My first session was a 2 night social with Jon Preen and Chris Axon from the YSG . I met Jon and we set off to have a look at a few venues on the middle Trent and made a decision as where we wanted to go and on arrival had a brew with Mick the bailiff , now I have fished for 40+ years and can honestly say he is the best bailiff I have ever met .
having finished our brew we selected 3 swims and set up leaving room for Chris . Who arrived mid afternoon . After getting things ready for a cast we decided on different approaches , I went for my usual put bait in through the feeder while Jon and Chris went for droppering bait in . I decided to fish feeder and pellet on ym upstream rod and a lump of meat on the straight lead on the downstream now I put out the meat rod first and by the time I had cast the pellet rod out the meat rod started banging resulting in a chub of 2lb
It then went very quiet and as Chris had sorted a bbq and food I wound the rods in and went to join him and Jon . After devouring a couple of burgers and sausages and a can of cider it was back to the rods . Now it had been red hot during the day and there was no sign of the heat reducing but just after dark I had my first barbel and what was to be the smallest of the session at 5lb 9oz
Thinking that the barbel had arrived I prepared for a busy time but an hour later and no sign I was beginning to wonder if not putting a bed of bait down had been a mistake when I started getting knocks on the pellet rod which signaled the bream had arrived . I quickly took 5 in consecutive casts with 2 around 2lb , a 4lb
2oz , a 5lb 8oz and this 6lb 2oz
A quiet spell of half an hour was interrupted by a chub of 3lb and then this one of 4lb 2oz
With nothing happening for an hour and the long hot day catching up with me I decided to reel the rods in and catch up with a few hours sleep . I awoke just on day break and decided to put 10 baitdroppers of hemp and pigeon conditioner on the both spots and left them to settle while I had a sausage sarnie and made a brew and went for a walk . I had left the swim for an hour and put both rods out and within minutes the pellet rod tore off and after a feisty scrap a barbel of 6lb 10oz slipped over the rim of the net . A quick weigh and pic and rod was back out not more than 5 minutes later the same rod roared off again this fight was more considered and deliberate which is usually the sign of a bigger fish and sure enough when it went into the net it looked a good fish and I was thinking it could be the seasons first double but it was not to be and on the scales it was a seasons best 9lb 8oz .
As I slipped the fish back the downstream rod rocked in the alarm and I was attached to what was to be a another chub this time a good 4lb 10oz
The heat was already getting oppressive and so I wound the rods in and went to see the others who by now had decided to try the float and see what was about both of them were catching roach , small chub and bleak so cadging a pint of maggots of Chris I went back and set up my stick rod and started feeding hemp and pigeon conditioner while using maggot on the hook after about 10 mins of nothing the fish showed up and I was catching roach with the odd bleak every cast , I then decided to try something old school and slipped a piece of wheat on the hook and proceded to take roach after roach until the wind decided to pushing in to my face and made it impossible to get decent presentation but in the 2 hours of fishing the float a very healthy 10lb+ of roach had been put together it seems the river is in perfect health .
I put another 10 droppers of bait in before sitting with the guys having a chinese .As dusk arrived the rods went back out .
During the night 3 more barbel graced my net of 8lb 1oz , 7lb 11oz and 6lb
1 week later and I was out on the middle again with the river still holding a tinge of colour and a little extra water and it looked perfect , now I arrived late after noon and unbelievably first cast a chub of 2lb 8oz was in the net
No further action followed then following a glorious sunset
First fish on dark was a bream of 5lb 1oz and then another chub of 1lb 10oz and out of nowhere it went barbel crazy as 7 came to the net over the next 2 hours topped by this 6lb 15oz
The session was a strange one as yet again the size of the fish was surprising as the majority of the fish were either just above or just below 5lb .
My final session of this blog will be quick as I only did it last night and other than the numbers of fish involved it was very similar to the last few . I had planned on getting up at 4am and fishing til mid afternoon but a last minute decision to go at 7pm and fish through proved a good one . I spent an hour and half driving round looking for somewhere that appealed to me .
What followed was incredible I made my first cast at 9.15pm just on dark and one hour later I had taken 3 barbel and a chub , after a quiet hour the fish returned and with them came the rain I fished til 1am and decided to wind the rods in and get some sleep and see what morning brought . I awoke at 5am to discover it was still raining and also that I had made a school boy error in that my bivvy table wasnt quite fully under my brolly and had filled with water and that my mobile was in the middle of it and even as I type this its still not dried out right .
I put the rods out and surprisingly the fish were still there and as the rain finally stopped I decided to take advantage and pack up in the 7 hours of actual fishing time I had 10 barbel between 4lb 9oz and 7lb 11oz , 2 chub of 3lb 5oz and 3lb 8oz , 3 bream of 2lb , 3lb and 5lb 15oz and a greedy gudgeon that took 2 x 8mm pellets . The biggest of each species is pictured below .
I may be out again for a quick after work session in a couple of days if not will be 10 days or so .
Tight lines everyone
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