A very big thank you to Mark Harrison for submitting this article…

What a winter we’ve had as river anglers, with the Wye, and most other rivers in the country, experiencing seemingly endless floods, one arriving after another, for weeks on end.

Of course, for barbel anglers this is usually good news, with the combination of high, coloured water and reasonable water temperatures, often stimulating the fish to feed with confidence.

Timing can be the key to success, and in that respect Ross waters have been quite generous to my friends and I over the last month of the coarse season. The popular high-water pegs on Benhall and further upstream, producing regular barbel and chub bites, mostly to pellet and boilie baits.

As the last week of the season arrived, the river was, for once, running at under a metre above summer level, introducing the opportunity to fish with maggot, a devastating bait in late season.

Wednesday, 11^th March was one such day. Fishing with chairman Rob Leather and guest Ed Green, the river was in a generous mood. Rob found a hungry group of chub on the float, with nine fish landed to trotted maggots before he left, allegedly to meet a mate in the pub!

Ed fished two areas in the town before locating the barbel in his third peg, with five of the bronze beauties, plus two chub, finding his maggot feeder approach irresistible.

By the time I reached my third peg, one barbel and five chub had already paid a visit, but as with Ed, the third peg proved to be the most productive.

Three further quality barbel took a liking to pellet feeder, but the highlight of my day was a handsome bruiser of a chub which took a liking to maggot. At five pounds and 10 ounces it was a splendid fish (if slightly dwarfed by the 6 pounds 8 ounces specimen I was fortunate to land from the river on the final day of last season), but it was no less welcome as a superb end to another great day on the Wye.

Mark Harrison