Leon's first double

My son Leon has just landed his first double a cracker in the shape of Samuel David Kiddell weighing in at a hefty 10lb 2oz born on the 23 November

Well done to my son leon and his partner Joy myself and T are very proud of you both.

Lubbly Chubbly

Colder today and the barbel are not so keen not to worry at least the chub are feeding

Stress

Under orders from the doctor not to get too stressed out, so decided a quiet day by the river might be good
But it's been anything but quiet over 20 barbel between the 2 of us and still fishing.

Including this Biggun

Been stressed out by an angel all day whose name begins with T and I am sure she was sent to test me,,, I think I may have failed

Love you T

Xxxx

New Tackle on Test

I have had a sneak preview of all the new tackle due out soon from Korum, its great to be involved with such a professional team as Korum and its always exciting to see new tackle items especially when the idea is your own and you have seen the product from idea through to being in the shops.

Look at these great new maggot feeders, Mmmm very useful on the Severn and Trent can also see them being great in Holland and Germany, just might need some extra lead to hold bottom

Had a few days away this week fished a very low and clear Severn, had a few fish but it was not easy, did a great magazine feature with Total Coarse Fishing, great feature and a few fish so can't wait to see it in picture and print.

After myself and Tjitske had a good day on the Trent last week we may have another go this coming week, only this time I will have to look out after she out-fished me last time.

Very impressed with the new Korum Running Rig Kit, been using them for a little while and have found them to be very good and virtually tangle free, just what's required with a long hook-link in running water.

With the weather now looking a bit more normal for the time of year it would be good to see the rivers with a bit of extra water and then it spells only one thing for me BARBEL TIME.

Well Done to my old mate and top angler Glenn Hubbard, who has set a new match record just short of the magic Ton with 98lb 12oz from the match length of the River Wensum in the centre of my home town Norwich. Fishing worm and caster he found a shoal of bream very hungry and caught from the off, well done Hubby.

Good luck if you are fishing over the next few days the fish are hungry winter is just around the corner.

NEW WEBSITE

I have decided to give my website a new look and have completely changed the way it looks

Have a look Here www.teambarbel.co.uk 

I plan to add plenty more over the next few weeks.


Please feel free to comment

Ade

That will do for a start

First Trent barbel of the season, shoal fish but none the less most welcome.

Let's hope for a few more.

Back Home

Just got home after a nice break in Germany and Holland

Very good to catch up with old friends and also to visit family and catch up with the latest gossip!


I very much enjoy big river fishing and they don't get much bigger than the Rhine, BIG ships, Big feeders, Big fish. I didn't manage to find any of the very big barbel but did get a few and to me they all count.


Spent a very pleasant day in the company of Rinko and Wendy and along with our great friends and hosts for the trip Cees and Heike we shared a full day on the Rhine, the fishing was slow but the company was great, Rinko managed 3 barbel and I know he enjoyed the challenging conditions so much he will be back for more.

Along with Cees we crossed the border for a day in Holland where the barbel were a bit more obliging and I was well happy with the 4 I managed from the Ijssell, the sunset at the end of the session was well worth the trip alone, who says big rivers have no beauty.Also met up with Mike and Marcel for a catch up.

Finished the trip with over 40 barbel and some great memories


Special thanks to Cees and Heike for great hospitality and friendship.


Also thanks to Frank and Riny also to Tim, it was good also to meet Rinko and Wendy

Barbel on Rhine

Been on the Rhine and had a few Barbel but it's not been easy

240 gram feeders and I still can't hold bottom,, Fisky I need some bigger leads mate,, it's a good job the Korum Dutch Master rivers are up to the job.

Tonight is the night

Busy Days

Just back from the severn after a few busy days guiding, firstly it was Kevin and Lloyd who managed to get among the severn barbel, after a difficult day on a low clear river we still managed a few with a nice fish each just as the sun set.

With no time to rest the next day it was Julia, Paul and Jacko's turn with 2 days booked to take in and enjoy the beauty of the middle Severn as well as catch a few barbel.

Jacko got the ball rolling with a nice barbel first cast.

Julia took a bit longer but when it came she played this big barbel very well and the excited screams made the experience all the more enjoyable.

Paul fished very well but had to wait until the second day to get his rewards, in the end he had some nice barbel from a difficult swim which he managed well but the barbel tested him and the gear to the limits, but hey thats why I love barbel fishing.

So all in all a great few days, with 5 anglers hooking and landing their first barbel thats very rewarding for me and those concerned.

One slight worry was the restless night I had on Friday, I kept dreaming of cows and could hear mooing in my sleep it kept me awake and the caravan seemed more like a cowshed, it wasn't until the morning when I got up that the mystery was answered, young Jacko had a rave up with Bessy the caravan cow, just what he was up to we will never know.

Nice one Kev

Guiding today with the Torquay Mafia and it's been tough but we have managed one or 2 including this one.

With A Little Help From My (Dutch) Friends

Just back from a quick trip to Holland mostly for business and family reasons so no time for much fishing and with a car full of people and luggage there was no room for fishing tackle. Thanks to Tim Janssen who loaned me some tackle and supplied the bait we spent a good day on the Ijssel catching a few nice barbel

It was so good to see Tim but also Frank joined us and during the day Cees, Nico, Marcel and Mike also came along for a chat, so for me it was a catch up with some great friends and fellow barbel anglers.

Maybe next year we need to organise a full weekend where we can all get together and have a fish as well as a good chat and perhaps a BBQ as well. I will leave that for you dutch guys to think about, I am sure you can organise something.

Last cast of the day produced something a bit special in the form a good size Blauw Neus something we don't catch in England but even for Holland I am told this was a specimen size fish.

A Big Thanks to Tim for sorting the fishing and a special thanks to the rest of you for turning up and having a chat your friendship and understanding means much to me and Tjitske. The invite to Fish with us in England is always open and we would welcome your company.

Back to my early days

When I Was younger I always looked forward to the fishing trips with my father, we often went to such places as Upton Dyke, Horning Ferry or Buckenham Ferry always great days often with my brother and sisters and memories of some great days and great catches. Those days always ended up in a pub somewhere so father could have a pint or two of his favourite mild and me a bag of crisps and a shandy.   Oh such happy days.

With Folkert and Linda in England for a couple of weeks he asked if we could go fishing, how could I refuse, reports told me The River Yare at Buckenham was fishing very well so armed with a few maggots and worms and a bucket of groundbait off we went.

We had a lovely days fishing in the heart of Broadland with a bite every cast and a nice net of roach, perch and bream to end the day.

Linda and T also had a lovely day with T also catching a few fish and Linda drawing some great pictures for us.

What a great Day.

2 Very Special Girls

Linda is here for a few days and her and Florence have had some fun.

But it all got too much this afternoon and they had to take a nap

Ok So Yours is Bigger

Cees with a beauty from the middle Severn makes my fish look a tiddler but hey who cares.

It's been a lovely day weather wise so what better than some barbel fishing in the very best of company.

First Cast

Great friends Cees and Hieke have joined us on the Severn for a few days.

First cast and a nice result a big middle Severn barbel, what a way to test Cee's new Bob Gill rod.

Well done Cees here's to plenty more

I enjoyed that

Gad a great day on the Warks Avon yesterday I had forgotten just how much I enjoy fishing that great little river

Fishing positively with monkey and feeder I had 5 barbel as well as some chub and roach all on pellet.

That will do nicely

First session on the Warks Avon this season and a lively barbel first cast.

Chocolate and Robin Red Monkey mmmmmmm nice!

Let's hope for his big sister later

Two's up

John and Dave are catching again today on a rising river, the heavy rain at the weekend has put some extra water in the river and the barbel are hungry.

Guiding Today

Out guiding today with John and Dave

Great start to the day as they have both had barbel

Well done gents

Rainbows End

Bad news its back to work this evening and the land of big yellow trucks and phones that never stop ringing, the good news is its only four nights and I am off again.

Myself and Tjitske would like to thank Tim for the great time we all had together last week and let you know just how welcome you are again any time you want.

Follow the link to my gallery for some great pictures from the trip.

Hope to be at Go-fishing show this weekend if any of you are there give me a look on the Preston/Korum stand

Well Done Lady T

Tim is safely back home after his trip, which we all enjoyed very much. Now it's T's turn to catch a few and she has started well tonight with this superb barbel.

Still The Master

I might have the Flying Dutchman one side and the Barbel Queen the other but I reckon this one shows who the master is.

I made Tim some special F1 grounbait he has just had his best of the trip and I had this beauty,, me thinks they might like it.

Hold tight it's Ts turn next

The Flying Dutchwoman

What with Tim one side and Tjits the other I am going crazy, it's all double Dutch to me

Tim is Flying Again

After 4 nice barbel yesterday Tim is catching again today.

I just wish he would smile for the camera

The Flying Dutchman

That didn't take long 1 minute after starting fishing Dutch barbel nut Tim Janssen landed this Severn barbel.

Not bad on your first ever visit to England.

New swim same result

Fishing a new swim on the Severn today nice barbel first cast, trying out a new Korum reel for the first time,,,, very very impressed

Who's a clever girl

T just had a nice barbel 2nd one today, on the monkey

Fwd: Kom an pak ja monkey

>

> That didn't take long first session first cast and a barbel for T
>

2 can play the same game

1st cast same result,, hemp and hali monkey with an O on the hook

A Day With The Feedermaster

Yesterday I spent the day with old friend and top angler Nick Larkin, I was writing a feature for Anglers Mail magazine and Nick had to show us how to catch a few fish on his new invention the Feeda lead.

Fishing at Suffolk Water Park near Ipswich Nick promised a few fish and he didn't let us down, with a good net of silver fish and some good size Carp completed his session.

To find out how he did it and just what he caught you will have to buy the Anglers Mail

Good luck to everyone for the new English river season which opens in around an hours time

Just a few days to go

At midnight on the 15th June the close season comes to an end and proper fishing can start again


Found myself a nice little spot for a session or two and hopefully a Barbel will grace my net.

Happy Birthday

Busy weekend planned, tomorrow it's my birthday and hopefully I will get a few cards and presents
Tomorrow evening we are having a social with the Yorkshire Mafia including Fisky, Pip and a few others. I must not drink too much as I have to be at my best on Sunday
Sunday morning I am giving a talk and slide presentation at the barbel society show. They have asked me to talk about my trips to Holland and Germany
Monday we are having a Pancake party at number 20, it's a house warming come birthday party

Lady T has been catching some carp

We spent a pleasant afternoon catching some carp at our local pond
Fishing Sonubait oily floaters on the surface we had some good sport

Homeward Bound

We Broke camp a little after 9 and took a slow ride back to the Hook for the afternoon ferry, the Stena line ferry is far easier and much more comfortable than the painful trip down to Dover and back up into Holland.

We arrived back at Harwich before 20.00 and within minutes we were on the road home to Norwich.

For me the trip was important in that I value every minute that I am lucky enough to be fishing, but also this time I had lots of new people to meet for the first time, Tjitskes friends and family and to be honest I was a little apprehensive, but I need not have been, each and every one of them made me feel most welcome.

I would like to make a special mention for Tjitske the most important person in my life not only my partner but also my best friend and also a great person to spend my life with.

Thanks T for just being yourself and making me very happy

I love you

Sadly the last day

Another Early start and a planned meeting with Frank and Riny to fish on the Waal but further downstream than I had fished before, Frank took me to one of his favoured spots, with a chance to fish from the beach rather than a krib, which made a nice change.

Franks a great angler and thinks hard about his fishing and like a lot of us would be fishing every day if he could. Proof is in results and it didn't take long for Frank to find a barbel.

Riny had baked us another apple cake after I had managed to eat most of the one from the evening before, washed down with loads of coffee, it went down well.

Our great friend Cees paid us a visit during the day and it was good for us to catch up with him and as always the chat turned to fishing and although Frank and Cees had not met before it didn't take long for them to become acquainted.

Sadly the day went all too quickly, Franks early barbel was the only whicker of the day, a few bream and winde put in an appearance but as for the whole trip the barbel were hard to find.

But as the sun set on another great trip we can again take home a head and heart full of memories and look forward to September when we will again meet up with friends and attempt to catch some Dutch and German Barbel

More Double Dutch

We had a couple of important visitors this morning when Tim came over with Mike, the fishing was again slow but the chat and company was good.

We packed in fishing at lunchtime and were then heading for Eindhoven to see Linda and then to spend the evening with good friends Frank and Riny.

We had a great time with Linda and had to take turns at wearing a silly hat, before we made our way over to Franks for some lovely food a couple of beers and some rather tasty apple cake.

Day 6 Barbel On

After a long day yesterday with Rinko we could have done with a lie in but just after 7 we were up and having breakfast by the river.

Part of the fascination of fishing in Holland is ship watching (yes sad I know) but when you are waiting for the action the ships help pass the time and the cargo is often interesting to say the least.

After Breakfast it was off to Gendt for a mornings fishing, it didn't take long to get the first barbel and when that was followed next cast by another I had feelings things had improved, but sadly that was the end of the barbel action, a few bream and ide followed but no more barbel.

We spent the evening with Tjitske's sister Margriet and husband Ben, we had a great time and sank a few beers along the way.