The Sessions - October 2017

Making the best of little time on the bank

1 Oct 2017 – River Trent

So how did the last 24 hours go???
That’s where I finished last month, on the Trent at Sutton half way through my second night with one loss, an Eel and loads of Bream.

It was pouring with rain and the Bream kept coming, they really are a curse on this section of the Trent and are relentless no matter how big your bait. In the early hours I hooked another good Barbel that got in the same snag as the fish the day before eventually cutting me off an inch above the hook, I wasn’t happy and reeled in the other rod and got some sleep.

08:25 hours- My plan was to move again so I put the rigs out while I made a brew and breakfast, typically I got a take and kept this one away from the snag landing my first Sutton double at 10-01 and it was crapping out my bait…

Naturally this left me in a dilemma, the fish were on the bait but I was losing them in a snag so after a bit of leading around in the margin I moved 20 yards upstream. My thought process was to draw them up on the bait to an area that was snag free and hopefully land them all. By lunchtime I was set up and fishing and feeling pretty confident, as expected the Bream started, although they are a pain I am a big believer that Barbel happily feed amongst them.

16:30 hours- I’d had a few Bream and a small Barbel and the right hand rod went again, this was a bigger fish and was a strong fight but all went to plan and a double went in the net at 11-04, again this fish was crapping out the bait so I put another 10 of each in, Pandemic and Pure Fish.

17:05 hours- the same rod slammed over again, this one felt a good fish and I was surprised it was only 11-14, I weighed it and was getting ready to do the pics when the other rod went over resulting in another double at 11-00, what a crazy 35 mins. Once the pics were done I recast and put another 20 baits in.

The bites kept coming through the evening with another small Barbel, lots of Bream and a hook pull after a 30 second tug of war to stop it getting down to the snaggy area.

02 Oct 2017

02:10 hours- I’d carried on catching Bream and another small Barbel when I hooked another good one, all went well and another double was in front of the camera at 10-02.

05:20 hours- I’d lost another to hook pull that was a good fish and was on for some time, it never gets any easier and I still get that same gut wrenching feeling when they come off. The left hand rod went again and this one was landed at 11-08.

After more Bream and a slow pack up I headed home. After a difficult start it had turned into a great session with 9 Barbel landed and 6 being doubles on my first trip to a new section, catching on both the Pandemic and Pure Fish. I couldn’t wait to get back.

One really good thing from this trip was the new bait from Madbaits called Pure Fish, it’s made with ground fresh Herring instead of eggs, is quite a soft boilie and the fish were loving it and it was really noticeable on the unhooking mat after each capture, well worth a look if you fancy a change of bait.

9 Oct 2017 – River Trent

Following a seven day stretch at work I moved my rest day to give me a night and a day’s fishing. It was warm and cloudy as I drove up the A1 arriving in the dark at 19:00 hours. It made sense arriving late to go in the same swim so I set up and baited up with a mixture of the two baits. The Bream started straight away and some of them were well over 7 pound, I dread to think how many I had when they finally stopped at 02:00 hours!!

10 Oct 2017

Surprisingly I had no Barbel through the night and was disappointed when Jerry told me someone had fished the swim the afternoon before I arrived, this may well have had an impact as I didn’t know how much or what bait he’d thrown in. Still I was there and had baited up so carried on.
The morning looked perfect conditions and I had an 8-15 at first light followed by more Bream and then nothing up until lunchtime.

13:55 hours- the left hand rod went over and it tore downstream, for a short while I was thinking good Barbel but the fight gave it away and it was no surprise when my first Trent Carp popped up at 12-15.

17:10 hours- I’d had another small Barbel and was convinced I’d get a better one, just before packing up the rod went over and I landed a low double at 10-02 to finish the session.

21 Oct 2017 – River Trent

I’d had another long stretch at work and a lovely weekend away with Julie, we’d been to Southwold and were lucky with the weather having gorgeous sunshine the whole weekend. We took a long walk along the beach front and came across the cannons on the front and naturally as an Arsenal supporter I had to get a photo.

Now Julie is terrified of Wasps and Hornets and to my surprise due to the time of year the area we were staying in had a healthy population of Hornets that seemed to like our lodge. When we arrived on the Friday night in the dark there was one on the front door as Julie went to unlock it, I never knew she could break dance that well!! Anyway after dealing with that one I didn’t expect to see any more until I opened up in the morning to see quite a few flying around outside, clearly we were near a nest so we ensured all the windows were shut when we went out for the day.

Julie is never one for excess baggage and takes a small hand bag when we are out and about, we had been walking all day, had the camera and her phone in and out of her back numerous times so imagine the shock when I went to get the camera and a hornet flew out of her bag, how I wasn’t stung is anyone’s guess but poor Julie nearly passed out with terror!! Me… I was crying with laughter.

Back to the fishing and Storm Brian. He was due at any time as I drove up, but I love fishing in rough weather as generally the fishing is good. I arrived at lunchtime to find a few people dotted along the bank with the only area free was the bend I’d been targeting. I parked up and got the rods out but there was no way of getting the shelter up, the wind was battering me and creating waves across the river.

15:55 hours- I’d been sitting in the car watching the rods when one went over and I landed the first of the trip at 8-10.
18:40 hours- the wind was crazy by this time and the noise was incredible, I couldn’t hear the alarms and it was no surprise everyone had gone. The same rod went again and this felt a good fish, the wind made everything so difficult and made the fish feel bigger, however all went to plan and I slipped the net under an 11-09.

22 Oct 2017

There was a break in the wind in the night as it changed direction allowing me to get the shelter up and use the car as a wind break, however it was an uncomfortable night as I had to move everything round twice due to the wind changing.
By first light everything was back in the car and the wind was ridiculous, I’d re-baited every two hours and was surprised not to have caught more. On the low tide the flow was so strong it kept dragging my 6oz leads and I was losing the hook point on the gravel, I was going to call it a day but talked myself into re-rigging and fishing until 11:00 hours.

10:15 hours- my persistence was rewarded when the right hand rod crashed over and I was into a heavy fish, it snagged me but I managed to free it and then played it very carefully in case of line damage. I didn’t have to worry the RM-Tec mainline did its stuff and a good fish went into the net at 13-01, a great way to finish the session.

25 Oct 2017 – River Trent

I did a 20 hour session in what looked like good conditions and felt confident. As they were loving the Pure Fish I tried a different approach for me by baiting quite heavily from the start and putting a good bed of boilies down.
This proved a mistake as I got hammered by bream from the start and they didn’t stop all night until I packed up at 15:00 hours.

30 Oct 2017 – Bridigo Lake

The first frost of the year and a cooler day seemed a good time to try my first Perch trip on a new water. I took a punt on this little water and joined the club after seeing a good Perch caught there last year.

It took a bit of finding but I got there in the end and found it was right next to the Great Train Robbers Bridge in Herts.
It’s all fenced in with locked gates but I was a bit disappointed with its size and there was two anglers on there Perching on my first visit. The info I had been given was I would be on there on my own most days, any way I was there so set about having a look.

I did my normal prep by walking round the whole lake looking for the deeper margins or some kind of holding feature, there was dying weed but the depth quite uniform. In situations like this I tend to fish as many spots as I can for two hours a piece until I find fish.

So I started at the car park end away from the other anglers and lowered two float fished King Prawns in the margin with a light scattering of red maggots and broken Prawn.
It was cold but a nice day but the trains every 10 minutes didn’t quite make it idealist.

Another two anglers arrived making my plans difficult but by 14:00 hours I was in my third spot fishing a margin of 3 foot deep with dying lily pads poking up. I was sitting quietly when I noticed a Carp go past tight to the bank, this made my confidence lift because if Carp used this margin Perch would.
The first bite came quite late and my heart sank pretty quickly as a carp was crashing through the weed, I bullied it into the net to find a low double Common.

I lowered the float in again not expecting much after the mess the carp made of the weed, however within 20 mins in the gloom the float dipped under again and this was a Perch and a good one for my first from the new water at 3lbs 2ozs.

October 2017 another month with limited fishing time, but still picking up a few good ones 16 Barbel / 9 doubles.

Until next month be lucky and tight lines.

Julian Barnes