs fell to the same rod and thereafter I was still getting knocks in that area but still nothing on the upstream rod.

We had decided to pack up at about 9.30pm and so at about 9.15pm I started to pack everything away as I normally do, so that I can leave the rods to the very last minute. I was just about to reel the upstream rod in (that hadn’t had so much as a knock all afternoon), when the other rod went round signalling a bite. This resulted in a bream of about 6lbs. just as I was slipping the bream back I heard the baitrunner start to sing on the upstream rod.

This was obviously another good barbel and after about 5 minutes of playing the fish fairly hard with the rod up to try and keep it away from any unseen snags, a nice chunky barbel was in the net. The fish weighed 12lb 2oz, a really good result for the first session on a new stretch for me.

So for once a bream had brought me a lot of good luck because I was going to reel the upstream rod in first but the bream arriving on the rod fished straight out in front, stopped me from doing this. There were only 4 other small fish ( up to 6lb) caught between 7 other anglers so I had got very lucky.

So there we are… it just goes to show how no matter how good a fisherman you may think you are, you can have all the best gear and bait but luck can still play a major part in success. The only thing you can say for certain is that the more times you go the luckier you will get.

I am sure you can all think of sessions where luck has played a part in the capture of a good fish?

Cheers, Pat Gillett

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