When actor and TV presenter Chris Sandford was offered a couple of days barbel fishing on the River Wye he said… Why not!

Chris Sandford is best known for his Discovery Channel around the world TV series ‘Just Fishin’! He also has one of the finest collections of vintage tackle in the country and although a keen fly fisher and fly tyer he has recently returned to his first great passion, carp fishing.

“I started fishing on the River Mole when I was about 14. That was when a 1lb chub was a big fish! Carp fishing came many years later, but then my whole interest got turned on its head when I discovered fly fishing. These days I mix it up as much as I can, so when I was invited to fish the Wye for barbel I jumped at the opportunity. My only problem was I realised that I hadn’t fished for the species for over 15 years. But help was at hand! My good friend Nigel Botherway who appeared in the barbel episode of my series was free to bring me up to speed and lend a helping hand.”

Chris used his classic Drennan 1.75 Power Barbel rod with a fixed spool reel loaded with 10lb ESP Syncro XT. His simple running leger setup consisted of a large open-ended feeder and a combi rig tied with 10lb ESP Soft Ghost and Sinkbraid with a size 8 ESP Cryogen Gripper hook baited with a single Sticky Krill Dumbell. For feed he used a mixture of pellets plugged with a very coarse mix of fishmeal groundbait.

“We had the best of times catching plenty of barbel and I’d like to thank all concerned for a wonderful couple of days,” Chris added.

Chris writes a regular column for ‘Fly Fishing & Fly Tying’ magazine.
Information on his books and website programmes can be found at: www.chrissandford.com