The Sessions - March 2015

The final leg of my challenge

01 March – River Trent

After a week of nights I had 7 days off to hopefully get a double figure Barbel and complete my season long challenge. It was cloudy with sunny spells, a very cold westerly wind and high pressure, not ideal conditions but you don’t catch them at home.

The journey up the A1 went without any problems and I arrived to find only one person on the river. The levels had dropped a couple of feet and the colour was coming out of the water. It still looked good for my winter area so I dropped back in the swim from my last session and set up in the dark at 19:30 hours.

20:05 hours – I was just boiling the kettle when the left hand rod went over and after another epic fight I slipped the net under a fish that looked like it would be close to a double. As soon as I lifted it out of the water I knew I’d done it, the scales read 10-03 and the feeling I had was sheer elation, a feeling only us anglers feel when we achieve something special, I was over the moon and my phone went into melt down after texting a few friends.

That was the start of a crazy few hours and by 23:40 hours I’d had another five Barbel at 5+, 8+, 9-15, 7+ and 8-14.

02 March

01:05 hours – after a quiet spell I had another average fish at 8-07.

02:50 hours – I then waiting another 120 mins before getting a take, this one did not do much and I was surprised when a good fish dropped in the net and it went 11-01. What an amazing session, freezing cold and I’d had eight fish already!!

As quickly as it started it died, I fished all day and kept my usual baiting pattern going. The wind was much stronger and it felt very cold and the fish just switched off. At tea time I had a 4-09 Chub and a 7+ Bream and it wasn’t until 21:00 hours I had another Barbel take and landed another good one at 9-13.

I fished all night and every time I re-baited the leads felt colder which was a good indication the water temperature had dropped and knocked the fish off.

When I reeled in to pack up I found a Flattie had hooked itself in the tail which was amusing.

I drove home with a mixture of emotions, happiness and relieve, I’d put so much into my season and achieved my goal and was already thinking about next season and what challenges lay ahead.

6 / 7 March – River Trent

After a successful session with my friend Glenn in February we arranged another trip and agree to meet up on the bank.
I arrived at lunchtime to find only two anglers on the section. It was warm and sunny with a strong westerly, my banker swim looked perfect so I dropped in there and identified two spots for Glenn and his nephew.

I expected to catch in the day as it looked bang on but it didn’t happen. The leads felt very cold and it was flowing quite hard. Just on dark I decided to move further down to straighter section where the flow slows a little and the fish lay up in during winter.

Glenn arrived and they got set up and we were soon eating home made curry and having a tipple.

Any session with Glenn is full of giggles and swapping stories but the fishing was a let down. The water was cold and the Barbel were just not feeding. I finished up with 10 Bream and one 9 pound Barbel. The others had one Chub, disappointing but that’s fishing sometimes.

14 March – River Trent

Last day of the season had to be spent on the Trent, a river that had given me so much during the season. I arranged an end of season session with my good pal and UKMA owner Ray Best.

I picked him up at 04:00 hours and made the drive up, as expected it was busy but we got in a good area and were fishing by 06:00 hours. It was cloudy, cold with a chilly easterly wind. The levels were up and it looked good for the area but there had not been much caught so it was fingers crossed.

By 15:00 hours we had not caught and there was weed coming down in the flow making it difficult to keep baits in place so we moved back down to the straighter slower section. That wasn’t much better and apart from a 7+ Bream to me we blanked and were in KFC for 22:30 hours.

21/22 & 28/29 March

The first weekend was spent promoting CatMaster Tours at the Big One in Farnborough with my pal and company owner Colin Bunn.

The second weekend was doing the same at the Northern Angling Show in Manchester. As always we had two great weekends catching up with friends, old and new from around the country. We’ve been doing shows up and down the country for 10 years now and still enjoy them just as much.

That brought an end to a fantastic season for me, I failed to get a local 3+ Crucian and my Perching wasn’t a great success. I had some good trips to Spain catching good Carp and Cats. But my main season long challenge of a double figure Barbel for each month was achieved, it was tough, wet and cold at times but I loved every minute of it. However a good friend of mine asked me if I would try it again next season, my answer was to wait and see……..I have other challenges in mind.

I can’t end this piece without thanking MAD Baits owner Mark Leonard, I’ve been testing a bait all season and it’s simply fantastic and one of the reasons I did so well.

To cap a great season I’ve been asked to take part in the annual Barbel Charity Challenge in August 2015 and will be fishing for the Northern team, got to say I can’t wait…..we are going to the Wye!!!!

March – 3 trips to the Trent, 10 Barbel / 2 doubles.

My end of season stats still amaze me and I struggle to believe them but I had 149 Barbel of which 35 were doubles……..wow, roll on June 2015.

Until the next session

Julian Barnes