Short Evening Session

Well didnt think I would get out for a couple of weeks with work load but managed to do a short after work session . Now this session was to have 2 aims neither of which happened . Firstly the YSG clothing was supposed to have been delivered and Jon Preen was meeting me to hand mine over , unfortunately despite him waiting til lunchtime there was no sign and when he contacted home late evening still no sign , secondly while people have been struggling with the hot weather some have been having some good catches on maggot and float , now didnt have time to pick any maggots up so went with hemp and pigeon conditioner as loose feed intending to fish corn , hemp and wheat over the top .

As a back up I also took some liquidised bread and a light feeder rod . To be honest I picked the wrong swim as I had 12 feet of water a rod length out and little flow , I gave it a couple of hours without any success , there were roach starting to swirl at my loose feed and so decided to make a change , my plan was to remove the heavy avon float and bulk weight and switch to an ordinary stick float and fish shirt button style to try and catch a roach . Rather than waste valuable fishing time I mixed the liquidised bread with some hemp and pigeon conditioner and added some of the water from the sweetcorn and set up a 30 gram gripmesh feeder and attached a 6 foot hooklink of 4lb line with size 14 carbon feeder hook . 

The feeder was filled and a grain of corn put on the hook and cast 3 rod lengths out into a deep hole . now I hadnt taken any alarms so set the baitrunner fairly loose . I picked up the float rod and stripped off the rig and had just attached the other float when the baitrunner sprang into life , lifting into what was obviously a barbel , after a few minutes of careful playing on the light tackle the fish rolled into the net . On the scales it went 5lb 12oz not massive but more than welcome .

I rebaited and recast and continued with setting the float back up , all the while feeding a little hemp and pigeon conditioner . As I completed the set up a couple of knocks on the feeder rod signaled a roach of around 10oz . I took the opportunity to try the new float set up but after half an hour of battling the wind which had now increased a little and was pushing down stream and into my bank control was out of the question so was put back in van and went back on the feeder . Another roach of similar size to the first one was soon on its way to my net . It then went very quiet , my attention was taken by the site of a grey heron flying over my head to the far side of the river where it was met by 2 large black birds which mobbed it and sent it flying back to my side of the river . Around the same time 2 swans appeared on the far bank and then proceeded to get down to mating , now I have never witnessed this despite fishing for 45 years but the noise they made were incredible , it sounded like someone been throttled !!!!!!.

I noticed my rod tip just not once and then drop back , I dont know why but decided to hit it ans was soon connected to a very angry fish , the fight was totally different to the first a more plodding fight than the tearing runs which is usually the signal of a big fish however when the fish finally rolled into the net it didnt look much bigger than the first and on the scales this was confirmed as it went 6lb 10oz .

I managed to take a bream of around 2lb the next cast .

Now as the light faded fish began sowing all over the river and I fancied I might just nick a couple more but as this pic shows that would prove difficult as I had forgot my isotopes for the tip of the rod and though I could see the odd knock on the tip there werent clear enough to hit and was getting shredded corn .

At 11pm and having been up since 4.30am for work I called it a night and to be honest was more than happy given the way the river was fishing .

Back on the River

Well bout time I re countered my opening month of the season . My opening days would be spent somewhere different to my last 2 seasons which I had spent on a syndicate stretch of the tidal Trent , this year I would be on the middle Trent with fellow YSG member Jon Preen , now due to work I planned to get down around dinner time and give myself nearly 12 hours to get set and have a catch up with other anglers , last year I was the only one on my chosen stretch and the year previous there were 5 other people , this time there was only 11 recognised swims and when Jon txtd me on friday evening to say there were 6 anglers already down , I decided that I should get up at first light and get there and then grab some sleep .

Van was loaded and I was away from home at 4am , on arriving  at the river at 5am the anglers who were there already were obviously still fast asleep . I parked up and walked down to where Jon was bivvied up and sending out zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's on having a look near him there was no swim available so back to van and drop in another one . Got the bivvy up and everything out of van and the rain started , everything was thrown either back in to the van or the bivvy and I retreated inside , the wind was all over the place and at one point blowing straight into bivvy so door went down and I sat waiting for a break . Now an hour later and getting hungry I decided to break my own rule and got the stove going and the bacon and sausage was in the pan at this point the sun came out and the temp in the bivvy went mental .

As you can tell there was no way of moving stuff outside so finished breakfast inside which consisted of a bread cake with 3 rashers of bacon , 3 sausages , a slice of mexicana cheese with ketchup on .

I plated this up and moved stove outside and picked up the butty and wondered down to see Mick the bailiff who had the kettle on and knocked me a brew up . After catching up with a few of the guys and Mr Preen , I got my lead rod out and checked the river bed and discovered last years floods had changed the make of it and finally found some gravel , got the rods set up and marked up for the spot and then settled down and relax and await midnight . Now the far bank is a day ticket stretch and it was lined with anglers in fact there was double the amount of anglers to swims which pointed towards a tough start .

Midnight came and the Rioja was opened and the toast for a good season made , now on my bank we started at midnight as we should however the other bank casts were made from around 10pm !!!!!

The first cast was made and the waiting game started , now due to the amount of bait put in by anglers opposite I decided to just feed through the feeder on one rod and straight lead on the other . Casting the feeder every 20 mins for the first 3 hours and then every half hour after that resulted in nothing at all . There was one bream caught on the far bank was greeted with masses of head torches running up to see a fish !!!! report from Jon's end was much the same though he had managed to take a couple of  barbel and bream but there was no anglers opposite him . At 7am my first fish of the season arrived an eel of 1lb 12oz.

As anglers left the opposite bank and others took their place no more action was forth coming . Then my wife Lou arrived with out mental dog Dizzy which broke things up a bit and then out of the blue one of my rods ripped off and my first barbel of the season slipped into the net at 6lb 8oz .

The next 24 hours resulted in nothing and as calls were made it was becoming clear the river was fishing in patches as angler reported either nothing or some catching multiple barbel and chub . A swim became available next to Jon and when I'm bivvied up fully I tend not to move but thought may as well move and have a social for the last 24 hours so loaded the van and drove down , as the weather had now decided to behave I set up my stormshield brolly and packed my bivvy and non essentials away .

I got the lead rod out and found a small gravel patch on the far bank and put a few bait droppers of bait on it . Jon's dad and stepmum turned up at this point to see him so took myself off to see them and had a chat and a drink . After they left I put my rods out and soon had a bream of 6lb

This was soon followed by my first chub of the season at 4lb 14oz

And as the sunset hopes of a barbel or 2 was awaited

Unfortunately no action occurred and as the weather went hot and sunny I decided to call an end to the opening session has had to get home put my gear away and get ready for a couple of days at work .

My next session was planned as an after work overnighter , now having spoke to a few anglers I decided to try fishing maggots so purchased some from my local shop , now when I go in and the guy says when are you going I know they aint fresh but as I didnt want to detour to bait farm when I finished work I took the plunge . Van loaded off to work I went at 5am and on my 2pm finish shot home checked on dizzy then off to river , now I had planned to try the tidal but arrived to find most swims taken and no one catching so raced backed to middle and just as pulled up at the swim I fancied the heavens opened , oh well soon pass as it was showers only . half hour later and still throwing it down , no bivvy just the brolly again so dived out of van and grabbed brolly and had just about got it up when Mr Barbel himself Wayne Glossop rang me , now this is where things started to go wrong , the maggots had been in a bucket and bounced down several lanes with out a problem so when the phone went the bag with the pegs for the brolly were thrown in the van the door shut and I sat under half erected brolly . 15 mins later and call ends and return to van to get pegs and discover I had managed to hit the bucket with the maggots in and knocked it over !!!!!!! all 4 pints of maggots were now trying to find hiding places in the floor of the van , nothing for it but empty van and clear carpet and mats out and retrieve the escapees , think I found about 3 and a half pints but 10 days and some hot weather later there is no sign of the flies . . Fishing wise it was poor , 1 eel of 1lb 6oz , 2 roach around 6oz  each ,2 small perch , 1 hybrid of around 1lb that looked battered and 12 small bream with biggest going around 4lb .Ok I typed that last night and got up this morning and there was one bluebottle flying round the van now when I came out of work 9 hours later and approached the van it became apparent that all was not well as there was about 50 bluebottles all over the windows !!! so opened them and left it for a few mins while they vacated the cab , no driving home more appeared and flew out the windows , looking in the rear view  mirror and back window had a few on it so when I got home all the doors were opened and left . I have been out 3 times since opening all the doors and they are still appearing !!!!

For my next session I went to the tidal and made sure I got a decent swim by arriving at 4am as I was only fishing til 4pm due to work . Now had been warned it was fishing tough and not producing during the day so when at the bottom of the tide at 6.30am one of the Delkims sang its tune I was more than happy to slip a barbel of 6lb 1oz onto the scales .

This broke the hoodoo of the Angling Anarchy hoodie

Things then went a little quiet until the bottom of the tide when in the space of 40 minutes I landed 3 barbel of 2lb 6oz , 5lb 10oz  and 4lb 

My swim was very comfortable and the early start was taking its toll which wasnt good given I wanted to work the swim , I was kept alert by frequent visits from damsel flies

Just as I was starting the pack up I had a fish on each rod which resulted in a 2lb bream and a 2lb 10oz barbel .

 

The surprising thing about this session was in all the sessions I fished on this particular stretch of the Tidal last year I only had barbel under 7lb , good news for the future but a puzzle for now .

My last session to bring things up to date was again on the Tidal Trent and involved fishing 4pm til 8am the following morning . On arriving I discovered my 2 first fancied swims taken one of which had Jon Preen on it  , the one I settled on I had fished twice previous but not been on since New Years Eve 2011 . Now having spoke to a few who had fished this swim since the season opened the result was that no one had even had a bite off it !!!! but nothing ventured nothing gained . The river was very low and clear and while leading around I found some nice gravel and on my last retrieve I had a perch of around 2lb follow the lead !!!!! .

I decided to go with normal tactic of not putting a bed of bait down but just put bait in through the feeder and build it slowly .

Low and clear and looks like the sky is in the river !!!!

On my first retrieve of the downstream rod a jack pike of around 4lb grabbed my feeder unfortunately it spat the feeder out at the net . After around 2 hours I got some silly taps on the upstream rod and the feeder started to roll and I lifted into what I thought was a small bream but after getting me snagged and freeing it with the fish still attached it turned into either a small barbel or an average chub and then for no apparent reason it came off , gutted doesnt come close as the way the river was fishing that could be my only chance . Despite be careful with my casting and about how much bait I was putting in nothing was forth coming and so on sunset I was still fishless and had seen no other sign .

As darkness fell fish began moving and showing along the far bank including my first ever seas trout bouncing up stream but still no action . I remained biteless til 3.10am when out of the blue I was attached to a very angry barbel which pulled the scales to 9lb 6oz and my biggest of the season so far 

Half an hour later and I hook and land another barbel of 6lb 7oz

And finally at 4.15am I had my last fish of the session of 7lb 5oz 

While that was the last of the action I watched a nice sunrise develop 

And that brings me upto date and as I type this we have just had 4 scorching hot days that has seen everyone who has been out struggle for bites but may mean the fish have finally got their spawning out of the way . I'm hoping to have a short after work session in a couple of days but will be trying something different to tempt a fish or 2 .