Another evening session on the River Loddon, this time I intended to fish a bit longer than my previous visit of two hours.

Dropped into first swim just before 7pm and moved at 8pm having not had a bite or any indication at all that there might have been fish around.

Second swim was a bit more productive - lots of small stuff tugging at the bait, scaling one rod down to a size 10 with small pieces of luncheon meat got me a couple of small Chub and a monster Gudgeon of at least two ounces! The onset of darkness brought a better bite, and a few minutes later a lovely Barbel of 9lb 8oz was on the unhooking mat.

Left this swim to rest for a while and tried a new swim about 20 yards downstream - first cast of my ledgered pellet under the overhanging branches of a tree produced a savage take from something. The something promptly shot off downstream and neatly wrapped my hooklength around a branch snapping the line at the swivel.

Moved back to the productive swim, cast out both rods and poured a coffee while I waited hopefully for another bite. Twenty minutes later, one rod hoops round and another Barbel is on, weighing in at 7lb 12oz.

Fished on until just before 1am, without another bite and decided bed was beckoning!

Short evening session on a new stretch of the river Loddon. Nearly missed first bite, on first cast as I wasn’t expecting anything to happen for a while. Felt like I had connected with something for a few seconds, before the line went slack, suspect it may have been a line bite.

Then had a suicidal Chub of about 8oz, followed by another just over a pound before my only really decent bite of the evening. The rod was very nearly pulled in by a very hard fighting Barbel of 7lb 5oz, caught on legered pellet. Packed up shortly afterwards as I wasn’t feeling very well, but went home quite pleased with myself!

Had a lovely morning on the Kennet at Newbury, trotting red maggot for a mixed catch of Dace, Roach, Gudgeon, Trout, Grayling, and a very nice 4lb 7oz Chub. Apart from a couple of showers, it was a very pleasant morning to be waist deep in the river!

Might as well put something then as the blog now appears to be up and running !

Had my first visit to the river Blackwater on Tuesday evening, fished for a couple of hours, legering pellet. Only bite of the evening after about 15 minutes - result an 8lb 10oz Barbel. Didn’t have another proper bite after that, couple of knocks but nothing significant.

Very pleased to catch on my first outing to a new venue!