The Sessions - February 2017
Getting back in the routine
February turned out to be another month that I had difficulty in getting out on the bank, my promotion at work has worked out well for everything else in my life apart from my fishing. My old role involved shift work which gave me a lot of mid-week rest days which was perfect, the new role is more business hours focused so the close season will involve a lot of thinking and planning with which clubs to join to allow me to get out at weekends on sections of river that aren’t too crowded. Anyway back to Feb’s fishing…
4 Feb – River Trent
The weather had been mild all week with south westerly wind and rain raising the water temp so I was keen to get on the bank. I drove up the A1 to the middle Trent hoping it wouldn’t be busy and I wasn’t disappointed and got the swim I wanted with no one else around. It was clear and sunny and forecast to be chilly but I was confident with the rise in water temp the fish would be feeding. The river was up, coloured and was pushing through and I couldn’t wait to get the rigs out.
Two rods were lowered into the deep margin with Pandemic boilies and pva bags containing my special little mix at approx. 16:15 hours, I then followed my standard approach by baiting the spot and down the section with 20 boilies in total, put the kettle on and sat back just loving being out again. As I mentioned last month I’m lucky enough to now be a Ridgemonkey consultant and I’d got all my new bits to put to good use.
17:00 hours – I didn’t have long to sort my new stuff as the left hand rod crashed over and I was playing my first fish of the session. With the river up it flows really hard in this spot putting a lot of pressure on the hook hold, however I’ve learnt that by gently coaxing them upstream they end up in the net but not this time as the hook pulled. Although annoying it didn’t feel a big fish.
19:00 hours – I had to wait a while for the next take but this one ended well with a fish I thought might make a double but was a “naughty nine” at 9-13.
20:20 hours – another average Trent fish at 7plus followed, I was getting regular takes and expected a decent fish at any time. After each take I rebait with 6 boilies, just enough to keep them looking for more.
01:10 hours – I’d had another at 6plus when the left hand rod went again, the take was so vicious that it cut me off on the marginal rocks on the take!! The one problem with the swim is when the river is high and debris coming down is that
eventually the lead gets moved and dragged in to the bottom of the shelf which sometimes means the line is resting on the rocks on the top of the shelf, in this case that is what had happened and I was cut off.
01:45 hours – it had clouded over and was raining steadily when the same rod went over again resulting in a hard fighting fish at 8-11, I thought this was going to be big and was surprised when a fish of this size went over the net, it just proves that you never really know.
03:10 hours – annoyingly another fish was lost to hook pull although I thought this one was a Chub.
04:00 hours – the right hand rod banged over for the first time this session and this one was in a different league and felt very heavy. It was hugging the bottom and taking line every time I gained some and then disaster struck it got snagged. It had got behind a large rock and the line was wrapped round it, the banks are very steep and precarious but I managed to walk down stream reach out and somehow free the line. Once back in contact I went back to my position and the net to play the fish, everything was going well and I’d got it up in the water and was easing it towards me when it was gone. I was gutted as it felt very heavy, on inspection of my rig I found my braid section had gone, I could only assume the fish had got its head down in the rocks when snagged and the pressure and rubbing had weakened the braid and once under pressure in the fight the braid had parted.
That was the end of the action as I didn’t get another take and packed up for home in the morning. I’d lost four fish which was frustrating; I’d only lost four up to this point in the season so to lose four in a night was not so good. I’ve written a piece on Barbel losses before so I won’t labour the point but a hooked Barbel is generally 98% of the time in the net!!
23 Feb – River Trent
After another long stint of work and a trip to Malvern Hills with my beautiful lady I got another window of two nights to fish, if you’ve never been to Malvern it’s well worth a visit and a lovely place.
Back to my trip….the car was packed and I drove up the A1 to the tidal Trent; now the 23rd should live in the memory of many and I’m no different as I was driving up in the middle of storm “Doris”, it was ridiculous and a dangerous drive with lorries getting moved across the road in the wind but I finally made it mid-afternoon. It was no surprise to find the car park empty and with no evidence of the weir being booked I thought “what a result” and headed straight up to the infamous Collingham weir, you either love it or hate it, I love it but won’t pay to book it so only manage to fish there once or twice in the winter with it being booked pretty much every day in summer and Autumn.
The wind was so strong it blew the barrow over repeatedly as I was loading it but eventually it was loaded and I tried walking to the weir, which was a challenge in its self as the wind was blowing me all over the place. I got there in the end but was questioning my sanity and whether I would be able to set up at all. The river was up with colour and swim 3 was the first to be not under water so I dropped in there. I made the decision to set up the pod and get the rods out to see how it went, it started to rain but there was no chance of a shelter being put up so I cast out and stood in the rain watching the rods.
I started with two rods on Pandemic with pva bags and didn’t put any other bait in at first. The wind was north/north/west and so so strong but I was fishing and strangely enjoying it.
I’d stood in the drizzle for 3 hours and wasn’t amused but the wind started to drop and I made an attempt to put up the shelter, which was a big mistake as it was flattened. Another hour went by and I tried again, this time getting it up and well pegged down, I then got everything under it and set up. Now I use a single skin, open front shelter with no groundsheet all year, it’s easy to erect and a great bit of kit, the only down side is when the wind changes, however it was up and I was sheltered and much happier.
18:45 hours – 15 mins later the right hand rod was almost ripped from the pod the take was so vicious, I got to the rod expecting a healthy bend in it to find nothing on, so it was quickly recast with another bag attached.
19:20 hours – the left hand rod crashed over and the Pandemic had worked its magic again, this one was on and went 10-02. The photos were a little tricky in the wind but I did manage some.
21:10 hours – the same rod went over again, initially it didn’t feel big but once in close it woke up and ragged me around a bit until going in the net, it was a cracker at a winter weight of 14-03.
24 Feb 01:05 hours – the right hand rod went this time and this one felt a good fish and I was surprised it only went 11-07, but after three bites I’d had three doubles and was buzzing.
It went cold and clear and the river was rising fast and bringing lots of rubbish down. I’d rebaited twice since the last fish and finally got another take at breakfast time, a smaller fish at 8plus.
By 09:30 hours I was struggling to hold bottom, I went up to a 9oz lead and was getting about 30-40 mins before it moved the rig.
10:10 hours – soon after a recast the right went again and it was another good one at 11-12.
Matt Marlow arrived just after lunchtime but by then I was up to 12oz leads and struggling, the river had come 15 feet up the bank (approx. 2 feet in height level wise) and I’d had to move my shelter back, but it was good to see him and we were determined to carry on.
Ian Jones and Rob Hill arrived a few hours later but it really wasn’t looking good.
By 22:00 hours Matt had landed an 11plus and me another at 9plus and the rubbish coming down was a nightmare. An hour later I thought enough was enough, reeled in and went to sleep. When I woke up early morning I could see they had all given up and were asleep, I recast for an hour but it was still useless so I reeled in and cooked breakfast. I stayed chatting for a couple of hours and then packed up for home as I had a date with my lovely lady.
The lads were all wanting to stay as they hadn’t fished much at all so far so I said my goodbyes and left them to it.
At approx. 23:00 hours that night I got a text from Matt, he’d smashed his PB with a big fish at 16-04, caught on Pandemic and well deserved for staying out in those conditions. Speaking to him the next day they only had a short window where they could fish effectively so he’d made the most of it and got his reward.
February was a better month but I still didn’t get out as much as I would like but three nights is better than none, 10 Barbel / 4 doubles.
Until next month tight lines
Julian Barnes