Sandy had decided to accompany our daughter Jenny to a concert in Bristol at the Ashton Gate fooltball ground to see Westlife on 17th June. I went with her (avoiding the concert) so that I could have an early season session on the Bristol Avon at Lacock, the picturesque Wiltshire village.
I was amazed when I eventually managed to get Sandy up and motivated (it was 11 am whan I arrived) to find that no day tickets had been purchased at the Post Office there.
This made me decide to fish the field in which the Abbey ruins stand which is usually heavily fished. It was a fabulous sunny day, probably too sunny and I had already missed the best part of the day, but decided that fishing at the wrong time is still better than not fishing.
After me experience on the Windrush, I took my chest waders along as I often paddle to achieve the best line for bait presentation, but decided to use the simple technique of baiting with luncheon meat on a size 6 hook with the minimum lead to hold bottom. I crept through the undergrowth and dropped the bait in a pretty little run between sedges and cabbages and was quickly rewarded with my first fish, a DACE! Well it was a good sixed one, but still unexpected on such heavy tackle.
I then moved downstrem to the "weirpool" below the brige and quickly caught a chub. My favourite method of fishing here is only to spend about 15 minutes at the maximum in each place, before moving to the next swim.
I fished several pretty swims catching 8 chub on top of the dace. As tea time neared, I fished under a tree and kept getting plucks at my bait, removing the spam within a minute of it being cast. I then changed to touch legering and after a sharp stike was suprised when the fish tore downstream. It was my firsy barbel of the year, not massive but around 3lb.
I have always been brought up believing that barbel rattle the rod round when biting, but this one clearly hadn't been told. trevor West was fishing upstream, so next time I see him, I'll have to relate the tale of the light biting barbel.