Brief and to the point

As the year comes to an end I feel I should write about my last 3 sessions but 2 were practically write offs . The first was a short after work session for chub on the Trent , now as you will have read previous my style of steak and mince fishing is different to most as I only add predators plus and plug the feeder and use the blood and predator plus to seep out into the water , after having a chat with Lee Swords and watching his video I decided to try a similar approach in that I mixed the mince and predator plus with some groundbait to break up the pieces of mince which stopped it clogging in the feeder .I also moved to a swim new to me and spent 2 hours fishing before I had a savage take that found me attached to a large fish for all of 2 seconds when it came off , on retrieving the rig the hook had gone and on inspecting the line it looked like it had been bitten off , dont often have this happen but sometimes chub are good at it . that was all the action I got despite trying a couple more swims .

My next session was looking like a big bonus as my wife had suggested I have a few hours after work on xmas eve , now I was on an early start than usual which meant been at work for 3.45am but would be done for midday and at the river for 12.45 ish and planned to fish til 5pm ish , well the best laid plans and all that , now I can cope with fishing in high winds but I had been fishing in a gale force downstream wind for around half an hour and had one tentative bite that I missed and even had a couple of fish top in the area my bait was in but then the sky went black and yes rain dont bother me either despite no brolly but when the wind spins round to come straight in your face and the rain is horizontal straight at you its time to quit , the 50 yard walk back to the van was ok from the front as the wind and rain was on my back but god was I soaked .

Yet again the weather would play a part in my last session .I had a choice of 2 venues both involving different approaches . I have been a member of Newark and District Piscatorial s for the last 4 years and while I have fished some of the stretches of the Trent I have never even seen the stretch of the upper Witham but was hoping to change that unfortunately the weather again played its part , high winds greeted me when I left the house and not knowing the stretch decided not to risk been able to find a spot and took myself off to the small pond that I had my perch from at the end of last year and also some good roach , I settled on a swim that had the very high gusty wind on my back .

I had planned if I was on the river to fish liquidised bread with crushed hemp in a cage feeder with bread flake on the hook . I decided to stick to the bait plan but to float fish it and use bread punch , my choice of float would normally have been a bottom end only one to combat the wind but I had some floats that were made by Robert Lancaster of the ARA and decided to use of them . From the off I was catching small roach .

I had taken some prawns in case the perch put in an appearance but as the day wore on and the roach continued to come and get bigger I decided to stay with the punch .I must have finished with close to 100 fish with most 4-6oz but also a good number around 12oz and have since found out that some where roach / rudd hybrids .

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I had nice enjoyable day and will be out for my last session of the year on monday 30th december and again have a number of choices .
I have some decisions to make about what tickets I will be getting for next season as I am dropping my Ashfield ticket for a number of reasons including the fall I had fiasco . I have 3 or 4 options and will be taking up at least 2 of them .

High winds and a heartbreaker

What follows is been written early as out for another go tomorow but really wanted to get this out of the way . Thursday 5th december and 70mph winds forecast but was planning on an after work session on the middle Trent and decided to give it a go , now arriving at 3pm after battling side winds that rocked the van and dodging bits of tree on the village roads I found the wind coming straight into my face as expected .

I wasnt sure the picture would do it justice so shot a short video .

Now I'd love to say that my efforts were rewarded but unfortunately it was one problem after another , I had opted to try liquidised bread and flake in the hope of either a big roach or a chub . first cast and the wind is shaking rod all over but its supposed to drop around 4pm , the tip suddenly pulls slowly round and lifting into it thought for a second I had hooked a fish but no thumping just a dead weight and retrieving line by pumping it in a large plastic bag is wrapped round my feeder  because of the weight the hook trailing behind snagged and broke off , on getting hold of the bag it turns out its been filled with water and knotted at the top , some morons about !!!!!! . Now tying a hook on is usually easy but not in this wind and I end up going up th bank and sitting in the van to do it . On getting back out of the van I take the decision to move swims to where the wind my be coming at a slightly different angle , load van and a short drive down stream and set everything up just as the light starts to fade and I find out that I can find the isotope for the rod tip so its even more f a struggle . I gave it another hour and with the wind showing no sign of dropping and me starting to get a massive headache as a result of been battered by the wind I call it quits knowing I would have a full day tomorow .

Up the next morning and sort flask out and make sure my only spare isotope is in my bag I set off for the bait farm as want some maggots to give the float ago as the wind had dropped . Now the bait farm is about 25 mins away from where I live so you can tell that when I arrived 45 mins after leaving home that I had problems . The main one been that as I approached the slip road to get off the A1 a car transporter in front of me was indicating it was going to pull out in front of me so slowed down only to see the slip road going passed and then spotted that the transporter wasnt indicating but one of the cars had its hazzard lights on , surely illegal ?. Eventually got to the bait farm and picked maggots up and had a good chat with owner and then on to the Trent . On arriving I had a quick look and picked a nice glide with the intention of fishing the float until an hour before dark and then move to chub swim . Set stick float rod up and on went the bait apron .

My last few trips have led to some great bags of roach on the float but today whether it was a severe drop in temperature the previous night but 2 hours of running the float through and altering depth and using pin to vary speed I couldnt buy a bite and took the decision to try the feeder to see if they wanted a static bait . After 3 or 4 casts I started getting quick jabs on the tip that were unhittable but on retrieving rig maggots were either stunned or smashed completely so started altering the length of the hook link and immediately had a chub of around 12oz , in the next hour I added 12-15 roach of around 6-12oz and one specimen of 1lb 4oz .

Now after a couple more raoch and the light is starting to fade so its time for a move to one of my favoured chub swims , after loading the unhooking , weighing and photoing gear into van I go down to get the landing net , ait , chair and rod and decide to have one last cast on maggot feeder , my history on this stretch is that it has produced nearly all my 5lb +chub and also  my pb off here and had decided that I want my first 6lber from here and know to 4 definite 6's coming off it so spent the last 2 and a half winters on here although last year was a write off with the floods . Out goes the feeder and within a minute of it settling a couple of taps a a slight pulled round and I strike into what feels like a good fish that has a good shake of its head and then a short run and I think small barbel but after a few more shakes and 2 or 3 mins of fight the fish is nearing been read for the net as it surfaces I see a big bronze flank and the unmistakeble big white lips and its in the net lifting the net out I gaze at the biggest chub I have ever seen in he flesh in fact after unhooking in the net I check its not a common carp !!!!! Now I have a dilemma in that all the weighing and photoing stuff is in the van behind me , normally I would place the fish in the margin in the deep specimen landing net I normally use but due to having a lot of hooks snagging in the mesh recently I have switched to a rubber pan net , so do I take the fish with me and leave it on the grass while I sort the stuff out risk it in the margins in a shallow net , well its a no brainer fish welfare comes first and its placed in the margins and I go off up the bank and just as everything is ready I turn to see ripples coming from where the landing net is and my heart sinks as I see the chub as done what chub do best a escaped !!! Gutted dont do justice as to how I feel , I sit down on the wet grass and sulk in disbelief  for about 20 mins . I eventually shake myself from this and reason that moving seems pointless given the fish i have just losted from a swim with no form of chub this size .
In to the back of the van again and out with the isotope which it turns out I should have checked as the holder is broken but today I refuse to give in and after using one piece of rubber tubing to hold the holder on and then super gluing another piece that will hold the isiotope into the first piece I have something that looks awful but that works .

Change my maggot feeder for the cage feeder on goes a size 12 hook and a 15 inch 4lb hook link and its steak and mince time . Takes me another hour to get an indication , which is normal on here if you return or lose a fish , I'm now at the point where one fish and I'm off as I'm still numb from losing what must have been a new pb and probably that first 6 . suddenly the tip pulls round and I'm connected to another chub and its soon in the net and no messing about this time , its weighed and photoed at 3lb 6oz not massive but heals my wounds a little .

I pack up and leave and vow that it wont change my challenge despite offers of information as to where I have more chance of that 6 or bigger , I will nail one from here .

I get home and find loads of commiserations on my facebook wall plus the odd comment describing me in terms that I had already called myself , thanks everyone yeah I'm a knobber Stewart lol but given what the fish did I hate to think what would have happened if it had done its escape trick at the top of the bank .
Fish Welfare comes first !!!!!

I was hoping to make this a separate blog but for what it was worth , I decided just to add it briefly here .

I went out again on monday 9th and I thought things couldnt get worse but they have , I called a stretch of the Tidal Trent to have an hour lure fishing and going down one of the swims I slipped and finished up going up in the air and coming down on my back and on to the top of a scaffolding pole that the club use to construct steps from which was lucky because had I gone the other way I would have gone on the top of a wall and dropped 6 or 7 feet into the river !!!!! At the time I didnt feel lucky as it knocked the wind out of me and left me feeling nausea's . After resting for 15 mins or so I had a go at luring and nothing . Driving onto the middle Trent I discovered a guy who had done an overnighter for barbel and he had managed one chub of around 4lb . I started on bread flake and after an hour switched to maggot feeder and for 2 hours I tried everything I could to convert the bites into fish all to no avail . I moved swims for the last 2 hours and switched steak and mince which produced 2 tiny taps . Speaking to a couple of other anglers who had dome the full day revealed not a single fish had come out which given decent conditions was a real surprise .
I feel on reflection that the fall knocked the stuffing out of me and am now still struggling to sit back as my back is very sore but hey ho as someone said its better than been dead lol

So many sessions and need to catch up .

Since my last update after roach I was shocked to see I had done 6 more sessions !!!!!.
The first was to be an after work session on the Trent after chub and also had my new scales to christen which a delayed birthday present from my wife Lou .
Arriving at the river just after 3pm I had a chat with one of the regulars who was barbel fishing , he didnt have any but lost 2 and netted 2 bream . I settled above a fence end with a small raft off it .

You can just make it out where there is a flat spot to the right middle . As the weather had turned a bit cooler it had to be steak and mince with my usual feeder set up . First cast and within 10 mins I had a decent rap that I managed to miss but next cast I made no mistake and my new scales showed a chub of 3lb 3 and a half ounces .

My next cast was to turn my session upside down and actually nearly ruin it . A few minutes after recasting I seemed to get a slight tap and then the tip pulled round about 2 inch and held there , only one thing to do HIT IT !!!! there was definitely something on the end but no thump suggested it was not a fish and as I had to pump and reel whatever was on the end grudgingly came towards me , now when my feeder appeared and there was some line round it things started to become clear , grabbing hold of the line and getting it from round my feeder I started to hand line it in it went solid now this line was about 6lb at most and whatever was on the end was snagged solid . I had to get up and walk down the bank to almost where I was fishing and eased things towards me it suddenly freed itself and large branch suddenly bobbed to the surface with all manner of leaves and rubbish on it and off it went downstream straight through my swim !!!!! A few expletives later and I retrieve the last of the line , which ended up been about 40yards and on the end a lead clip with a 6oz gripper lead on and a mono hooklink of about 3lb and 6 inch long with a tiny hook on it , I had to take the pliers to the lead clip to get it off and get the lead free . The bailiff was just down the bank with the other guy and off I went to show him the sort of idiots fishing , he wasnt surprised .

I decided to have a walk and leave the swim as all that rubbish going through it would have moved anything that was still there . Half hour later and into dark I make another cast and after several more and an hour without a sign its looking bad as I have to be leaving in the next 10 mins or so . Just as I'm thinking about reeling in a guy who had been fishing well upstream suddenly appeared at my side and as he did my tip pulled round and held again I lifted in to the fish and it gave 2 thumps and just held there I began reeling in and it just started coming towards me as a heavy lump , thinking I had lost it and got some more rubbish I stopped reeling in and got another 2 thumps and then nothing again I began winding in again and it just kept coming , now I was thinking this could be a good chub , I pushed the landing net out and as the feeder appeared was all set to net a special chub , now I never put my head torch on until the fish is in the net but the guy who was stood with me stuck his on and all hell broke loose !!!!! my chub had turned into a barbel after probably 4 or 5 mins of mayhem into the net went a nice barbel that pulled the scales round to 8lb 3oz and was a nice finish to an eventful session .

My next session was to be the following day and after thinking it through I decided on a stillwater session after roach on the specimen lake . On arriving I was to find half a dozen of the local season ticket holders were already on including the guy who was complaining about lack of fish on my last visit and yet again he was complaining about there not been enough stock in the lake , he didnt seem impressed when I said its a specimen lake its not supposed to be stocked to the gunnels . A quick wander round and all the others were blanking and added to this there were 6 carp anglers on the same bank so I took myself off to the opposite side at the end I hadnt fished before .

After a quick lead around I found a nice area to set my stall out and awaited action and waited and waited . Now I know that when its like this that dusk can usually bring a fish or 2 . The guys in the other side did what they always do and left before 3pm . To be honest even I was getting worried when my mate rang to fill me in on his predator exploits on another lake but while we were talking the kingfisher shot passed , now if you have read my other blogs about this lake you will know I dont blank when seeing one and sure enough 10 mins later one of the rods signaled a take and I was soon netting a roach of 1lb .

I had 2 more takes that I managed to miss before calling it a day and I still aint blanked on this lake .

The reason I choose the lake for this session was that I had monday free and was off to the middle trent to show what its capable of  regarding roach and so took myself off to the bait farm and bought 4 pints of red and white maggots and then on to the trent to have a day trotting the stick .

I choose a swim with a nice even steady flow but my only problem was going to be the wind which was downstream and into my face .

I set up my stick rod and choose a 6 no4 one of the new Dave Harrell ones I recently got and cant praise them or the wagglers he sells highly enough . A couple of runs through adjusting the depth til the float dragged under . I fed a pouch of maggots and sent the float down the run and was immediately was into a roach after several more the wind increased and controlling the float became difficult so I started experimenting with back shots and settled on a bb which worked a treat . roach came constantly for the full 4 hours I was able to do and other than one bream of around 2lb and 2 x 6oz dace the rest of my catch was all roach of between 4 and 12oz which resulted in around 15lb of roach plus the bream . Not bad on a river that has no silver fish left in it .

A couple of days later and onto the trent again after work for another steak and mince session .

The session went like a dream and resulted in 4 chub of 1lb , 12oz , 2lb 5oz and 3lb 11oz , I also lost a small one and missed a few bites .

Things at least quietened down for a few days as work took over and I was able to take stock of these sessions but the respite didnt last long as I had 2 days booked off for fishing related stuff including 2 sessions of fishing and a charity night .

1st session was to be a social with Mark Reid , now Mark had been down to the specimen lake the day before and was told that there had been no fish caught for weeks , when he told the guys telling him this that his mate had not blanked they all replied "I bet its the guy in the red van " Lol . Needless to say they all blanked but Mark had a run of fish on dark in a 45 mins period .

When we arrived the following morning the lake was flat calm and we had a good look round , we spoke to the bailiff who offered the advice that the swim we were stood in would produce but we needed to cast 90 yards now as the bailiff left we looked at each other and then the lake and saw a roach roll just about where he had said to cast , now hitting the distance would be no problem but signs suggested the breeze starting to blow would be in our faces and it had a chill to it , so we did the obvious thing , we drove round to the opposite side of the lake which meant a gentle lob of 50 yards would see us reaching the spot . We shared a swim as it was easily big enough for 2 and it was a social .

Now I had never fished this area or even close to it and so didnt know what to expect , what happened was quite unbelievable given no one was catching , Within 10 mins of casting in we both had fish and for the next 5 hours we could hardly keep our 4 rods in the lake as bite after bite came , we missed a few and had between 40 and 50 roach between us , most where 8-12oz and around 8 around 1lb 2oz . The session was so hectic I dont remember sitting down once !!!!.

The following day was to be something of mixed bag as I was attending the first Yorkshire Specimen Group charity night a write of which it on the link below . As this was to take place in Doncaster I had to take a shift off work and as I didnt have to be there til 6pm I took myself off to the Trent with a couple of pints of hemp and maggots and just my tip rod and bag . Now I expected a few fish but nothing prepared me for the 3 hours that were to follow .

Set up a small feeder and filled it with maggots and fished 2 on the hook and first cast a roach of around 6 ounces came to the net . I continued fishing this way but also started putting a pouch of hemp in front of me on the line my feeder was on down the margin , fish after fish came to the net between 6oz and 12oz and finished with around 60 plus a bream of around 1lb and this absolutely pristine roach of 1lb 7oz .

I have 2 sessions planned for later this week , the first I intend to do an after worker with liquidised bread and flake as I feel it could produce some better roach and even the much sought after 2lber , I will also be taking the steak and mince as a back up for an hour or so into dark . the following day will be another go with the stick float and maggot . Till then thanks for reading and hope you enjoy the write up for our charity night .

http://yorkshiresg.wordpress.com/2013/12/01/the-y-s-g-anglers-evening/

First Roach Session of the Year

Friday the 8th of November and its my birthday , when I was around 6 or 7 years old my granddad said to me that " you dont work on the day your born and you shouldnt on your birthday " Dont know how much he meant it but it has stuck with me all my life , I never went to school on my birthday and have never worked on it and over the last few years ( cant remember how many ) I have gone fishing on it , regardless of the weather . I was fancying a chub session on the Trent but after been invited to join The Association of Roach Anglers I felt it would be fitting to have a session on Woodland Waters for a redfin or 2 . Now I dont normally go on there until we have had a few proper frosts to ensure the smaller fish and carp are less active and to increase my chances of the bigger roach . According to information we have gleaned over the last 2 years there have been half a dozen confirmed 2lb+ roach caught , all but one by carp anglers .As you may have read on my previous blogs my best from the venue is 1lb 12oz backed up by numerous 1lb+ fish .

Now due to the nature of the venue and where the fish hold up in winter its helicopter rigs , alarms and bobbins . So arriving just before 9am to find 5 other anglers already on the 12 acre specimen lake , I did my usual walk round ( though I already know the swims I fancy ) no one had seen a sign of a fish of any description but thats not unusual as the locals tend to fish well short of the areas the roach seem to patrol . Dont get me wrong they do pick up the odd fish but usually when they do that then the areas I fish tend to produce alot of fish .

I unloaded the van and went to a swim I have fished a few times and luckily had no one within 3 or 4 swims of me either side , I can be very unsociable at times and like to be left alone .

First job put the brolly up as rain was forecast for later and wanted to keep all my gear dry plus I had taken my stove to make drinks as opposed to my flask that goes on the Trent when roving .I got the pod up and the rods set up and then made some casts to get my distance set . Now the distance I fish here is around 60 yards , most of the locals fish 30 yards maximum and think this is more to do with it been a comfortable distance than any sound angling reason , my reason  for fishing the distance I do is that there is a deep channel at that distance and there is a stream runs through the venue and we all know these features attract roach . Now conditions werent the ones I wanted as the venue fishes better with a good blow on it but always feel confident of a fish . Once the distance was set on both rods I put 6 feeders full of the red curry flavoured maggots I have found to work best . Out when the rods and on went the kettle . I know from the past that in these conditions ( we had blue skies to start ) bites early on would be few and far between .

When after 4 hours I hadnt had a bite and the rain started I feared the worst but then my mate the kingfisher turned up , which on here means I will catch as I have only blanked once on the entire complex and that was the only day he didnt turn up . I had a visit from an old guy 3 swims away who reported that still no one had seen signs of a fish and when I said I thought they might show up on dusk he retorted he woudlnt be giving it that long and off he went . Now the rain had got serious .

Something I noticed was how many leaves were still on the trees as this time last year most had already fallen a sure sign of it been warmer . Just as I was thinking even the kingfisher had failed me things went mental .
It was 4 pm and the right hand rod gave one bleep and the bobbin hit the floor . I lifted the rod and felt a nod that signified the blanked could be avoided if I could keep the fish on ( barbless hook rule ) . The fish came to the net without any trouble , it was only around 6oz or so but it was very welcome.

The rod was recast and I had literally just finished when the other rod gave a few bleeps and the bobbin dropped and then slammed into the alarm , on lifting into this fish it was obvious it was a bit bigger than the first and in the net I could see it was a good lb or more and the scales confirmed it at 1lb 6oz

Back out went the rod and I noticed the light was starting to fade . it then went even more mental as the right hand rod went again and another roach was hooked and netted and the rod recast I turned to go and get the camera and the same rod went again and a roach of nearly the same size joined the one still in the landing net form just a minute or so earlier both around 10-12oz .

The rod went back out and no sooner had it been set than the left hand rod went off and another good roach was in the net , before I could recast the right hand rod was away again and yet again I ended up with 2 fish in the net , weighing 1lb 3oz and 8oz

I was by now soaked to the skin and it was nearly completely dark and decided to call it a day as wanted to get home for my birthday meal . I checked the time and I had gone from blanking to having caught 6 fish in 35 minutes . The next time I fish there I'm hoping for a decent wind on , failing that I have just bought some Drennan Windbeater floats and may give them a go .

Quick recovery

Well after the blank on my last session I was pretty deflated and despite having a session planned just 2 days later it was in doubt for 2 reasons , firstly my head was all over the place with what had happened and I have problem with my ear , secondly and the one that was the biggest problem was the impending storm , now I will fish in any conditions if there's a chance of a fish but my wife Lou was giving me daggers with the thought of the predicted winds so my decision would be made on the morning of the session . We awoke to the sound of heavy rain but not much wind , seems we had missed the storm as it had veered more south and while it had done some damage and cost 5 people their lives it was'nt actually as bad as predicted . Confirmed with the wife that I would indeed be venturing out at some point and was asked if I could walk the dog before I left .

The first thing was to sort some breakfast out in the shape of 2 slices of toast , tin of plum tomato's , 2pieces of black pudding with brown sauce on . Proper Yorkshire food !!!!

   

After that and the rain had eased so out me and Dizzy the dog went , half hour later and were back and its time to sort the tackle out and get on my way . Now it was never going to be a long session due to working early the next morning .

I arrived at the river just after 12 noon and had a quick look round , I was somewhat surprised to find the dredger still working on the stretch as it was supposed to have finished 2 weeks ago , picked a swim that looked to be quite steady and since the river was down by around 2 feet from friday I knew the swim would be ok even when the tide turned .

I got both rods set up and cast out just before 1pm one rod had a big piece of garlic spam on it the other 2 x 10mm `boillies and attached a pva bag of pellets to this one while putting 3 or 4 pieces of spam at the top of the swim , there was a little rubbish coming down but nothing too serious to start with .

Things took a turn for the worse when the dredging barge that had gone to empty its load returned as the dredger started working again it became clear that they were removing more than we believed and had disturbed all the old smelly silt and the rotting old weed and this was now mixing with the leaves and sticking to my line , I was starting to get that sinking feeling and preparing for a blank .I decided to change the boillie rod over to my favourite pellet combination and 2 x 8mm went out , within 5 or 10 mins the rod tip nodded and something dislodged the lead at first I thought it might be weed but it continued to nod and so lifted into my first fish a bream of around 3lb which was , as has now become a custom unhooked in the water and released , this was quickly followed by another closer to 6lb  . I recast after the 2nd bream and awaited the next one as usually when they show up they show up on mass . For 10 mins nothing happened then the rod bounced over and the lead started rolling I lifted the rod expecting the nod of another bream but got a thump of what suspect was a decent chub unfortunately i was not to find out as it did that old chub trick and transferred the hook to a weed bed !!!! I quickly rebaited and recast and soon had bream number 3 on the bank again around 3 or 4lb .

Things went a little quiet and while concentrating on the pellet rod was totally taken aback as the spam rod went mental as something tore off downstream after a short and spirited fight in the extra water a barbel rolled into the net and on the scales it went 7lb 10oz .

Suddenly it went a little dark and the heavens opened and as it did bream number 4 showed up this one was around 5lb . I slipped it back and noticed a rainbow over the far bank .

Now my luck seemed to be taking a turn for the better as I cast to the point of the reflection of the rainbow and put the rod down . I checked the time and decided since the dredger was still working and the rubbish was increasing I would pack up at 5pm as it went dark . 15 mins after I had cast it out the spam rod gave one bleep then rapped over but for some reason the baitrunner did'nt give any line , now what happened next just proves how your luck can change , I lifted into the fish and disengaged the baitrunner I tried to turn the reel handle but it felt solid , looking up to the end of the rod I noticed the line had wrapped round the end and I could neither give or retrieve line , I dont know why the barbel hadnt gone on a run but a I slowly and carefully fed the rod backwards and  unraveled the line expecting at any moment the barbel to take off and break me but it didnt I played the fish to the net with only one small run and when it went into the net it wasnt until I had a look I realised it was a good fish on the scales it went 11lb 7oz which is a season high , not massive but very welcome .

I released the fish and it swam off strongly , I decided to call it a day and made my way back to the van , by the time I was ready to leave it was 5.30pm and dark but still the dredger worked .
As I write the river is rising again and the fish will be feeding again , I have a planned after work session in a couple of days so will be watching the EA website to keep an eye on the river levels.

Poor Session

Well after been at work all week and seeing all the fish coming from both the Tidal and Middle Trent with the extra water in it I was looking forward to putting a few fish on the bank but sadly it was to be .

My original plan was to fish a swim on the Tidal that had been very kind to me over the last few seasons and was so very confident , however following a phone conversation with a friend who told me that the swims were under water and given the nature of the swim I intended to fish meant it was unlikely I would be able to but decided to drive to the swim and make an assessment . Speaking to another mate who was intending to fish when he finished work a decision was made that I would meet up with him on a stretch of the middle when he finished .
I woke friday morning to find the forecast rain falling but with the promise of drier weather a little later I had a leisurely breakfast and got ready and loaded the van and the rain subsided . Setting off  the drive was slow due to the surface water and the endless stream of lorries .

I arrived to find the swim just fishable but knew that when the tide turned in a couple of hours it would be under water again I stood and surveyed the river and a barbel rolled just below the swim , that was it I decided to fish one rod and minimum gear until the tide turned .

With the river up and coloured garlic spam was despatched with a pva bag of pellets , a couple more fish showed and things looked good but alas after an hour and a half nothing took any interest and the river was starting to back up and rise . With regret I got my gear back to the van and reflected on the fact that given a couple more hours was confident I would have added a fish or 2 .

I drove to the stretch on the middle , this particular stretch has only seen me twice , once about 30 years ago in a match and the last time was the last day of last season in very cold conditions which resulted in absolutely nothing !!!! Little did I know that despite this also looking good for a fish it wouldnt quite pan out that way .
I set up and just got my rods in as my mate arrived .

Now while the river was high on the tidal , there was little rubbish coming down but it was a different story here as there was countless leaves and dying weed coming down and the fact that the wind was getting very strong throwing even more in meant you was reeling in every 10 minutes to clear the line .
I yet again never had a touch but my mate on the next swim down managed 2 barbel of around 6lb and 8lb respectively , he is using what must be the most amazing bait , he has put this together himself and had it rolled and is pulling fish out of nowhere including a lot of double figure fish .

We decided to call it a day as the leaves and wind was getting worse . The view on the far bank was something else .

Now my next planned trip is monday which should be interesting given we may be having gales lashing the country .

Best laid plans

Well this will be a little brief and short on pictures . My first session after finally breaking my double duck for the season was with Jason and his dad John on a stretch of the tidal trent I hadnt fished before but was assured they had never blanked there and had caught some good barbel there . Well that changed as despite the river looking good and conditions not been too bad , though we did get some rain at one point , the fish flatly refused to play ball . My swim was a nice looking one with a nice holding feature in it but was too tight for the pod so single stick it was .

We stuck it out til just before dark with out a sign until about half hour before we packed up when I managed a bream of around 3lb . Now since i had planned to stay out overnight I decided to stop off on the middle trent on the way home and see Jon and have a few hours on there . But even that didnt produce a barbel but I did add 4 more bream through the night all around the 4lb mark .

Now me and Jon got invited to fish a rod race with a few other lads from round the Sheffield area and we both tied for first place but I needed to add a pike and zander to my list , Jon already had both fish but wanted to try and improve on them . So off we went to the club lake that has plenty of both in to good sizes . Now I dont do pike or zander fishing other than a bit of lure fishing so put myself in Jons hands , after having a chat I decide to fish one legered deadbait rod and the other rod would be legered prawn as there are some large perch in there too . Jon went with 2 deadbait rods and a live bait . After an uneventful few hours Jon who had a float rod out to catch live baits hooked an eel of about 4lbs but lost it . Now I wouldnt normally fish for eels but since little else was about I changed the prawn rod over to a maggot feeder with 7 maggots on a size 10 hook and through the night I had 19 eels between 1lb and 2lb 8oz , my one regret is not putting my keepnet out as the picture would have been something else .Now the swims we fished are one of only 4 that you cant leave your vehicle behind and I fetched mine down to load my tackle and then had a brew with Jon , when I went to leave the van battery was dead !!!!!!!!!!!! I have to say a big thank you to the guy off the river who tried to help we start it and an even bigger thank you to Rescue my Car for finding me in the middle of nowhere and getting me going .

The last session for me to write about is a farce from start to finish . Me , Jason and Jon were attending the ABF AGM and had been given permission to fish a syndicate stretch of the middle Trent for free . Now how often do the forecasters get the weather right ? well they did for this . It rained then rained some more and then just for good measure rained even more .

The meeting went well and so to the river now this is where Jon made a sensible decision and chose not to fish . Me and Jason set off with out bivvies and walked to the river and wandered about in the rain and found what looked good swims , up went the bivvies and back to the car park load the barrows and push rest of our gear to the swims .
Things started badly for me I set off down the bank with my pod and slipped hlaf way down and slid the rest of the way on my backside and only just managed to avoid ending up in the river but that was just the start of it next I discovered I had left part of the pod at home from my previous session , back up the saturated bank and access things . Decided on single sticks and fish from to of bank and if I hooked anything then life in my hands and slide down to land it and still it rained !!! Next disaster was just around the corner set the rods up , now I usually have 2 barbel rods and my marker rod , now as I knew we would be having to keep our kit to a minimum I took the marker rod off unfortunately I hadnt I took one of my barbel rods off . Got the one barbel rod set up and rigged a straight lead with 2 x 10mm boillies on and a pva bag and banged it out . Now my next decision was to set the marker rod up to fish normal , a gamble given that my reel was a big pit but sorted the clutch out to free spool and got it adjusted to give line if needed , out that went with a pva bag and piece of spicy pepperami on the hair . By now Jason had already been fishing an hour and had 2 barbel and a chub but he was fishing like a pro .About half hour after a casting out the barbel rod sprang into life and I was attached to my first fish which turned out to be a barbel around 7lb which due to the bank and conditions I unhooked and released in the water . At this point I had a brain wave and managed to get my pod set up using a bit of thought .

Single stick set up

 travel light and sleep on my recliner

Dodged up pod

As it got dark Jason gave me a shout he had a decent fish on and finally I had some light relief as I got to his swim he was holding his rod and making his way down the bank and was sliding like a pro down it when his front foot hit a rut and he did some kind of pirouette flipped in the air did a back flip and landed backwards in the rushes pmsl , now to be fair all through that he kept hols of his rod jumped up and landed the fish a barbel of 10lb 5oz .

I returned to my swim and quickly landed a chub of 4lb 14oz , now since it had stopped raining , all be it briefly so took the opportunity to get a quick snap of it .

The rain returned with a vengeance and to his credit Jason kept catching , to be honest I fished like a prat and for the first time ever let the weather beat me , I did add another barbel of about 8lb at 2am but the river was rising rapidly and if UI could have got my head straight would have caught more . I think Jason finished with 7 barbel including 3 doubles the biggest going 11lb 14oz , 5 chub around 4-5lb each and 2 bream . the session ended with another disaster , I decided to fish one rod while we started packing up and put it well across the river now about 10 minutes later a boat turned up and proved that some of them are idiots as he got to me he was well away from my line in the boat channel and for reasons only know to him he cut across the river and went straight through my line and cut me off DAMN or words to that effect !!!!!

A few days later things got worse when the van failed to start and i had to get a taxi to work , result new battery . As I finish this we have just had 3 or 4 days of rain and the Trent is high and coloured so am off out tomorow with some big smelly bait and hope to report some arm aching action next time .

At Last

Well following my last post where I suffered 2 blanks after misjudging my target a had a pleasant surprise . I was sat reading on sunday and my wife Lou asked if I was going fishing after tea , now I had no plans as was trying to clear my head but I got a feeling in my gut that said do it , I said I wasnt but had a feeling so she told me to sort my stuff while she cooked tea . Well given the weather and the chub been unwilling to co-operate  meant it had to be barbel .

At 6pm I left my home and made the drive to the Tidal Trent , on arriving I was surprised to find no one there . I had a quick look around and decided on a swim that had produced for me when the river was in flood last season . The river was low and still dropping on the tide . The stretch as supposedly been dredged a few weeks ago so out came the lead rod and I spent half hour searching the swim but could find no features or any great variation in depth so I studied the river watching the flow and noticed there was an obvious crease where the flow switched sides and in front of me was a slack forming . I set up my pod and got my unhooking mat weigh sling and camera and tripod in position . The rods were rigged with 4oz feeders and one rod had a single lassoed fishmeal pellet on the upstream rod and 2 variations on the downstream one .
Now before I had left I had a phone call from fellow YSG member Jon Preen saying he was going to come out and watch me for a couple of hours , I was planning on fishing til 3am and then heading home .

At 7.45 I put the upstream rod at roughly 2 o'clock and on the crease where it began to push away from the bank , the downstream rod was cast around 10 yards downstream and again on the crease where the flow separated from the slack water . Now it would appear that this had all gone smoothly but it hadnt first thing was that I had forgotten my chemical night lights ,so was relying on savage takes , second was the lasso rig the slip know pulled through and I had to retie it , yet I still felt positive and with good reason for not 5 minutes after I had cast in the upstream rod screamed into life and I hooked into was obviously a barbel , after a few powerful runs it slid over the net cord , peering into the net it looked a good fish and on the scales it went 8lb 8oz a very nice start.

I had just slipped the fish back and reset the rod when Jon arrived carrying his chair and a welcome surprise in his stove and brewing kit which was most welcome since I hadnt brought anything . We got settled and had a chat and then had a walk down to the rods and have a look at the river . There was a single bleep on the upstream rod and it started nodding which usually signifies a bream but on lifting into the fish it became obvious this was a bream as it tore off following another good fight Jon did the honours and it slid into the net , Jon had a quick look and said it looked like I had my first double of the season but it wasnt to be and it went 9lb 5oz .

I recast the rod and re positioned the as yet quiet downstream rod , Jon put the kettle on and the upstream began nodding again and this time it was a bream of around 3lb which was unhooked in the river and released .
We settled down to have a brew and another chat and half hour later the downstream rod decided to get in on the act and went into meltdown , the fight in the flow was arm aching but eventually Jon netted another good fish and this time it was the one we wanted and after 78 barbel I had my first double of the season at 10lb 9oz .

Out went the rod and back in our chairs , we discussed the state of the river and how different it was fishing and how the swims everywhere had changed following the floods and we were interrupted as there was one bleep on the downstream rod  and it pulled over but didnt appear to be giving line I got to the rod and discovered the baitrunner wasnt on !!!! lucky escape there and a barbel was now off downstream I managed to turn it quite easily and it came to the net quickly and went 8lb 12oz on the scales .

Now what happened next was very strange we were sat chatting and I thought I saw something fly across the river and into the bank just below us , now normally that wouldnt be unusual but this was nearly 1am in the morning and nothing normally flies about at that time other than bats and it looked too big for that so I wandered down to the side of my rods to see if I could see anything and just as I got to the rods the downstream rod went seriously crazy as line disappeared off the spool in a blur !!! on lifting into this fish it became obvious it was somewhat bigger than the others as it turned and set off upstream and was plodding and sulking on the bottom after a few surging runs it tired and slipped into the waiting net and Jon confirmed it would indeed be the biggest of the session and the scales confirmed this when they settled at 11lb 4oz .

With an hour before high tide things looked good for some more action but it wasnt too be as the almost full bright moon was over the middle of the river and killed it , I sat it out til 3am and Jon even stayed as we witnessed constant mists coming over the far bank and covering the river then us and then going over us . Jon left and I started to pack up as I went to the rods the upstream suddenly started nodding and I was into another fish to end the session this turned out to be a bream of 7lb 6oz .

I have to thank my wife Lou for giving me the push I needed and Tony Miles who if you have read his books always says go with you gut and use that 6th sense we all have . I have to say an even bigger than you to Jon Preen for coming from his home in Doncaster to sit and encourage , make brews , net fish and take the pics . I really dont know how he did it as I get frustrated sitting with anyone for more than an hour .