The Sessions - September 2020
Crucian Gold and more magical Barbel fishing
I signed off last month half way through a Crucian session on Johnsons having just moved into my favourite swim and really hoping the effort would pay off.
1 Sept 2020 - Johnsons Lake, Marsh Farm
I got up at 06:00, it was very still, cold, damp and misty and didn’t look good, I much prefer a ripple on the water with the wind blowing into the area. I cast both rigs out to the spot, not expecting much, and planned to leave by 11:00 unless things picked up.
I sat with a brew watching the water and saw three Crucians roll, instinctively I made the decision to quickly bait up with five spombs of hemp and caster and reload the feeders. It had the desired effect and the left hand rod went within 20 minutes, the fish felt heavy as I gently coaxed it into the net without any dramas, it felt surreal as I knew it was big but didn’t realise how big until I lifted it up on the scales, it went a fantastic 4-02, I’d done it and achieved my season target of a 4 plus Crucian. It took a moment to sink in and then I did a little dance on the bank with a huge smile on my face. The sun was rising and very bright and did it’s best to ruin my photos, but I had no choice as there was no shade available and there was no way I wanted to run it round into the trees, that just didn’t feel right. Fortunately I was able to send the pics to a friend and he manged to sort them to an acceptable level. These were sent to the Angling Times and I won a weekly Drennan award to put the cherry on the cake.
I was feeling euphoric and rang Julie first, she loves my successes and was nearly as excited as me, that was followed by texts and calls to Phil, Jerry and Jude before I finally recast nearly an hour later. The same rod went again with a 3-08 and this was quickly followed by a 3-07 on the other rod.
I suffered lots of line twist issues on both rods which was a pain as you have to react quickly when the fish move in and recast as quickly as possible, I was having to strip off 40-50m of line each time which was obviously delaying the recast. I made the decision to buy some Daiwa reels that have the twist buster mechanism to try to combat the line twist. I managed one more fish at 2-12 before packing up at 14:00 and the drive home simply flew by.
2 September 2020 – River Trent, tidal
I planned to meet Jerry for 3 nights but had found a guy on FB selling some Daiwa reels so met him on the tidal and did the first night there. I did the deal buying two almost new Daiwa Emcast BR 4000 reels for £120 which was a great deal and they looked good for my Crucian rods.
Once that was sorted I set up for an 18:30 start. It was raining and cloudy and the river up a little but still low. I put both out on Pandemic hard hookers, the Mitten Crabs had been a real problem so I used hard hookers to combat them, then I put 30 boilies through the swim. By 21:00 it was still raining but warm at 15 degrees, I rebaited and found the Crabs had taken chunks out of the hard hookers. By midnight I’d had two Bream and the Crabs were a real pain so I put one rod on a 22mm Halibut pellet.
I had a Barbel at 8plus in the night but the Crabs were making short work of everything even the pellet so I packed up at first light to go and meet Jerry.
3 September 2020 – River Trent, Colwick
I drove over to Colwick and it rained all the way finally stopping when I arrived. I hadn’t seen Jerry for possibly 18 months so was looking forward to catching up with him and as usual we were into the piss taking and laughs straight away.
Jerry had fished it before so knew the better swims, it was very quiet so we had no problems getting the pegs in the middle of the club section and after barrowing the gear down I went to work with the Deeper Pro and mapped out the swim. There was a crease in front of me and running the Deeper down it soon identified a slight depression which was perfect for the right hand rod, the left I was going to position downstream at the end of the depression. With the spots sorted I got the spopper rod out and put 10 loads of hemp and some left over groundbait on the spot and then put 20 boilies through the swim. The section is not noted for lots of fish but does hold some good ones so I hoped the hemp would help draw them up. With no other anglers and very few people walking about it made a nice change from some of the busy sections I’d been fishing.
I cast in at midday with one on Pandemic hard hooker and the other on double 15mm Asbo. It had stopped raining and was warm at 20 degrees with cloudy spells. At 17:30 I put another 10 loads of hemp and 20 boilies in hoping that as the fish came out of the lock / canoe slalom area they would stop over the bait, unfortunately the Bream got there first and I paid the price for putting in so much bait, they didn’t stop all night.
4 September 2020
To try to slow them down I changed the Pandemic rod to half a tin of meat, that went unbelievably to a Chub at approx. 4 pound. The Bream continued to murder the Asbo rod until eventually I got a run that pulled back resulting in a Barbel at 7 pound plus. Strangely as soon as it got light the Bream stopped.
It was another nice day, warm and cloudy with sunny spells. I decided not to put any particle or groundbait in and just bait up with boilies to try to avoid the Bream. I put fifty 12mm Pandemic and a few Asbo in at breakfast time and the day was very quiet with just two Bream.
To try to avoid them during the night I rigged up snowman set ups with an 18mm topped with a 15mm, both bottom baits, as Bream are said by Carpers not to like this and then crossed my fingers and toes and baited up again with another thirty boilies. The first take came at 23:10 and was a Barbel at 8 pound plus and I hoped was the start of a good night but apart from a bigger Bream in the morning that was it. Jerry blanked so the section was proving tough as we had been told it could be.
Jerry was due to leave early at 05:00 to catch a train back home for work at lunchtime, in classic Jerry style, the man who never sleeps over slept and missed his train by a good two hours…..somethings never change and I hope he ever does, it was good to see him again.
12 September 2020 – River Trent, Colwick
I had the 13th booked on Gunthorpe and wanted to get there early, I didn’t fancy a night battling Crabs on the tidal so did the night on Colwick which was only a short drive away. I went back in the same peg, the river had dropped a little after a warm sunny week with no rain and with a warm night forecast I hoped I had a chance.
I put both rods on double 15mm Asbo soaked in food dip and baited up with 12mm Pandemic. The first bite was a long, lean tatty looking 5 pound plus Chub, it was that tatty I didn’t want a picture so popped her back. The only other bite was a small Bream that was quickly followed by another Chub with the bigger Barbel avoiding me again.
13 September 2020 – River Trent, Gunthorpe
I arrived and got the gear over to the lock island and went for a chat to the lads who were packing down, there was some excitement as Dave Steptoe had not long put back a huge fish at 18-01 after struggling all weekend, massive congratulations to him, well done mate.
I only had 24 hours so wanted to maximise it and got on early and was fishing by 11:30. I put the left hand rod by the wall and put five spopper loads of hemp on the spot, the right hand rod was cast to the clear area by the weir sill with ten Asbo quickly following it. Both rods were baited with double 15mm Asbo, this has been my go to bait for the last 12 months and has caught me loads of good fish, it’s a similar base mix to Pandemic so full of with different favours and works brilliant with the hook baits soaked in the food dip.
The river level was lower than my last visit and the weather good with a gentle breeze so landing fish wouldn’t be an issue. The lads who had been fishing the swim had struggled a bit but had caught fish to 14plus so I wasn’t expecting bites so quickly but the weir rod went within 20 minutes and was quickly followed by two more, two 9’s and an 11-03.
After not getting a bite for an hour I changed the weir rod to Elips pellets putting three on the hair, it went straight away and in the next three hours I had another six with this one being the best at 10-08.
I baited both spots for the night at 19:30, putting some more hemp and boilie by the wall and boilies by the weir sill. I had another smaller fish on the Elips so swapped back to Asbo, it went straight away with the best of the season so far at 14-07.
14 September 2020
The weir swim normally doesn’t fish well at night as the fish move out down the river and if I’m doing two nights I tend to reel in and get up for an early start. As I only had 24 hours I fished the night and had a strange take in the early hours resulting in this deformed fish at 11-09.
It was quiet until 07:45 when I then had another six takes with this 10-15 being the best of the bunch.
A change back to Elips for the last hour resulted in another two high 9’s before I had to vacate the swim at midday. I tried rolling meat in the weir for an hour without success, it’s a method I really do have to master at some point. That completed another great session on the island with 18 fish landed.
21 September 2020 – Johnsons Lake, Marsh Farm
With a work rest day on Monday I took the Tuesday as annual leave to give me two days fishing and headed down to Johnsons for the Crucians, they really have got under my skin this season and I’ve really enjoyed the challenge fishing for them. I had an article published in Catch Cult 18 on my Crucian Journey and was planning a part two so really wanted some decent photos of a four pounder but knew it wasn’t going to be easy to catch another.
I arrived on Sunday night after driving down after work arriving at 21:00 to find it still busy with Carpers, the angler in the swim I wanted was leaving the next morning so I camped in the next peg to ensure I got the swim when he left.
I was up at 05:30 and put the rods out while I waited to move, I had a small Carp straight way and missed another take and finally moved onto my chosen swim at midday. The angler leaving had only had one in 24 hours and there hadn’t been many out at all over the weekend, but on the positive side they had to feed at some point.
I had the new reels set up on the rods and got them clipped up to the same spot as my last session and I then put out six spombs of hemp and caster, everything was set up to fish really tight and accurate without over baiting the swim.
It was hot at 27 degrees and still with a very gentle northerly breeze blowing away from my area but I knew the weather was going to change on Tuesday morning and that’s when I felt I would get a chance. It was very busy with anglers coming and going and very little being caught. I kept recasting the feeders every 45 minutes and just enjoyed being there, Johnsons is a lovely lake with plenty of wildlife to keep things interesting, there was a Tawny Owl calling all through the day and I was on lookout for the Osprey that’s visits the lake, but more importantly I kept a constant eye on the water looking for signs of Crucians, once they start rolling you have to react and be on your game as the feeding windows have been getting shorter as the season has progressed.
The day passed without a bite and I got my head down by 22:30 wanting to be fresh by morning.
22 September 2020
I was up at 05:30, it was cool and clear with no breeze and I just hoped the weather change happened before I left. I decided not to put any more bait out, I’d had no action or any line bites to suggest fish had eaten the hemp, caster and groundbait from the day before so I would rely on the bait on the feeders only.
I kept recasting every 40 minutes and apart from a 4 pound Common it was very quiet and I was starting to fear a blank was on the cards. It got to mid-morning and the wind changed to a light westerly causing a ripple on the surface blowing into my area, I got up to recast and before I could the left hand bobbin pulled up tight with a classic Crucian take, it felt a good fish and I was praying it didn’t come off, I eased it over the net and it was a good one. I quickly wrapped the rod and recast before weighing the fish at a lovely 3-11, the fake casters had done the business again.
20 minutes later the right hand rod went with another nice one at 3-04, I went through the same process getting the rod back out quickly to maximise the feeding spell.
30 minutes later the left went again and this one was taking line on the clutch and kited well right in classic Tench style. There was a guy watching me and we both thought Tench all the way to the net, when it popped up it was Crucian and a good one too. I popped it back in the landing net, wrapped and recast the rod before zeroing the scales. The angler watching thought it was big, I wasn’t so sure but it went 4 pound and half ounce and was in mint condition and absolute cracking Crucian, I was so pleased, to get one 4 pounder this season was brilliant but to get a second was dream land stuff, the photos came out great too which was great news for my planned Catch Cult article.
I carried on until 14:00 without any more takes, the feeding window was short but I felt I maximised it and got my reward.
That was the end of my September fishing as work took over again.
Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😊
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