The Sessions - April 2017

Show season and a Spanish Trip.

1-2 April – Northern Angling Show

The biggest two shows were later this year with the first one being the Northern Angling Show. Colin was in Spain with the Catfish season already in full swing so my lovely lady Julie came along to help with the shows. We had a nightmare start when I found Colin had booked us into the hotel for a weekend in Jan 2017, after a few frantic phone calls I got it sorted and we had a great weekend away, even after 10 years doing the shows I still enjoy them, we caught up with Jerry, Matt, Gadget, Dessie and most of my Northern friends. Julie loved it and did a great job and we even had his and hers mugs and fresh tea on the stand. One of the highlights was Dessie putting his big foot right in it, a storey I’ll bet my house he doesn’t put into print in his AT column.

6 April – Gingerbread Lake

My first chance to start my Carp/Tench spring fishing. I got to the lake for 19:00 hours for an overnight trip and after a good look round I found Boom Booms free so dropped in there. It had been quite warm but with a clear sky and north westerly wind it soon cooled down. I had a quick lead around on my marked spots from last spring and they were ok so stiff hinge rigs were cast to the three spots with little fruit pop-ups on each with a little sprinkling of Pandemic over each.
01:20 hours – I’d had a Bream when the rod rattled off again, this one felt better and was one of the stockie Mirrors that was putting on weight at 18plus.

02:25 hours – the margin rod went and this one felt like a Tench and I wasn’t wrong, it was a pretty fish at 7-06 and that was the last action of a good first night.

8-9 April – The Big One

The Big One is the biggest and best show of the year and is well worth a visit, this year it was huge with over 200 stands and something there for everyone.

Julie came with me again and we had another great weekend, for traders this show is great as we have all the Holiday Inn which is literally across the road and is a great social for all of us. An old friend, Roger Meed, who’s family were the first Catmaster Tours clients way back in 2001 brought a present for Colin to the show for me to pass on, this raised a few giggles with friends as we were walking out, it was a huge clonk and I told people we were going clonking for Blue Whales.

A lot of work goes into organising these shows and my pal Ray Best does a great job with the marketing and promotion for the Big One pulling in record crowds every year, well done mate.

11 April – Gingerbread Lake

I had a midday finish so was able to get to the lake a bit earlier but to be honest it wasn’t worth rushing about as the lake was packed with day anglers. I spent a lot of time looking but the areas I wanted to be in were taken so I was considering going home when an old gentleman told me he was moving because the swim he was in was to weedy. As he was talking I could see movement on the plateau over his shoulder so kept smiling and listening to his weed troubles. He moved and I dropped into the swim and promptly got my rigs out onto to my markers for this swim, three fruit pop-ups on stiff hinge rigs with a few Pandemic over each.

A 7plus Bream came quickly and I was really confident of action through the night. I had the odd bleep in the night I put down to line bites and was convinced one would go at any minute. I got up at 05:00 hours for work and noticed one bobbin right down, when I reeled in I found I’d been done. I like to use light leads on the lake and it has been very effective for me but not this time, the rig had been picked up and obviously pricked the fish but it had manged to shake the clip out of the swivel and the lead was at the top of the lead core and the rig had been moved way of the spot…….back to heavy leads I think.

15 April – Gingerbread Lake

I wanted to have a full 24 hours after the Tench as I really want one of the big ones that reside here. The caster / maggot approach hasn’t work that well for the lads that have tried but wanted to try something that wasn’t so Carp orientated, so a plan was hatched.

I arrived at 05:40 hours to ensure I got the swim I wanted, I’d been down the evening before to check it was free so getting down early was worth the effort as it is a noted Tench hot spot. I had a check with a bare lead to see if the spots were clear and then spombed out 20 spombs of hemp and 2mm pellet with a few cockles mixed in. I then set up two rods with 2oz leads on clips and hair rigged cockles on a 5 inch hooklink to a size 10 hook.

The third rod was a Carp rod on a stiff hinge and fruit pop-up.

It was 14:00 hours before I started getting line bites and plucks at the cockles but no bites materialised. The odd Tench had been caught round the lake but all on boilie. Just before dark I reeled in the Tench rods and put out three Carp rods all on fruit pop-ups, sure enough I had one take in the night, yes you’ve guessed it was a Tench at 04:35 in the morning!!

24 April – River Segre, Mequinenza, Spain

My spring visit to Spain had arrived and I couldn’t wait to get out there, I’d cancelled my planned trips in Oct and Nov so hadn’t been for a year and had missed the place and my friends over there.

The plan was to Carp fish from a boat for the two week trip, this limits fishing time considerably but increases the chances of a good fish as I’m able to move all over the river to areas I can’t reach from the bank. Colin was out bird watching so I’d be fishing alone for the trip, on the bank this is easy but on a boat it can be gruelling to say the least.

I’d arrived on the Sunday and got my stuff ready; I have a full set up over there so it’s a case of getting it from the cellar and setting the rods up. I spent the morning chatting and catching up with the lads over there and did a bit of driving round looking. It was warm and sunny at 20 degrees and the river levels were good so I could get to the shallow areas without grounding the boat.

For those that don’t know the Rio Ebro was dammed years ago creating three huge reservoirs with the river levels being controlled by the dams. When this happened much of the old village of Mequinenza was flooded and a new village built. The old river bed is the deeper channel through the river now and knowing the river is essential when out on a boat. The levels change by the hour sometimes and you can easily get in trouble if unaware. When the levels are right the Carp love getting up into the shallow areas and that’s the place to target them.

I went out just after lunch and motored round looking for signs, they are usually very visible but hadn’t been for a couple of weeks so it was a case of going to areas I knew and trying for an hour or so and moving.

I thought about my rig quite a bit before going and decided to adapt my Barbel rig for Carp, it’s been so successful it had to work if I got it right. I used a 3oz lead on a clip, a 7” Korda IQ boom, a small ring, 2-3” piece of braid to a size 2 Mugger hook, all the principles were the same as my Barbel rig just stronger, a shorter boom and bigger hook. I did 11 turns around the hook to get the hair exiting at the right spot on the hook. The bait was the ever reliable 22mm pellet with a piece of fake corn, with a Castaway pva bag of 4mm pellets to give added attraction.

18:10 hours – the river had looked dead and nothing was happening until my third move. I was fishing against some reeds in 3 foot of water and fearing a blank first day when the rod went over, it was a heavy old lump and I was well pleased with a 36 pound Common for my first fish of the trip, it fought so hard it opened the hook up that fell of when in the net.

After the commotion in the swim I moved again and added a double and a 23plus before motoring back in well into dark, again not advised if you don’t know the river.

25 April

After a supermarket trip I was on the river by 11:00 hours. It had cooled down considerably and was cloudy making seeing fish even harder. I went back to the area I caught in the previous evening and 10 minutes in I caught the first fish and another good one at 32-06.

The afternoon carried on pretty well with two doubles and a twenty but then it started to rain and rain, by 18:50 hours the rain was dripping out of my pants and everything was soaked so I pulled up the mud weights and went in.

26 April

It didn’t stop raining all night and was still going when I was eating breakfast. I went back out at 11:00 hours, the level was up with rubbish coming down in the flow and the wind very strong making holding position and keeping baits out difficult. This is where river knowledge comes in and I kept moving to areas that were a little more sheltered. I eventually caught a 25 plus on the forth move but soon had to move again. It felt quite cold and the rain had certainly knocked them off.

I only had one more bite and it was from a Roach at exactly 3-00, it looked huge and on Roach tackle I would have been over the moon, but it wasn’t quite the same with a size 2 mugger hanging out of it’s chops.

29 April

The fishing had been hard due to the rain and drop in water and air temperature, I’d caught on both days but only two bites each day and a lot of moving and getting wet in the constant showers.

It had rained all morning so I spent time driving round looking and got on the river at 12:45 hours. I made the decision to go to fish deeper water, this created a few problems holding position as the silt is washed away in the deeper channel so the mud weights sit on the rocky bottom but I got myself on the edge of the shelf and held position.
13:50 hours – I only had the one bite but it was a worth the effort at 38-04. Fish started to show in the area but I didn’t get another take but I was pleased with the result and baited the area with maize and tigers for a return then next day.

30 April

The forecast was more rain and I really didn’t fancy another soaking so I was up at 05:00 hours for some bank fishing, I got a good spot and could hear fishing rolling as I arrived in the dark. By 11:00 hours I’d not had a bite and typically the forecast had been wrong, it was sunny, warm with a gentle breeze. Instinct was telling me to pack up and get out on the boat, I’m a huge believer in following them and find they rarely let you down.

I launched the boat at approx. 12:30 hours and was motoring very slowly up the Rio Segre constantly watching for signs and checking the level with my prodding stick. I got to an area I normally go past, it’s a hump in the middle of the river, full of snags and two foot deep but on this occasion I saw a fish roll, then another and then another, instinct came in again, I couldn’t ignore it so slowly turned left and gently drifted in. I stood up and saw quite a few fish and good ones at that so lowered the mud weights. One cast in each area to check they were clearish was made and then one cast to each spot, I put three freebies over and sat down.

Bang – straight away the left went and the strike was met with a real thud of a heavy fish, it took a while to get it moving out of the weed but steady pressure told and then it swam past the boat and I could see how big it was, I begged it not to fall off, first scoop with the net and it just about went in and it was massive!!

I got the scales and sling ready and was laughing away to myself, a feeling only big fish anglers will know and then lifted it into the boat. It was a magnificent fish at 50-02, my second Ebro fifty and worth a seventy from a puddle any day.

The rest of the day was blur, texting and ringing friends and generally just buzzing, I had a double and two twenties to 29-12 and then the cloud came over. The forecast rain arrived much later than expected but it arrived in bundles with gale force winds. The journey back was pretty hairy I have to admit and my balloon knot was going a bit but I made it and went straight to the bar. An Ebro 50 is a special fish and as you can see from the photo it was a real brute of a fish.

Well that was the half way point of the trip and finished a brilliant April for me. I just hoped the second half would be as good.

Until next month tight lines.

Julian Barnes