Barbel Fishing on The River Severn, Hampton Loade.

If you looking to catch your first Barbel the mighty River Severn is probably the best place to head for, this river is home to large shoals of barbel right through the river system making it an ideal venue for a barbel novice. Fishing the river is an experience on its own if you are used to the slow rivers of Norfolk and Suffolk, it is generally a fast and powerful river with steep banks requiring some strong tackle.

Every year for the last 20 years I try to visit the river for a few days to relax and bag a few barbel as East Anglia is sadly lacking in Barbel fishing.

For the last ten years I've spent most of my time exploring the Hampton Loade area of the river, its a nice area with plenty of good quality Barbel fishing on offer. There are two tackle shops only a short drive away in the towns of Bridgenorth (5 mile north) and at least one in Bewdley (5 mile south). Good accommodation can be found right on the river at

The Unicorn Inn

Hampton Loade

Bridgnorth

WV16 6BN

01746 861515

This pub offers bed and breakfast, static caravans and camping or caravaning. The Inn serves food daily including an excellent breakfast, evening entertainment in the summer and you will find many of the locals and visitors are also anglers. A word of warning the August bank holiday here gets very busy and the fishing can suffer with all the extra pressure. The water directly in front of the pub and campsite is all day ticket water. My personal best bag of 104lb came from the next field upstream which is again a day ticket stretch, I also had another bag of 92lb in 2004 from the same area.

How to get there.
From East Anglia take the A14 west, then the M6 north, you can either go through Birmingham then take junction 10A (M54 Telford) but beware the M6 through Birmingham can be a nightmare for traffic. A better route is the M6 toll (£3) then take the A460 Wolverhampton which links to the M54 Telford road. Then the A442 south to Bridgnorth, cross the river in the town and follow the B4555 Highley road for approx 5 mile. Turn left just past Chelmarsh reservoir before the village of Sutton, the Inn is at the end of the road.

Fishing Information.
There are a few options available to the angler depending on how long you intend to stop. For a short weekend session I would just fish the day ticket water upstream of the Unicorn field. There are about 15 pegs above the water pumping station; the top image was taken from this field. Day tickets can be bought on the bank but I would advise you to visit the ferryman, he runs the water and can give you plenty of up to date info on how the water is fishing. Night fishing is also allowed on this stretch but this is definitely by prior arrangement. The field is sometimes used at night for rabbit shooting and they will go ape if you don't tell them you are fishing. The pegs straight in front of the pub are also day ticket and are worth a try.

For a longer session consider buying a Birmingham Anglers Association club book this will give you access to miles and miles of excellent fishing. A season ticket costs £26 from any of the local tackle shops or online at the BAA Website. All BAA water is fishable on a day ticket as well but if you decide to get day tickets spend a pound and buy a BAA handbook this will give you maps to every section of water run by the club, this is also available online.

Pegs
Unicorn Field The Unicorn field is the short stretch covered by the campsite grounds and run by Kinver Freeliners AC and day tickets are available on the bank. This is a quite deep slow stretch containing some big fish, its not a baggin area with ten fish being a red letter day. The best pegs on this section are the two downstream end pegs just before the water starts to shallow up for the ferry, the big double peg in front of the pub and the next one down.
Upstream of the ferry field there is a small field before the water works I have never tried it but the peg opposite the brook mouth looks good, but is very popular with anglers on the other bank.
Top field. Keep walking past the water works and then look for the electric poles in the field opposite don't stop walking until you pass at least the third set of poles, between here and the forth set is probably the best 200 yards of Barbel fishing you will ever find. After the third pylon the near bank becomes tree lined with short willows this is home to plenty of fish and multiple catches are the norm with huge bags possible when river conditions are right. A short cast is all thats needed to find the fish, a big but light feeder (28g) dropped two rod lengths out should soon see a bend in the rod.

Baits
Caster has always been my number one bait, its worked well for me over the years, but it's expensive as I would expect to use up to a gallon in a full days fishing using a big feeder, double caster on a sixteen hook is my favorite hook bait. In recent years there has been a huge increase in the use of pellet on the river and this has seen the pellet taking over as the best bait. This was evident for the first time on a trip (Sept 2004) as the banded pellet consistantly out scored casters, feed 2 or 4mm pellets in the feeder and a 6 or 8mm banded on to a 16 or 14 hook. Sept 2005 with low clear conditions and buckets full of pellets entering the river every day, the pellets became the kiss of death. Cambells meatballs were the only bait to take fish consistantly fished whole on a size 2 hook and straight lead, the only feeding done was with the ones that fall off your hook.

Tackle