Two Wye Doubles for Dean Macey

Its been a LONG time since I had some time to myself on the bank, so I was buzzing when I managed to get a day on the Wye with no cameras,  just some hard fighting barbel and me! The river was low and clear so I decided to ditch the feeder this time and replace it with a lead and pva bags full of Hinders Pellet. I never use just one flavour when I’m boilie fishing for carp and I take that same approach to my barbel fishing. You never know on the day which will perform, so giving them a choice is always a safer bet in my opinion. Well, it certainly seems to work for me!

Rigs were simple as ever…10lb Drag Line, Micro Lead Clip, Gripper Lead,  2’ of 10lb IQ2 and a size 10 MWGB. Thinking the fish wouldn’t be climbing up the line, my plan was to leave the rod as long as I could on every chuck. With a little weed coming down, the 4oz Gripper held for about 30-40 min each cast.  Freebies were scattered over the top every 15 min. They love the sound of free food. Spots varied from swim to swim but as a rule of thumb, I  always aim to present a bait in the fastest part of the river or on the outside of any creases. With more water on it would be totally different but in low clear conditions at this time of year, most fish are looking for grub.

It was a perfect trip really. I caught from every one of the 5 swims I tried and the first fish from each swim was the biggest. Even though I probably could have stayed put in either one and caught more, I moved on after two or three fish. I would rather catch 1 fish from 5 swims than 25 fish from 1 swim.

Lots of people think I fish the Wye a lot. The truth is that I probably do a few days every year and that’s it. That way, it’s always a treat when I’m there for myself. The highlight of the trip was the fact that it took me 10 years to catch 2 doubles from the Wye and then 2 more fish of 10.2lb and 10.7 come along in the same day.  It might take another few seasons for me to see another 10lb plus Wye barbel in the bottom of my net but its not the size of the fish that I travel 180 miles for.