The Sessions - July 2015

03 July – River Trent

This was my first chance to fish after having been away on a course with work for a week so I was itching to get on the river. For a change we had some nice weather with temperatures reaching 36 degrees and when I reached the river at 17:00 hours it was still 27 degrees with a light south westerly wind.

The result of the good weather was a very low River Trent, as low as I’ve seen it so I set up in a favourite peg that I had done well in before when the river was low and had the section to myself. Unfortunately within two hours I had three people set up right next to me in the three swims downstream followed shortly after by two setting up upstream…..the joys of weekend fishing.

I have described my standard Barbel rig in my pieces last season but for those that haven’t seen it I’ll go through it again. After a season of tinkering I settled on the rig and now only change the length of the fluro carbon boom depending on the size of the river I’m fishing, the amount of streamer weed present and bankside foliage if I’m fishing tight to a far margin.

I start with a fixed lead on a clip but as light as I can get away with, 5 feet of 15 pound ESP Ghost (12 pound on small rivers) with a swivel at one end and a 6mm ESP O-ring on the other, both attached with a palamar knot. I tie a size 10 Drennan Barbel hook to a short length of Drennan 15 pound Barbel braid (brown) with a simple knotless knot leaving the tag end as the hair. This is attached to the O-ring with a loop knot, the braid section being 2 inches long. Simple but very effective, when the hook point goes I only have to change the braid section.

It is worth stating I am not sponsored by Drennan, I have used a lot of other manufactures tackle and just find the Drennan stuff suits my needs best.

I like the boilie to just touch the bend of the hook so there is plenty of movement, the pva bag is attached to the hook before casting. Although a mess bag they still hold enough air to be suspended before sinking and go down slowly with the flow and land on the bottom well away from the tight mainline and lead….perfect!

My bait is still the awesome test bait I was testing for MAD baits last season that has now been called Pandemic along with my special PVA bag mix.

By 23:00 hours I’d had two Chub and a small Barbel and was fearing the worst with people all round me but my tactics paid off when the downsteam rod smashed over and I was into a good fish and landed a lovely Barbel at 11-01.

A big storm came over in the early hours, lots of rain, thunder and lighting so I was praying not to get a take. After two hours it passed and I rebaited and took a further two Barbel to high 7’s and packed away at 10:00 hours to head back to the Eel lake. Four Barbel in tough conditions with the other five anglers catching one between them, give my methods a try I’m sure it will put some fish on the bank for you.

04 July – Fenland Pit

After a day at home catching up on my chores I got to the lake for 20:30 hours and set up in another new swim at the narrow end of the lake. It had been a hot sticky day and was still very warm. I put two rods out on Dyson rigs with lobworms, one on a half Roach and the other I tried bolt rigged halibut pellet as the Carpers had been picking Eels up on them.
The worms were being hammered by small Perch right up until dark which has got me thinking about a scaled down rig for Perch in the winter.

But again it was another frustrating night with the Eels, three small ones landed on worms, dropped runs and crushed baits on the Roach, nothing on pellet.

Left at first light not wanting to give up but thinking how many more nights would I have to give up to get a big Eel….head banging stuff.

6 & 7 July – River Ouse

I spent two evening sessions on the Ouse. I had been trickling in a bit of bait in a few spots but on the first visit found it quite busy so settled in the swim where I’d caught last season and lowered rigs into my margin spots.
The first session produced a 7 pound Bream and a small Chub. The second was a blank, not unusual on the tough River Ouse.

11 July – River Wye, Ross-on-Wye.

This would be my first visit to the Wye, my first Barbel Society fish-in and a chance to catch up with a good friend and well known Barbel angler Jerry Gleeson, I was really looking forward to it.

Prior to leaving I’d taken delivery of a package from Jack Pyke. I’d been fortunate to be sponsored by them this season and was very happy to oblige. They’d sent me Field Boots, Fleece tops, Trousers and a 3in1 Coat that caters for all seasons. The boots and fleece looked perfect for this trip so they were packed.

Writing this piece after having used them both a number of times I can highly recommend them, the fleece is a good summer one, washes well and keeps its shape. The boots are everything you need, waterproof, robust, warm and comfy, I’m now a total convert and won’t be using anything else.

I arrived on the Friday night to miss the weekend traffic and slept in the White Lion car park. The lads had been there a while and been sampling the delights of the pub and were a little worse for where but we were all up and on the fishery by 06:00 hours. I walked the whole section and as many people will tell you the Wye is a truly stunning place with lots of swims worth a go, one of the most appealing was one I’d seen in books and was now privileged to stand looking at on the end of the Wye Lea section, the picture says it all.

I settled in a swim at the end of second field with lots of over hanging trees on the far margin. A feel around with a lead confirmed what I’d been told, the gravel runs were tight to the trees. I shortened my hooklink to 3 feet to allow for the tight cast and after a couple of casts took another 8 inches of it which was perfect.

Everyone was using pellets but I wanted to try my bait and tactic as this was also a practise trip for the up-coming ABF Charity Barbel Challenge in August.

I got baits in the water for 07:45 hours and within an hour I’d caught a Barbel and 2 Chub, nothing massive but off the mark.

It then went a bit quiet for everyone, but the sun was out, it was warm and we were in a beautiful part of the country. We then encountered our first problem, we were told we couldn’t camp on the fishery after initially being told we could. The second problem was to find somewhere 16 fisherman could camp at late notice and then we had to get all the gear back up a steep hill to the cars and move it. Eventually most of us got sorted while some went home at the end of day one.

After a BBQ and lots of laughter we were fishing again by 19:00 hours when the river really came alive. I went on to catch 3 Chub to 4-08 and 5 Barbel to 9-05 which looked a double all day but was just empty. 23:00 hours soon arrived and I had to walk the length of the fishery to the picnic area to camp for the night.

It rained all night and didn’t stop until 05:00 hours when I got up and walked back to my swim. I started catching straight away and took 2 Barbel to high 7’s and 3 Chub again to 4-08. The rain finally stopped mid morning so I packed up for the 142 mile journey home. Good trip, beautiful area and made some new friends, just what fishing should be all about.

14 July – Fenland Pit

This was a trip to forget, I set up in a swim where I’d caught Eels and Cats in June and really fancied it for a good fish. I didn’t get a bleep on all four rods.

15 July – Fields End

I’d packed up the Eel kit and made my way to Fields End for the Crucian Carp and arrived before opening at 07:00 hours.
The rain had stopped but it was thick grey cloud and warm with a north easterly wind. I dropped into my favorire swim on the lake and baited lightly with 2mm and 4mm pellets, a few grains of sweetcorn and broken prawns.

Out went a float tight to the reeds with a single prawn. As on most commercials Fields End is full of silvers and they love prawns too, I went on to catch 42 Rudd, all about a pound each, 32 Perch, 2 Tench and a Mirror Carp.

I also managed 4 Crucians, not as many as the last trip but a new PB at 2-10.5, 1-12, 1-11 and 1-08. I really want a “local” 3 pounder and it continues to elude me but I’m getting closer.

20 July – River Trent

I wanted to try a new area so on this trip I went looking further down the tidal sections to an area I hadn’t fished before. I settled in a swim for a 19:00 hours start. What I look for is the outside of a bend and the straight just after it, both these areas generally have a deep run close in which suites how I like to fish and generally holds the big fish.
My hooklinks were back up to five feet and were cast out with pva bags attached. I didn’t have to wait long and 40 minutes after starting I was into my first Barbel and landed a fish at 9-07, a good start and pleasing that I’d read the river right.
21:10 hours – the downstream rod went over and I was playing a bigger heavier fish, it was a tremendous tug of war but I slipped the net under a good fish at 11-07.

23:00 hours – the upstream rod went and straight away I knew it was Chub, when I saw it in the water it looked huge with a big head and was very long, unfortunately it was very thin and could have been ill, a fish that should have been a high six was only 4-09.

01:00 hours – I’d had another Chub and an Eel before landing another Barbel at 9-03.

06:20 hours – after a quiet spell the downstream rod went over and another good Barbel was on, another double at 10-08.

07:45 hours – I then had another good Chub at 4-10, these fish have huge frames and will be worth a few goes in winter. That ended anther good trip to a river that seems always to be good to me.

21 July – River Ouse

I went down as soon as I could after work and arrived at 17:00 hours to a swim I’d baited last season but not fished, I’d trickled a bit in this year and felt confident. A feel around with the lead confirmed my close in tactics should work so out went two rigs with MAD baits Pandemic and pva bags attached.
It was warm with a light wind and the Ouse mossies were out in force.

20:10 hours – the first take came out of the blue and the line fizzed of the spool, I soon had it in the net and was pleased to see a smaller fish at approx 7 pound which was good for the future.

I contemplated going home as catching one from the Ouse in a session is hard but two seemed impossible, however the angler in me wanted to stay so I set up for the night.

23:00 hours – I had a Chub at approx 3 pound and then decided on a slight change of tactic. There are not many Barbel there and I wanted disturbance to be minimum so I recast and put out 40 broken boilies with the intention of leaving the rig till morning.

04:25 hours – the left hand rod smashed over and a good fish was on, I was over the moon two in a session and a good one at 12-02. After putting her back I packed up for work a very happy man.

26 July – River Trent

I drove up after a good weekend celebrating my friend Laurie’s 50th to find the river quite busy, my new area and another I wanted to try were packed so I went to the areas fished last season and was the only angler there. I didn’t get started till 22:20 hours and was tired after a hectic weekend.
I went on to catch 8 Barbel with the best ones being 9-03 and 9-05.

30 July – River Ouse

After suffering a blank evening on 28th I went back to the “double” swim for a night. I’d been baiting it for a while and could see no one had fished it as I had to trim the bank side vegetation back a little.

I lowered my rigs in for 20:30 hours and set up for the night. There was quite a flow with the extra water following a few days of rain but it looked good.

Through the night I had two good Chub at 4-10 and 5-00 before packing up for work.

That completed a brilliant months fishing with two high lights being my first visit to the Wye and two in a session on the Ouse.

Barbel – 27 fish / 4 doubles – 3 trips to the Trent, 5 trips to the Ouse, 1 trip to the Wye

Tight Lines

Julian Barnes