The Sessions - July 2020
A Crucian summer.
I signed off last month after having a great week’s annual leave with some fabulous Crucian fishing.
4 July 2020 - Johnsons Lake, Marsh Farm
I drove down after work on the 3rd hoping to get a good swim but realising it was a Friday night and this was unlikely. I arrived to a full car park so went for a walk round to find all the main swims taken by Carpers, I carried on round the lake and onto the Road bank to find the corner swims free, from there I would have a good view of the lake and could see when people were leaving giving me the option to move if needed, so I went and loaded the barrow.
Before setting up the swim I got the leading rod out and found my first choice was choked with weed and not fishable with Crucian gear so I checked the next swim along to find it clear so finally set the swim up at 23:00 and got my head down.
The alarm woke me at 04:00 and I finally started fishing. I’d made my groundbait before going to sleep so it was ready to go straight away, I was settled on the rig with a 35g method feeder, short 6lb braid hooklink to a Guru size 14 MWG Super hook and I started with both rods on fake casters, planning to recast every 30 mins. The only change I made was to add some rig putty a metre above the feeder to pin the line down behind the rig, looking back this has been a masterstroke and definitely improved my catch rate.
The wind was a brisk south westerly not ideal for the area I was fishing as I do believe the Crucians move on the wind, it was drizzling, cloudy and warm at 14 degrees.
I had a Tench straight away and then it went quiet until 07:30 when I had regular bites up to 10:30 catching five Crucians to 3-02 and five Tench, all 5 plus.
After another quiet two hours I had two more Tench to 6lb exactly before the swim just died completely. The weather warmed up but it continued to rain on and off all day.
I’d been watching the Railway bank and finally at 19:30 people started to drift away and the swim I wanted became available, I quickly broke the swim down and somehow got it all on the barrow for one trip without packing it away properly and ran round to secure the swim and I cast the rods out at 20:00. The previous angler was a Carper so I had no concerns of the area I wanted to fish being full of bait so was feeling pretty confident.
The bites came straight away much to the amusement of the bailiff as people had been struggling all day, I had four Crucians to 3-06 and two small Carp before winding in for the night.
5 July 2020
I was up again at 04:00 and got baits out straight away, it was still thick cloud and drizzling with a strong south westerly blowing right into the area. The fishing was again fabulous up to approx. 10:00 when the sun came out and bites dried up. However in that six hour period I had another eleven Crucians to 3-08 and quite a few small carp and Tench. I experimented again with hook baits catching on another flavoured boilie but again not one the fish were favouring over the casters.
I packed up after a couple of biteless hours finishing the session with 20 Crucians with six being over 3lb.
It would have been easy to sit tight in the first swim but by watching the water, taking note of the weather and moving when the opportunity arose it definitely paid off.
8 July 2020 – River Trent, Cromwell
I arranged to meet Phil Smith on the section for a catch up so drove up after work arriving at 20:00. The weather had changed dramatically with an easterly wind and non-stop heavy rain making setting up a wet experience but I finally had baits out for 22:00. I put both out on the double 15mm boilie, Asbo / Addiction and put 20 boilies through the swim. The swim choice wasn’t ideal as there was two people opposite but it was the best I could do at the time.
My upstream rod crashed over pretty quickly resulting in a nice fish at 11-07 and I thought I was in for a busy night but I only had one more at 9plus. Phil had a busier session catching seven to mid 12’s and we had a good natter to make it a good trip all round.
17 July 2020 - Johnsons Lake, Marsh Farm
I drove down after work on the 16th to find it very busy again and dropped in a swim on the Railway Bank with the intention of moving in the morning to my favoured area as the angler there was going home.
I’d got everything ready, with fresh rigs and the groundbait mixed and moved into the swim at 09:30. The angler leaving had done 48 hours and only caught three Crucians, however there were fish rolling and with all respect he wasn’t fishing effectively in my opinion so I was confident of action.
By mid-morning it was 26 degrees, clear and sunny with no wind, not ideal conditions but fish continued to roll so I felt it was only a matter of when, not if, they started feeding hard and continued to recast every 30 mins. I wound in at 22:30 for the night having only caught four Crucians to 2-15 and a Tench after a lot of effort but I still felt it was going to happen.
18 July 2020
The baits were out at 05:00 after a cooler night and the bites started straight away, my patience had paid off and I had another fantastic morning catching another 17 Crucians to a new PB of 3-11 along with another five over 3lb and a high double Mirror Carp, quite brilliant fishing but I knew at some stage my luck would start to run out and I would experience tougher sessions.
22 July 2020 – River Trent, Cromwell
I wanted to go back to Johnsons but couldn’t face the M25 again on a week day so went up the A1 to the Trent arriving at 17:00. It was warm at 23 degrees, cloudy with showers, good conditions but the river level was very low, probably as low as I’ve seen it with some of the gravel runs exposed out of the water.
I got a good swim and expected a good night’s fishing but it did not happen and I only had the one Barbel at 9plus. The low levels will have contributed to this but the main reason was Mitten Crabs, they have migrated up the river over the last 12 months and are now rife right up to Cromwell weir and when they are active they will take anything, even making short work of large pellets and hard boilies. Having done a bit of research it is a problem that is not going away so something we as anglers will have to adapt too, not good news…….
25 July 2020 - Johnsons Lake, Marsh Farm
Again I drove down on the Friday night to find it very busy and I struggled to find a swim eventually dropping in the Road Bank corner again.
I was up at 05:00, it was cloudy and warm with a blustery south westerly wind, good conditions but I knew I was in the wrong area so wanted to move asap. A swim on the Chicken Bank became available so I moved into it at 10:30, this was a noted Crucian swim and a Carper had moved out, so again I knew the area I would target would not be full of bait. I’d love to say this was another highly successful session but it wasn’t, I only had two Crucians to 2-12 and a couple of Tench, the fish were in front of the Railway Bank and I’d missed out this time.
31 July 2020 – River Derwent
It was 32 degrees and still hot as I was driving up the M1 at 20:00, this time the field and car park were clear and I got to the swim 500 yards down the field at 21:30 and got two rigs out onto the gravel run. The levels were so low I was fishing in two feet of water but I knew the fish travel through this area so was still confident. I had a take an hour after starting with a Barbel at 10-13 and was hopeful of more but it didn’t happen.
It was a lovely warm night with no rain forecast so I slept under the stars only to wake up with everything soaked due to it being so damp, with it being my daughter’s birthday and a little get together planned I packed up at 08:00 for home to finish a lovely months fishing.
Until next month tight lines and be lucky 😊
Big thanks to my sponsors for their continued support,