I'd just like to say thanks for my order that consisted of a couple of bags of Grubber Pellets and a Team Barbel Bucket Combo. Even with the snow on the ground it arrived within a couple of days. I was pretty eager to wet a line as the snow had made it pretty pointless fishing for the last few weeks so as soon as the snow melted I was off on the Sunday morning armed with my bucket of Team Barbel bait. I fished for a few hours sprinkling half a dozen nuggets or so in each swim fished but no bites were forthcoming. So not to be dis-spirited I set off again on Tuesday morning for a few hours and despite repeating the same process as Sunday still no bites. Dispite 2 days fishing and no bites as yet I was determined to persevere with the Team Barbel nuggets so off I set again on Saturday afternoon deciding to fish into dark this time to see if anything happened.
Upon getting to the river it was rising slowly and I quickly set up and settled into a swim I had fished previously during Sunday and Tuesday - no bites. I moved swims and settling in another swim previously fished I repeated the same process and still no bites. An hour or so later I found myself back in the 1st swim and as I always do each cast I attached a small PVA bag with 4 crushed nuggets in. Previously I'd been using whole nuggets as hookbaits but this time I broke a small piece off and gently hair rigged about a quarter of a nugget and wrapped a small piece of shelf life paste around it. With a small flick the bait landed in a nice little slack in the middle of a chocolate brown river, and as the Great Ouse rose ever higher I sat for 10 mins questioning my sanity when my rod gave a very small tremble. As I stared at the isotope it trembled again, so gently I picked up the rod and as it slowly bounced I struck, not sure if I'd hit a snag at first as the rod bent over but nothing moved. Then I felt the tell tale thump of a fish on the end.
Giving the fish as much stick as I dared I soon had it circling under my rod top and it wasnt until I tried to get it in my landing net that I realised just how big a fish it was. First try to land fish and I failed as it dived down into the depths again but after a few minutes I managed to ease my prize into the landing net. After sorting the scales etc out I picked up the landing net to see the fish and a pristine 14lb 5oz barbel lay there looking at me. I was chuffed to bits with this capture in extremely hard conditions and I'd just like to say thanks for the bait. I will certainly be ordering more as I think it would be rude of me not to.
Just to put things in perspective, I've fished this stetch of river all season and only had 1 barbel of just over 9lb for my efforts so to get a 14lb-er on just my 3rd trip with the Team Barbel nuggets says it all for me. A very big thank you and I hope to catch plenty more barbel on the Team Barbel baits in the future.
ONE VERY HAPPY CUSTOMER STEVE WOODLEY
The Titan Is Back
Written by jon
Back by popular demand the new Nash Titan Bivvy will be available in early April and will without doubt be the most popular shelter on the bank for 2010. If you're looking for a bivvy with ultimate strength, rapid setup, tough waterproof material and a sylish look on the bank, then the Titan is for you.
So what do you get for your money?
The Titan can be converted into all types of shelter, from a complete open front, to mesh infil or for severe weather and comfort a zip on, all weather in-fill panel.
Without doubt this is the only bivvy that can compete against the pram hood style bivvy for ease and time of setting up. The pre formed aluminium frame simply folds out from the main centre block, then the material is pulled over the two front ribs. Once the storm poles and pegs have been added the bivvy becomes rigid and stable creating the ultimate waterproof shelter for any weather conditions.
The bivvy comes complete with a Clip-in heavy-duty groundsheet, Nash heavy-duty T Pegs, Two 36” bivvy sticks with storm stick adapters and carry bag.
All Pre-Orders will be billed £50 when order has been received, the final amount of £329.99 will be taken on dispatch of the Bivvy.
Dan's winter 30
Written by Ian Poole
Local angler and Bankside regular Dan usually gets amongst the fish wherever he visits and on his latest water it hasn't taken him long to land this stunning 31lb common. Targeting a tricky south-west club water on a quick overnighter, Dan put his faith in the ever dependable Bankside D-Liver freezer bait fished over a few Mini Grubbers.
Andy's Severn Stunner
Written by Ian Poole
It's been a while since we've heard from Team Bankside member Andy Howes but after a short break away from the bank, he's back doing what he does best. Here's what Andy had to say about his latest capture.
"After a bit of a break from angling over the summer i've started making the odd trip to the Severn again recently. A week off work and renewed enthusiasm led me back to the river where i began fishing for barbel, and this 11lb 3oz beauty was a nice welcome back. The river had tested my patience for a couple of days previously, the low and clear conditions making life tricky, but the foot or so of fresh water I'd been waiting for finally arrived from the welsh hills, brought a bite or two and gave me the Severn bug again!
This is probably the most immaculate Severn double i've ever caught, usually they're proper old warriors but this one was almost scale perfect. A subdued fight and the sun on the water blinding me led me to believe it was a fairly small fish, but it grew in the net and I was shocked to see the needle sail past the 10lb mark. Hopefully this is the start of a good winter, let's hope it stays mild this year.
This fish was caught using Team Barbel Paste over a bed of Oysta Crunch groundbait with a few Grubbers and a bit of hemp balled into a deep near bank channel."
D-SCENT
Written by Bankside Tackle
Download our new D-Scent video for syncing with your iPhone/iPod or play the video if you're using your iPhone/iPod now.
Barbel Bonanza
Written by Ian Poole
2009 has been a bumper year on the rivers for many of our customers with the Team Barbel boilies and our range of pellets producing a number of new personal bests on the Severn, Avon and Wye.
One angler who's had an amazing year on the Severn is local angler Tim Maslen. Tim featured in our news pages a few months ago with a run of consistent catches and is back again, this time with superb 12lb 8oz specimen caught from his favourite swim on the middle reaches of the river. As usual Tim put his faith in the Team Barbel frozen nuggets and fished these over a bed of mixed Bankside pellets.
Chris Clargo is another local angler who's been catching wherever he fishes and a recent session on the river Wye on Bob James' private stretch produced an 18 fish catch, including these two caught as a brace when both rods went off at the same time. Chris returned to a different stretch of the Wye shortly after for another 15 fish catch, with all the barbel falling to the ever dependable XL Grubber Pellets. Not finished yet, Chris has also been out to the Warwickshire Avon where he bagged a brace of barbel weighing in at 12lb 8oz and 8lb, again on the XL Grubbers.
