Myself and my mate took advantage of a small window of oppertunity and went barbeling last night.

After a month of very low water temps we had a day of heavy warm rain into the river on Monday and when we got to the venue last night we were greeted by temps of 45f, it rose 6f overnight and sent the Kennet barbel into a feeding frenzy. The frost was back by the time we packed up so that window may be closed again now until we get some more warm rain.

We fished from 5pm till 10pm and we had 8 fish between us, my mate had 6 and I had 2, I lost two to hooks pulls which was a bit gutting, my hooks were nice and sharp so I don't know why they pulled out, maybe they were foul hooked or something.

It was good to experience that 3 foot twitch of a bite again that barbel give you with every fish almost dragging our rods in, all our fish fought like demons last night, they are so powerfull and that first heart stopping run is awesome which is why I love em so much.

All our fish fell to hair rigged Hinders Elips pellets wrapped in our special homemade paste with 12 pellets in the swim loose feed, we spent 30 minutes in each swim then moved on.

I know Ukbudlover who posts on here was on the Kennet last night on a different venue to us and he was bagging up as well

My biggest last night 7lb 12oz

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My mates biggest last night 8lb 14oz, it gave him a right run around, not surprising really looking at the size of its tail, a very powerfull fish

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nice mate,fairplay to you
lovely fish

Cheers TB, there is one in the river with your name on it mate, roll on summer eh

Can't argue with that! Those two fish pictured look in mint condition

Aye, thats the best bit for me, the whacking great big bite and the mayhem that follows. Gets the old addrenalin flowing for sure.

All our fish last night were in tip top condition mate and they all fought really hard too, that little mild spell really turned them on, it was good to see as it been hard even before the frosts and we were beginning to think the Kennet was devoid of fish. They came from stretch that doesn't see too much angling pressure and the fish we catch from that venue are usually in good condition.

Top angling Jakk, some crackin barbus there

Well done Jakk

Cheers fellas

It seems we got our timing spot on as my mate was out again last night, the river temp was down 2f and he blanked, Timing is crucial in winter barbel fishing

Big up ya status Jakk!! Top angling mate.

My barbel rods are set up ready for when we get a bit of rain on the Ouse. I must admit that this real cold weather has stopped me going out on the bank as much as I normally would, must be getting old!

Cheers mate

You are not wrong, its not been an ideal winter for barbel fishing, too bloody cold, I knocked the barbel on the head while its been cold but have been doing a bit of chubbing over the last month or so, I have had a handfull of fish but even thats been hard.

Keep and eye on the weather forcast mate and get out there when the conditions looks good, you got some big old girls up there on the Ouse you lucky fella.

Tightlines

well done on the fish jakk.
had my first session of 2009 on the kennet and managed to catch 3 small barbel up to about 6lb.
nice to get out and get some action in the cold weather and good to get the first barbel of 2009 on the first session.
unlike jakks 2 of my fish came out in daylight and 1 after dark-its amazing how the kennet can switch on after it gets dark,a swim that seems lifeless in the day can produce fish after dark.
pic is my first of 2009-about 5lb.
ukbl

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nice fish mate.got me thincking,i need to get down on the trent again this year

nice to see good quality fish well done jakk
never done any coarse type fishing, often fancied it but not much near me really.fish the sea lots ,the bass would be the one for a good tug and runaround .
always have heard of the fight the barble give ,i wouldnt mind a go on them it sounds good 3 foot biters.