I was born December 6th, 1965 and work as a radio / hardware electronics engineer for a company that manufactures silicon chips for the telecommunications industry. I deal with wireless communications when I am not dreaming about barbel fishing. I started fishing when I was about 8 years old; in those days I was priveledged to have access to a private stretch of the river Tees where I learned the basics of river fishing. I caught some nice chub, dace (up to 1lb!) , grayling and trout in those day; it really was idyllic. That was where my love of rivers began. I have lived in Barnsley since I was 12 years old and fished the local ponds until I was old enough to get a car and travel without hassling my late father who was a fishing companion and a good friend.

In the 1990s I fished the Trent a lot, mainly at Fiskerton and Dunham bridge, I never got into match fishing because I was a musician and could never stay on the banks late enough - I had to leave for my gigs. I did get a lot of quality mid week fishing in when the banks were relatively quiet though. At that time there were lots of chub and bream, I never caught any barbel in those days.

I also used to fish for chub on the Wharfe at Newton Kyme and had some really good days fishing maggot feeder under the far bank willows. Looking back I have no idea why I wasn't fishing for barbel back then, because they were obviously there.

For various reasons I had a 12 year hiatus from fishing and returned in the early summer of 2008 when I was living in Scarborough. After catching a lot of tench and carp as well as some big rudd and crucians the call of the rivers was too strong. I decided that I wanted to catch barbel and so set about catching them in the Wharfe and Swale in August. I remember when I hooked my first barbel at Newton Kyme, it was the day of the Leeds festival because I could hear it. I didn't land the fish but I felt it's power and that was that!

The next weekend I headed to the Trent and caught quite a few barbel, once I was off the mark there was no stopping me! I had some excellent days on the Swale (eventually) and caught barbel every month of the season thereafter. Some days were spectacular and I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed my fishing as much.

I am now living back in Barnsley which is midway between the Trent and the Swale and offers a few local rivers that have barbel in them. The 2009 season will be a very exciting time for me, as it will be my first full barbel fishing season - I can't wait!

Conrad

01/06/2009