The Sessions - March 2018

The End of a Tricky Winter

So I signed off last month when we arrived back in England and it was freezing, typically I travelled back in shorts and thought I’d be fine and then had to wait a good 30 minutes in the cold for our Purple Parking pick up and it was freezing, much to the amusement of other people there who were dressed for winter and having a right laugh at me…

The weather in England had been really cold with widespread frosts but I was keen to get out and christen my Free Spirit HS Barbel rods, so I went out on the last weekend of Feb to give them a go.

23 Feb – River Trent

I make no excuse for repeating myself, I’d been lucky enough to get a sponsorship with Free Spirit which was really exciting and my rods arrived just into the new year and I was hoping for good conditions to give them a go.

However this being the first chance I had, it was really cold and down to -3 degrees in the night with easterly winds. It was no surprise when I arrived on the tidal, there were not many anglers about but a few fish had been caught just before it got really cold so I thought there may be a chance.

I went into a swim I’ve done well in before and got two rods out with 14mm Pandemic and bags by 16:00. I‘d love to say it was a roaring success but I blanked without any sign of a fish.

24 Feb

I wanted to stay out but clearly a move was in order so once the frost melted of the shelter I packed the swim down and moved up to the middle Trent to an area that fishes well in winter.

Again I was the only person there and got two rigs into the deep margin by 14:30 and baited the length of the section with just 5 boilies to try to draw any fish up.

By 22:00 everywhere was white and it was looking bleak so I put fresh bags on and went to sleep not expecting anything to happen.

0210 hours – The right hand rod went over and although not a big fish at 8plus I’d christened the new rods and was happy.
The rods were lovely and even with a test curve of 2.75 played the fish beautifully; unfortunately that was the only bite of the session and I packed up in the frost.

8 March – River Trent

During late Feb and early March the “beast from the east” hit the country with some terrible weather with heavy snow and temps down to -7 degrees. I’d booked a week of work and was hoping to Barbel fish the whole week but the weather had warmed up, melted the snow which had the obvious effect, mass flooding, so I kept an eye on the EA river level site on a daily basis.

I worked the first three days of the week and finally got on the bank on the Thursday. I arrived in the car park to find it busy so went to another section on the tidal to an area I could fish close in. The river was very high and coloured but did look like it was dropping and I was holding with 6oz leads.

An angler was heading home and claimed to have caught a “17”, obviously people didn’t believe him but he showed me a picture and I have to say it did look big!! But other than that nothing was getting caught.

As the evening drew on the rubbish coming down was getting less as the level dropped and I was confident of some fish.
22:40 hours – the left hand rod bleeped a few times and I could see the tip nodding and was expecting a Bream but it turned out to be a very small Barbel.

23:45 hours – the right hand rod crashed over and this one did pull back, it felt a good fish in the flow and I was a little disappointed when it popped up and was a very plump naughty nine, but on the plus side I was getting bites.

9 March

The weather man had got it wrong again as the sky cleared and it became very cold and frosty and the bites dried up.
06:40 hours – out of the blue the right hand rod went again, and this was another average Trent fish at 8-14.

It was sunny but cold and frosty and it took a while to clear. By lunchtime it clouded over and I was picking up Bream to keep the interest up, I’m convinced they feed together so never mind to much when Bream arrive. I started to introduce a few boilies to keep feeding fish in the swim as I hoped that would encourage other fish to feed.

On the plus side I’d had a few fish on the rods and was really happy with them, I just hoped a decent one would pop up to really give them a test.

It started to rain at teatime which was not good news as it would only bring the level back up. The Bream were getting regular so I changed one rod to a 22mm halibut pellet and the other to two 18mm Pandemic to hopefully stop them picking up the rigs.

17:45 hours – the plan worked and the boilie rod slammed over, this was the fish I wanted and fought all the way, but disaster struck in the margin as the hook inexplicably pulled.
18:00 hours – I didn’t have long to sulk as the pellet rod crashed over, again this one fought hard in the flow and all went to plan as a lovely fish at 12-09 slipped into the net.

21:10 hours – It was raining non-stop but felt warmer than the previous day. The boilie rod went again and this one belted downstream, I had to walk down to the next peg to play and land it but again it went in the net, another cracker at 12-11. I was loving the action of the rods, a real joy to play fish on.

10 March

02:25 hours – the boilie rod went again and I landed another double at 10-08. I’d been putting a dozen 14mm boilies out after each fish and they were really on them, I just hoped the rain did not ruin it.

It poured down all night and was difficult to get any sleep as it battered the shelter but I still loved being out, there is something about winter fishing that only some anglers can appreciate, but I love it.

06:55 hours – the boilie rod went again, this was another average fish at 8plus.

I picked up more Bream on the bigger baits, they were just bigger as well. The rain finally stopped mid-morning but as expected the levels started to rise bringing rubbish down in the flow. It got more difficult as the day went on, rising over 3 feet and finally at 22:00 I got wiped out by two huge branches, taking both rigs. That was my cue to pack up and go home.

To rub salt into the wound, with all the Bream I had caught my net was obviously slimmed up which the rats loved and chewed numerous holes on my net, and it didn’t end there…..

I was driving back down the A1 and going uphill when I had a blow out on my rear passenger wheel, what a nightmare that was as I had to unload the car to get the spare and then change it on the side of the road with traffic thundering by. But it all ended well and I was in bed by 1am to end another river season.

March was difficult due to the weather and getting out as much as I would like, two nights on the Trent, 7 Barbel / 3 doubles, a poor winter all round for me.

I’d set a target of a”12” for every month of the season and was on target up to Nov when the winter turned sour for me. I fished four rivers and caught doubles from them all, finishing with an average of a double every night I went out. My percentage of doubles was much higher, this was down to not fishing the Trent as much this season.

Next season I really want a biggie from the Trent so will spend more time on there again and the winter will be targeting a big Zander.

Season totals: 38 nights Barbel fishing, 65 Barbel / 38 doubles

March 24/25 – The Big One

Julie and I spent another weekend promoting Catmaster Tours at the Big One. As usual we had a great weekend catching up with regular customers and meeting new ones.

The show as usual was huge and a great success with 1000’s of people through the door which was great to see for the future of our sport.

It’s always nice to see yourself pop up on the internet so I had a little smile when I saw this pic recently…

Until next month tight lines and be lucky

Julian Barnes