The Sessions - June 2019
Back on the rivers again 😊
I signed off last month after having a fantastic holiday in Thailand with my soulmate Julie, it really was a great holiday and Jurassic a fantastic venue. Now I was back in England planning for the magical 16th….
15 June 2019 – River Trent, Sutton
After returning from holiday I had a long stretch at work so had no time to fish until the 16th. The weather had not been kind and we’d experienced lots of rain that has raised the river levels considerably leaving the Trent in flood conditions. I drove up on the afternoon of the 15th and spent a good few hours driving round looking at different sections. I decided on Sutton and went to fish the area I caught the 16-08 in March, the level was higher but my thought process was no one would be able to fish opposite as the flow was under their feet and hopefully I wouldn’t get to much debris due to the time of year. I got round there for 18:30 and remarked the spot and then cast a lead in and held the rod to check the flow and rubbish coming down, I needed 8oz to hold but it was ok. I started baiting by trickling in 15mm Pandemic every hour until midnight. It was warm and sunny with the odd shower and south westerly wind but looked lovely, only an angler knows the anticipation of midnight on 15th it really is magical.
16 June 2019
I out cast two rigs onto the spot, it was a drop off on the near margin and was 11 feet deep in the high water, not a place to fish on normal level but good in high water. Both were baited with single 18mm Pandemic and pva bags, I then put another 20 15mm Pandemic over the top.
00:10 hours – it didn’t take long before the left hand rod was away and my first Barbel of the season was in the net, not big at7plus but a start.
The level continued to rise bringing down more debris in the flow and I was struggling to keep rigs in place for more than an hour and didn’t get another take all night. The night had been cold and clear, the morning was sunny and windy.
Love it or hate it social media is here and a great tool to see what is going on, I had a look on FB and there was not much being posted so it was looking a struggle everywhere.
10:20 hours – typically I was answering the call of nature when I got a take, I got to the rod and it all ended well with my first double of the season at 10-02. I rebaited and spoppered out three spoppers of maggots and another 20 Pandemic. The rain started in the afternoon and was heavy between sunny spells but the river level had started to drop and the debris getting less of a problem. I carried on rebaiting every 90 minutes to keep bait going through the swim.
16:20 hours – the left hand rod banged over and straight away it felt a heavy fish and hugged the bottom, I coaxed it into the margin and into the net and was very happy with a 13-07.
19:20 hours – the other rod went over and this was a very strange fight indeed and when I lifted the fish into the weigh sling I could see why, it was bent but still looked healthy enough at 10-02.
23:15 hours – the left went again and after my early struggles this was turning into a good session, this one went 11-14.
The fishing continued to be good through the night and I caught another four Barbel to high 9’s before packing up mid-morning.
What a great start to the season with 9 Barbel and 4 doubles and I had the pleasure of watching my favourite British bird a Barn Owl hunting through the evening into dark and although nice to see I had a visitor I did not want in the shape of an Otter in the area.
21 June 2019 – River Trent, Winthorpe
I’d joined a new club for me in Newark Piscatorial and went to look at one of their sections at Winthorpe for the first time. I arrived late after work at 21:00 hours but knew enough about the section to know where I would like to be and drove down the section hoping it would be free. It does get busy and sure enough it was but by chance the area I wanted was free so I set up there.
The weather had been warm and sunny at 20 degrees and the river was down to normal level. The main flow was on my side of the river so a few casts with a bare lead to find the deep run where made and then I put both rods out on single 18mm Pandemic and pva bags about two rod lengths out, I then put thirty 12mm Pandemic through the swim and then set my shelter and bedchair up for the night.
I was having quite a few problems with weed in the flow and had to go up to 6oz to hold but eventually had a take at 02:10 hours. The swim was quite high and it was tricky getting down to the water’s edge but it all went well with a first double from the section at 10-09. Apart from an Eel that was the only bite of the trip and I packed up for home in the morning.
That was it for my June fishing, not much at all due to work and a brilliant trip to Snowdon with Julie, my daughter Taylor and her boyfriend Ben. We arrived late afternoon and walked up the Pyg Track and down the Miners, what a great time to do it as we hardly saw a soul until we got to the top and even then there were not many people there so we were able to get some great photos. We then drove to Conwy and had a lovely relaxing weekend, Conwy is a beautiful town with lots to see and is well worth a visit 😊
Until next month tight lines and be lucky 😊
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