The Sessions - January 2023
Three short sessions
I finished last month with a last chance Barbel day session on New Year’s Eve that kept my season targets on track in literally the last few minutes of the session.
2022 was a difficult year personally, but with a lot of love and support from Julie it was one of my best fishing years to date, let’s hope 2023 is as good.
9 January 2023 – River Trent, Collingham
Work and Julie’s birthday weekend had kept me busy since my last session and with a bad weather coming in I knew I only had a short window of opportunity for my January 12 plus. I finished work at midday, got myself and the van sorted and drove up for a night session arriving on the river for teatime, I looked at a section on the middle Trent and found it to be too busy (does anyone go to work anymore??), my first choice Tidal section was also busy so I opted for a section on Collingham and was the only person there.
The river was still quite high at 1.57m with the level behind the bankside nettles so I knew from previous experience I’d have a good chance in the area. It had been warm for January at 9 degrees, was cloudy with a lot of rain due the following day. There was a 6.9m tide due at midnight so I set up half way up the flood bank to ensure I didn’t get caught out, both rods were set up with 8oz leads and single 15mm Pandemic hard hookers and flicked out at 19:00 with one slightly further out, I then put a spread of BBB and Pandemic through the swim.
It didn’t take long and I had a double take an hour into the session with two high singles. It then started to pour with rain and the right hand rod went again with another single.
Shortly after the same rod went again with a better fish and first double of the new year at 11-03, it stopped raining briefly to allow a couple of photos.
10 January 2023
With four fish coming quickly I anticipated a busy night but I waited over three hours and the tide turning before one of the rods went again with another double at 11-01.
Another three hours passed and the rod went again with a strong fish that I knew was going to be a better one, typically it was the only one to get stuck in the nettles but it all ended well with a 13-07 slipping over the net.
It started to pour with rain at approx. 06:00, a lot earlier than forecast and was relentless. I had a Bream two hours later and got soaked dealing with it so I took that as a sign and packed up for home, very wet but very happy to have the target fish in the bag so early in the month.
21 January 2023 – River Trent, Cromwell
It had rained and rained raising the river level to pretty much unfishable conditions on the days I had available to be out, I worked the previous weekend, caught up with some jobs and had some lovely evenings at home with Julie.
The cold front came in dropping the temps to minus stupid but I wanted to go out fishing after two weeks away so drove up for a Zander session arriving for a 16:00 start. It was no surprise I was the only person there, it was freezing and the frost had not cleared from the previous night.
As I was setting up two anglers arrived to try for Barbel, while I admired their optimism I didn’t think there was much chance of a Barbel, but we’ve all been there, you just never know, a bait in the water is better than a bait in the freezer. They didn’t stay long and as they were packing up they checked I was ok as it was so cold, which was a nice touch, if you’re reading this …thank you and see you next time.
I’m still experimenting with rigs for Zander, everyone I speak to has different ideas that they are confident with, so I went with standard 20 pound wire and two size 8 trebles with a running lead. I fished one rod in a slack with a 5oz lead and the other on the crease with a 7oz lead with both baited with headless dead Roach.
19:05 – it was already very cold at -2 degrees when I had a single bleep on the rod in the slack, the rod top tapped over slightly so I struck and was into a fish and landed the first Zander of the trip at 6 plus.
19:10 – the other rod bleeped twice and tapped over as I was returning the first one and the fish very quickly dropped the bait.
Sunday 22 Jan 2023
I hoped that was the start of a good session, but no more takes came my way during the night, the only action I had was getting up every couple of hours to check the spools had not frozen solid in case I did get a take. It was Baltic but I enjoyed being out, slept well and was pretty warm once I was settled in the sleeping bag.
I put fresh baits on at first light and sat watching the sun come up, it’s just great being out on a winter morning.
09:00 – I was chatting to Colin in Spain on the mobile when I noticed the right hand rod tap over twice, I quickly picked the rod up and felt the line for movement when I should really have just struck, the fish dropped the bait and was gone, another missed chance.
I carried on until most of the frost had melted and headed home at lunchtime. I’m fairly settled on my tactics with Barbel fishing so it was nice to get the grey matter ticking over with how I was going to trip up a big Zander, and I was looking forward to the next trip.
27 January 2023 – River Trent, Collingham.
The weather remained very cold until Wednesday and only warmed up enough so I didn’t have to scrape the car windscreen in the mornings, I planned to drive up on the Thursday evening but when I got to my house I found my pond three quarters empty!!
The electrician and plumbers had been working in the house, left the power off overnight so the water in the pond pipes had all frozen, and then clearly they turned the power on without checking my pond, it literally pumped 750 gallons of water over the side of the filter without them noticing, unbelievable!! Luckily the fish were covered in 12 inches of water when I got there, so there was no way I was fishing that night. I set the bedchair up in the house, turned the hose on and went to sleep, it took six hours to refill my pond.
I got up and left early arriving at the river at 06:30 and went straight to an area I wanted to target. The bank was muddy and very slippery so I spent the first hour gathering up reed cuttings and treading them into the mud to make it safe, once completed I set the swim up and was fishing by 08:00 with both rods set up for Zander with headless Roach.
It was cold at 3 degrees, cloudy and dull with a cold northerly wind, and the river level at 1.07m, it did look good for a bite.
The day passed without a touch; I did notice Cormorants diving in two areas on each side of the river, and they kept returning which indicated bait fish were there so both spots were noted for a future trip.
I changed the rods over to Barbel at 20:15 and put both out on Pandemic hard hookers with a spread of BBB and Pandemic through the swim, I then set up a third rod for Zander and baited that with a skimmer.
21:20 – the right hand rod went over with a nice start to the night session, a Barbel at 10-09.
23:15 – both rods went at the same time, a single and another double at 10-06.
25 January 2023
I had another take two hours later with another single. The bankside walking down to the rivers edge was lethal and very slippery so I reeled in and jumped in the bag for some sleep, I just did not fancy a cold dip in the river.
I was up at first light and got the rods out again for a few hours without any more action, and packed up for home mid-morning to finish the months fishing having only managed to get out for three short sessions.
House update
I’m pleased to say that after almost a full year since the house fire the repair work on my house is complete. I was advised very early on to hire my own Loss Assessor and after doing some research I contacted Simon at Property Claim Assist, and it was the best thing I did during this process, Simon took all the stress away organising all the surveys and contractor to complete the job, doing all the liaison with the insurance company and keeping in regular contact with me. All I had to do was select the kitchen, bathroom, tiles, floorings, paint colour, etc and complete the contents claim. It was all pretty painless, took the full year as predicted and I have to say Direct Line were pretty good.
Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😃
Big thanks to my sponsors for their continued support,