The Sessions - November 2014

River barbel & another trip to Spain

3 Nov – River Trent

I was feeling pretty tired after travelling back from Spain the previous day and wasn’t feeling too well but this could have been my only window for a November double so it was load up the car, suck it up and drive to the magical Trent.
I arrived at 15:00 hours; it was cloudy with sunny spells but felt cold in the wind.

There was only one other person on the section, the levels were normal for this time of year so I went in my banker swim and I had my rigs in for 15:30 hours.

As it was cold I decided to re-bait every two hours and sat back expecting a take at any minute. 4 hours went by and nothing, instinct was telling me to move which was a tough call as the swim is normally so reliable but I went for it and moved to a swim I hadn’t fished before but just looked right.
The drop off was right in the margin and at approx 19:30 hours it was a case of dropping the rigs off the end of the rod tip which was perfect.

I had a Bream straight away which was a promising start then nothing for the next 4 hours by which time the temp had dropped to 4 degrees, winter was definitely coming.
The first proper take came at 23:45 hours and I landed a Barbel at 8-06, I then had four more takes through the night, one came off due to hook pull and amazingly I had three doubles at 12-01, 11-09 and 11-05, the last one put up an epic fight and felt like a huge fish but I wasn’t complaining, I achieved my Nov double on the first trip and could go back to Spain again and relax.

I had been speaking with the MAD baits boss Mark and we were discussing weather the bait would be an all year round bait, well this trip proved it would, three doubles in cold water was a top result.

10 Nov – River Segre, Mequinenza, Spain

I arrived back at Mequinenza on the 9th after having only been away a week. The temperature had dropped some with the weather change; it was only 15 degrees in the day with cold northerly winds.

Colin’s back was still very painful so we decided to Carp fish for the start of the trip and see how things went. Generally we fish for Catfish in November and have had some memorable trips with huge fish so were hopeful we could fish for them at some stage.

We went back to the swim we fished in October for 18:30 hours and even though it had only been a week a lot of the weed had gone. My bamboo markers were still on my spots so out in the boat I went and dropped my rigs in with a few pellets and some maize and tigers. It got very cold, down to 2 degrees and with a biting north easterly we were in the bags early.

Tuesday 11th

The police drove right past us at 02:00 hours but luckily for us they didn’t stop, we could only think it was just to cold as they normally would not miss a golden chance like that. We took the warning and quickly reeled in for the night.

When I woke up it was thick fog and very cold. So we rowed out the baits and got back in the bags. Mid morning saw some good friends of mine that now live in Spain, Jim and Teresa Wells pop down for a chat, it was good to see them after nearly three years and catch up on all the news.

The day passed uneventfully apart from a flock of perhaps a 1000 Cormorants do their daily ritual in front of the swim, one got caught in my line and had to be retrieved. We carried on till midnight without a touch, what a difference a week can make.

Wednesday 12th

I woke early and cast out singles to the markers and jumped bag in the bag as it was clear and freezing. People often ask me if it gets cold in Spain, trust me the winter months can be very cold especially when the wind gets up and you need all your winter clothes and sleeping gear to be comfortable.

The baits had only been out 35 minutes when I had a drop back on my left hand rod, I lifted my head out of the bag and the line just melted off the baitrunner, I was on it in a flash and it all went well and I slipped the net under a Common at 35-02.

We had some good news from on of the CatMaster guides, one of the clients had landed a Catfish at 226 pound, there were not many getting caught but some of them were big so with that news and the fact that the Carp were not really feeding we decided to fish for Cats.

We were set up at 17:30 hours in a swim we know well that generally fishes well at this time of year. Its on the outside of a bend, there is a large slack area before it hits the original river at approx 70 yards on the left hand side of the swim and 50 yards on the right. Depending on the levels the slack area is 4-5 feet deep and the main river down to 15-16 feet.

We have fished together for 15 years and I have always fished the downstream side, we have never disagreed that’s just how it’s been. This time after a lot of laughing, joking and Colin trying to get me to change I went in the upstream side of the swim, a decision I was later to regret. Our catch rates are always very similar; we fish as a team and swap ideas but always stick to our own rods but I needed a change of luck as our 200 pound plus tally was currently Colin 7, Julian 2.

The rods are purpose built by Conoflex and the reels are Penn multipliers. My set was a 28oz lead trapped by a stop knot to form a bolt rig, 70kg dyneema main line, a large swivel, 4 feet of 100kg dyneema hook length and a size 8/0 Gold Label Penetrator hook. The bait was the super reliable 22mm Halibut pellets, hair rigged with 3 or 4 pellets attached. The rigs are rowed out and the spots found with the echo sounder before the rig is dropped on the spot with two good hand full’s of pellets.

We leave them for approx 6-7 hours before re-baiting as the pellets start to break down unless of course we get a take.
For anyone reading who is interested in a trip with CatMaster, and I get a lot of people asking, we guarantee you catch, if you blank you get a free trip.

I know this spot well and dropped one on a small “dip” midriver and the other on the bottom of the shelf, Colin dropped baits on his spots and it was kettle on and wait.
90 minutes later I had the first take a small Cat at approx 50 pound but I was on the board. Two hours later just before midnight Colin landed a good fish at 163 pound, the interesting thing was it was taken on a Nash Scope rod that we were testing, 4.5 pound test curve, Colin plays his fish really hard and the rod handled the fish really well.

Thursday 13th

Just before we reeled in after midnight I had another small one at approx 70 pound.

It went down to 2 degrees in the night and felt very cold.
The morning was clear but cold until the sun came up, I’d got my baits out nice and early and as normal for our trips Colin went back home to clear his emails and attend to any other CatMaster issues.

I had two Cats during the day, one was the smallest I’ve caught yet on a Cat rig in Spain at approx 15 pound and the other a nice fish at 111 pound.

Colin got back for the evening, it was warm, with a light south westerly and the levels were perfect but we didn’t get a touch. Fishing can be funny sometimes.

Friday 14th

The morning was warm and overcast and I had my baits out at 05:00 hours. I made some slight changes to my rig to combat one of the growing problems in the Segre, Clams and Zebra Mussels. A lot of our fishing is trialling different rigs and baits to try to improve what we offer at CatMaster and to improve catch rates for the clients, some work, some don’t but that’s part of the fun of it.

This issue with the Clams and Zebras is they clamp onto the point of the hook and when you get a take the hook point is masked and doesn’t catch hold in the fish’s mouth. To try to stop this I got a cork wine bottle top and cut it into discs that were just buoyant enough to lift the hook point of the river bed, I simply slipped one on the hook and pushed it round to the bend of the hook, it sat with the point facing up and the back of the hook laying on the river bed. Simple but hopefully effective I thought.

I had two takes in the morning on the new set up, both landed at 107 and 60 pound.

It rained on and off all day, Colin got back and we got fresh baits out for 18:30 hours.

At bang on 23:00 hours Colin had the first big fish of the trip at 180 pound, with fish like that about we decided to chance fishing the night.

Saturday 15th

Lady luck shone on Colin again at 02:00 hours when the Scope rod registered a take and he had a real battle with a big fish, I gloved it eventually and we both thought it would do the magical 200 mark but it was not to be and ended a pound short at 199 pound.

An hour later my “dip” rod bounced over and I was into what I thought was a big fish, this one fought well but was not as big as expected at 148 pound.. All three were popped safely on stringers for the night and we had the usual messy affair photographing them in the morning once the sun was up.

I had nothing through the day but the usually reliable evening session didn’t let us down, I had two at 70 and 104 pound, while Colin had the biggie again at 168 pound.

Sunday 16th – Saturday 22nd

The rest of the trip carried on in similar fashion with me picking up more but smaller fish and Colin nailing the big ones but we had the usual laughs and good times and as always I was sad to leave.

I finished up with 12 Cats with 4 over the 100 pound mark, Colin had 8 Cats but 7 were over 160 pound!!! Not my best trip by any stretch but I’m always glad to see my pal catch and only hope one day one of us gloves the record for the other.

Some times there is just never a better place to be and I advise all my friends to go at least once.

29 Nov – River Trent

I made a call to the club bailiff Kye who told me the river levels were up and coloured so it was a no brainer and I was soon packed and in the car heading up the A1.

When I got to the river I went for a walk and found the area I normally fish was pushing through a bit with the extra water so I went further down to an area I hadn’t fished for a year but it generally fishes well when the river is up.

The stretch here was straight with nice drop offs close in on both margins, so both my rigs were dropped 15 yards out about 20 feet apart, I was looking for my MAD Baits specials to work their magic in one sent trail.

I had a take after only 30 minutes and during the next 3 hours took Barbel of 3 at 7+, 9-15 and 10-02. Then at approx 21:00 hours the Bream moved in and I had 6 Bream and 2 more Barbel at 6+ and 7+, by 00:30 I was happy to reel in and get my head down.
I put the rods out again at 06:00 hours and had a Bream at 7+ and a Barbel at 8-08 before packing up at 09:30 hours to head for home.

A good month despite the difficult Spanish trip, the MAD baits test bait was still doing the business and my season target was still on fire.

Nov – 2 trips to the Trent, 11 Barbel / 4 doubles.

Tight Lines

Julian Barnes