The Sessions - December 2018
A quiet end to 2018
I signed of last month with two 14’s from a new section of the Tidal Trent and high expectations of something special before the season closes.
7 December – River Trent
I’d suffered another long eleven day stretch at work and was really feeling it, my job is high intensity and quite stressful so I was certainly looking forward to some down time.
We’d had a lot of indifferent weather with a lot of rain in the last few days before my trip up the A1. The previous two nights had been mild but with a lot of rain so I was expecting high river levels and very strong winds were forecast with speeds up to 45 mph.
I wanted to fish the new section but it is so open and exposed to the wind I didn’t think I would be able to so I went to a familiar section that offered a lot of shelter from the wind. I didn’t expect many people to be out so didn’t rush arriving mid-morning and was a little gutted to find most of the swims taken with people set up for the weekend.
I walked the section and found a swim in a spinney well away from other anglers and well sheltered from the wind so quickly unloaded the car before the rain started again. I allowed the rain to cloud my judgement and set the swim up first before having a cast around to check flow and rubbish coming down, this proved a mistake as I couldn’t hold bottom with a 6oz lead for longer than 10 minutes!!
The river was dropping so I could have stayed and waited for the rubbish to subside a bit but I wanted to be fishing effectively for as long as possible so packed the swim down and was back in my car.
I made my way up to the middle Trent to a section I know where you fish right under the rod tip and was pleased to find it empty. I’d fished the section in similar conditions and done well in the past so I was hopeful of a good night.
The wind was starting to really get going so the first job was to park the car in the right spot and set the shelter up against it so the car was shielding the shelter, once this was done I got the swim sorted and finally cast in at 16:00 after being on the river for five hours. I lowered two rods out with double 15mm Pandemic and pva bags and baited above and below the spot with 20 boilies.
17:45 hours – the downstream (right) rod went and the fish went off like a rocket in the high, fast water, making it very difficult to get back upstream and eventually getting into the branches of a tree. After climbing down the bank to the tree I got it out and safely into the net and it was only an 8plus so I knew I could have problems with a big girl.
8 December
I thought that fish was the start of a busy night but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The only thing I was busy with was clearing rubbish of the line and retying rigs. Even right under the rod tip I was having issues with loads of rubbish dragging the rig into the rocks and burring the hook point over, so I was changing the small piece of braid and hook every couple of hours if it lasted that long! I went through plenty of end tackle, thankfully I keep a well-stocked tackle box.
03:20 hours – I eventually had another take but it was a small schoolie at 6plus, by this time I was feeling tired and fed up. The wind and rain were awful and it was an uncomfortable night made worse by not catching much.
Now being sponsored by Madbaits and being a bait tester is brilliant and I wouldn’t change a thing but it has its drawbacks, I have to publicise my catch’s and obviously plug the bait which I’ve been doing for four years now, that part is absolutely fine but the drawback is everyone wants to use the bait which is great for Mad but not for me as I lose my edge as a lot of people on the Trent now use Pandemic…..doh!
I’d been thinking a lot about making a tweak to the bait and had spoken to Mark and Nick at length about it and finally I did it and had a tub with me to try. Now I don’t want to say too much just yet and want to test it for the remainder of this season and next to see how it goes but after having the 6plus I put two 15mm tweaked Pandemic on the downstream rod and lowered it in.
04:10 hours – I only just took of my coat and boots and got in the bag when that rod smacked over, it went with such power the reel hit the delkim at pace and the rod was on the way into the Trent, I was on it in a stumbling flash and literally just caught the end of the butt section before it was gone for ever. I was so pleased the new bait worked but was stood in the mud and rain in my socks. I managed to get my boots on and played the fish to the net and it was a very pleasing 11-02 which put some gloss on a miserable session.
I swung the rod out again on the test bait and it went again at first light with another smallish fish at 6plus but I was pleased the bait had worked again and was looking forward to giving a good go through the winter.
23 December – Bridigo Lake
With the rivers being trashed I’d had plenty of time to do the xmas shopping and some socializing with friends. My first real chance to fish was an afternoon session in the pouring rain, with it being cloudy and mild I thought the Perch would be worth a go. I’d fished the lake last season after hearing rumours of good fish but had only managed Perch to 3-02 so decided not to re-join, however I got a club book send to me anyway so thought I would use it.
I had three hours fishing before dark so lowered to float fished King Prawns into the margins and fed red maggots little and often. I had four bites, a Common and three Perch with the best two being 2-10 and 2-13. I’d forgotten my tripod so the photos were a bit tricky but didn’t end up to bad.
28 December – River Trent
After a lovely xmas with Julie and two days at work I was on my way up to the new section again. The weather was perfect, cloudy and mild with night temps at 5-8 degrees and the river level very high but dropping, it was like a Barbel anglers dream……
I had two nights to fish and was really looking forward to it and arrived at the river mid-afternoon. I’d arranged to meet Ian for a session but he’d already informed me it was quite busy, there were only another three anglers on the section and it is big but there are not many accessible areas to fish. I’d looked at other sections on the way and all were busy so went with my first choice. I had the short straw and the last swim I would have chosen as it was difficult to fish in high water, however it has done good fish for others so was worth a go. The level had dropped a good couple of feet over night but was still very high but no rubbish coming down so I was able to hold with 5oz.
I got two rigs out both with double 15mm Pandemic with one being the tweaked bait and put 25 boilies through the swim and felt pretty confident but surprisingly no one was catching. It seemed the river in general was very quiet, we had friends fishing other sections and no one was reporting much luck.
After an hours fishing the Bream started hanging themselves, one after another with very little indication on the rod top. After the third I changed one rod to double 18mm but that did not stop them.
29 December
I woke up with a cold and not feeling well at all, I’d caught Bream all night and no Barbel. Ian was packing up and had two fish as he was about to leave but nothing else, our other friends had caught one each in two nights fishing so it wasn’t looking good.
I decided to stick at it despite feeling rough and made sure I wrapped up warm all day. By 11:00 the wind was getting stronger to the point where I had to stand outside holding the shelter in place as the wind was trying its best to rip it out the ground, then my pod and rods were sent flying as I was trying to sort that the shelter was flattened, I ended up holding the shelter in place for two hours before the wind dropped, it was turning into a nightmare trip. 14:40 hours – it was 14:00 before I was fishing properly again and the rod nodded a couple of times, I was expecting another Bream but this one felt heavy and stayed deep and I started to get excited when a mid-double Common popped up, I love my Carp fishing but not when I’m targeting Barbel. To rub it in it just did not want a photo taken with this being the only ok-ish one before I got fed up and slipped it back.
I carried on catching Bream until 23:00 and I felt so rough I reeled in, wrapped myself up in my bag and tried to sleep it off.
I got up and cast the rods out again at first light and the Bream were waiting and started straight away, by 10:00 I’d had enough and went home and retired to my sofa. Not the best session to end 2018 but they make the good sessions even sweeter.
Happy new year, until next month tight lines and be lucky 😊
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