The Sessions Dec 2024
Big Barbel, Crayfish & Mitten Crab thoughts.
In November I made my annual trip to the River Ebro to catch up with my pal Colin Bunn and have our yearly fortnight together, we’ve been doing this for 22 years now, sometimes three times in a year, but with the business of life nowadays it’s mostly once. We always have a good time even if the fishing is bad and long may that continue.
I finished last month’s piece having just watched a match at Espanyol and looking forward to the flight home….
01 December 2024
We’d had a good night out with a meal and the match at Espanyol on the Saturday night and retired to our rooms for the early flights home on Sunday morning. Colin’s was very early and he left the hotel at 04:00, my taxi pick up was a bit later so I had a good sleep and was picked up at 08:00 and walked into terminal C at Barcelona airport looking forward to seeing Julie at Luton late morning, but things did not turn out as planned.
Everything was going well, (we all hate an airport delay) and I boarded on time and got into my seat following my usual routine of minimal cabin luggage with something to read and enough money for a tea and a Kit Kat. The plane was taxing up the runway and speeding up for take-off and right at the last moment as the wheels were about to leave the ground the captain slammed on the brakes in an emergency manoeuvre, it threw all the passengers and crew forward and I just managed to get my hands up to stop myself face planting the seat in front, the plane skidded up the runway for anything between 200-300 metres and as time slowed down I was waiting for it to spin or something worse.
Fortunately the captain kept it in a straight line and we slowed down to a halt with a lot of very frightened passengers panicking and gasping. My heart was going at some rate, but I went into work incident mode and helped calm the passengers down that were sat around me, it was a very scary moment that ended well.
The captain came on the radio and told us there was an engine warning light that he could not ignore and he was taking us back in to have it checked. The captain was excellent throughout and was in the cabin with us a soon as the plane was stationary to be checked. An hour later he told us we’d have to disembark as they wanted to run the plane up the runway for checks before take-off, while I was thinking (along with most other passengers), surely you’d get another plane?
It wasn’t long before we were informed the plane wasn’t fit to fly and a replacement was coming from London, so we had a six hour delay that all went well and I was home at 19:00, a lot later than planned.
While watching people at the airport complaining and moaning I had a totally different take on the whole thing, the same when I got home and people were saying “claim back the money for the flight”.
The captain was outstanding and did his job to the letter, if he had ignored the warning lights there is a strong chance I would not be sat here writing this, and it makes me feel emotional saying that, the only regret I have is I didn’t get chance to shake the man’s hand and thank him for doing a fantastic job.
Onto my fishing for December, which was very little…..
14 December 2024 – Tidal Trent
After a two week break I was itching to get back out, we’d had lots of rain and more flooding and the level was starting to drop so I knew where I wanted to start. I planned to start in one of my flood spots which is day only so would involve a move to do the night later on.
I arrived for an 08:00 start, it had been a colder night at 4 degrees and there was some drizzle about as I walked up the field, the river level was 1.41m and still had some colour so it looked promising.
I put both rods out on single 15mm BBB soaked in food dip and put a spread of 60 Asbo / BBB through the swim. I needed 8oz leads to hold due to the flow even in the slacker water but there was very little rubbish coming through and they held fine. It was a very quiet morning so I put a third rod out on meat in a back eddy that was very slack.
I had two singles and a Bream before dark but the thing that was notable was the meat kept being taken by Mitten Crabs, they were still active this late in the year and even with the water temp being low….
River Trent, Cromwell
I moved to Cromwell to do the night and have a catch up with Lee McManus, he’d only had a couple so it was going to be a struggle. I got into a good flood swim and baited up with Asbo / BBB and put both out on 15mm BBB for 18:00.
I checked the baits three hours later and both had been nibbled by Crabs, very frustrating as I like to leave the rigs out in winter, with the Crabs being active you’re never confident the bait is still there.
It was getting warmer as the night went on and by first light it was 11 degrees, but we both only had one each with mine being a big 9.
22 December 2024 – River Lea, Kings Weir
It had been an epic month on KW with the British Record being caught at a staggering 22-01 by James Crosby, huge congratulations to him and what a fish, but it wasn’t just that fish…
22-01
Nathan Buckingham had two huge fish at 19-08 and 20-09, again congratulations to him on an amazing couple of sessions.
19-08
20-09
I believe there were seven Barbel caught in December with my pal Sam Clare finishing the month with a 10-01 on the float and a brilliant 17-14, what a month on the fishery.
17-14
It’s so well managed by Andy, Loretta and Barbra and a great place to fish, so a huge well done and congratulations to them too.
I started my winter campaign on the section with an evening’s roving with rolling meat, I’ve done so well on the Trent with this method I was confident of a take if there was fish in the swims I fished.
I made a slight change to my rig by using a 12” hook length of 15lb Mirage to a size 8 Talon Tip, and I then moulded the plastercine round the swivel.
I fished five swims, spending 45 mins to an hour in each and left at 23:00 without a take, as I already know, blanks on KW are common but there are some special fish there when you do get a bite.
Although I had no problems, members were saying the Crayfish were still very active, my pal Neale was experiencing the same on the Thames, even in December.
27-29 December 2024 – River Trent, Cromwell.
It had continued to be cold with day temps of 5-7 degrees and dropping to 4 degrees at night, thick cloud and mist that wasn’t lifting at all. The river still had some colour in it and had dropped slightly to 1.25m so I knew where I wanted to be. I fired off a few texts to the bailiffs before leaving but none were on the section so I had to drive up with a back-up plan if it was busy.
I arrived to find one van on the section and the area I wanted free which was perfect so I set up for a 16:30 start. I put one right under the rod tip in a slack deep spot with a 15mm BBB and I spoppered in four loads of BBB / Pandemic to keep the baited area tight. The other rod was cast into the channel with a 15mm BBB and I put a spread of BBB / Pandemic through the swim.
Two hours later the close in rod slammed over with a strong fish that went in the net at 14-10, what a great start to the session. An hour later the other rod went with a single.
I thought I was in for a great trip but that was the last bite and I fished for two nights without a take. The Crabs were driving me mad, so I tried 22mm pellets and double 18mm boilies in an attempt to keep a bait on, it did work to a degree although they were nibbled, but I had no takes on the bigger baits. I’m sure this had an impact but the colder weather did too as both the anglers on the section all blanked as well, and that brought an end to my months fishing.
My thoughts on Crayfish and Mitten Crabs
Both seem to be invading our rivers and still waters at an ever increasing rate and are affecting the way we fish and present baits, I’m no expert but am happy to share my views and experiences with both.
Crayfish
I’ve had problems with these for years now on some of the rivers I fish, the Ouse, the Derwent, the Thames and now the Lea, and I have encountered them on the middle Trent as far down as Gunthorpe. They can get so bad it’s almost pointless fishing at times as you can’t keep a bait in the water, they seem to eat everything. I’ve even had them taking fake casters when fishing for Crucians on Johnsons.
The worst I’ve experienced in on the Ouse and the Derwent where they drove me mad and I was up all night watching the rod tops. I’ve tried baiting a spot and fishing away from it, putting in a lot more to feed them off and fishing singles but none seemed to work effectively, but every now and then the rod would slam over with a Barbel so I do think if fish are there they drive the Crays away as they clearly eat them given the opportunity.
Rig wise I’ve had to change when they are active, but shortening the hooklength right down as the Crays can’t move a 5oz plus lead but can pull the hook and bait into their holes, so by shortening the hooklength it reduces the chance of that happening but does make the rig less affective. Another change was fluorocarbon straight through as the Crays tangle up my little braid section, but again in my opinion it makes the rig less affective.
Lots of problems to solve and some I don’t think we can, but a bait they don’t like would be a good start.
Mitten Crabs
They have invaded the tidal Trent with my first experience being back in 2018 where they were taking meat in February! It took a while to get onto other baits but they have now and eat absolutely everything! This season has been ridiculous at times, there are so many on the tidal now I think you’d struggle to find an area with none present, the bottom must be moving constantly with millions of Crabs and they have kept me away a lot more this season and I haven’t even bothered to try a deadbait for Zander yet.
I’ve used lots of different baits and some do slow them down a bit but are also not as effective for the Barbel so counter-productive; maggots, casters and hemp can be effective with lots of recasting but I’m a firm believer that boilies pick out the better fish over a season so like to stick to them if I can.
We do get a bit of a break at times as the Crabs peel their shells and definitely go into hiding as they are vulnerable to predation during this period, I don’t know enough as to how long this is but I have experienced sessions where I had no trouble at all (although very rare now).
I tried the same with rigs and baiting up as with the Crays but found nothing stopped them, all very frustrating.
While the EA and Angling Trust could try to help in some way, I’m not a fan of introducing anything knew to eat them, or any bacteria that may kill them, we have enough problems in our rivers without affecting the echo system any more with manmade interference. Otters do eat Crays and I’m sure are on the Crabs so that helps, we just have to hope nature finds a balance in some way.
I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts and experiences, so please feel free email or contact me via FB.
I’m sat here writing this on 5 Jan having caught a very special fish on New Years Day and I’ll tell you all about it next month, until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😊
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