I spent Friday evening back on the banks of the Irwell, this time equiped with two rods rather than one.
Straight lead with a banded 10mm Halibut pellet on each rod. No bites in 4 hours - not even a twitch. Sitting on a river bank with only quiver tips to concentrate on soon results in my attention wandering - i did enjoy myself feeding the minnows though.
I spoke to a guy who told me that he had been fishing the river for the last 25 years and had only caught one Barbel and that was 7 years ago!
Maybe I might not achieve my target this year but it won't be for lack of trying.
The next time I go to a tackle shop I am going to buy a baiting needle so that i can hair rig rather than band the bait and also buy some pva bags so that i can groundbait more accurately.
Running total now up to 7 hours.
