The Sessions - October 2019
Barbel mania continues…..
I signed off last month after a having a fantastic Sept with 55 Barbel landed with 21 being doubles, could Oct get any better?
9 Oct- River Trent, Tidal
The rain had continued since my last trip nine days ago and the river had seriously burst its banks for a few days. Over the last two days the rain had stopped and the river had started to drop and was fishable again. I had a free night so drove up arriving in the same area I was catching in during Sept in the dark at 20:00. There were only four fishable swims and one was free so I went in there, it’s not one of my favourites but it was the only one available and I didn’t fancy driving around in the dark on flooded venues I hadn’t seen for over a week. The level was down about 18 inches from my last trip and the banks very muddy so I broke up some of the branches left in the margins and trod them into the mud to give me some grip which worked pretty well. It was clear and quite chilly with a south westerly wind and after chatting to the others anglers I disappointed to know everyone was struggling with nothing being caught on either bank.
20:55 hours – 25 minutes in and the left hand rod belted over and I landed a very welcome 10-08 on double 15mm Asbo.
I thought that may be the start of a good night but I didn’t get another bite and no one else had a thing, fishing can be a funny game sometimes.
12 Oct – River Trent, Tidal
This was the start of a postponed two weeks leave and I was meant to go to Spain fishing the Ebro system but circumstances at work had worked against me and my leave had been moved to coincide with school half term, the prices of flights were ridiculous and I couldn’t justify the extra cost so this would be the first year in 18 I hadn’t been to fish in Spain with my pal Colin, we were both disappointed as I hadn’t seen him for a year, hopefully next year we’ll make up for it.
So I headed up to the Trent to start my holiday. We’d had more rain and the river had risen again and was continuing to rise. I headed further down the tidal to a section I knew well and thought I’d be able to fish as the river rose. There were four people already there which makes the section busy, it’s a very long section but there are not many fishable areas but luckily my three favourite areas were free. Out came the leading rod to check the flow strength to see if I would be able to hold bottom. The first swim was ok but the next two the flow was dragging a 6oz round pretty quickly so I went in the first one. The three pegs are 600 yards apart so it was not a quick process but time well spent.
As the level was so high I wanted to check accurately where the drop off was so gave my Deeper Pro a couple of casts through the swim and was pleasantly surprised I would be able to fish closer in than expected in 14 feet of water.
Finally after completing my prep I cast two rods out a third of the way and held comfortably with 6oz leads, both were on double 15mm Asbo with pva bags and I then put 50 baits through the swim. The conditions looked good, rising river, cloudy and 14 degrees with night temps of 8-10 degrees, I was confident the fish would be feeding so was happy to put a bit of bait in.
13 Oct
Strangely I’d had no bites and had seen no fish crashing which is unusual for the section; the first bite came in the early hours and was a big Bream that came off in the margin. 03:05 hours – the first proper take and as soon as I struck I knew it was a good fish, it felt heavy and was making slow plodding runs swimming upstream I just hoped it was a Barbel and not one of the Carp that frequent the area. Slowly but surely it came to the net and went in first time and it was a big Barbel, I was so happy, what a result after having to change my holiday plans. It just missed my PB but I was super pleased with a 16-07
I got the photos done released her back safely and the Bream moved in, they can be a pain in this section and it’s difficult to avoid them as bigger baits bring bigger Bream. The rain started at 05:00 and poured with changeable winds soaking my gear until I got my shelter door sorted and didn’t stop until 15:00. During the rain I kept catching Bream which was far from ideal and after each one topped the swim up with ten boilies. The river started to rise quickly but was still fishable and I think this season has been at its best when rising. The Barbel moved back in and I had 5 during the evening with this 12-06 being the best and the chance of an epic sunset capture shot.
14 Oct
During the night I had another 2 Barbel and more Bream. I tried a third rod on half a tin of meat but the Mitten Crabs were a real pain and were destroying it within an hour so I swapped it to two 22mm Halibut pellets and caught a Bream straight away so gave up with the third rod.
There was a bad weather front coming in so I changed my plans and went home for a night to see Julie, with 8 Barbel and a big girl it was a great start to my holiday.
15 Oct – River Trent, Tidal
The rain had been torrential and all day so I knew the river level would have come up loads, I drove up the A1 and went to the area I fished on the 9th as they are great high water pegs if they are not under water. When I arrived at 18:00 most of the section was flooded leaving two pegs fishable and I was able to get the one I wanted. The water was up to the top of the bank leaving only the slightly sloping swim free so I thought I’d be ok for a while so set up. The water was chocolate brown and flowing really fast with a lovely crease a rod length out and slack water under my feet, a perfect flood swim. I put both rods on the crease line with double 15mm Asbo and pva bags and put a dozen boilies in the slack water. In these conditions Barbel are gorging so you don’t want to over feed.
The conditions looked great, cloudy and warm at 14 degrees with a south westerly wind but more rain was forecast.
19:40 hours – I was chatting to the bailiff when the left hand rod crashed over resulting in a 12-01, a great start to the session.
16 Oct
I’d caught two more singles during the evening and the swim died all night despite it being warm 9 degrees. The wind swung round and it started to rain coming straight into the shelter which was not ideal as I had an open front shelter so had to move it all. The level was still rising and creeping up the sloping bank. I had a small single but thought I should be catching more in near perfect conditions so reeled in at 09:45 to cook breakfast and have a rethink on tactics. With the water being so coloured I went for bigger smelly baits, I changed one to Garlic Spam and the other to double 18mm Pandemic.
The baits had been out 50 minutes when I had three in an hour, a 10-03 on meat, a single and a 13-00 of Pandemic.
It looked like I cracked it but I didn’t get another bite. The river continued to rise and peaked at 17:00 a foot from my bedchair. I fished through the night again packing up at 09:00 but it was very quiet.
18 Oct – River Trent, Tidal
I spent the 17th with Julie and was back up for another two nights returning to the same area. The level had dropped a foot but was still very coloured but looked spot on. It was clear and sunny but cloud was forecast to be moving in. I got my favourite peg on the section where I’d done so well in Sept so was feeling very confident. As there was so much colour in the water I went with the big smelly baits again, one on Garlic Spam and the other double 18mm Pandemic and swung them out for an 11:45 start.
16:05 hours – fish were being caught on the opposite bank so I was surprised it took so long for a bite but the Pandemic produced a nice start at 10-04.
21:10 hours – After two hours of rain the Pandemic went again and this one looked a lot bigger than it weighed at 11-10. I made a rookie error with the camera in dropping it and not checking the lens….
19 Oct
Again I didn’t get a touch all night despite it being good conditions. The level had dropped two feet, it was cloudy and warm at 14 degrees so I felt I should be catching. I had another re-think, the swim had seen constant attention for a month now so I thought smaller baits and hooks would be worth trying. I set up with size 12 hooks and single small Pandemic dumbbell on one and three fake casters on the other.
11:35 hours – the Pandemic rod went over and a very fat 11-14 rolled into the net, it looked big and I was surprised it didn’t weigh heavier.
12:42 hours – the same rod went again and a fish at 9-04 with a lot of Otter damage popped up. I’ve seen an Otter a number of times on this section during the floods and a lot of my bigger fish have had damage from attacks, not good for the future.
I fished through until next morning but again the river just switched off with very little being caught.
21 Oct – River Trent, Tidal
I wanted a change of scenery so went back down river to the section where I had the 16. The river had dropped to normal winter level, it was cloudy and warm at 12 degrees so it looked good for a few fish.
I set up and put two out on double 15mm Asbo and put 30 boilies through the swim. I was soon joined by Phil Smith who dropped into the peg upstream of me and the bailiff who went 100 yards up from Phil. I had a small one early evening but it was very quiet. I then received a phone call from Phil, the bailiff had caught my 16 and was over the moon, I was really pleased for him and it was a PB too.
An hour later Phil was on the phone again asking if I could pop up, he had a double take and had landed both at 12+ and 14+ so that made his night.
22 Oct
My swim had remained quiet all night and both the others had gone home happy. I was considering a move while doing breakfast when the left hand rod banged over and I landed a 12-02. With that at 10:00 I decided to stay and bait up, I put 12 spoppers of pellet and 3 of boilie on the spot and hoped it didn’t draw the Bream in.
It didn’t have the impact I was hoping for, I fished through until morning catching a few Bream and two Barbel to 9+.
23-25 Oct – Johnsons Lake
I hadn’t been Crucian fishing enough this season and wanted to finish my holiday with a 48 hour session on Johnsons. I’d been watching the weather and the long range forecast gave the end on my holiday as the best bet, however they didn’t get it quite right but I was there and gave it my best shot.
I’d love to say what a success it was but it wasn’t. The lake had being fishing hard for weeks with nothing being caught of any note since Sept. I had the choice of any swim as no one was fishing and worked really hard over the two days. The weather was awful with loads of rain but it was warm enough I felt to keep going.
Going into the final morning I’d caught 6 Tench and 4 small Carp, at 06:05 the balanced caster rod roared off and initially I thought I’d hooked a big Crucian, but the tell-tale fight soon gave it away, it was a lethargic 6+ Tench and I drove home with my tail well and truly between my legs. Next season I intend to put it all right and spend most of the spring and summer Crucian fishing.
Until next month tight lines and be lucky😊
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