Steve Pope Barbel Fishing

Well it’s been almost a year since we enjoyed BD &W Volume 2, has it been worth the wait? Most certainly, once again Bob and Stu have come up with the goods and produced another dvd that every barbel angler will enjoy.

I’ll take you through the complete film that is an impressive 85 minutes in duration.

Bob and Stu start us off while chatting together in Climax Fishing Tackle, which is situated close to Sheffield.

The first port of call is the glorious river Teme where Stu meets up with Dave Mason who knows the river like the back of his hand. The scene is wonderfully set with some outstanding imagery of the Teme valley in all its glory. Apart from the barbel fishing the area is stunning for its natural beauty, catching hard fighting fish is quite simply, a bonus.

As the mist rises from the river at the crack of a summer’s dawn we find Dave and Stu walking along the river, Dave pointing out all the likely looking swims. Having a direct involvement with the fishery for many years Dave also explains the work that has taken place to improve the habitat and the devastation following the 2007 floods. Work is ongoing and as we join the pair the fishery is looking in fine condition.

Keeping low and approaching the swim to fish Dave explains why many anglers slip up before they even start, the stealth approach is vital on these intimate rivers.

Two pouches of pellet are catapulted into the river, Dave calls it “carpet bombing the surface” and within a couple of minutes barbel are on the scene, investigating!

“Ringing the dinner bell” Dave calls this and quickly proceeds to hook into a typical Teme tiger that fights like fury, great stuff.

Dave runs through his rig, this is something that Bob and Stu have included in all their dvd’s and it certainly helps the viewer understand the thinking behind the different anglers approach.

 

Lots of good tips in the section with Dave, my one criticism, Dave’s shirt!!

After another visit to Climax Tackle, we move on to the underwater footage, which is simply superb. Watching how bait behaves beneath the surface on the riverbed is a real eye opener and will make all of us think a little more about how we introduce feed.

Then we meet up with Archie Braddock, a great frend of Bob’s, in his fishing shed. This sequence details the way Archie prepares his maggots. It seems rather invoved but the proof is in the results and Archie has caught enough barbel using the bait he describes to make the preparation all worthwhile.

We then see another underwater section where we watch the way different sized pellets react on the bottom. Stu recognises a nice double that moves in to feed and we then cut to a still shot showing Stu with the very same barbel which he caught a long way from where the filming takes place.

Bob then takes us on to the Trent where he shows the method which has been particularly successful of late, he also turns the air blue when a narrowboat passes  by rather too close for comfort!

Don’t worry, you don’t have to cover your ears, Bob and Stu know how to work the bleeper!

To sum up, another excellent piece of work from the dynamic duo, lots of great info and hot tips and the superb underwater footage is essential viewing.

Great value at £14 . 99.

Recommended to anyone who loves their barbel fishing, you can buy it here.

Steve Pope   May 2010