The Sessions - July 2022
A real RED letter session 😎
Last month ended with me back on the rivers chasing my favourite species the Barbel, the 16th went well and that continued with some good fish caught on each session, I had some sessions arranged in July that I was really looking forward too with the potential for some really good fishing and catching up with friends I hadn’t seen through the close season.
1 July 2022 – River Trent, Gunthorpe
The session hadn’t started well, I was due to be on the river 24 hours earlier but couldn’t get away from work due to what can only be described as the most difficult and stressful 10 days of my career, I rested up at home for the night with Julie and headed up the A1 on the morning arriving late after getting caught in traffic.
It was warm and cloudy with a light south westerly wind and the river level was at low summer levels, it all looked lovely.
I was in a swim I hadn’t fished before so followed my normal routine with the leading rod and spent some time feeling the bottom for clear gravel areas amongst the rocks. Once I’d identified two areas I lowered one rod in and flicked the other to the spot slightly further out and was fishing by 14:30.
I was using my standard Barbel rig but shortened the boom section to 8-10 inches as the clear areas were not very big and I wanted to be certain the hookbait was presented properly, I always use a lead clip and when weir fishing I pinch the tail rubber on so that if the fish jams the lead on the take it will detach straight away and all I lose is the lead.
It hadn’t been fishing well but I felt a spread of quality bait would get fish feeding so I put a mixture of 60 Pandemic and OG over the two spots. The rods tips were trembling almost straight away with fish grubbing around and I soon had a couple of quality Roach try to engulf the BBB hookbait, it didn’t take long and two hours into the session the rod slammed over and the first Barbel was landed at 11-03.
The rest of the afternoon passed quietly and I then had a flurry of takes from 21:30 to midnight with the best fish being this one at 13-05 that put up an epic fight.
2 July 2022
The bites continued until 02:00 with more fish landed and then it just switched off so I got four hours solid sleep to recharge me for the day. It was warm and cloudy with light showers, great conditions for summer Barbel fishing. I’d been topping up the area with a dozen boilies after each fish and the rod tops never stopped trembling with smaller fish trying to take bits of the boilies.
I had a few long spawned out 5 pound plus Chub and then at tea time two takes and two doubles at 10-14 and 10-04, the second one put up such a fight I expected a big fish and was surprised when it popped up, it just goes to show that the monsters we all lose quite often aren’t monsters at all…….
It had been raining all afternoon and cleared up at 19:00, I re-set the rods and put some more bait and Rickie Middleton walked round from the swim next door with a new PB of 15-02, I was really pleased for him and he was buzzing, we did some photos, slipped her back and had a pizza to celebrate.
I had another big nine and then at 22:05 had a take and was connected to a good fish, the fight was strange and not the usual Barbel fight, it just stayed solid in the flow and would not come towards the wall, after what felt like ages the hook pulled and came back burred over, I suspected a decent Carp but I’ll never know.
3 July 2022
The bites kept coming with Chub and single figure Barbel and then a little after midnight I had a nice fish at 12-12 and another big nine before I wound in at 02:00 to get some sleep. A good start to July, 11 Barbel with 5 doubles and 11 Chub.
4 July 2022 – River Trent, Collingham
Two years ago Jerry had booked two sessions on Collingham Weir and the dates for the first one had finally arrived, we hadn’t seen each other in ages so were looking forward to a catch up, Gary Knowles was due to come too so a good trip and good company all round.
I’d taken two days annual leave so after a night with Julie I packed the car and headed back up the A1. The plan was for me to set up in peg 5 and sleep there, then Jerry and Gary could leave their stuff with me on the nights to save packing it all down. My drive up started badly, I went to three tackle shops and couldn’t get any maggots and then got caught in a traffic jam for an hour after a bad accident on the A1. Eventually I arrived at 20:00 to find a match on the section so I wouldn’t be able to get on until 22:30, I then noticed the sign on the gate, the booking for the following day wasn’t Jerry……
A few phone calls later confirmed that in true Jerry form he’d given me the wrong dates, he’d got it booked on the Wednesday and Thursday and not Tuesday and Wednesday so it looked like I had a day hanging around and knowing I couldn’t do the second day, not a great start to the trip……
I got set up and fishing in peg 5 for 23:00 and put 30 Addiction and OG through the swim, it was cooling off after a warm day and was clear with a gentle breeze. The river was as low as I’ve seen it with the island exposed in the weir. I had two fish quite quickly a single and a 10-13, lost one to hook pull and then another double at 11-07.
4 July 2022
The next take came four hours later and felt a good fish, possibly a Carp, and then the problem became apparent. With the water so low there was a gravel hump in front of the swim before it dropped into another deeper hole and I couldn’t get the fish over it especially on low tide, hence why the hooks were pulling so I didn’t recast.
I got up at 07:30, the new group were on the weir and fishing so I walked down for a chat, I knew two of them from another club we’re members of and they were happy for me to stay in peg 5 for the day.
I went back to the swim and was able to walk out enough to see the gravel hump and could see if I got the fish to go downstream there was an area I could comfortably get them over so my plan was to fish the day with hemp and dead maggots in a feeder with boilie hookbait. As I was getting sorted I had a high single at 10:30 before changing the leads for feeders and started hourly recasts.
I written before that I don’t fish feeders, preferring leads and pva bags, my opinion still hasn’t changed, it didn’t take long for all my feeders to break with the regular casting and by 15:00 I was back on leads. I’m yet to find a reliable feeder for big rivers so would be interested if any of my readers has found one. I spoppered out the rest of the hemp and maggots priming the swim for the night.
The lads on the weir had a great day and between the three of them had caught 50+ fish and decided to go home at 17:00, well I didn’t need asking twice and took the opportunity to fish the evening in peg 1a.
Now for some reason fishing Collingham weir and peg 1a isn’t for everyone, it’s something I struggle to understand, we go fishing to catch fish and in this case Barbel, it’s well known that in the summer months the better places to catch them is in the highly oxygenated water in the weir pools, so if you get the chance to fish 1a why wouldn’t you. I can certainly understand and agree with not fishing it regularly as you’d keep catching the same fish but that’s the same with any river or lake, but every now and again you’d be silly to turn the chance down. In my case it was the first time I’d fished it in the summer months, in winter it is a different animal entirely, and I was really looking forward to it. Ironically the Angling Times posted my result on FB and 80% of the comments were positive (thank you), but the FB scientists, the armchair anglers and FB nuggets were giving me and the weir pool a hammering, now many of these nuggets fish on the Cromwell side for the same fish and or the other popular known weir pools along the Trent, one of which you could walk across and not get wet there are so many fish there, so perhaps have a look a little closer to home before jumping on the band waggon of envy….
Back to the evenings fishing, I got two rigs in place and put a mixture of Pandemic, OG and BBB over the area and it didn’t take long, 11 Barbel, a few Chub and a Bream, the best ones being 13-05, 12-08 and 10-01.
I went back to peg 5 for 21:00 and fished for another two hours catching another three to 11-03 before reeling in for some much needed sleep.
6 July 2022
I was back in peg 1a for 04:30, cast both rods out on BBB and pva bags and put a mixture of 30 boilies over the area, it was warm and cloudy and looked a perfect morning.
Now as I stated earlier this was Jerry’s booking and you may have noticed I was fishing and he hadn’t arrived, true to form another Jerry calamity had arisen and he couldn’t come and neither could Gary, so although I was looking forward to seeing them both there I was on peg 1a on my own and being a member it would not cost me a penny , so a trip that started badly had suddenly turned on its head.
The fishing was insane and as long as I kept bait going in the fish kept feeding, in the next six hours I had lots of fish with the best ones being 11-14, 11-07, 14-09, 10-07, 12-02, 11-06 and 10-08 and I then stopped for a break and some food.
I’ve mentioned in my writing before the time to experiment with rigs and bait is when you’re having a good session, it’s no good trying when you struggling as the fish may not be feeding whatever you try. So I wanted to try a slight change to my rig using a thicker, stiffer boom section with crimps. There were two reasons for the change, the first being I like the boom to be stiff and heavy so it stays pinned down, and the second, a crimp is stronger than a knot and easier to tie. So I made up some boom sections with Korda 15 pound tc Boom and crimps and then left out my link loop, choosing to loop to loop the braid section on, it looked good and very tidy, and essentially I like the hook to be the weakest part of the rig so it bends out on snags and this hadn’t changed with the boom section I was using.
The rest of the morning carried on much the same, crazy fishing with more good fish to 11-03 before I had another break at lunchtime, the new boom section was holding up well, staying stiff and more abrasion resistant than what I had been using.
The fish were feeing hard so I put six pints of hemp, two of dead maggots and a good spread of boilies on the area and started again at 13:00, loads more came to the net with doubles at 12-00, 10-03, 13-05, 12-05, 10-05, 11-02, 11-09, 12-05 and I topped the day off with the most well-known Barbel on the tidal, Rhianna at a good summer weight of 16-06. An absolutely crazy days fishing, with big Roach, lots of Chub, Carp and and Ide also tripping up. The Pandemic was good when we launched it in 2015 and continues to be to this day, however I really think the BBB will top it and be a very special bait for years to come.
The rig held up well with only one issue, it’s one I’ve had before and that was the braid loop cutting through the fluorocarbon loop so I put the link loop on to join both sections and it worked well. The smaller breaking strain braids, in this case 15 pound, are so thin they cut through the fluorocarbon under intense pressure, something for the tackle manufactures to consider.
7 July 2022
I’d packed everything away I wouldn’t need and slept by the car for the night and was back in the swim for 04:30, I had to go home to work so could only fish until 08:00 and made the most of it catching another ten fish to 15-06.
What a session, 69 Barbel with 25 doubles and real red letter session.
16 July 2022 – River Trent, Gunthorpe
The weather had been up to the dizzy heights of 30 degrees again making it very hot and sticky at work so it was a result when I got the chance to fish the weir swim at the last minute for 24 hours. I was fishing by 13:30 and put a good spread of OG and Asbo through the swim, I was happy with the new boom section so decided to keep using it for the season and cast two rigs onto the spots with BBB hookbaits and pva bags.
The first bite came at 14:10 and they were fairly regular throughout the session, I finished at 09:30 the next morning with 13 Barbel with three doubles at 10-10, 11-05 and 11-12 and was home in time to take my step daughter Tash out for Sunday dinner.
27 July 2022 – River Trent, Gunthorpe
After a long stint at work I’d been invited to share the weir swim with my pal Craig for 48 hours, as it turned out I could only do 24 hours and Craig had to work at the last minute so couldn’t come.
It had cooled down to normal English summer temps at 24 degrees and was cloudy with a light easterly wind. The fishing had been reported as quite difficult with not many being caught, however I’m always confident and went with my normal approach. I had three fish quite quickly, a single, a 10-00 and 10-04 and then a long quiet spell with quite a bit of much needed rain.
Last season I found a nice small clear spot right over near the weir and had some good fish from it without getting loads of smaller ones and I’d had a bait on it for this session, at 23-00 that rod went over but quickly became snagged. I kept playing it back to the snag but it would not come through and I could feel it was clearly a big fish, I tried my normal approach of holding the rod with a little tension but that didn’t work, so I put it back on the rest and waited. 15 minutes later it was out and I took my time playing it to the net, it went in first time and was an absolute cracker at 16-01.
I carried on until 08:30 catching two more small ones and packed up for home very happy, what a month, 89 Barbel, 36 doubles with two 16’s, a proper Carlsberg month that I’ll probably never better….
Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😃
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