The Sessions July 2021
Maximising very little fishing time
I signed off last month having had a not so magical 16th on the river and a good session to finish my Spring Tench fishing, July wasn’t looking good for time on the bank so I hoped to make the most of what little I had.
4 July 2021 – River Derwent
I had one night free before a ten day stretch at work so had been tracking the weather apps looking for the least wet option. But that didn’t go to plan, I chose the Derwent as it didn’t look to bad in the Derby area but it poured with rain all the way up the M1 stopping just enough for me to load the new barrow and set the swim up for a 19:30 start.
I went in an area that has been really kind to me over the years and lowered in two rigs, one on a Pandemic hard hooker and the other on an Asbo hard hooker with pva bags. The river was rising fast and I had to use 7oz to hold at first but it was soon very clear I wouldn’t be able to fish the swim effectively as there was so much rubbish coming down. I love a summer flood as they can be brilliant but obviously you have to have the right spot to avoid all the debris in the flow.
Knowing this area well I knew that if I moved just 20m upstream there was a spot at the top of the deep margin that was just out of the main flow in a flood. By now it was pouring with rain again so I quickly tried one rod on the spot to ensure nothing had changed in the two years since I’d fished it. It held perfectly, the next job was some trimming with my shears to open the swim up enough and I then moved all the gear up to the new spot, by the time I’d finished I was wet through but it was still warm so I wasn’t too worried.
Finally by 21:30 I lowered in two rigs and I was fishing effectively, I then put 20 boilies through the swim along the deep margin and got the kettle on for a well-earned brew.
The river was rising very fast with large logs and weed rafts coming down, most of it was missing my lines but the flow was starting to back eddy up into my swim but it was manageable.
The first bite came just after 23:00 and that was quickly followed by another, both in the 9 pound plus range and both on Asbo, after each fish I trickled in another ten boilies.
5 July 2021
01:10 – after a bit of a quiet spell the Pandemic rod crashed over and I was into a fish that would not give up in the strong flow and seemed to take forever to land, it all went to plan and I soon was photographing this lovely fish at 12-09.
04:20 - The bites were coming every 40-50 minutes and I had another three in the 8-9 pound range before the Pandemic rod went again and I was playing another strong fish that put up a great fight, again it all went well at 12-03.
I had one more bite that was a long lean Chub to end a great session, seven Barbel on the Derwent in one night is a great session and one to remember. It would have been easy to bail and head home as most of the section was unfishable, but the time spent getting to know the whole section when I first came onto the Derwent in 2015 was time well spent and I was able to fish effectively. Mapping a section with a Deeper and or leading around is time well spent and is still part of the fishing journey and always pays dividends in the end.
16 July 2021 – River Trent, Gunthorpe
I hadn’t been very lucky with the booking system this year and hadn’t got any summer / autumn dates on the weir, but luckily I’d been invited onto fish the weir swim for the weekend with Lewis Baldwin.
I met Lewis through social media and over the years we have exchanged regular phone calls but never actually met in person so this season we agreed to book the weir swim and share the swim which would give us both more time on the island. It didn’t work out quite as planned but our first trip was arranged and we were both looking forward to it.
I arrived for the midday change over and set up, with it being Lewis’s booking and him not having fished the island before it was only right that he had the better side of the swim so I set up on the left. I got the leading rod to work to check the spots, this is always worth doing on weirs as they do change every year during the floods, large snags come down and get caught up and will catch you out if you do not know they are there. My chosen spots were clear but I did find a large snag over to the right that we would both have to be aware of when playing fish.
The river was very low and clear and had not been fishing very well but I don’t always consider that a bad thing as fish have to feed and if they haven’t been feeding before I arrive they will need to soon enough which in effect should increase my chances…..
It was hot and sunny at 25 degrees with a gentle wind and the forecast was for a hot weekend.
I made some slight rig changes shortening my fluorocarbon boom to 12 inches and only just pinching the rubber on the lead clip. Essentially what I was looking for was as the fish hooked themselves the shorter hooklink would lift the lead of the bottom straight away leaving less chance to jam up. By just pinching the rubber on the clip the lead should detach if it hit a rock on the take.
I started at 13:15 with both rods on banded Elips pellets on a size 12 hook with a pva bag of my special mix. One rod was lowered six feet of the wall, the other was cast out to the sunken island. The first bite came 10 minutes later, a long spawned out Barbel at 9-14. My plan was not to put any bait in until Lewis arrived and was happy to fish on the right so I carried on with the single Elips and pva bags quickly catching two quality Roach.
Lewis arrived at 16:00 and it was good to finally meet in person, he was more than happy with the right hand side and set his gear up. We hit it off straight away and with a common interest there was always plenty to chat about.
By 20:00 I’d had four Chub to 5 pound so decided to change over to boilies and a size 10 hook. Mark at Madbaits had given me 5kg of a new test bait and I decided to try it on this trip, there are normally plenty of fish in the weir so I should get plenty of bites if the bait was any good. The bait is a variant of Asbo, is almost black which I liked straight away, very strong smelling and is called OG.
I put the rods back on the spots and put a dozen boilies over each. Lewis’s trip didn’t start well, he had a family emergency and had to drive home and hoped to return in the morning.
23:30 – I’d had a 7plus Barbel and a good Roach so was confident the bait was working. The wall rod smashed over and I was playing an obviously large fish, the fight seemed to go on forever and every time I got it near the wall to try to net it, it powered away again. This happened at least six times and I hadn’t seen the fish and was convinced it was a big Barbel, on the seventh attempt I had the sickening feeling as the hook pulled, it never gets any easier.
17 July 2021
02:10 – I had another Barbel at 8 plus and after each bite was trickling another ten boilies through the swim. I was getting really tired which makes it very dangerous when landing fish as you have to lean over the wall with the water level 10 feet down, I was considering reeling the rods in for four hours but talked myself out of it and recast. The island rod went five minutes later and I was playing another strong heavy fish, this one all went to plan and I could see it was a good one as she went in the net. Up on the sales she went a very pleasing 15-07. When I unhooked her there was a fresh tear in the mouth which strongly suggested to me it was the fish I’d lost earlier. One good thing with the island is the pontoon, as you can walk down onto it and all fish can be held and returned very safely.
02:25 – the island rod went again straight away with another nice fish at 10-07, that was quickly followed by a Chub and with that I reeled in for a few hours uncomfortable sleep. I wanted to be near the rods so didn’t use a shelter, the night was very damp and my bedchair and pillow were pretty wet but it was still warm so I pulled the blanket over my head and got some sleep.
I recast the rods at 06:45 and put a mixture of OG and Pandemic over both spots, the sun was up and it was already quite hot.
07:50 – the wall rod crashed over and I’d hooked another good fish, this was landed much easier in the daylight and was a cracker at 13-07.
Lewis returned shortly afterwards and thankfully everything at home was ok and he could stay for the rest of the session. He writes his own blog so I’ll leave the details to him but unfortunately he didn’t have the trip he would have hoped for, he did catch a few but was just unlucky with the size and a few losses.
I continued to trickle in bait every hour, breaking up OG and Pandemic into halves and putting them through the swim, this worked well and I caught fish at regular intervals throughout the day, with a number of singles and doubles at 10-00, 11-04, 11-03, 10-10, 10-08 and a few Chub.
18 July 2021
Colwick Lock had been opened in the night raising the level and bringing lots of rubbish down which dragged the leads out of position, so I reeled in at 03:00 for a couple of hours sleep.
I was up at first light and was soaked in dew, the only dry bit on my pillow was where my head had been. I got the rods back out and got the kettle on.
05:10 – the wall rod went straight away and it was obviously another good fish, Lewis did the honours with the net and it has to be said it is so much easier with two people, it was another big one at 15-02.
06:00 – the wall rod went again with another double at 11-00.
We fished on until midday and surprisingly did not get another bite but what a great session I’d had, the test bait was good, the rig changes had worked well, I only lost two leads and no rigs, the regular little and often baiting had worked and I landed 16 Barbel with 10 being doubles. Lewis was great company and a pleasure to fish with and we have already arranged further trips together.
Normanton-on-Trent
I had another night spare so decided to stay out and try a new section of the tidal Trent. It was so hot and I was hungry so I stopped in a pub for a Sunday roast and to keep out of the sun for the hot part of the day, after two nights on the bank eating cold food it was lovely to have a decent meal.
I arrived for my first look at 16:30 and the first thing that struck me was how quiet and secluded it was, it was just me a lots of sheep. I got the Deeper to work and identified and lovely deep near bank margin spot at two rod lengths out on the outside of a big bend, so I set the swim up and got two rigs out on OG. I baited up with a mixture of Pandemic and OG and sat back enjoying the solitude.
The first bite came late evening and was an 8plus Barbel, that was followed by a hook pull, after each bite I put more bait in.
23:40 – the downstream rod crashed over and this was a much heavier fish that I eventually got in the net. The level was very low making it very difficult to safely land them. The fish was a good one at 14-02 and with the level so low and the margin thick silt it was difficult to return it safely.
With the fish safely returned I made the decision to reel in, I’m not into fish at all costs so happily went to sleep after a great session.
With work pretty much taking over the month for me that was all the fishing I could squeeze in but I’d maximized the little time I had and was very happy with my results.
29 July 2021 – a British Record
I returned home from work to find the envelope I’d been hoping for since I caught the big Crucian in April, I’m really happy to be able to share with you all my British record claim for my Crucian was accepted by the BRFC, my scales were slightly over so I now hold the record at 4-12, wow what a moment, who’d have thought I would catch a British Record.
Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😊
Big thanks to my sponsors for their continued support,