The Sessions - May 2022

Blanking & the Barbel Society Show

I finished off last month having had another 4 pound plus Crucian to bring a lovely end to the Crucian season on Johnsons and started my Spring Trench campaign, and was really hoping to trip up an elusive double.

1 May 2022 – Rosewater

The wind finally changed after the strong north easterlies we’d experienced all week to a light south westerly, it was warm at 15 degrees, cloudy with light showers. I thought about swim choice and considered the strong undertow from my previous session and decided to go in the corner area where the naturals would have been moved in the under tow, the wind had only just changed so it seemed an obvious straight forward decision.

I hadn’t fished the swim for two years so checked it again with the Deeper Pro first and then a bare lead, it was as I remembered and the rods were wrapped at six wraps to a nice clean gravel spot at 10.5 feet deep. The sand bar channel comes into this corner so it is an obvious patrol route.

I put 12 medium spombs of mix over the area, the mix was hemp, dead maggots, 4mm pellets and a little corn to add colour and attraction. All three rods were set up with 45g method feeders, two with Pandemic wafters and the third with two fake red maggots.

By 18:00 I’d been fishing for six hours without seeing a fish so I topped the swim up with another six spombs and was recasting the feeders every two hours.

2 May 2022

It was a warmer night at 8 degrees and I felt confident of a bite or two but I didn’t get a touch, I topped the swim up again at 06:00 with another six spombs of mix and fished until midday without even seeing a fish roll.

10 May 2022 – Marsworth Reservoir

I’d done a second recce on the three Tring Reservoirs and spoken to the people fishing and all were struggling. I’d not seen anyone on Wilstone, only one angler on Startops and a few on Marsworth. There had been a few Bream caught by Carp anglers on Marsworth so I had a good look on there with the leading rod and found some nice areas to target should I decide to fish there.

The opportunity came to have an overnight session but it involved a lot of driving and if I had really thought about it I wouldn’t have done it. I got back from work late, got the food and clothes sorted, then went to pick up my tackle and bait and then made my way to Tring so it was late when I arrived.

I hate rushing when I’m fishing and especially when starting on a new venue so I felt stressed from the beginning. I got to the swim and set up which was the first challenge with concrete banks and not much room without blocking the pathway. I’d been warned about the wind over there but didn’t realise how bad it could be, there was a south westerly blowing onto my bank which was perfect but it felt so strong when being exposed up on a reservoir and made setting the shelter up and keeping it in place very hard. Eventually I got the swim set up and then baited up the area at 10 wraps, my mix was 4mm pellets, dead maggots, sweetcorn and crushed boilies all soaked in molasses, it took 40 minutes to spomb it all out and made worse by a male Mallard that flew into the braid and got tangled up, I had to reel it in, gently untangle it and released it none the worse for wear. It was dark when I finished baiting up, the rigs were wrapped ready and were cast onto the spot at 22:00. All three were set up with 70g method feeders, two with fake corn and one on a Pandemic wafter.

11 May 2022

The wind was pumping across the lake shaking my shelter all night making it hard to get any sleep, there had been lots of people walking about right up to dark, lots of Geese making a noise all night and I really wasn’t enjoying myself. The bobbin dropped on the Pandemic rod at 04:05 and I thought my luck had changed but I didn’t connect with the fish…..

With thick cloud rolling in and heavy rain forecast I packed up and was away by 07:30.

My house situation has made it hard to justify single night sessions on Tring due to all the travelling and effort I have to do to get there so that may have to be put on the back burner until next season, we’ll see how things go through summer.

13 May 2022 – Rosewater

It was the Barbel Society Show weekend but I took the opportunity to fish on the Friday night and drove over to Rosewater. It was warm and sunny with a strong south westerly so I went to look at the road bank with the wind blowing straight at it. Most people were on the Meadow bank with the wind behind them so I had a lot of choice. I got the leading rod out and straight away saw Tench rolling in the first swim I looked at, after a couple of casts I found the feature I was looking for at eight wraps and got the swim set up.

I decided to stick with the boilie approach and set two up on 70g method feeders and Pandemic wafers, the third was on a feeder with two fake maggots on the hair. I put 12 medium spombs of mix on the spot, the mix consisted of hemp, 4mm pellets, dead maggots, a little corn and a few 12mm Pandemic and cast the rigs out at 16:00.

A mutual friend John was in the next peg down and he was Tench fishing too using maggots and feeders, Tench were rolling over both spots so we agreed it would be interesting to see which approach worked best, as last season my bigger fish came to boilie.

John started getting bites after 18:00 and had a few fish to 9 pound, my first take didn’t come until late evening when I had a 5-15 on the boilie and then the Tench switched off as it got dark.

14 May 2022

I had three takes in the night, all were Carp, I lost one in the edge and landed two, a 14 plus and a very round fat Mirror at 19-04

As it got light John started catching on maggots, Tench were rolling all over both spots and I was poised waiting for a take that never came. With a long drive to Telford later in the day I packed up at 11:00 for home. John had caught 10 Tench to my 1 so a rethink was needed for the next trip, although it was worth noting the Tench hadn’t really started properly as most people were struggling for only one or two in a session.

15 May 2022 – Barbel Society Show

I left Rosewater and went home, got showered, packed and changed and Julie and I drove up to Telford on the Saturday afternoon. We had a steady journey and got to the hotel in 3 hours with a stop, we checked in, dropped the bags off in the room and went to catch the end of the FA cup final with the others who had arrived early.

I arranged to meet Judd and Potty for an evening out and they were both there along with most of the BS committee, Dessie, Theo and a few other friends. We ended up staying in the hotel for the evening and had a lovely meal and an all-round good evening chatting about all things fishy, I don’t get to see Theo much due to where we both live and life in general so we were able to have a good catch up and it was good to see him……a great evening and good times were had by all 

Julie and I were up for breakfast and ready for the show that started at 09:00, it was well attended from the start and a special mention must go out to Chris Jones who worked tirelessly to get the show organised and up and running, he did an absolutely cracking job, well done mate. Lots of other people chipped in to help, the trade stands were good and doing well and all the talks were excellent and very well received.

I was part of the panel, that included Dessie, Tony Gibson, Dave Harrell and Potty and was chaired by Chris, it was the first time it had been tried and it felt from my point of view a success, there were some great questions from the audience and some good debate, so much so that we over ran to an hour and 40 minutes, a very enjoyable experience and I hope people got a lot out of it.

It was great to catch up with Dessie and I finally met Martin Mumby in person, I’ve been writing for his brilliant magazine Catch Cult for a few years now and had plenty of correspondence with him via messages and emails so it was good to have a good old chat and catch up.

There were some great prizes in the raffle from rods, tackle and bait and a number of guide days, I offered up a guide session for Barbel and it was won by Gary Manders so we have that to look forward to this season. A very enjoyable day and I look forward to next year’s event.

21 May 2022 – Rosewater

The week had been really warm with temps up into the 20’s, the wind was still south westerly and hadn’t changed so I knew the Tench would still be in the same area so I drove straight round there to find it nearly empty again.

I dropped in the swim next door to my last trip and although not as many, Tench were rolling. I set two up on 2oz maggot feeders on a heli rig with a three inch hooklink made from 10lb Supplex to a size 12 Barbel hook. On one I attached a fake maggot and two real ones and the other just three real ones. The third rod was on the method feeder and Pandemic wafter. I put ten spombs of hemp, live and dead maggots and 4mm pellets on the spot and cast the rods out at 15:40.

I’d been recasting the maggot feeders every hour but when the Delkim sounded it was the boilie rod and I landed the first of the session a 7-15, it looked a lot bigger and I checked on two sets of scales but it still weighed 7-15 but a lovely fish all the same.

I thought that would be the start of a good evening session but I only had an Eel at 3lb plus on the maggots.

22 May 2022

I topped up the area with five spombs at 05:00 and fished through until midday with a lost fish on the boilie being the only take. There were Tench and Carp rolling everywhere all morning so at first I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t getting takes.

It wasn’t until I really looked that I saw what was happening, there had been a Mayfly and Caddis hatch, my shelter and tackle were covered in them, there were Seagulls everywhere diving and taking them off the surface, the rolling fish were obviously feeding on the hatch and taking them off the surface too and were not interested in my bait 11 feet down!!

That ended a poor month fishing wise but you always learn something from a blank session to take forward into the next trip. With the river season opening up on the 16th I hope my results will pick up again in June.

Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😃

Big thanks to my sponsors for their continued support,

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The Sessions - June 2022

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The Sessions - April 2022