Every year during October I take Sandy
to the Wye as an anniversary present; this time our son Lee was down from Edinburgh and came along
too. We normally do family outings during the day saving the late afternoons
and evenings for fishing. In the distant past we used to try and catch the
biggest barbel or chub but now we focus on enjoyment and so our competition is
lighthearted and the target is to catch the most species. Thus we change
spots, methods, baits etc which is great fun - especially as I edged a
win by 10 to 7 including this 8lb barbel and the chub of 5-2.
However,
we couldn't catch any pike. The river was teeming with dace and we could only
short trot (like long trotting but your float only moves a few feet before
you get a bite) all week. We have seen a steady improvement in the dace fishing
over the last few years which may be as a result of the Wye and Usk Foundation
work designed to help salmon also helping the dace. This resulted in the
pike not being interested in lures or our deadbaits, I think they only had to
open their mouths for dace to swim in - unbelievable how many fish there
were!
However we
still caught barbel, chub, dace, minnow, gudgeon, salmon parr, brown trout,
grayling, perch and bleak with the best barbel at about 9lb. Trying different
species with different tackle and techniques is great fun and I have never seen
a river so full of fish. If you need any advice on the Wye, there is a
wonderful tackle shop called Woody's Angling Centre in Hereford, and he is
always please to help.
I do really love the Wye, I think it is the best river in the UK with
great scenery and wildlife all around.