The Sessions - September 2019
Barbel mania
I signed off last month after a having two poor trips to Johnson’s and some great late summer Barbel fishing. I always look forward to Sept as the Barbel start to put on weight for winter.
2 Sept- River Trent, Tidal
I planned to arrive at teatime to give me a bit of a chance to look round for an area before it got too busy but a crash at Grantham saw me stuck motionless on the A1 for 3 hours so I didn’t get to the river until gone 20:00. The first section I looked at was packed so I turned the car round to go further down the tidal. I love nature and am always on the look-out for wildlife and as I was driving down the lane this gorgeous Roe Deer was in the field by the fence. I thought it would just run away so tried to enjoy the moment but she did not move too much, I thought ok let’s wind the window down and she again looked up and moved slightly, the big test was reaching over to my bag for the camera and then the velcro on the case, again she looked up but was comfortable. I took some lovely photos with the deer no ore that 20 feet away, it got to the point where I was whistling so she would look up and pose with this being the best picture, what a lovely moment that you don’t get by being stuck in front of a tv.
I arrived on the next section on dark to find the car park area empty which was perfect, for some reason I had an instinctive urge to fish a swim I don’t particularly like and haven’t done well in before. I went down to look and it looked as good as ever but I just didn’t like it, however I set up and put two rods on double 18mm Pandemic and a third on double 15mm Asbo, I then put a mixture of 100 boilies through the swim. This is a lot of bait for me but it just felt the right thing to do.
It didn’t take long for the Bream to start and I quickly had two and a small Barbel before the middle rod banged over with something a lot heavier resulting in a Barbel at 12-06 which was very pleasing and justified my decision to fish there.
I had three more average fish with more Bream through the night. I rebaited all the rods at 07:25 and stood on top of the bank watching the river when Mink casually walked along the river edge under my rods totally oblivious to me being there. People moan about Mink and the damage they cause, however I tend to disagree a little, yes they take nesting birds, Voles and Mice but they definitely keep the Rats down. I’ve had them chase Rats through my swim and over my feet last season and that can only be a good thing. I have seen Mink my whole life living in the country and being around rivers and no one really moaned about them until Otters started to be more common and the major problem, so it was nice to see and long may it continue.
It wasn’t long after as I was packing away the Asbo rod whacked over, initially I thought it was a big Bream but a Barbel at 11-02 popped up to finish a lovely session.
6 Sept – River Derwent
Regular readers will remember my love of the Derwent, it is simply a gorgeous river and a lovely place to be. I’d stopped fishing it last season as I was getting to many repeat captures but I just couldn’t give my ticket up. My thinking was it has done a lot of big fish over the years and some of the 13+ Barbel could easily pack on weight over a two to three year period a be potential pb so a visit every now and again was worth the £70 a season.
I only had the one night so drove up the M1 and arrived for 20:30, it doesn’t get busy so I was pretty sure I’d have the section to myself. The weather had changed with night temps expected to drop to 10 degrees with a clear sky so I went for slightly deeper water. The swim did not look like it had been fished at all so I felt very confident of takes.
I put both rods out on double 18mm Pandemic with pva bags and put some 10mm Pandemic through the swim, I then walked the straight and put an 18mm boilie every ten paces. I’ve written before about this tactic but I can’t stress enough how simple but effective it is in drawing Barbel onto your spot.
The first take didn’t come until 01:10 and it was a lovely dark Barbel at high 9’s. It wasn’t until 03:25 before the next take and it flew off, I had a suspicion it wasn’t a Barbel and I was right as a low double Common slipped over the net. That was the end of any action and a surprisingly quiet night considering it didn’t look like it was being fished much.
12 Sept – River Trent, Gunthorpe Weir
I’d got the weekend booked and made a call to see if the Thurs was free and it was so I had three nights. The weather had started to warm up after the cooler few days and with cloud building up and low pressure it looked perfect.
I drove up after work and got the swim set up for 18:00. I’d bought another new net and was certainly on red alert for unsavoury people.
I tried rolling meat for the first couple of hours, this was a first for me and it’s fair to say I’ve got a bit to learn, I had one bite and missed it.
I put both rods out on double 18mm Pandemic and pva bags on the spots I’d found on my first visit, the weir is very snaggy so there is not much room for error with bait placement. The anglers that would be leaving Fri had caught quite a few so I wanted to be cautious with bait as I didn’t know how much had gone in, so I put ten boilies over each spot. I wasn’t expecting much as the weir peg tends to be a day swim and then the fish move out down river during the night. I had the one bite on the left under the rod tip, an average fish at 8+.
13 Sept 2019
I rebaited the rods at 06:30 and put twenty Asbo over the weir sill rod and changed the hookbait to double 15mm Asbo, I then put five spoppers of pellet mix over the margin spot. The morning session was a sign of things to come, I had three fish to 11-02 and a hook pull. At midday I reeled the rods in and tried rolling meat again for two hours, although I struggled again I fine-tuned my set up and the bait size so that I felt I was presenting well. I put the rods out again and sat back to enjoy the lovely weather, it was 24 degrees and sunny but my spot was well sheltered so no worries about sun burn. I went on to have eight takes during the afternoon before the bites dried up on dark, it was brilliant fishing with most coming to Asbo on the weir sill. After each take I was baiting up with twenty Asbo and they were loving it, I had doubles at 10-00, 11-06, 12-02 and 11-14.
I carried on until I wanted to sleep and changed both rods over to half a tin of meat and put them on the spots for the night.
14 Sept 2019
The night had been chilly and quiet, I was up early again and put both rods on double 15mm Asbo and went through the same baiting up regime as the previous day. The morning session was good again with four fish to 12-10 coming to the net.
Again at lunchtime I tried rolling meat again and felt my presentation was right and I was managing to work it down the swim. I wasn’t recognising the little plucks as bites but soon realised they were and had a Chub. I was kicking myself as the previous day I’d left a few not thinking they were takes when in reality you need to strike them.
After a couple of hours I went back to the boilie rods and what a crazy afternoon and evening session, I went on to land another eleven Barbel with three being doubles at 10-15, 12-02, 13-01. I reeled the rods in at 22:30 and went to sleep.
15 Sept 2019
I was up at 05:30 and got the rods out again and found someone was rolling meat in the weir sill area to my right, the other two anglers and I didn’t agree with this as he hadn’t booked on the island and I felt it would affect my fishing. I spoke with the bailiff the previous day and he said it was allowed so we had to accept it but certainly one to remember when I want to go on a roll meat.
As expected my weir sill rod did not move all morning, the margin rod went giving me a great finish at 13-02, when I packed up at 11:00 I couldn’t believe I’d caught 27 Barbel in a session and not really fished the nights properly, brilliant.
20 Sept 2019 – River Trent, Tidal
The weather wasn’t the best with high pressure and cold and clear nights but working full time does not leave much choice when I can go fishing so I drove up after work for one night. I found the area surprisingly busy and went in a peg I hadn’t fished before, as with my normal practise out came the leading rod to have a feel of the bottom and gage the depth, once I was happy I set the swim up and put both out on 15mm Asbo. I felt like I needed to put some bait in so put approx. 70 Asbo through the swim. The Bream were a nightmare and you have to try to fish through them on this section and I had five to 8+ before midnight with a 9+ Barbel.
The Bream kept coming and then at 04:40 the strike met firmer resistance and I landed an 11-07 to finish the session.
29 Sept 2019 – River Trent, Tidal
What a change in the weather, we’d had a week of low pressure, south westerly winds and loads of rain across the Midlands bringing the river level right up. I knew where I wanted to be so headed straight for a section that fishes really well in a flood. The first three pegs were all under water so I dropped in peg 4, the margin is sheltered from the main flow creating a big crease and slack area in front of the swim. I get the leading rod out and cast onto what is normally dry land as I wanted to check where the gravel ended and became margin nettles etc. I got a good drop into 13 feet of water; it’s amazing how much a week of rain can put on the river level.
Once I was happy I could fish effectively I set the swim up and swung out both rods onto the crease line on double 15mm Asbo with 5oz leads. They were holding with no problem which was funny as people on the other side could not fish, the current was so fast with trees and logs coming down in the flow. The river was rising pretty fast and with 7.6m tides I knew I had a short window before the swim would be flooded. I didn’t put any lose feed in, instead I put 5 Asbo in each pva bag to ensure the bait was near the hookbait.
Flood water fishing is dangerous and great care has to be taken, if I slipped I would have been in 13 feet of dirty, cold water and would probably be done for but it can be fantastic fishing at the same time, so as long as your safe, take care and are aware of the risks you could be in for a real red letter day.
That is what happened to me, the first take came after only 15 mins and they carried on all night, it was crazy fishing and eclipsed my Gunthorpe session by miles. The level was rising and rising and getting closer to my bedchair so it was just as well I didn’t sleep.
I started at 18:00 and finished up with 21 Barbel at 11:30 the next morning, the water had come up over two feet and flooded me out of the swim, my gear was packed up on the steps behind me and I was stood by the rods in my wellies and still getting takes. I had to pack up as the water was about to come over my boots, it was a brilliant session giving me seven doubles at 12-13, 11-03, 10-03, 10-08, 10-07, 11-07 and 12-00
Could it get any better…..?
Until next month tight lines and be lucky 😊
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