Winter barbel fishing on the River Wey 

Many thanks! I lived in Ripley for eight years too - lovely village aside from the traffic. Great to have you on board.

@@themagicoffishing I'm Ben's Dad. Our family is originally from Suffolk but Ripley is a wonderful place to live and fishing the Abbey Stream and Eel trap stream are early memories of Ben and I fishing together.

Amazing memories dad ❤

Thanks and I'm glad you agree it was magical, rather than poor judgement 😄 I could blame the coloured water and strong current; or the fact I only saw a few glimpses of a rather pale flank to begin with; or the fact I'd had a nice chub out of the river a week or two previously; or, most likely, the fact I'm still learning when it comes to barbel! I can still count those I've caught on two hands, but it's addictive stuff and something I enjoy trying when the river's up. Always a risk explaining what you're setting out to do at the beginning of a few hours' fishing and filming, but single mindedness paid off and I was well chuffed as you could probably tell. Magic feeling indeed and they don't need to be monsters 🎣

Plastic bag in the freezer is great advice for anyone reading this. I usually freeze my leftover meat in a zip bag and it seems to soak up more of the powdered flavour as it defrosts. I would love to fish the Dove and grew up fishing the Derwent in the Peak District. Got a whole chapter about it in my book, in fact, and I enjoy revisiting that neck of the woods whenever I’m back in Sheffield.

I won't fish for barbel without garlic. I put the powder on everything. Maggots really soak the garlic flavour up and can completely outfish straight maggot. Garlic is really good for fish, it helps their digestive system, it helps with injury recovery, parasites like leeches really don't like it, as it comes out in the fishes slime. We use garlic oil throughout the winter and to a month or so after spawning on our supplementary feed we give the carp in my club lake. They used to get masses of leeches over the winter, it doesn't happen anymore because of the garlic oil. It's also good for their blood system. I'm convinced that fish can sense if something is good for them, and garlic is just that. I started using ridiculous amounts of garlic powder and oil and it was pretty shocking how my catch rate improved. It must be the same with barbel, they just love it. Great vid bud!

Cheers - I'm gutted the season is coming to an end. Hope you enjoy some of the other videos on the channel as there are quite a few filmed in those areas.

Cheers 😀

Oh wow, I've always wondered what it's like in there! And dreamed of living somewhere like that. Nice to hear from you. I've made other videos shot in the areas above the weir, like these, if you fancy a bit more nostalgia... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oTp7e7rXdDM.htmlsi=EJalIiD0zyemKTdT ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KqnQI3Vy4sg.htmlsi=jhWDmIF6GB9aZJlg

And if you watch this video you'll see your old house quite early on - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WVB3XRdNsOc.htmlsi=i-22JHmo2MejFS54

Thanks! Yes, good to see eels in the river, even if they aren’t what you’re targeting.

Thanks for watching!

Many thanks. I'm ashamed to say I'm yet to fish the Thames! Shocking when I've lived 'down south' for 25 years now, but work's always busy and with membership of two local clubs, I suppose I've always felt I need to explore their waters fully before trying to work out such a massive river from scratch. When you don't know where's available on a day ticket, where the fish generally are, where to park, etc, it's an easier (and perhaps lazier) option to stay more local and there are plenty of miles of the Wey to explore. But there are always forums and tackle shops to ask and I must get round to it one day! I fished the Trent a lot growing up and that's another big river that I always enjoyed tackling for pleasure sessions and matches. Tight lines.

Any help you want with the thames just ask. Plenty of free fishing with some very big barbel and chub. Always happy to give you pointers and all the info you need.

Oh and some serious roach fishing

@@neilwayte517 That is brilliant to know - thanks. I could do a vid on my first ever trip this summer!

Cheers!

Thanks!

Welcome aboard!

Thanks very much - relaxing is what I aim for (and a bit of magic from time to time)!

Thanks for watching! When there's weed coming down and catching on the line I sometimes recast 3-4 times in an hour. Maybe twice if not. I give it a bit of time but also like to try different spots in the swim if I'm not feeding one particular run. As my barbel mentor David once told me, if you're fishing the right conditions and there are barbel on the feed, you can often expect a bite pretty quickly (as I got on my first few casts in this vid).

@@themagicoffishing John thanks for replying back so quickly. So in addition why 5 spice? I my self have just started to target barbel this season, on my local rivers the Hampshire Avon (Royalty) and River Stour (Throop). I started off with my favourite styles trotting maggot and rolling meat (spam) but no success, so have I have moved to static using Boilies, pellets and spam. But with the current flooded conditions and with 2 1/2 weeks left until the end of the season I am looking for any help so why 5 spice, please. Kind regards Mike

Blimey, yes, I should try it in a paste! I got that big jar from Amazon as my Mrs got a bit fed up with me emptying the small jars she gets from the supermarket for stir fries 😁🎣 Just had a quick look and couldn’t see the same one, but there are big bags of the stuff available for £2 to £5. Or I spotted this rather posh looking jar for a fiver which is apparently ‘blended’ in my home county of Yorkshire! amzn.eu/d/e7qhqCH

Correct 👍 It’s where Weybridge gets its name from and it also flows through places like Guildford and Woking (where I live). I mostly fish club stretches but there are free areas too.

Just goes to show there are little gems of river all over our country we are truly blessed in this country to such beauty and sport....

It's a pound and a quarter test rod - avon model with two tips. Needed 2oz lead that day. It's rained even more since then and it must be belting through at the moment.

I’d never heard of it, either, until I moved from Sheffield to Surrey about 25 years ago.