The Sessions - September 2017

Two new sections of the Trent and blanking on the Ouse

1 Sept 2017 - River Derwent

I had three nights from 31 Aug so headed up the M1 with a loose plan to fish two or three different rivers over the three nights starting on the Trent at Long Eaton. The drive was painful as ever and the roadworks on junction 23 were killing me, by the time I got through them it was late and I had no time to look at the section so I went to the Derwent as setting up late there was not an issue. I went to the area I had been concentrating on this season to find the levels good so set up for the night. It had been warm with sunny spells through the day but the evening was cold and clear, not the best conditions. I put the tried and tested rigs with Pandemic on the spots and baited with 4mm pellet and a few boilies, put the kettle on and sat back to reflect on a difficult week at work, for those that know what I do, you’ll understand…

The late evening was uneventful and as we went from summer to September and autumn it was like flicking a switch:
00:10 hours- the rod on the middle line crashed over resulting in a very dark bronze Barbel at 7plus. I put the rod back out with another twenty 10mm boilies in.

01:00 hours- the same rod went over again, this one felt much heavier and was a very dogged fight and a good fish at 12-05. I put another twenty baits in, something I have done more this season and has worked well I think, and continued after each fish.

02:55 hours- the same rod went again, they were on the bait and feeding well, this was another double at 10-13.

04:00 hours- the same rod went again, this was a truly epic fight and one that if I’d have lost I would have sworn was a very big fish, the result was another double at 11-07.

06:10 hours- the middle rod went again and it was flying off, I picked up and applied pressure and the fluorocarbon broke just above the little ring, I can only assume there was a little damage on the line as I’ve never had a problem before.
With a successful night behind me I decided to stay another night on the Derwent and carried on fishing through the day. As is normal on there it all went quiet and the bites dried up through the day, the sun came out and it was 21 degrees. Weed became a problem, caused mainly by a family of eight swans that sit on the gravel runs pulling up the weed while feeding, it comes down in the flow and constantly pulls the rigs of the spots blunting the hooks as they are dragged over the gravel. Beaked pointed hooks would go some way to solving the problem but I am a big lover of straight point hooks as I believe the Barbel are pricked as they mouth the bait resulting in more positive takes rather than the bait being ejected without me knowing.

21:00 hours- finally I had another take, again on the rod on the middle line and it was another double at 10-05.

23:40 hours- I was hoping it was the start of another busy night but I had to wait over two hours before the margin rod ripped off, this was a spirited 7plus.

2 Sept 2017

04:40 hours- another five hours passed before the middle rod went again, this was another 7plus Barbel. The night had been very cold which may have had an impact on feeding fish. By 08:30 it was warm and sunny and all the condensation on the shelter evaporated so I packed up for a move and planned to go to the River Soar.

I made the short journey to Kegworth, parked up in the car park by the canal and walked down to and over the lock, through the stingers towards the weir. It was evident that someone had been busy with a strimmer since my visit in August as the stingers were cut back and I started to fear the worst. When I got to the weir I was so disappointed, someone had dragged a picnic bench to the end swim and built what I can only describe as a tree house behind the swim. My assumption was our Eastern Euro friends wanting somewhere to live or the local druggies wanting a place to shoot up, either way it wasn’t for me so I was on the road to Long Eaton.

River Trent, Long Eaton

I’d heard so much about this section of the Trent and always wanted to fish it, Jerry and I joined the club during the ABF challenge so here I was. You park up by the lock keepers house, the car is very safe and the car park used by walkers, cyclists and the boating people that use the canal. I walked the section with my leading rod and it was evident that not many swims were fished but some were well used, the most popular being the “bomb hole” which was occupied.

I settled on a spot 200 metres down but had to get the shears out to cut the swim out, 20mins later I was sorted. I always carry a pair in the car, they take up no room but are invaluable during the summer.

The river there is very busy with boats and with it not being overly deep I didn’t intend to start fishing until 18:00, so trickled some bait in and sat back to enjoy the afternoon. The bailiff came round for a chat which was perfect as he was the Soar bailiff, so I filled him in on my find so that would get sorted for a future visit.

I baited two lines on my tried and tested method and I’d love to say the night was a success but other than a Chub and a Bream it wasn’t so a return visit was logged.

6 Sept 2017 – River Ouse

I’d been trickling in a bit of bait into a few swims and wanted to try to fish them in the evenings, unfortunately it was getting busy and baiting up was pointless as I was doing it for other anglers. Eels had been a problem on some visits this year so I used 22mm halibut pellets wrapped in Pandemic paste for bait and adopted a roving approach for the evening starting at 20:00 hours. By 23:00 I’d not had a bite so went home for work the next day.

8 Sept 2017 – River Derwent

I finished work at lunchtime so shot up the M1 before the traffic got bad getting to the river for 18:30 hours. The weather had been stable, cloudy and warm at 18 degrees. I decided to try my hot swim of last season, it was over grown so clearly not getting fished, so a little subtle trimming and I was set up.

The rigs were lowered into the margin and a few boilies on the spot and down the section. The Derwent has been so good to me over the last three seasons but not this time with only two Chub coming to the net, the best being 5-06 with an absolutely huge head, a fish that has seen bigger and better days.

River Ouse

I did an evening and a night session for one Chub, the section has been quite busy this season which has affected my fishing somewhat with all the additional bait going in, there are not many Barbel there and the extra bait has made it easy for them and harder to catch, I’m hoping the winter will sort that out as it gets cold and people stay at home.

22 Sept 2017 – River Derwent

I’ve written before about my new job and work hours but they are really affecting my fishing time, I prefer mid-week when the banks are empty but my job dictates mainly weekend fishing time.

I finished work at 16:00 and drove the 33 miles home, packed the car and drove the 96 miles up to the Derwent, the roadworks absolutely killed me this time, I got to the gate in the dark, it was pouring with rain and at first I didn’t see the car in the carpark, then I picked out the number plate of a black BMW and I just knew he’d be sitting in the spot I have been targeting. I walked the 500 yards down the field and sure enough picked out his shelter and that along with the roadworks about finished me on the Derwent this year.

I went back to the car, loaded the barrow and walked in the rain to spot I fished on my last visit. My Ridgemonkey head torch earnt it’s keep as I set up and was fishing by 21:00.
00:15 hours- I’d feared the worst as the spot has not fished well this year when the upstream rod belted over and I was into a good fish and after 3 weeks struggling I had another double at 11-07.

04:35 hours- the same rod went again, a smaller fish but pleasing all the same at 8-10.

I packed up in the morning and drove home far happier than when I arrived, I had a busy weekend with Julie planned and was looking forward to seeing her, life isn’t so bad.

29 Sept 2017 – River Trent, Sutton

I’d stayed away from the Trent so far this season, my Barbel numbers were down but not the quality of fish but the time had come to go to the Barbel Society section at Sutton. I couldn’t face the M1 roadworks again and I had been looking forward to trying a new section on the Trent. Sutton fished well last season with a lot of good fish caught and my target for the winter was a Trent PB.

I got away from work and was on the A1 in reasonable time arriving at the fishery at 18:00 hours. I knew a little about the section and went to an area I knew fished well and parked behind a swim, as I got out the car an angler 200 yards down was into a fish so I went to have a look, he had a double take with two good fish so that was a confidence booster straight away. I walked further down the section and found some lovely looking areas, I was there for three nights and planned to do a different swim each night. As it was getting dark I walked back to my swim to set up only to find another car parked next to mine and a bivvy now set up, quite obviously I wasn’t impressed especially when it is someone I know well who thought he’d done nothing wrong and didn’t think to ring me first. I’d seen enough of this behaviour on the popular sections of the Trent and didn’t expect it on Sutton so that wasn’t a good start.

I drove downstream well away from other anglers to a swim on the outside of a big bend. I like to fish the margins as I have more control of my baiting up so always look for the outside of a bend and the straight just after so this spot looked good. I had a feel around with a 1oz lead and found the deeper run and no snags and then flicked out two rods on Pandemic and PVA bags. I baited up with Pandemic and a new bait from Madbaits called Pure Fish, putting them in in equal measures, twenty of each for a start.

Sutton is well known for Bream and they started straight away with regular takes up to midnight before they stopped.

30 Sept 2017

The night was cold and clear and the morning thick black cloud and strong wind. My pal Grazy Roberts came round for a chat, he’d lost one in the night and no one else had caught so I wasn’t alone. I wound in mid-morning and walked the whole section looking for my second swim, by 12:15 hours I’d moved round the big bend and set up below a big cattle drink as the river straightens up. I got the rigs in and baited up with the mixture of boilies and then sat back to talk to the only company I had for the trip, pure bliss!

14:05 hours- the upstream rod crashed over and I was into a good fish, it was heavy and plodding around but I thought it would be a matter of time and then disaster struck it snagged me. The lead was free and I could feel it when I tried different angles, when I took tension of the line the fish powered away but could not break free of the snag, each time I played it back to the snag. It felt like a big rock or possibly two that had come together and the fish went through a gap and wouldn’t come back through. After 50 mins of back and forth it cut me off two inches above the hook, I was gutted as it felt a good one.

I re-tackled and got baits out again, then the Bream moved in and it was one after another up to midnight and into October.
So how did the last 24 hours go??? You can read about it next month but let’s just say pretty well!

September 2017 another month with not many fish, limited fishing time, but still picking up a few good ones 9 Barbel / 5 doubles.

Until next month be lucky and tight lines.

Julian Barnes