Tees barbel (2)

Date fished 29/8/2025

10am until 3.15pm

Two weeks in Florida with the family was very much welcomed. We had planned to go bass fishing but timings etc just didn't work out. We saw loads of fish whilst on an airboat ride, incidentally they are an awesome bit of kit, would love to have one for fishing. We also saw fish whilst looking for manatee, they are awesome too, we swam with them in their natural environment. 

Anyway, the barbel quest continued. Armed with the right bait, I tried again. Same peg BTW, the perks of fishing during the week maybe. 

First cast was met with a strong pull. I knew it was not a barbel though, on another day I would be happy with the 2.5 to 3lb chub.

One rain shower got me drenched, but 10 minutes later it was 20 degrees again and I was dry.

A few other anglers passed by, they were fly fishing for barbel - Good luck there! 

Knocks happened throughout the session. I was sure some were fish in the area, but nothing else graced net. 

I think Ronnie and Reggie approve of the new bait. 

Until next time, I am going to make like a snowbird. 

• Snowbird: A Northerner who visits Florida for the winter months. 

Tees barbel (1)

Date fished 3/8/2025

6.55am until 12.25pm

I have not posted in a while, but have been fishing. I have not given up blogging but am writing a sequence of blogs to document Rupe trying to catch his first chub. I will publish, when he does. Hopefully soon. 

Today, conditions looked good for an early morning barbel. Rain, warm, overcast. I headed to the Tees. 

I found a swim with fast water upstream that flowed into a deeper section on the far bank before shallowing up again and creating another set of rapids. Below these rapids would of been good too, but other anglers were in there. 

My groundbait of breadcrumb, crushed tortilla chips and sweetcorn looked and smelt appetising! 

I cast a few feeders quite quickly to get some bait down, meat was on the hook. 

The rod was constantly tapping, fish were certainly in the area. I changed the hookbait to corn, worms, pellets and back to meat. All got interest, none ripped off as I wanted! 

A strange bite got me striking. I felt no fish on  but the hooklink had snapped. Not sure what happened, but I remained on the blank. 

As I watched two kingfisher, an angler or walker appeared on the far bank. "Good swim this" he announced. 

I smiled and told him I was blanking. He had never seen a kingfisher, so I informed him these two were putting on a show. 

Getting back to the fishing, I was on meat again. The rod pulled round and the baitrunner sung. Not much resistance, but it was a fish. Shame to catch such a nice dace on the barbel rod and 12lb line, but I gave a little smile. 

The sun came out and I thought it was no longer good barbel conditions. I headed upstream and trotted maggots for a little while. A nice grayling, a small dace and a zillion minnows all coming in this short time. I walked some more of the stretch, which apart from the litter looked great. I picked up what I could, paying attention to get glass bottles and beer cans and headed to the bin. 

I was going to write my barbel blog just like I am writing Rupe's chub story, but if that was the case you would think I had disappeared. I will keep the number going so we can see how many times I genuinely try, although I will often bring old faithful float rod.