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 .

First Blank !!!

Well I have got 3 sessions to write up later but since people have asked I thought I would do a quick right up of my first blank , which happened last night . It was a very eventful blank and one that gave me loads to think about .

It started badly when I called home to check on the dog and pick my clothes up . I got delayed for a couple of reasons and was later leaving than intended . I made good time until I got about 5 mile from Newark when everything in front of me stopped dead , we went through phases of crawling or not moving for about 20 minutes then we were away and no idea what had caused the hold up . I didnt arrive at the Trent til 4pm and so decided rather than do my usual go to far end of stretch and work my way back and to settle in the final swim . There was no one else there which told a story in itself .

The river was still low and literally like tap water and the wind was blowing a gale into my face  . I started on mashed bread and some of the Hookbait Companies flakey fake bread which is garlic and cheese flavour and glugged it in the big cheese gloop

This is a quality product and you are never in doubt the bait is still on , however I picked the wrong day to try it . Aside from the 6 swans that would'nt go away nothing showed an interest and after 2 hours I decided a change was in order and so the small pack of steak and mince that I had bought the day before more on a hunch than anything as I had confidence in the Hookbait Company products . Now as I pushed the mince into the feeder a kingfisher shot passed and as I slipped a sliver of steak on the hook another went passed , now thats usually a good omen and I cast out with new confidence . The sun had started to dip and the wind had remarkably dropped .Within minutes I was getting taps and rattles and taps and things were looking good , this bite never developed and on retrieving the feeder the water was obviously a bit warm for steak and mince as both that in the feeder and on the hook was washed out . So rebaiting and recasting and the same again but this time I decided to try and hit it but felt nothing . I shortened the hook link and tried again this time the taps were followed by a wrap around and I struck and contacted nothing !!!!!!! Change to a bigger hook brought the same result , a smaller hook did the same . I was really struggling to come up with a reason for what was happening but was still confident that something would slip up but fate was to stop that happening as I recast I can only assume my hook caught my isotope and the quiver tip shot out into the river fortunately the mainline didnt break and retrieved the tip and set about sorting it out only to discover the isotope had gone along with the hook , now I had been up since 4.30am and no matter what background I put the tip against I was never going to make a bite out so had to call it a day . As I write this my tackle has been resorted and some alterations made to my bait and I will be out again after work for a few hours tomorow , I will be trying  a different stretch and wont give in !!!!!!!!!!!

Well heres an update on this and its not pretty , was out last night from 5pm til 11.30pm and despite trying 2 different stretches I never had a sign of a fish . The second stretch had about 15 anglers on and other than a 4lb jack pike and a 1lb 8oz chub nothing was caught and on dark nothing was showing . My own personal conclusion is that its too early for steak and mince plus the river needs some fresh water .I think until the weather gets colder it could be back to barbel and probably on the tidal .

Close but not quite

My last 2 sessions have been very different yet I was targeting the same species . I was out friday night targeting barbel but back on the Tidal Trent on a syndicate section that I had targeted almost exclusively 2 season ago and that had only seen me 3 or 4 times last season due to a mix of the floods and joining another club and so trying their stretches .

On arriving at 4pm I walked the entire stretch checking out all the swims that had been cut out , the first thing that struck me was that the floods had changed a number of the swims , some beyond recognition . A couple had even been moved and cut out in different positions . I finally settled on 2 possible swims and returned with my marker rod to check for snags and find the gravel and any deep holes . I made my final decision and loaded my barrow up and maybe my way to the swim . Now the last forecast I had seen had said that it would be fine and that rain would arrive mid saturday afternoon soon given this I had only taken my stormshield brolly and just my reclining chair which was a good job as you can see the swim was a bit tight and surrounded by stinging nettles .

 After getting everything set up I knocked myself a bacon sandwich up and sat back and relaxed . I then had a phone call that was to have me wondering whether not bringing the bivvy was a good idea as my mate who was on another stretch told me that the latest weather forecast had said heavy rain from 9pm . I got my rods out with the usual baits of fish based pellet upstream and double pellet on the downstream . Just after 8pm I hooked and landed a bream of around 5lb .At 8.55 I had a single bleep that went on for a few seconds before I lifted into my first barbel of the session and at 6lb 5oz it was a good start .

It then started raining thankfully not heavy at this point and I took 2 bream in quick succession around 3lb each . The rain then picked up but fortunately I had brought my army gortex gear so wasnt in any danger of getting wet . Just after 10pm I connected with another barbel and the fight told me this was a better fish and the scales confirmed this when the y swung round to 8lb 1oz .

The rain eased a little while I got the picture done and I slipped the fish back and had just recast the rod when the other rod went into meltdown and I was again scrambling down the steep incline and on to the rocks to do battle with another barbel .

I took this picture the following morning and the tide was in and the at the time of the bite above it was 3 feet lower . After a prolonged battle I guided a large barbel into the net , I unclipped the hooklink and put the rod back on the pod then lifted the net to take it up the bank and got the feeling that it may be my first double of the season but what the scales said was a gutter as they settled on 9lb 15oz which was another season high but still 1oz short of the target .

The rain then came back with a vengence but it didnt put the fish off as I took another bream of 4lb 2oz and then 2 barbel around the 5lb mark which due to the weather getting worse were unhooked and released in the water . At around 2am I decided to reel the rods in and get my head down and leave the rain to it . As I lay on my now fully reclined chair and started drifting off the rain incredibly got heavier . I awoke just after 6am to find the rain had reduced to a drizzle recasting the rods more in hope than anticipation and got the bacon on again I had just finished my bacon butty and had just stuck the kettle on when the upstream rod started nodding which signaled bream number 5 was on its way , again I unhooked it in the margin and slipped it back it looked around 4lb . Now just as I had finished brewing my coffee I had the most unbelievable take . I received a single bleep on the upstream rod and as I stood with my hand on the rod awaiting a further indication the alarm screamed into life and the baitrunner was a blur as a fish turned and shot down stream at an incredible pace to such an extent that by the time I had lifted into it the fish was on the verge of going round the bend 20 yards below me and the line was in the trailing branches of the overhanging tree .

So I was now fighting a fish intent of disappearing downstream and the tree that had my line caught in it , having stopped the fish it did the only thing that would help me and shot back towards me and also out into mid stream and miraculously pulled the line off the branches and freed it , with no more drama the fish slipped into the net first time and on the scales was a surprising 6lb 4oz . 

My luck continued as the rain never returned and all my stuff was dry and I was ready to leave by 11am on returning home I arrived just in time for the next lot of rain that was starting .

Now having been so close to that season opening double I had to get back out now I would love to report how I went out and finally found that fish but I didnt in fact the session was a serious let down . The river and conditions looked spot on and the tide was favourable but the fish didnt think so . I cast out at 6pm and at 3am I was on my way home scratching my head , I lost a bream early on and had to wait 2 hours for another chance and this was the highlight as it was a river high of 7lb 10oz .

Now friday the fish had been crashing all over the river even during the heavy rain tonight hardly a one showed and the only thing that I could put it down to was the very bright moon which I have found to be a bad thing before . I went on to take 3 more bream all around 4lb but the thing that had me shaking my head and swearing out loud was when I had a screaming take and on getting to the waters edge had the fish well under control and my net in position the fish a barbel that looked around 7 or 8lb came up and as usual took the final surge and all fell slack , now I swore before I even retrieved the rig thinking I had suffered a hook pull but on inspection I found my hook link had broke halfway along , I have not lost a fish like that for a couple of years and can only assume it had been damaged it before and not noticed . That will be put in the memory bank for future reference . So there we have it some nice fish caught and as always something new learned . I will be trying to get an after work session in later in the work .

Til then tight lines guys

Short update

This will be a very short update to avoid me getting behind . I wont be able to get out for another 10 days but that could be the start of 3 sessions in quick succession . I went out sunday planning on a doing a session into night . I left home at 7pm for a half hour journey and made good time but after driving to several stretches of the Trent both middle and tidal and speaking to a few people and watching from a discreet distance , this sounds sneaky but some people do tend to try and mislead you , I tried a final spot close to my last session . I arrived as the bailiff was leaving but he still stopped for a chat by the time he had left I got my rods out it was 9pm and nearly dark . The river was flat calm and was alive with small fish but no sign of any decent fish rolling . After an hour of no indications the downstream double pellet rod tore off and I was connected a my first barbel and it was soon in the net , now in my haste to set up I forgot to get the camera set up and rather than leave the fish in the net too long I decided to quickly weigh and return it . On the scales it went 5lb 2oz , half hour later and the upstream rod starts nodding to indicate a bream has found my bait ,sliding it into the net it looked around 3lb and I unhooked and returned it without taking it out of the water .
The river was strangely quiet and despite having people around 100 yards either side of me I saw no sign them catching . I waited another half hour and with no further action I decided on a change and swapped the downstream rod from feeder to straight lead and the pellets was removed and one of my home made boillies put in its place . Within minutes I was getting strange knocks on the rod tip that never developed . I then took another barbel of 4lb 7oz on the upstream rod .

This was quickly followed by another of 4lb 3oz which I didnt bother photoing . The knocks , some quite savage continued on the boillie rod and as I was working later I decided to give it half hour more as it was 3am and needed at least a couple of hours sleep but felt I needed to make a change so went for shortening the hook length on the boillie rod . I began putting stuff away and had just finished putting away one rod when I had a bang on the boillie rod , I went and stood next to it and a series of taps and knocks started and as it was now 3.30am decided to take a chance and hit it and I connected with a fish that was oobviously not a barbel and after a very spirited fight on 12lb line I netted the fish , on putting my head torch on and peeling back the mesh of the net I discovered I had netted a decent size chub .On the scales it was a season high of 5lb exactly and doubly satisfying caught on my own bait .

Have heard reports from elsewhere that some have been having some quite sizeable barbel and others having multi catches so get the impression the fish are shoaling up again with the low clear river . I could have fished the same area I had my 2 multiple catches from but apart from liking to fish different areas I have another reason for leaving that area alone but wont divulge why out of respect for someone . So my search for my first double of the season contunes .