The Sessions - Nov 2023
NPS Show, Barbel & Spain
I finished last month with the Herts police acting out a Carry On scene with their stake out of a traveller site and pulling me over by mistake, and me getting my back side handed to me by a big Barbel on the middle Trent.
I had lots to look forward to in November with the NPS show and a trip to Spain where I was hopeful of beating my long standing Wels Catfish PB of 206 pound.
01 November 2023 – NPS Show, Newark showground.
Regular readers may remember last November I was asked to speak at this year’s NPS show and I was really looking forward to it, I didn’t want to do the same talk as I’d done at the BS show in June so spent time prepping a new one on last season’s fishing.
The show was the NPS 10 year anniversary show and was a really good night, really well attended, lots of trade stands, which included Madbaits, and along with my talk, Stu Walker talking about his Mahseer exploits in India.
I want to thanks Kev Stephenson and the NPS committee for the invite, I really enjoyed sharing my experiences and would like to thank everyone for the great feedback I received.
Thanks to Mark and the Madbaits team for coming to support me, and most of all thanks to Julie and my friends Ian, Theo and Phil that travelled, some a very long way to support me xx
It was a great evening and I look forward to next years.
03 November 2023 – River Lea, Kings Weir
I finished a long stretch at work and was keen to get out on the rivers, I hadn’t been out for 11 days and there had been lots more rain and rough weather and the rivers were high. I wanted to go to the Trent but most of the areas were unfishable and the spots I knew would be ok were already taken, is it just me or does the weekend start on Thursdays everywhere now, as people seem to arrive earlier every weekend so getting in the good areas is harder.
My second choice was the Lea so I drove over and arrived mid-afternoon and walked the section, it was high, heavily coloured, flowing hard and coming onto the path but there were fishable areas and the spot I baited on my last trip looked the place to start.
I went back to the van and loaded the barrow, walked down quietly and set up just downstream of the spot at 17:00, it was an awkward upstream cast but I got it first time and put 20 BBB on the spot, got the kettle on and sat back hoping the rod would slam over.
By 21:30 I’d not had a touch and got that instinctive feeling to move so I moved down to a swim below the bridge in some slightly slacker water, but again did not get a touch and went back to the van at midnight for some sleep.
04 November 2023
I was fishing again by 06:00 in another swim and one I’d walked past a number of times without giving it a proper look, it looked to shallow when the river was normal level so I ignored it, but after having a feel with a lead and noticing the slightly slacker water I had to give it a try for the morning. I put the rig just on the crease line and put 30 BBB through the swim.
It started raining at 07:00 and carried on until midday, it was cloudy with a south easterly wind and even at 10 degrees did feel cold. I decided I’d stay in the same swim with the one patch of bait rather than having bait in a number of spots, the fishing was already hard so why make it more difficult with patches of bait everywhere when fish were either not in the area or not feeding.
I had planned to fish up to midnight and the following morning but at approx. 17:00 the fireworks started, it would have been ok if it was just the one show but there were three going on simultaneously and it was non-stop for three hours with no sign of stopping. I do believe fish get used to regular noise, for example road noise and acclimatize, but this sounded like world war three and there was no way I was catching in that so I packed up for home.
11 November 2023 – River Trent, tidal.
With my Spain trip coming up on the 19th I didn’t have much time for any English fishing in November and I’d caught the chesty cold that was doing the rounds and wasn’t feeling well at all. The river was still high but dropping and after checking the level apps I knew I could fish one of my flood swims for the day so drove up on the Friday night for an early start in the morning. I arrived at 19:00 but felt that unwell I set the shelter up in a field near the car park as I couldn’t face the long walk down the flood bank and went to sleep.
I got up early and walked down the field to the swim, it was very cold with frost on the shelter when I packed it down but the forecast for the day was quite good so I wasn’t concerned. The river level had dropped to 1.40m, was still carrying lots of colour and rubbish but looked very good for my chosen swim and I flicked two rigs out both on 15mm BBB and put a good spread of BBB through the swim.
I just love being on the river on a cold fresh morning and it didn’t disappoint as the sun came up, I had a two takes within an hour a high single and a hook pull and after inspecting both rigs more closely I changed both hooks.
This had the desired effect as I had a double take landing both, again both high singles and an hour later the first double of the day at 11-05.
I was topping up the swim with BBB after each fish and the bites came regularly through the day with another two double takes. By the time it was getting dark I’d had 15 Barbel with further doubles at 10-14, 11-10, 10-15 (a land mark fish, my 700th double), 11-04 and 10-15 and started packing the swim down for the drive home.
I’d packed everything away apart from the rods and went to pick up the right hand rod when it smacked over, and it was a perfect way to finish the session with a lovely fish at 14-01.
I did consider staying the night and fishing the following day but the cold got the better of me and I went home which was just as well as I spent the following day in bed ill.
19 November 2023 – Rio Segre, Mequinenza, Spain
I didn’t go to Spain in 2022 and was looking forward to getting back over there and catching up with Colin, I normally like to go the first two weeks of November so I really hoped the weather was going to hold out and not get to cold and kill the fishing.
I met up with our friend Dave at Barcelona airport and Colin picked us up for the drive back to Mequinenza, when we arrived it was a lovely clear sunny day at 22 degrees and as we turned onto the village road there were four Ibex walking along the side of the hill to make it a great start to the trip. After a quick meal in the bar we had plenty of time to get the gear sorted and set the first swim up for the evening.
After driving round for a look we settled in the first swim on the Rio Segre and were fishing by 19:30, the rules in the area state we had until 23:00 and would then have to reel in until 06:00. I love the place and it looked as good as ever, the river looked in perfect nick with a bit of colour and was a good temp for the time of year at 12 degrees. I rowed my rigs out past the main channel and back up the shelf and dropped them at 10 and 12 feet, both were approx. 110m out; we use the echo sounder to locate the spots and it is a crucial bit of kit if you want to be successful on these big river systems.
The rig I use is 70kg Dyneema braid mainline, a 30oz lead with two large buffer beads, a strong swivel and a 3 foot boom section of 100kg Dyneema braid to another strong swivel, and 12 inches of 200lb Krakan to a size 8/0 Penetrator hook. Ultra-strong and reliable and when I want to change the hook I only lose the 12 inch section of Krakan. The bait is 3 or 4 22mm Halibut pellets on a hair tied KD style, I also use a float stop on the hair to stop the pellets moving about. The rig is dropped from the boat onto the spot, I attached a PVA bag of pellets each time on this trip with two good handfuls of bait completed the job, we have found putting more bait in reduces pickups so kept to the minimal baiting approach.
Colin had the first take two hours into the session and it was a good fish to start with at 146 pound, that was the only take and we reeled in at 23:00 for some much needed sleep.
20 November 2023
We were fishing again by 07:30, it was a chilly misty morning, perfect Nov conditions on this river system with the water temp still at 12 degrees. I had two takes before lunchtime both smaller fish at 80 and an almost at 99 pound but really good to get a bend in the rod.
The rods we use are a Conoflex blank, very strong and reliable and I’ve had mine approaching 15 years, these are paired with a Shimamo Tekota 800 multiplier reel, a set up that’s never let me down.
The mist cleared by midday and it was back up to 18 degrees, we rebaited and were getting ready to do photos of some of the fish when I had another take landing my best of the trip at 144 pound.
I had another not long after the evening bait up at 141 pound and Colin had a monster fish at 182 just before we had to reel in at 23:00, he was unlucky as the fish was empty with a length of 8 foot 4 inches, a fish that long would normally be in the 220-230 pound range, so although a monster it could have been so much bigger if it had been gorging on food as they normally are this time of year, but it was a great first full day.
21 November 2023
This was a more difficult day with very strong winds all night making sleep impossible, due to the rules in the area you can’t have a bivvy or shelter with a groundsheet or a front so I use a pop up shelter that is very good but does get knocked around in bad weather. It was sunny and warm but still very windy and the only take during the day was to Dave with a small fish at 40 plus.
As we went into the evening the wind dropped but it felt cold, not long after the evening bait up Colin had two fish at 107 and a bigger fish at 170 that took out both my lines, I was very tired and was going to call it a night but he talked me into rebaiting, one of the rods went just before finish time at 106 pound.
22 November 2023
We had two guys drive down from Barcelona on the Tuesday evening for days fishing, Colin had agreed to one days guiding which was a big ask in November if we wanted them both to catch, but Simon had travelled from Australia to surprise his brother Sam for his 50th birthday and Sam promptly booked the days fishing.
They arrived in the swim for 07:30 and Colin got them both fishing, we all had a great day, they were lovely people and with a common interest in fishing we never ran out of things to talk about. I had an early fish at 90 plus and then just after the first rebait Sam had a birthday fish at 142, his first ever Catfish and a brilliant birthday present 😊
I had another fish at 104 early evening, but it seemed like the bites had dried up a little, it started to get quite cold too, but we really wanted Simon to catch and were willing a rod to go over. By 22:50 it wasn’t looking good, and we were resigned to the fact it wouldn’t happen and were stood together chatting in preparation of reeling in when a rod went over, it was a brilliant ending to a good day when Simon landed his first Catfish at 174, a great memory to take back to Aus.
24 November 2023
The previous day had been a total blank so we decided to move and after driving round set up on the confluence for the last few hours of the evening.
We were up and fishing before a stunning sunrise that I never get tired of watching, it’s just a great place to be when it happens. It wasn’t as cold as forecast and the water was a degree warmer due to warmer water coming down the Rio Ebro, I’d changed my hooks as the old ones weren’t sticky sharp enough and placed my baits two feet up the far shelf at 13 and 14 feet and we sat there with a brew with anticipation.
I had the first take at 10:00, a lovely full fish at 135 and after the photos I popped back for a shower and a food run.
When I got back I rowed rigs back out to the spots and Colin and Dave went into town to do some work on Colins trailer, it had warmed up to 17 degrees and I felt confident of another take. Two hours later I hooked a strong fish that stripped 30m of line on the first slow powerful run that had me thinking it was a very big fish, I got it coming my way and prepped myself to land it on my own by getting the glove and rope in place ready and climbed down the bank, its fine once you’re confident on your own but something that does take practice. It all went well and I popped it on a stringer until the other two returned to help with the weighing.
I rowed the rig back out to the spot and the same rod went again two hours later, it swam down the shelf and straight towards me which made me think it was a small fish but then kitted left and I could feel the weight and power and knew it was big, very big!! The big girls come to the surface quite often and this one did just that and I played it in from 70m out on the surface and could see it was huge, it seemed to take for ever and felt worse as I could see it, but I gloved it first time after wading out due to it being so fat and beaching itself and as I did the hook fell out, I think I was just meant to catch that fish 😊
I popped it on a stringer and Colin and Dave arrived shortly afterwards and we weighed both fish, the first being 128 and the second at a massive 200 pound, my third biggest Catfish and a great way to end this month’s diary piece. With December looking a wash out with weather, work and xmas, I’ll tell you about the rest of my trip next month.
Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😃
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