My starting point was the stretch of the tidal I was guested on for the final day and of course we all know what happened then , this time I would be going on as a full member . The plan was to me Jon down there and decide where to go . After a substantial KFC meal I arrived at the river at just after 1pm and parked the van up off the track and began walking the stretch , surprisingly no one was in sight and half way down the venue my phone rang and Jon was on the other end saying he would be there in half an hour . Now on the last day the cattle werent in the fields but today they were.
They dont do any harm but are very inquisitive and enjoy licking vehicles and bivvies which with the acid on there tongue is not a good thing . Walking back to the van and Jon comes down the track and picks me up and we head off to the far end of the stretch a mile and a half way , in between moving cattle and looking at various swims we ended up going to the other end of the stretch ,having had a good look around we settled on an area that was not only easy to get the vehicles next to the bivvies so we could watch the cattle , the other reason was that the cattle didnt appear to have been using this particular area .
We got set up and settled and it was only 6pm so 6 hours to go and time for some chatting and a bottle of red wine , my traditional opening night drink and of course a small amount poured into the river for luck .
At 8pm I put 10 droppers of hemp and pigeon conditioner in and at 10pm we decided to have an hours sleep was in order , Jon set his alarm for 11,55pm so 5 mins to bait rigs for the off . I dont know what happened with Jon but me I just didnt stir and woke 15 mins into the new season ooooooooooops , got the rods out and went up and woke Jon who finally got his act together and rods out . Now from mid afternoon til dark they had been fish crashing everywhere so when at 1am neither of us had had a sign it was starting to get worrying and more so when I heard a snorting sound and saw something drifting down the margin on went the head torch and pair of big eyes bounced the light back at me and then disappeared with a splash . Its not unusual to see a seal occasionally and so we settled back in our chairs , then Jon's alarm sounded and he was in but it was one of the many trent bream . 10 mins later I landed one both around 3lb and we expected to be playing bream for a while but nothing happened until 3.15am when my upstream rod went into meltdown and I was on it and connected to my first barbel of the season , after a decent fight I netted her and when Jon asked how big , I replied about 6lb but on the scales she went 7lb , she had a sore patch on her underneath with looked like gravel rash from spawning .
I returned her and put the rod back out and decided to get back in the bivvy . Nothing happened til 7am when a single beep and a slight drop back had me lifting into a small fish which turned out to be a pristine roach of 1lb 1oz .
I put the kettle on and set off with my brew to see Jon who was just coming round , he hadnt had a sign since the opening bream which is strange given the way the bream are . Around 11am with the temperature starting to soar I wound the rods in and went for a walk to see how the 3 guys round the corner had got on . After a lengthy chat they had faired a little better with 3 barbel , 5 bream and 2 chub . I returned to my swim and after a brief chat with Jon decided on a new tacked and instead of putting hemp and pigeon conditioner inside the feeder I went with neat groundbait and pellet and over the course of the next 2 hours added 6 more bream to 6lb 4oz .
I put some more of the hemp and pigeon conditioner in with the bait dropper and went back to same in the feeder while I had my tea . I took a walk to the top of the flood bank and saw the sky looked on fire .
Now what was to happen next was to be a surprise as I decided to get my head down at 10pm for an hour , imagine my shock when I woke up at 6am !!!!! I got up sorted the rods and within minutes I managed to snare a nice eel of 1lb 7oz .
I made a brew and sat back down and unbelievably managed to crash out again til 11.20am .. Jon had started to pack up as there was a threat of major rain , he had managed 2 more bream and so while I packed up I put the groundbait feeder out and added 2 more bream and small but nice hybrid , also the cattle that had stayed away til now seemed to want to eat the grass we were on so it was packing up and trying to keep them away though I reckon Jon was getting a burger urge lol.
And that was it for the first session of the season . Tomorrow I will be trying a night on the middle Trent .
Hope you have all managed to find a fish or 2 to start your seasons and may we all have tight lines til march
Stop Press just been informed the fish above that I thought was a hybrid is in fact a silver bream !!!!!!!! not seen one for years
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