The Sessions - June 2022

Back on the rivers 😃

With the fishing being so poor the highlight of last month was the Barbel Society Show which was a great day out mixing with friends old and new talking about our favourite species. I planned on a couple more Tench trips before the magical 16th arrived and then I’d be back out on moving water.

3 June 2022 – Rosewater

The week before the session had been very warm, up to 20 degrees with cloudy spells, but was forecast to change over the weekend, I do like to fish on changing weather fronts if I can so I felt confident of a good trip.

I arrived late due to work and just before Racheal shut the gates at 20:00, it was very busy and all the areas I like to target were taken with Carp anglers. The wind had been blowing into the road bank corner all week and surprisingly all those swims were free so I sat in the middle swim with my fish and chips and watched the water for an hour while I was eating, I didn’t see any signs of fish anywhere so with the wind still blowing onto the area I got the leading rod out. I found the same channel at 8-9 wraps and it was clear of weed with weed beds both sides of it, so the rods were clipped up and 15 spombs of mix were put over the area, my mix was 4mm pellets, hemp and dead maggots. Two rods were set up on maggot feeders and the third on a method feeder with a Pandemic wafter. The method rod was cast out and I went to sleep after a tiring week at work looking forward to an early start and hopefully lots of Tench.

4 June 2022

I was up at 04:30, got the maggot feeders out and recast the method feeder, I then topped up the spot with another 5 spombs of mix. The wind had swung round to a north easterly blowing off my bank, it was cloudy and a lot cooler with the new weather front coming in.

I recast the rigs hourly and put 2 spombs of live maggots on the spot at 09:00 but the lake was very quiet, there was a lot of anglers on and I didn’t see a fish caught.

It started to rain on and off in the afternoon and the only Tench I saw were right out on the plateau, I spoke to a guy three swims down, he’d been on for three days and had not had a touch……

I finally had a take late afternoon but it was soon evident something was wrong and I was bitten off well above my feeder by a Pike that had swum through the line. Not long afterwards I lost an Eel in the weed.

With the lake being so quiet with nothing being caught and a lot of rain due in the night and morning I cut my losses and went home a day early, it’s not something I like doing as I’m the eternal optimist with my fishing but on this trip I just did not see a bite coming my way so followed my instinct and went home.

Part of the joy of fishing for me is the nature I see, I’m always on the look-out for wildlife and on this trip I was privileged to see a Water Shrew up close and it even let me stroke its head, they used to be quite common but with so many Otters, Mink and predatory birds around now their numbers are in decline, it was a young one and I did see one of the parents but it was too quick for me to get any pictures 

12 June 2022 – Rosewater

I’m not one to give up easily so wanted another session before the rivers opened, I’d chatted to other Tench anglers on the lake and we all been struggling but odd good fish had been caught to 11 plus, a real rare leviathan of a fish for Rosewater.

There were only two people on the lake so I pretty much had the pick of the swims and went back to the road bank and into the swim I’d had fish. The wind was blowing nicely onto the area, it was warm and sunny at 19 degrees and I was set up ready for an 18:00 start.

With so little happening of late I tried three different rigs and baits, one on maggot feeder, one on the method with a Pandemic wafter and the third on a worm kebab and put a dozen spombs of mix over the area to start with.

The evening passed without any takes, I left the method out for the night and reeled the other two in on dark and went to sleep.

13 June 2022

I was up at 04:15 and cast the feeders out along with another 12 spombs of mix to top the area up and sat watching the water with a brew. By 10:00 I’d only seen 3 Tench roll but they were in my area, it was so quiet and so different from last year.

I’d love to say they switched on but it didn’t happen, I kept up the hourly recasts and put another 10 spombs of mix in at teatime but the day passed without a bite.

I sat thinking through what I was doing, had a massive loss of rig confidence but sorted myself out by watching a few youtube videos, I was doing it right but the fish were just not feeding. I fished through until 11:00 on 14 June without a bite, I’m pretty convinced they had just gorged on naturals as there were still lots of Caddis and Mayfly around and the lake does have large bloodworm beds.

With the rivers due to open this was probably my last Tench session this year and it has been a massive disappointment for me with a 7-15 being the best, I have managed to get tickets for two lakes with big potential for a good fish so have that to look forward to next Spring, but for now it’s onto the rivers with perhaps a Crucian trip or two for the summer.

16 June 2022 - River Trent, Collingham

Even though we can fish through the closed season there is still something special about the 16th, it takes me back to my youth every time, when the closed season was enforced, with the excitement building as the day gets closer and I can get back on moving water. I love fishing the still waters but rivers will always be my favourite, there is just something about sitting near a river in the middle of nowhere that only anglers can appreciate and long may that feeling continue.

With the rule changes at Collingham it was an easy choice where to head for this year, generally I go to my favourite river, the Derwent as I’d be the only person there, but this year I felt Collingham wouldn’t be too much different and I wasn’t wrong, there were five members on the 300 pegs, it was bliss. Due to the new rules I couldn’t fish where I’d hoped so went to an area I had not fished for at least eight years, it’s a great area but usually very busy. There was one member there but we agreed with no one within 100 pegs either side of us the area could take two anglers so I set up in an old favourite peg. I got the Deeper to work just to check nothing had changed and found a lovely depression at 8 feet, once happy I changed over to a bare lead to check the bottom and found clean gravel which was perfect. I took my time, set the swim up and both rods with my go to Barbel rig I’ve described a few times in my previous blogs and magazine articles and then started to trickle a few boilies through the swim early evening.

It was a lovely day at 27 degrees, clear and sunny and was great to be back and I couldn’t wait to start. There were a few non-members that chanced it and tried to set up but Kai was on it and moved them on. It’s a shame that the majority have to suffer due to a few idiots but that’s the way it is and I’m going to try to capitalise this season especially in winter.

I toasted the river with a small bottle of Prosecco and cooked steak for dinner to celebrate the new season as midnight drew closer. When the time came I flicked the rigs into the depression with a few freebies and sat waiting with anticipation, I knew it wouldn’t take long as there were Barbel rolling through the swim, and 25 minutes later I’d had two Chub and a small Barbel.

The next bite had more weight to it and put up an epic fight before sliding into the net, a great way to start the season with a long spawned out 13-03.

Strangely I didn’t get another bite until 07:20 and then had three small Barbel all under 4 pound. I was putting in boilies after each fish and continued with something I started doing over the last two seasons, baiting up with two or three different boilies, on this trip I was feeding 15mm OG, 12m Pandemic and BBB dumbells and using BBB on the hair, my results suggest it works well so I will continue with it this season.

At 16:10 after a quiet period I was stood talking to Kai when my rod tapped over very subtly, I lifted into it and felt a good fish straight away and landed a gorgeous dark thick set fish at 12-10. I did some quick photos and a little video footage and slipped her back, I’m planning on doing lots of small video clips during the season to come up with a short film of my seasons fishing, once I learn the best app and how to edit I’ll make a start with a view to publish it somewhere in March / April 2023.

The next bite was a double take on both rods a couple of hours later, a small one an another double at 11-00, that was followed by another high single before midnight.

17 June 2022

I had another high single and a Bream got me up at 02:00 so with that I reeled in for some sleep.

I got the rigs out again for 07:15 and it was already a very warm and humid day and was forecast to be up to 31 degrees by the afternoon. I had regular bites through the morning and lunchtime period and was catching a lot of small Barbel under 4 pound, nice to see and good for the future of the river but not what I was looking for so I started to plan a move.

The people in the weir had gone early as they were Breamed out and not catching many Barbel, so being a member I could now fish peg 5 at night so I packed the van and drove along the flood bank to the new swim. I took my time setting up and was ready to start at 20:30, I put a good spread of boilies through the swim and flicked the rigs onto the foam line.

The first bite came within 40 minutes but cut me off on shells before I could pick the rod up, this was followed by regular bites with three 9’s and two more high singles.

18 June 2022

I had another three bites by 02:20 before as is often the case the fish moved through downstream for the night and not holding up in this swim, a high single and two doubles at 12-01 and 11-06 to finish a great start to my river season, 23 Barbel and 5 being doubles.

I packed up early and headed home as Julie and I had a wedding to attend.

19 June 2022 – River Trent, Cromwell

After all the lovely weather we’d had the day of the wedding was wet and cold all day, it was a woodland wedding, we had a great time and was a lovely day but the weather was awful and we were all walking round wrapped in blankets trying to keep warm.

I woke up with a nasty hangover and had to sort myself out for my father’s day meal with my daughter Taylor at 13:00, it all went to plan and we had a good catch up and a lovely roast dinner.

As I had the Monday off work I planned to have my final trip of June so drove up after the meal and headed to Cromwell. The weather was lovely again and the temp back up and sunny, I drove up for a 17:00 start.

There was only one swim available but it was my second choice so I was confident of fish during the night, I baited up with15mm OG and 12mm Pandemic with BBB on the hair.

I had seven bites before midnight, two Chub, four high singles and an 11-15 and carried on baiting up after each fish.

20 June 2022

I didn’t get a bite for another four hours when a very empty spawned out fish at 12-00 tripped up, I reeled the other rod in to check the bait to find it had gone so that suggested the Crabs are active again although not in numbers yet thankfully.

I had two more high singles before packing up at 08:30 finishing another very enjoyable session and a great start to my river season.

As I sit finishing this piece I’m already looking forward to writing July’s as I’ve not long returned from an epic session catching a season’s worth of Barbel in two days with some big early season fish caught on video too.

Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😃

Big thanks to my sponsors for their continued support,

#freespirit #madbaits #jackpyke #castawaypva






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The Sessions - July 2022

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The Sessions - May 2022