The Sessions - July 2018

The Long Hot Summer Continues…

I signed off last month with mixed emotions following the passing of a good friend and landing a big summer Barbel, July looked like being a difficult month as the temperatures were so high, the best summer we’ve had in years but not so if you’re an angler.

2&4 July – River Ouse

I started the month with two over nighters on the Ouse. The temperatures were in the mid-thirties, the rivers low and the bugs an absolute nightmare!! I fish with an open front shelter all year round and have made a mossie net cover that works a treat in the summer when I’m lying on the bedchair, this is something I keep thinking about developing as I’m sure it would be welcomed by other anglers, hopefully I’ll get round to it one day….

The area I fish is a deep weir pool holding a few good fish but is not easy fishing, to add to this it has got a bit busy which I have to admit is partly my fault for publishing photos before checking the trees in the back ground, we all live and learn. With other anglers putting bait in it’s made the fishing harder as the fish are just not hungry.
Over the two nights I managed one Barbel at 9-11 and some decent Bream up to 7plus.

6 July – River Derwent

I shot up the M1 after work for an overnight session arriving at 21:30 and it was still 28 degrees, cloudy and muggy. I went in the swim that had produced the thirteen in June, lowered the rigs in and baited the spot with thirty 14mm pandemic and a few down the section.

I’d love to say the Barbel climbed up the rods but they didn’t, I had three Chub to 5-13 and packed up early morning to get back home. Julie and I had a day in London planned watching England against Sweden and on to Hyde Park to watch The Cure in concert and what a great day we had, they were brilliant.

8 July – River Trent

After a morning recovering I had two nights free so drove up to a new section on the Tidal Trent. I didn’t have much to go on but the club section wasn’t that big so I could check every swim with a bare lead before choosing my spot. The sunny weather had continued which would make the fishing more difficult but I was confident as ever of a few bites.
I settled on the furthest downstream swim that was just straightening up after a bend and fishing three rod lengths out. The tides this far up were much bigger than I was used to and it was surprising how low it was on low tide, this is something we all have to be mindful of on the tidal as high tide can catch you out quite quickly.

I’ve been messing about with hook bait sizes this season to see how much difference it actually makes and this time decided on two 14mm dumbells fished t-rig style on the hair. These were cast out with pva bags attached and a few freebies catapulted through the swim.

I had a take pretty quickly and landed an average Trent fish at 7plus, I recast and decided on heavy baiting and put 40 boilies on the spot.

9 July

Whether that was the right decision I’m not sure but I didn’t get another take for 4 hours before the rod crashed over and I had my first double from the section at 10-00.

I started getting small Chub and Bream so to combat this I changed to one and half 22mm pandemic on the hair, the next take was an 8plus Barbel but by first light the bites stopped.
At high tide I got the chance to get some bait down so put 8 spoppers of 4mm and elips pellets out with more boilies, this attracted more Bream which is always the risk on the tidal and they came steadily through the day and night. I caught 3 small Barbel but didn’t feel like I’d got it right so a return visit will be planned when conditions improve.

12 July – River Ouse

I went down for the evening as it was free, three Chub to 5-7 came to my rods but no Barbel again. A local lad popped down and stopped by for a chat, I’m always friendly, make time to talk to people and help if asked and often I pick up a gem of information, this time was a good one and without saying to much yet I’m hoping for something special in the winter… watch this space.

16 July – River Trent

I had another free night to fish so went up to the Tidal Trent again but to a more familiar section this time. I was fishing a new swim so did my usual cast around with a 1oz lead to find the right area and by 18:00 hours cast both rods out on the 22mm baits as before.

The weather was lovely and it was just great to be out on the bank, long may that feeling continue.

23:30 hours – I’d had two to 8plus when the tip smashed over again and I was in to a better fish, resulting in my first double from the swim at 10-06.

02:25 hours – the same rod went again and this one felt much better and put a great fight and was real happy with a 12-08.
I baited up with 15 pandemic after each bite and had one more average fish before the bites dried up but I drove home happy with another good session.

23 July – River Derwent

This had been possibly the hottest day of the year and wasn’t the best week to have off work but I’d booked it so best make the most of it.

Now there had been a lot of self-confessed experts on social media claiming people should not be fishing as the river levels and dissolved oxygen were so low. Some clubs had closed waters, some had taken EA advice and so on…….

Some of the stuff on social media got ridiculous with people making key board warrior threats to others, quite stupid really, so I just stayed out of all of it.

I have my own theories based on experience of 27 years fishing abroad in all weather conditions. I have fished Spain, France and Thailand in consistent temps of 30 degrees plus, I appreciate Thailand is different with the species of fish there but not so the other countries mentioned. I found when the water temp got to warm and the dissolved oxygen low the fish did not feed which to me is common sense. During our summer the fish fed throughout so to me there was no harm in fishing as long as you took care of your captures.

For the record the Derwent levels are well maintained and the dissolved oxygen levels were good but as I’ve said I have my own thoughts on that.

I went up for two nights and walked the 500 yards down the field to my chosen swim for an early evening start. I put one in the right hand margin and one in the middle and put 15 pandemic over each. The swans there are a bit of a pain as they pull weed up all day and into dark that comes down catching on the line and moving the rigs, so regular casting is needed.

22:40 hours – I’d had a small Chub, when the margin rod smashed round resulting in a great start at 12-12.

23:45 hours – the other rod went over resulting in another good fish at 11-05. Although I was pleased I was starting to recognise some of the fish having caught both before which is a good indication the numbers are not as high as first thought.

24 July

The weed became a real problem and it was difficult to keep rigs out on the spots so after some breakfast I packed up for a move to the top swim.

The day was cloudy and still hot at 30 degrees, it doesn’t tend to fish well in the day so I was in no rush and lowered rigs in at midday. The weed was bad all day and it wasn’t until late evening it got better, so at 20:00 hours I baited up properly with 20 pandemic and put a few down the section.
I had two bites through the night a high nine and a 10-08 to finish the trip.

26 July - Johnsons Lake

The time had come for my first visit to the iconic Johnsons, home to massive record Crucians, a fish I’ve become very fond of in recent seasons. I’d been trying to catch a Cambs 3 pounder and failed so it was time to try for a big one.

I picked the wrong day to drive down and to be honest didn’t think it through, it was the hottest day of the year at 35 degrees and I drove down in my Lucida with broken air-con, it was crackers!! I drove with the window open and the sun coming in the driver’s side, to make it worse I was on the M25 for an hour and 45 mins doing 10 miles an hour, it was murder. The whole journey took 3 hours 10 mins for 96 miles!!

When I arrived I’d somehow lost my new gate key and the heat had cooked my two pints of maggots, you couldn’t make it up. I then noticed that my special little liquid mix for my ground bait had fermented in the heat and blown the tops of my tubs putting a sticky mess all over my kit, what a start!!

Anyway I drove round the complex to the lake and parked up and went for a walk round, I done a bit of groundwork so had an idea where to start but it’s always worth looking. I spent the next three hours chatting to the locals and the bailiff and have to say what friendly helpful people who all had a laugh with me at my expense.

My plan was to fish the evening if possible and then all the next day, so at 21:00 hours after a bit of plumbing I had literally an hour left to fish so went in peg 16 that had become available.

I had a plan of how I wanted to fish the lake and was advised against it but wanted to try before changing. My plan was to fish in the margin under the rod top as I had at Fields End, I was using the 35g flatbed feeder with fake corn as bait, with my special little ground bait mix. I was super excited to be there and lowered to rigs in under the rod top. I had a Rudd pretty quickly and re-cast both rods. The angler next door caught one on the float I did the photos and we started to see them roll so my confidence rose.

We were talking and my baitrunner went in to over drive, I picked up and it was obviously a Crucian and bigger than I’d caught before, it all went well and weighed 3-01, I was so pleased and all the problems faded away.

This was followed by another straight away at 2-14 before my time was up, and I packed up and got ready for the morning.

I was up at first light and lowered rigs in for 04:30 hours and then baited up with dead maggots and micro pellet and the plan was to top up every two hours.

The day was boiling but thoroughly enjoyable, I fished through until dark and had action most of the day. I finished with 34 Rudd to 1-10, 33 Tench to 5-02 (I caught that one three times) and 8 Crucians at 1-12, 2-02, 2-05, 2-05, 2-11, 3-00 and the two from the first evening.

Looking back I think the regular baiting may have been a mistake as the maggots attracted the Rudd, that will be something to change on the next trip, but other than that I was real happy, I caught them fishing my way despite being advised not to and my special little mix worked a treat.

Until next month tight lines and be lucky

Julian Barnes