Stewart Bloor

Field Tester

0

I think the choice of bait is important, and for a number of years now I’ve been fishing exclusively with SBS. I have nothing but total confidence in the company’s products – and that’s another crucial ingredient in successful angling. Without confidence you’ll never fish to your full potential.

Whether it’s a boilie, groundbait or an additive, you’ve got to believe in what you’re fishing with. If like me, you often cast out and barring a fish, you don’t reel in for another 12 hours, you need to have faith in what’s out there. As you can see from the opening photos this month, whether dips, hookbaits or enhancers, it’s SBS all the way for me.

I’ve been doing some river fishing for barbel this month. I’m fortunate in that I live fairly close to one of England’s premier barbel rivers, the Severn. It’s often said that you’ll never catch a barbel in bright sunshine, and even more so by using a boilie. Well, the fish below shows that (in a nice way) you don’t always have to listen to conventional wisdom.

Concerning barbel, I’ve got my plan of attack sorted for the season ahead as far as my bait approach is concerned. So, as they say, watch this space for details. The Severn also has other fish of course, one of the ‘neglected’ species being roach. And as you can see below, I didn’t do too badly when I fished for them. Many years ago they were probably the most popular fish in the UK angling world.

My roach fishing was done using a banded pellet as a hookbait. SBS does a good range of pellets that you can get in a variety of sizes, including the smaller ones for species like roach. Although don’t think it’s always about fining down – I caught fish using a 10mm one!

Of course, with any sort of fishing you will always pick up other species, and a number of sessions on the lower and middle reaches of the Severn saw chub in the net. As I often say though, there’s no such thing as a nuisance fish in my book, so although I prefer to catch my target fish, I’m not disappointed when something else turns up.

And on the subject of chub, they are one of the greediest fish in our waters for sure, and the size of their mouths indicate this. The fish below was caught on a 20mm boilie while after barbel. Even when compared to a small chub, a boilie that size doesn’t look too big a meal.

And finally, enjoy your summer fishing. The weeks are going by quickly and before we know it, it will be autumn. I’m going to target some tench next month, before it’s too late. Plus carp are on the agenda. And barbel. Not to forget roach. Well, I’d better stop before I run out of time. Regardless of whatever I do go for though, I’ll be back next month to let you know how I get on. Tight lines!