The Sessions - March 2023
A brilliant end to a fantastic season.
With Zander to 12-07 and Barbel to 15-15 in February I was really looking forward to March, I always take the last week of the season as annual leave and couldn’t wait….
2 March 2023 – River Trent, somewhere down the tidal
The weather had turned cold at the end of February and that continued into March with night temps down to 2 degrees, high pressure and a cold northerly wind.
I had a guide session for Barbel arranged with John Pickard for the 3 March so drove up a day early to locate swims and get prepped, with the conditions not great I wanted to maximise his chances of a good trip.
I had to work in the morning, do a food shop and travel up the Al; I picked a quiet section and arrived at 15:30 to find it empty. The river was low at .89m and the tides were small and it just felt cold so it wasn’t going to be easy…..
My fishing plans were to fish for Zander in the day and Barbel at night, so by the time I barrowed down the field and set up I started the session with both rods for Barbel and baited both with Pandemic hard hookers.
I checked the swim I had located for John with the Deeper and baited it with approx. 50 Asbo / BBB priming it ready for the next day. I went back to my swim and cast the rigs across to the spot and put a good spread of Asbo through the area.
3 March 2023
It was a very cold and quiet with nothing happening until the first take at 03:50 which resulted in a strange fight and lovely bonus fish, an Ide at 6-03; I knew there were Ide in the Trent having caught a smaller one in the summer, I’d always wanted a bigger one and will take that even if it was an accidental capture 😃
Two hours later the same rod went again with a fish that felt much heavier, it didn’t really fight until close in but everything went ok and it was a good one at 14-04. That was a milestone fish for me and completed my season target of wanting to catch a 12 plus every month of the season, I’d completed it and by some margin as I’d caught a 13 plus every month, I was very happy and had a little jiggle on the bank in celebration😃
With that target complete and daylight creeping through I swapped that rod over to Zander, the half Roach was quickly picked up and I landed a Zed at 9-00, and what looked like being a tough session was already turning out to be good.
The Barbel rod went again with another good fish at 12-05 before I reeled both rods in to go and meet John on the main road.
We arranged to meet at 09:30 for a 24 hour session, I met him on the road and we drove down the track to the river and barrowed his tackle down the field to the swim.
I left him to set his camp up and went back to collect my Deeper rod, the pod, bait and rig bits I had for him to use. The first hour of two of my guide sessions is to talk through my approach to Barbel fishing, reading the river, baiting strategy and helping clients with their rigs. So I spent a bit of time with the Deeper rod and then a bare lead showing John what to look for, we then set up some rigs and were ready to start fishing at 11:30 and John flicked out his rigs to a deeper run two rod lengths out. I set him up with single Pandemic hard hookers and baited the area with BBB and Asbo.
John’s first bite came an hour into the session and was a new PB at 11-03, a brilliant start to the session and I was very pleased for him with all the travel and tricky weather 😃
Once John was settled I put out a rod for both target species and added four Barbel to 13-13 and a small Zed.
I cooked some meat and ate a meal at around 18:00 and almost straight away started to feel quite ill, I wanted to be sick but it wouldn’t come up and I felt like I’d been run over and got worse as the evening went on.
The cloud had come over as forecast and it wasn’t quite so cold and looked good for a bite. John had another fish that he estimated at 9 pound, he didn’t want to disturb me as I was ill which was a shame as he estimated his 11-03 at 8-9 pound, but he was happy to be catching.
4 March 2023
I felt so rough I couldn’t sleep and was sat watching the rods at 01:10 when the Zed rod tapped a couple of times, I picked up and could feel the fish taking the slack line and struck, it was better one at a pleasing 10-01.
That was followed by a Barbel at exactly 10:00, John had caught another estimated 9 pounder and lost one close in which was a shame as he felt it was bigger.
At first light I moved John up into my swim as it was a better day peg and we fished until 10:00 without any more takes. It was a good trip despite me feeling very poorly and good to meet you John, I’ll look forward to the trips arranged for next season.
River Trent, Cromwell
I wanted to put myself in with a chance of my season target, an 18 plus Barbel, and felt a move to Cromwell would give me a better chance. I was feeling very poorly and had to drag myself up to make the move, in total it took four hours!! Judd kept offering to help and in the end John Fisk just started picking my stuff up and carrying it to the car which was much appreciated both of you.
I got the swim I hoped would be free and baited the spot quite heavily as the fish I wanted likes a bit of bait and then set both rods up with Pandemic hard hookers trimmed down to approx. 8mm. I cast them out and tried to sleep off whatever bug I had. I had two fish before midnight, an 11-02 and a 13-02.
5 March 2023
The bites kept coming and despite feeling terrible I kept going with a two singles and doubles at 11-10 and 11-01, the 11’s all went straight back as I just wanted to lay back down again.
I’d not eaten for 24 hours and felt weak but I never know (stupidly) when to give up and decided to change over to Zander for the morning and slowly pack up. By midday I’d not had a touch and loaded the van, I drove round to Future Fishing to pick up some deadbait in preparation for the last week and instinctively felt I needed to try another section for Zander for the rest of the day, I knew I was mad as I felt so ill, but I wanted to try so drove over to the chosen section to find it empty. I’d watched Cormorants working the swim on previous trips so felt I had a chance and flicked out two small dead Roach.
Just into dark one of the rods tapped over, I picked up and felt the fish and struck, it felt heavy but was an uneventful fight until it went over the net and I went weak at the knees, it was massive and only just fitted into the net, what a fish, a true monster and worth all the illness and effort at a monstrous 18-09 😃
I went home ill but very happy, I didn’t eat for 48 hours and slept from when I got in right through to morning, I don’t know what happened, the meat was in date, maybe I couldn’t have cooked it for long enough but who knows.
11 March, River Trent, somewhere down the tidal
I had booked time off from the 8 March but the weather had really turned with lots of snow and temps at -2 degrees which didn’t look good for the last week of the season, so I went to work on the Wed and had some family stuff to attend to on Thurs and Fri.
It wasn’t looking good but the forecast was a bit better for the last couple of days if I could find fishable swims. The level was rising at 1.50m with all the snow melt going in, highly coloured and carrying lots of rubbish.
I wanted to fish for both species but the priority was to give myself a chance of a huge Barbel so drove up in the morning for a look. The first two sections I looked at were busy in the key areas so I headed to a section I’d not fished before but wanted to try for Zander. The drive down the track was hairy, the strong winds had dried to top layer of grass out but it was still pretty dodgy, I made it by 15:00 but was nervous as rain was forecast. I walked to the area and ran the Deeper through a lovely slack margin area that had good depth, I checked it with a bare lead and it was lovely clean gravel so I set the swim up. The river was raging through but I could hold with 5oz without any issue and cast two dead Roach onto the spots.
12 March 2023
It rained for five hours as forecast but was very windy which would help. I’d been keeping in touch with a pal on my first choice section and the swim I wanted was going to be free from 09:00, so I packed up quickly, loaded the van and started the slow drive down the track, it was bad but after a few hairy moments I got onto the firmer ground and out, definitely a swim to re-visit though.
I got to the new swim and got set up intending to stay until the end; there were big winds forecast on the Monday but I knew I’d be well sheltered in the swim.
I planned to fish for Zander in the day and Barbel at night so flicked out two dead Roach onto the spots and trickled some Asbo and BBB through the area to build up the swim for the night.
It was a nice day, sunny with cloudy spells and a light wind. The level seemed to have peaked (oh I wish) at 1.48m and the water temp rising again at 6.6 degrees.
The day passed quietly but there were Barbel rolling in the main flow so I changed over at 18:00, baiting both rods with the trimmed down Pandemic, the swim was well primed so only I trickled a few more BBB in.
It didn’t take long, 30 minutes after casting out the right hand rod smashed over and I was into a heavy fish that would not give up, the longer the fight went on the more I thought I’d got my target fish, it came to the top and looked big and went in the net first time. When I lifted it out I knew it was a PB but how big, when I laid it on the mat and saw the golden eye I knew which fish it was, it wasn’t the 18 plus I was looking for but I was very happy with Golden Eye at her heaviest weight of 17-00
It was very warm at 10 degrees and I had four more bites before midnight with doubles at 13-15, 11-10 and 11-14 but the rain had arrived, it was pouring, making photos very difficult so the 11’s went straight back.
13 March 2023
It got warmer through the night and was 12 degrees, pouring with rain and the big south westerly wind arrived, the level started to rise again at 1.56m with a big 7m tide so I was surprised the bites had stopped.
I changed the rigs over to Zander at 07:00 and felt confident of takes. The wind got very strong up to 60 mph hammering the other bank, but with me being down the bank I was sheltered and enjoyed a lovely day with quite a few dropped takes and three Zander to 8-13.
The Barbel started crashing out again early evening so I swapped back to Barbel at 18:00. The level had continued to rise with another 7m tide due so I was getting twitchy as the swim could be flooded out if it continued to rise. By 22:00 I knew I’d have to move to the top of the bank, it was pouring with rain so not a great time to do it but needs must, 30 minutes later it was done and I moved the van in front of the shelter to protect it from the strong wind.
14 March 2023
The level continued to rise and I’d made the right call as it flooded the swim, the fish switched onto the baited area and I had five takes through the night with doubles at 10-08, 11-00, 11-15, 10-05 and a 14-08 just as it was getting light.
I switched back to Zander at first light taking another average fish at 7 plus. It was then that I received a text from Julie and I knew I had to go home straight away to be with her.
The twist and turns of life
Life had not been easy for the past few months, it’s something I’d kept out of my scribblings until now as I’m not looking for any sympathy, but it feels right to talk about it now.
Julie’s father had not been well for the past four months and had been in and out of hospital, he very sadly passed away peacefully on the morning of 14 March, he was a lovely caring man from a close family, a fantastic husband and father to his four children and will missed greatly by all the family.
My mum had a serious stroke on 27 January and it was touch and go for a couple of weeks, she has overcome covid and pneumonia since being in hospital and is making a remarkable recovery, but with no movement in her right side we do not know what the future holds.
You don’t see these things coming and it’s a terrible upsetting shock when they do, so look out for and appreciate your loved ones, say how you feel and treasure the time you have together as you never know what tomorrow is going to bring.
Season targets and achievements
With the river season over for another year I look back on this season as my best ever, I finished with an incredible 491 Barbel with 194 being doubles in only 53 nights and 5 day sessions, something I doubt I’ll ever repeat, along with my target of a big Zander. I didn’t achieve the 18 plus Barbel but was very happy with a new PB. I wanted a 12 pound plus for every month of the season and actually had a 13 plus with the months going as follows:
June - 13-03
July - 16-06
Aug - 13-03
Sept - 15-05
Oct - 13-15
Nov – 15-07
Dec – 15-05
Jan - 13-07
Feb – 15-15
Mar – 17-00
What a season!!
With spring around the corner I’ll be fishing for Crucians, Bream and Tench and will hopefully have a few tales to tell.
Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😃
Big thanks to my sponsors for their continued support,
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