Back in the Groove

Back to the Trent for another dinnertime til dark session . Arrived at the river to find it up about 10 inches and on getting out of the van it was spitting with rain so on went the gortex jacket and had a walk up to the end swim where an angler was bivvied up , he reported he had a small barbel and a bream during the night but other than that no sign , he also told me the river was dropping . At this point the heavens opened and I beat a hasty retreat to the van and the rain turned to hail . Jumping in the van I chucked the gortex jacket on the passenger seat and discovered my norgi shirt had been below the jacket and was soaked , off it came and on when the van heater to dry it , the wind was coming across the river into my face so decided to sit it out in the van til the rain eased which took around 45 mins , up went the brolly and the essentials were placed under it , I opted to fish just one rod and went with my home mades which have been producing consistent action . In went 10 boilies a rod length off the overhanging tree . Everything set and out went the rod . I had to wait about 10 mins for the first bite which brought me a nice 3lb 8oz chub that been in the wars .

All went quiet for the next couple of hours and I had a nice chat with an angler who had travelled up from Hampshire , we talked about big roach and chub .He went to find a swim and about 10 mins later Mick the bailiff turned up . I can honestly say that he is the best bailiff I have ever met , he makes everyone brews and has even cooked folk meals , he treats everyone the same and dont put up with anyone breaking the rules . He had brought me my big water carrier that i had managed to leave in his swim a couple of weeks ago and also a new sleeping bag to look at that he couldnt get on with , which I snatched his hand off for a bargain price . Mick had just left me to set up when off went the rod again and this time it was obviously a better fish when it came over the rim of the net I thought it might beat my current pb for chub of 5lb 12oz but it fell a little short but was a superb 5lb 6oz and think before the end of the season it will make 6lb .

 

I recast the rod and knowing they take time to settle from margin swims I didnt expect anything to happen but as I glanced to see how Mick was getting on with his setting up as I know he needs a hand with his huge gas bottle I heard a beep from behind me and the rod tip bouncing and discovered the culprit was a bream around 5lb . I took the decision to put another half a dozen baits in and leave swim for half hour while I had a brew with Mick and help him finish setting up .

We had a good chat and a brew and I left him to it under instruction that I return for a brew before I left for home . Back at the swim the rod was put back out and I stood looking at the river when the visiting angler came past as he was leaving to got to an angling talk near by . As we had another chat off went the rod and I was in again and again it was a chub this time a scale perfect 4lber .

I put the rod back out and just dropped another 4 baits in and made a brew in back of the van as the sun dropped and darkness started to decend I had another bream of around 3lb . I looked at the swim and just got a feeling there was one more fish to come , so I txtd my wife Lou to say I was staying for another hour . Rod out and another 4 baits with it and I settled down with a brew to watch the last light fade .

Sitting there I started to feel like I really was back in the groove after my meltdown in August . I was starting to look like my feeling of one more fish was wrong when the rod went mental and what was obviously not a bream or a chub tried to empty my reel . On disengaging the baitrunner it stopped the fish dead in its tracks and it came back upstream but held out in the flow and plodded , 3 times it came to the net and made deep powerful runs , it went through my mind that it could be my 2nd double off the stretch but on the scales went 9lb 6oz , a lovely looking fish .

I decided to call it a day and packed my gear back in the van and went and had a brew with Mick and decided that my next session will be back on the lake to try and catch one of the elusive carp . 

Tight lines and thanks for reading 

You never stop learning

The title says it all about what follows but could also have " and never stop making mistakes " added to it .

As I said at the end of my last piece my intention is to do a full night for carp one session and a short river session next . Well my last session on the lake was another bleepless blank but I made a couple of mistakes , firstly with low temperatures and possible frost predicted I totally picked the wrong swim , it had no cover and I really should have gone for one of the swims with overhanging trees with the chance of deeper water and also the temperature be a little higher under cover . I picked 2 spots to put my rods on , one was put on  a gravel patch at 25 yards and the other up the margins on the edge of a small patch of lilies . Despite watching the water all through the day until dark I never saw a sign of a fish of any species .
The following morning I decided to gamble and put the lily rod at distance , as I wound in a fish crashed out at 90 yards and I immediately put the rod on the spot , within minutes 2 more fish crashed in the same place and my confidence went up then my 2nd mistake became apparent as either a large perch or jack pike crashed through some fry next to the lilies , at this point I regretted not bringing my lure gear . Despite leaving the rods out til the last minute nothing happened .

3 days later and I decide on a river session that was to be short one of just 4 hours . On arrival I found 3 anglers already on the stretch one of which had been there overnight and not one of them had managed a single bite !!! . I took myself into an area with no one near me and having surveyed the swim and conditions I decided there was room for 2 rods , one was to be fished with some cheese squabs I have decided to try the other wold have my home made boillies on . Everything set up and a dozen baits pt on each spot at this point the wind was starting to get a bit strong and swung straight into my face . About an hour in and I get a bang on the boilie rod and then it went over after a spirited scrap a beautifully conditioned chub of 2lb 6oz was landed .

The rod was re-positioned and I settled back in my chair at this point the weather took another turn for the worse as the wind moved slightly round and started hitting the inside of the brolly , I made the decision to put the brolly away and put everything in the van and sit in the back of it , having just got the brolly down it started spitting and hurriedly got everything into the van and settled to sit in the back now it looked like this would be ok but the rain got heavier and was swirling round so I spun the van round so I could sit in the passenger side and see the rods . The rain was now at its heaviest and the wind was rocking the van and completely out of the blue the boilie rod alarm went on a one toner I leapt from the van and expected to be connected to a barbel but it was thumping and plodding in front of me , then my mistake of the day occurred there was room for 2 rods as the tip of the rod I had the fish on caught the line of the other , it took at most 5 seconds to free it but in that time the fish had dived into the reeds in the margin and appeared to be stuck fast , releasing the pressure and suddenly I spotted a nice chub flashing just below the surface , I could work out why the fish was not taking line as it seemed the lead was snagged and I was using my usual running rig , I tried going above and below the fish to free the lead but to no avail , as a last resort I decided to try handling while having the landing net nearby as my fear was that if the line broke the fish would be tethered . The rain was now bucketing down and making my hands numb I began hand lining and suddenly the snag began to move the fish got close enough to get the net under and as I it went in the hook fell out , putting the net with the fish in safely in the margin I continued hand lining and out came a large tree branch , lifting it out I put it at the side of the rod rests and then set about sorting the fish out which turned out to be a scale perfect chub of 3lb 15oz .

Having returned the fish , I set about sorting the tree branch out , now we all know how good chub are at shedding hooks and leaving you attached to weed or snags , well this one had somehow in a matter of seconds wrapped the braid hooklink round the lead swivel and then the mainline round the tree branch about 5 times . Had the hand lining not worked I had already decided I was going into the river to free it .

I recast the boilie rod and wound the other one in out of the way . I made a brew and sat in the van as the rain continued after about half hour the rain eased and I decided to call it a day and go home .

Bad weighing or downright lying 

You will see that my biggest chub weighed 3lb 15oz , not 4lb as some wold have claimed . Now this has been going on for years but over recent months it has become almost standard for some to either make a mess of weighing their catches or deliberately lie . Now we all make mistakes but not to the extent of some of these guys , 20lb barbel that at best are 13lb , the only way you can do that is have scales that have multiple rotations and misread but a discrepancy of that much wold be obvious , not deducting the weigh sling can add a couple of pounds , to make matters worse these fish are been sent to the weekly magazines and are actually winning awards and cash prizes , why the people at the magazines accept these is a mystery . Any one on any of the forums or facebook will have seen the debates and even people defending these people but for me there is no defence and this wont ever stop until the magazines grow some balls and refuse them , if they opened their eyes they would see its one of the main reasons why people like me refuse to buy them.

Stealing ideas and passing them off as your own.

Most of you will know where this is coming from and thats people who come onto forums and ask advice and then pass it off as their own ideas . Over the last 4 years one particular individual has not only done the above but has also used bait recipes given to him in good faith and not just used them but started marketing them as his own , most of the baits have been successful but he started trying his own recipes which dont work too well but he has testers who have the same standards as him and catch fish on other baits but state that they have been caught on his . Any questioning of him is met with derision and people are blocked then slated with no chance to reply . I have at times got too involved in trying to expose him not out of jealousy as he and his testers state but since he charges more for his baits than proper more reputable bait makers do , I feel ripping honest hard working anglers off who are looking for an edge but for the most part are been duped needs exposing .

There yo are a some what different blog to normal but I felt I needed to say these things .

Til next time tight lines to all

   

Long overdue update

Well I cant believe I have not posted since May but I have been having a strange time . This update will not be the usual but just a brief account of the highs since the end of May with just the odd picture .
Following my last blog I hit a very nice high , I returned to Sywell and finally caught my first tench from there , in fact after 90+ hours of no sign I had 2 in half an hour , I actually made a massive effort and barrowed my gear for a mile and a half to an area that wasnt been fished save for one swim and made a very small one away from this . the full story of this session is actually been published ( my first ever ) in the November Tenchfishers Bulletin , below are the pics of the 2 tench of 7lb 10oz and 8lb 7oz

I had one more session on Sywell but blanked but am afraid its a venue that really has hooked me to the extent that I wasnt bothered about the rivers opening . due to another shift pattern change my fishing was about to become complicated . I was working the day that season opened at midnight but went straight to the Tidal Trent from work and had everything ready for 10pm and so had a chat with a couple of other anglers before casting out at midnight , I had a pretty successful opening night having 9 barbel , 2 bream and 2 roach over 1lb , the biggest barbel went 9lb 7oz and is pictured below.

I fished this stretch for the next 3 weeks and caught well on all visits but the antics the on opposite bank of the Eastern European poachers made me move off , you can only watch every species of fish be slaughtered and at times just slung up the bank while those responsible continue to drink and throw rubbish about and abuse anyone who dare question them , I contacted the controlling club but had no response . I have since been told that it was sorted out for a couple of weeks but they returned with more friends and started up again I have also since heard of some accessing the side of the river I fish and have no immediate plans to return as my temperament does not allow me to not do something .

I returned to the Middle Trent and have had some good and bad sessions including a session in the stick float that produced this catch of around 20lb of roach and perch.

I still wasnt feeling comfortable on the river in fact I didnt want to fish at all and it came to a head in september when after contact with another Yorkshire Specimen Group member I feel broke , I was on the river and had set up for the night and just cast out and after receiving a txt message I reeled in and packed up , I was done . Now as a founding member of the group the decision I came to was gut wrenching and I informed the group I was leaving as I wasnt prepared to be in the middle of a one sided squabble . I received lots of messages speaking of the sadness at me leaving but I had to do it , since then things have come to a head with those involved and have been told the door is open if I want to return which I have not ruled out but not in the immediate future . I took 2 weeks off from fishing and started visiting the bailiff on the club lake who helped me get my head clearer and since then I have been on the lake , originally I was fishing one rod for bream and one for the elusive carp , I have now switched to 2 carp rods , the bream are suicidal in one 6 hour session I had 21 between 4lb and 7lb 9oz and I very rare capture from this lake which is connected to the river in the form of this 8lb barbel at 2.15am , this was only the 2nd to come out of this lake and the other only came olut 4 days earlier at 11lb .

I am still to catch a carp from a 15 acre lake with a high population but then again the bailiff has fished it since 1982 and is on a season high of 42 since January 1st and he does 3 nights every week !!!!! . I suffered 4 night sessions without a bleep but woke up to this sight one morning.

The next session I suffered a strange bite off of a single bleep drop back and then had 3 bream on 2omm boilie . the next session was the night of the high winds off the back hurricane Gonzalo , yet again I suffered another bite off and again took 5 bream on 20mm boilie inlcuding this 8lb 7oz one that gave me a real one toner and tore ,ine off the baitrunner .

To bring it up to date I couldnt have a full session on my next day but had to go and meet a mate who had picked me up some new bait to try on the lake and as he was on the Trent I thought I would have a couple of hours with one rod and half a kilo of my homemade boilies .
I cast out at 2.30m and packed up at 6.20pm with the result of a 2lb 10oz chub , 2 gudgeon , and 2 barbel of 7lb 11oz and a season high and my first double not only of the season but my first of this stretch at 10lb 14oz .

Well there you have it a miss mash of sessions and at times I forced myself to go and really didnt enjoy it , I have never targeted carp directly before and never thought I would but thats way its going right now but only on the one venue , my plans are to continue doing full nights for the carp and my short sessions one rod on the river and hopefully we will get a nice cold dry winter and I can give the chub a proper go

Oh where are the Tench ?

Right well since my last blog I have had 4 sessions and failed to land a single tench but heres a very brief run down on the sessions . The first 2 wont have much content as they will featured in a future Tenchfishers bulletin . Right first session was to be a 48 hour session and my first ever visit to the once famous Sywell reservoir for the Tenchfishers Midland's region 60th Anniversary fish in and what a fantastic time it was . I fished on the west bank along with 6 others the result was none of us had a bite and on the east bank and a further 9 anglers suffered the same fate while 3 anglers in a row shared 8 tench while 2 had one each and the guy in the middle had 6 . the fish ranged in size from 5lb 4oz to 7lb 1oz . The weekend had loads of laughs and food delivered both nights in the form of chips and fish friday and a curry saturday plus a special cake made for the 60th Anniversary .

Heres my set up from the session

Think I am ok showing the cake but feel sure I will be told if not lol

My next session was a 24 hour midweek one back at Sywell , which has got under my skin as apart from the odd ignorant dog walker is a fantastic venue to spend time on all be it very challenging .

I changed my set up slightly for this visit by using tungsten tubing and flying back leads to pin my line down .

As the hours passed I still saw no sign of a fish and got my head down for some sleep unfortunately it was a full moon and a clear night , the temperature plummeted plus it was so light that the birds started the dawn chorus at 3.30am and at 4.06am this was the seen .

I made a brew and sat on my bedchair watching the lake for signs on life and shortly before 5am my left hand rod bobbin bounced and then pulled up to the blank I was in and lifted into what I thought was to be my first Sywell tench errrrrrrrrrrr wrong I had infact caught my first Sywell Coot !!!!!!!!!!!! and that was that .

I decided I needed a confidence boost so a few days later I was on the match lake but was to find out that the tench were in a very finicky mood and had been going days without been seen , I took a very slow walk round with my polaroids on searching for signs and finished up in a corner I had never fished before .

Out went the float and and I missed a bite first cast , the weather was red hot and there was loads of pollen and seeds in the air and in the water as you can see round my float .

In the next couple of hours I caught around 20 roach between 6oz and 1lb and then hooked a better fish which turned out not to be a tench but this fully scaled mirror of 8lb 11oz.

My last session for this blog was yesterday and things have not got any better . I fished a new venue that I have driven passed hundreds of time but it cant be seen from the road . Its a syndicate but they have day tickets so after swapping a couple of emails with the Syndicate organiser I was given information on swims and seemed that my method laying on with the float was the way to go . forecast for the day was for heavy rain all day but worse if all was the wind would be straight into the swims I had been advised on . When I arrived it was teaming down and the wind was making it impossible to fish in those conditions so off I went for a walk , after an hour of looking I settled on a swim in a small bay that looked ok and when a fish topped as I was about to get my gear from the van then that sealed the swim choice . On plumbing up I discovered it was around 4 and a half feet deep and so set up laid on and put a small amount of bait in , while plumbing up I also discovered there was a bit on weed growing up to with in a foot of the surface but had found a clear spot which negated me going back to my van for the weed rake .

The rain began to increase but under the brolly it was ok plus my confidence was still high as had seen more small fish show and also had seen some very strange bursts of large bubbles in various places in the bay which suggested fish movement . The rain was so heavy that the drops were bouncing higher than my float .

What happened next still has me shaking my head , my float slightly lifted and then slid away . I lifted into the bit and felt resistance but no kick and started to retrieve what I thought must be a  piece of weed but no it turned out to be what I have been told is a yellow bellied slider turtle !!!!!!

As you can imagine this didnt inspire me and less so when I released it and it absolutely shot off and caused the exact same bubbles from earlier and I decided to call it a day and go home . I loaded the van and sat and reviewed my last few sessions and came to the conclusion its was just a slight slump and it would end soon . I plan another go at this last venue and in 3 days I am having another 24 hours on Sywell which I doubt will be any different to my other 2 sessions but you have to try , I know to 5 guys who have done between 24 and 72 hours over the last 2 weeks and one fish has been caught but they have to feed some time :)

I have to appologise to John Mcadam as he actually took this picture of me with a common mudpig of 7lb 12oz though I deny giving it a kiss lol .

Tench time

Well  after the season it was time to think about my plans for the close season . A year ago I joined the Tenchfishers a great set of guys and full of knowledge and only too willing to help fellow members . Last years tenching was a struggle due to the cold wet spring and only managed a handful with the biggest was only 3lb 14oz so given the slightly drier and milder spring I felt the chances of better tench fishing looked good . My first session was on my usual tench water the match lake , I have fished the float numerous times but fished a delicate fixed float and have had some success and also fished method feeders with similar results , the thing about this venue as with most still waters these days is that you have to out up with carp turning up and just keep at it til the tench show . This season I have decided to fish a little different in that while still fishing the float I am using a drennan drift beater on a sliding set up as the swims are between 13 and 16 feet deep and laying on 2 inches of line so and having a large shot that takes the whole of the insert of the float down to sight blob so that bites will be either the usual sight blob disappearing or if the fish lifts the bait up the float will rise out of the water .

I was originally intending on fishing hemp and sweetcorn but after missing several bites and then landing 3 skimmer bream to around 3lb I decided to try a 3 maggots on the 14 hook and after again missing a few indications I connected with my first tench of the season and after a spirited fight I slid the net under this 2lb 3oz specimen .

I carefully weighed and photographed it and gently slid it back into the lake I rebaited and cast out and quickly added another skimmer bream , there then followed a brief quiet period before the float disappeared and I was attached to what felt like alot better fish and it gave a good account of itself but eventually another tench succumbed and slid over the net and what a fabulously immaculate looking fish it was and pulled the scales round to a satisfying 4lb 10oz .

I was now happy with both my set up and with what I had caught already , my time was running out and despite adding 2 more skimmers no more tench showed and I packed up and left for home .

My next session was to be a short morning session on a new venue the Grantham Canal , I had previously only walked the venue once and had been given information about my prospects .
My first job was to drag the swim as had been warned about the weed and that it attracts the tench .

I had mixed a small amount of ground bait consisting of grilled hemp and Sensas Tench ground bait and put 4 tangerine size balls into the swim . My tactics again revolved around the float and laying on but switched to a smaller insert waggler . I spent a very frustrating 3 hours trying to avoid hordes of rudd between 4oz and topped with this 10oz sample .

As you can see in the picture it had escaped a pike attack which the canal is full of and I even had what looked a mid double laid in the margin at my feet for a few minutes before it startled as I moved and roared off . Suddenly the rudd vanished and my thoughts were the pike had spooked them but whatever had happened it allowed some skimmer bream to move in and I added half a dozen before again it went quiet . With my time running out I finally connected with what was obviously something a little better and my first canal tench slid over the rim of the landing net . On the scales a weight of 2lb 9oz was recorded .

Time for one last cast and the float disappeared and I was connected to another tench this time a smaller sample of 1lb 10oz

My last session for this blog was yesterday and after just completing my first set of 3 x 12 hour shifts I had decided on a dinnertime til teatime session again on the Grantham canal but a different section , however I was greeted with heavy rain and the forecast was for most of the day and the thought of driving for 35 mins to sit in the rain for only a few hours , I did a quick venue change and went back to the match lake , now I had over heard talk of an 8lb 7oz tench coming out since my last visit from only a few swims away from where I had been last time , however on arriving and walking the lake in the rain the strong gusting wind was going straight into those swims , now while I dont mind wind or rain together they are pain and so ended up in a area I had not previously fished . I got my gear to the swim and put the brolly up which seemed ok until the wind began swirling and the brolly looked in danger , oh well the rain had stopped and I felt it worth the risk so took the brolly down . Now the 3 pints of maggots I had left from my previous trip had now become 3 pints of casters but teamed with the 3 pints of hemp I had brought I felt this wouldnt be a problem . I set up the slider and off we went , now I was still unwinding from my shifts and so spent the first 3 hours or so fishing like a noddy , double caster was producing bite after bite , which I was missing and getting shelled . I eventually started connecting with the culprits and they turned out to be roach between 6oz and 1lb 3oz .

I upped the feed and finally got my head going and put a buoyant fake caster on the hook and then added a real one which meant if I missed a quick indications there would still be bait there , I added a couple more roach before they disappeared and I soon found out why as I pulled out of carp , oh bugger had hoped to avoid them again . Next cast and I'm in to a another fish but this time its my intended quarry and a tench is soon on the mat and weighs 3lb 6oz .

Within a few minutes I am attached to another carp with again sheds the hook which didnt bother me til I remembered I needed a mirror and common carp for the rod race . After a 15 minute period of nothing I add a 2nd tench of 3lb .

I then added a skimmer around 3lb before getting broke by a carp and so reluctantly upped my hooklink from 3lb 3oz to 5lb 14oz and promptly added a common carp of 3lb 1oz and the next cast a mirror 6lb 15oz

It suddenly started going dark and decided it was time to leave , within seconds of me beginning to start to pack up the heavens opened and by the time I made it to the van you couldnt see and I was drenched .

My next session is in 3 days and feel I must do the match lake again . I have also got the Tenchfishers fish in to look forward to at the end of April which is 2 days at Sywell Reservoir .

Well I decided to add a brief  update to this as was out yesterday for my last session before Sywell . I decided to try an afternoon session and again fished a sliding windbeater rig . After getting a little bait in I had my first fish this lovely roach of 1lb 4oz

I then started suffering bites that I could connect with and so made various adjustments before landing a tench of 2lb 15oz

I quiet spell followed and I then hooked a carp which I managed to lose at the net but as anyone reading this will know is not a great loss to me . I then had a perch off 1lb 1oz but unfortunately didnt get a photo of it . With time running out I managed to add another tench of 2lb .

I am still hoping to catch one of the alleged bigger tench but have now been told that there aint as many in there as people are saying but will be back on there after my visit to Sywell for the Tenchfisher 60th anniversary fish in .

Seasons End

Well as I sit and write this the river close season is here and to be honest I'm relieved as I have found myself making bad decisions and chasing the wrong species .

So how did my season end ? well I didn't blank but it wasn't the ending I wanted . I had planned to go out on the thursday dinner and stay til midnight on friday but it didnt quite go right . Me and wife Lou had spent 4 days in Newquay and returned home on wednesday dinner time and had woken with a sore throat by that night it had got on my chest and having had bronchitis a number of years ago I couldnt take any chances so dosed myself  up and went to bed . Thursday morning arrived and I wan't much better and decided to leave the fishing til friday morning if I felt up to it .

I awoke at 5am friday morning and felt much better and so loaded the van and headed out into the thick fog , the journey to the river was horrendous visibility all the way was about 20 yards and at times less . I was thinking that when I arrived I would park in the car park and get a picture of the fog for this piece but on arrival I found no fog and just a light mist on the river . An even bigger surprise was that there was just one angler already there and after a chat and a brew with him I found out he had been fishing for bream and was leaving shortly .

Here I made my first mistake and settled in a swim at the start of the stretch instead of driving down to the road bridge which as it turned out may have been a better option .
2nd mistake was not bringing my float rod or picking up some maggots as the river was alive with roach topping some of which looked to be good quality .

I set up my gear and everything was ready to go but I decided to have my breakfast and another brew .

I opted to fish pellet on one rod for the entire session as it would give me the chance of most of the species that would be around , the other rod was to start on the krill boillie and half of pop up .

2 hours in and the pellet rod started bouncing and what was obviously a bream was on the other end and after a surprisingly spirited fight what was to be the biggest fish of the session was in the net , a bream of 5lb 10oz.

This was to be the pattern for the entire session as bream came at varying intervals and phone calls and txts with friends on other stretches revealed that nowhere was producing though by mid afternoon a friend on the opposite bank and nearer the bridge managed 4 barbel while 2 other friends on the pegs next to him were struggling as one managed to 4lb chub and the other was bite less til he cast to a spot closer to the bridge which resulted in the funniest incident for months and thats when he hooked into what turned out to be a pb frying pan !!!!!!!.

I was lucky that one of my facebook friends who has a weekly slot on Chepstow radio got in touch to tell me I could download an app to listen to show while fishing which was most welcome as it runs from 7pm-9pm and since I was alone it broke things up between bites .

While it was obvious that something was happening with regard only bream been about near me it was at least something as anglers were packing up all around me without even had a bite . On dark I switched the boillie rod to a big piece of garlic spam and sent it mid river and there it would stay unmolested til midnight .

I have never been happy fishing a full moon on a clear night as my session on the Tidal earlier in the season had proved when it appeared and bites ceased . Well when this appeared I knew the writing was on the wall .

As midnight approached I was resigned to it been bream and nothing else and at 11.50pm my pellet rod signalled my last fish of the season and bream number 8 arrived , all 8 had weighed between 5lb and the 5lb 10oz first fish . I was a little disappointed not to have added a barbel but given 95% of the people round me and some I had spoke to by phone had not a had a sign I wasn't too unhappy . There was one thing that happened around 11.30pm and thats the biggest splash in mid river 50 yards downstream of me I have ever heard a fish make . I left the river and arrived home at 1am .

I am now planning my sprint tench campaign which may start in just one weeks time .

What a Mixture

This was meant to be a brief post about my last session on the Tidal Trent on my Ashfield ticket but as you will read thats now changed .
I took the decision to make one last visit to Cromwell on my Ashfield ticket and it was to be 3 hours after work session . Now I had a half decent drive from work and arrived to find no one there , so I parked in the car park and had a walk down to what has been a kind swim to me on there and the track seemed solid so drove down to back of swim and took my tackle down the bank and opted for one rod on pellet with hemp and pellet feeder the other rod was to be baited with a Sticky Baits Krill boillie dunked in the matching glug which as someone commented looks like a toffee apple , I won these boillies in the YSG charity raffle .

The rods were cast out and I settled back in my chair and took a picture and sent it to my Facebook page and titled it one last time .

All was quiet and no sign of any activity anywhere , I continued to cast the feeder rod but left the boillie rod where it was and just fed half dozen boillies every so often . An hour into the session and without any warning the boillie rod tore off and I found myself connected to what felt like a good fish that was just holding station and occasionally going a a run but eventually it began to tire and came to the net while the fish didnt look very long it looked deep and wide , I thought it could make double figures but just fell short at 9lb 10oz

Thinking I might pick another one up I recast and awaited developments . At 5.30pm my wife Louise txtd to say she was home and I gave here a quick ring , now I mentioned that a couple of my mates had rung earlier and my phone battery was low so she said " I will let you get off so if you get stuck you will have your phone " . Oh how that turned out . At 6.30pm and been up since 4.30am I decided to call it a day as I had to be up at the same time the following morning . I loaded the van and set off down the track , now during the summer British Waterways had dredged the river round the lock and dumped all the sand and gravel on the field on the left of the track , it was dark and raining plus I was a little tired and misjudged where I was and turned too early and half way across the field the front end of the van hit the floor as the front wheels hit a serious soft spot , I spent 10 minutes trying to dig it out but it was obvious that I needed help , couldnt see anyone else about so I set off to the lock keepers house a way up the river , the door was answered by his wife , who told me he was in Newark til 9pm but that she had seen another angler at the other end of the stretch so off I trekked to find him , he was just packing up and said he would give me a hand no problem . Well after digging some more and find some carpet and bits of wood that had been dumped in the wooded area we got no where , now this guy did something that I had insisted he didnt and he tried to reverse up to me and was about 15 feet away with about another 3 to go for his tow rope to reach when his front end found a similar but slightly shallower soft spot . Ooooopppps not good , I told him forget me we will get you out and I will sit out half hour later and just as we get him out and the lock keeper returns home and eventually gets hold of the local farmer who turns up 20 minutes later with a JCB digger and a wire cable and pulls me free . He only asked for £20 which was a bargain since I know another one that charges £55 !!!! Obviously I couldnt take any pics as it would look like a piss take , so I took the ones below 3 days later . I eventually got home at 11.30pm and sulked to bed and thanked my good lady for the " in case you get stuck " comment .

As I said at the start this was to be my last session on my Ashfield ticket as I had become disillusioned and angry at some things that have happened this season , some of which has been detailed in my blog but also some that have not . The deadline for renewals was the 28th of february and now at the 26th after having a major rethink and a chat with a couple of mates who are also members I came to the conclusion that I was only spiting myself and with a waiting list of 250+ it was doubtful I would get back in so unusually for me I did a u-turn and renewed and actually felt good about it .
So on the 28th I headed back to Cromwell and after speaking to mate fishing and witnessing him landing a barbel around 7lb so off I went to a swim downstream . My choice of bait was the same boillie on the downstream rod and on what was the pellet rod I changed it to straight lead and my home made boillies , which are a base mix of Nutrabaits Trigga and 50/50 mix with a special extra bit of Archie Braddock Spice  that was added to 6 eggs , monster crab , olive oil infused with garlic . The rods went out and I settled back to enjoy the tranquility . My mate called to see me and told me he had added a 2nd barbel of the same size as the first . Was I worried ? a little but theres always a chance , when it got to 5pm I felt it was looking bleak and went to see my mate who was just packing up and had added a 3rd barbel just under double figures . I bid him farewell and went back to my swim , rods back out and a call of nature and as I finished the rod with my home made on nodded once and then went into meltdown I hooked into what was obviously a barbel that in a matter of seconds had gone downstream and then back up and round my other line so it was pass the rods over each other to get them free which actually went quite easily at this point I made a mistake by standing on what looked solid ground but was actually silt form the floods and I found myself sliding down the bank and feet first in to the margins , luckily I landed on solid gravel and was only ankle deep . The fish didnt cause me any more trouble and into the net she went and on the scales 8lb 10oz.

To bring this up to date my next session was 6th march after worker and another 3 hours planned but it didnt pan out like that , on arriving in slightly milder conditions the car was a little full and the stretch only has 8 or 9 swims and I discovered only 2 spare and those there had shared 1 bream between them so after a good look at the free swims I settled myself in and set the rods up , now I dont know why I do this but again I altered my baits , the home mades were left at home and I opted for some ready mades that had been lying in the shed a while which were Squid and Black Pepper , the other rod was again to be the Krill ones but I added a twist by sticking half of matching pop up on . The rods didnt go out til 4.10pm and it was just looking like been a chill session after work when at 5.20pm the krill and pop up rod dropped back and then began nodding , I lifted into what I expected to be a bream but it felt heaving but the fight was a little strange as the fish seemed to have hidden power but didnt seem to be able to sustain a fight , I was surprised to see a barbel that looked a good 8lber come to the net and on the scales went 8lb 6oz , the reason for the strange fight is evident from the photo as you can see it has a deformed back . This is the first fish to be photoed using my new camera and isnt the best . One strange thing here and thats that these 3 sessions have been over the space of 8 days and resulted in 3 bites and 3 fish that have all come between 5.05pm and 5.20pm !!!

Well thats up to date now and as the river season draws to a close I will be out on thursday 13th March and fishing til midnight of the 15th somewhere on the Trent and will bring you up to date with that and a reflection on my season and my plans for the close season .