Des Taylor’s Diary of a Countryman
Happily a customer of mine caught four barbel on an ‘out-of-sorts’ River Severn
WRITING a weekly diary is hard, believe me, especially when you have to keep catching fish to make it interesting!
Luckily I am on the bank pretty much seven days a week, and I usually catch my fair share of ‘kippers’. The downside is that every now and then you have a bad week where nothing seems to go right and few fish hit the net.
You know what’s coming, don’t you? Yes, I’ve had one of those weeks!
So I hope you’ll still enjoy reading about my lack of success!
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
Had to cancel two planned trips on the boat because the river was rising quickly and carrying lots of rubbish. Conditions like this are hard enough when you’re fishing from the bank, but 10 times more difficult from a boat.
We were all disappointed, but I’ll always cancel if I think my customers are going to have a bad trip. I don’t get it wrong that often.
Instead of fishing I spent the time on my new office at home, getting it ready for writing in the winter and planning future trips.
MONDAY
Guiding with Steve Hunter. I didn’t fancy the river when we arrived as it was on the rise, despite my trusty internet telling me it was falling.
Anyway, just as I was telling Steve it was going to be hard, the rod bent over and a barbel was on the end! After that things went quiet, and to make matters worse the dreaded white foam started to come downstream. Again, I was explaining to Steve how this is usually the kiss of death when the rod bent over for second time and an even better barbel hit the net.
Then he lost a couple in a new snag that had obviously come down with the extra water, before getting a double hook-up. What do I know about a bad river?
Steve asked me: “If this is a bad river, what does it fish like on a good day?” I had no answer – against all the odds this was turning out to be a good day.
Steve then had a quite spell before finishing with another couple of barbel. He was over the moon. He comes from the North East and had never before seen a barbel, let alone caught one.
I was pleased for him, and glad the long journey had been worth it. In a world where anglers on the Trent are catching 15 doubles in a day, there are many more who have never seen or caught a barbel, and I love to be the guy that actually helps them catch their first.
TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY
An overnighter on the boat with eel angler Steve Dawe, another one who has never caught a barbel.
Unfortunately, it was a dead, dead night with nothing moving. Indeed, from starting the session at 4pm and coming off the river
next day at 10am we hardly saw a fish move or heard a bird sing. Nor were there any insects on the water.
The day had been humid, and I would have thought everything would have come to life on the evening but the opposite occurred. Hey ho, that’s angling for sure.
We caught nothing. Indeed, we had only the odd liner the whole of the session. It was disappointing but, as they say, that’s why it’s called ‘fishing’ and not ‘catching’.
THURSDAY
I fancied a day on the boat by myself with drop shot and jig rods. I caught a few perch, which were welcome as next week my mate Ray Cutler and I are on a big-barbel venue for three days, where one bite in the whole trip will be good.
I headed up towards Stourport and fished lots of likely-looking spots where perch would lie in wait. Some of the swims were proper ‘Mr Crabtree’ ones, and I felt I couldn’t fail.
Wrong! Aside from a couple of tiny perch I could not buy a bite. Still, at least I was able to pull up the Angel and enjoy a pint of cider, watching life on the river go by.
You see all extremes, from nice, thoughtful boaters to two blokes and two women, all drunk, shouting at the top of their voices and steering the boat all over the place. I laughed and sat thinking how lucky I was not to be still at British Leyland in a red hot factory.
After my pint I jumped back into the boat and continued for the next couple of hours to catch sod all. I’d like to say I enjoyed it but it had got to the stage where I was just slinging out a piece of rubber and reeling it in. I was putting no thought into the retrieve.
I headed back to the marina, tied the boat up and went home. Despite everything, the fishing had put me in a good mood, which is what it’s all about.
I love catching fish, and big ones at that, but the most important thing that has kept me going is my love of being beside the water.
FISH WITH DES!
WHY not book a day’s fishing with Des this year? Just visit destaylorstackleden.com for all the info and lots of great gift ideas.