Season 16th June 2006 to 14th March 2007
The note at the top of my season start journal page reads
" My aim is to catch a barbel a month throughout the season"
This was my third season of active barbel fishing and was mainly at that infamous syndicate water of the middle Trent
16th June - Tidal Trent -Girton.
I thought I would give the un-fished side of the Barbel Society stretch a try.
It's a warm and cloudy day, the river on this side is shallow out for about twenty feet and is crystal clear.
The bottom is covered with heavy gravel.
For 12 hours I fished two tides with not a touch.
Had a chance to chat with Reverend Hugh, who was just down for a visit, and Barry the Baliff who was fishing just up from me on the maggot feeder.He also blanked
27th June - Tidal Trent Sutton
Another blank, I fished the tide run off from 13:00 to 19:00 on another cloudy but warm day.
Hugh was down again, he had arrived earlier and had a couple of bream and a barbel of 3lb4ozs.
After I left he latched onto and landed two more barbel.
30th June - Middle Trent Hazelford
Took Pauline along for a picnic and we arrived at about 11:30 to find a low and clear river, as expected, on a very hot day.Nobody else around.
I decided to use two rods in a swim about 40 yards down from the weir and under the bank side willows.
There were the occasional plucks and pulls and after about five hours when it had started to cloud over, I hooked and lost a fish on the downstream rod.
I hooked into and landed my first barbel of the season of 5lb 2ozs, at about 5:30pm.
Fished through until about 8pm, and as fellow syndicate members had started to turn up in numbers, decided to call it a day.
I later learned as they fished into the night until dawn that at least a dozen barbel had been landed in the willow stretch up to 10lb13ozs.
5th July - Hazelford
No sign of rain as yet but an overcast warm day.The river is looking painfully low.
A crowd around today under the willows, when we arrived at 4pm, just when I wanted to give Ray Coleman my neighbour and guest a good chance to catch his first barbel.
We squeezed in just below the weir wall on the "beach", I fished next to the wall, Ray just where the run of bank side willow starts.
Fairly uneventful until I struck into a big fish, that I thought I had well under control, but it then took control and started taking line off the reel and headed upunder the footbridge towards the weir pool. I tightened up in the hope of putting stop to it's run, but it just kept going...my 8lb line parted!
Ray in the meantime had caught a pup of a barbel of about 2lb, we left at 10pm without any further fish.
Ray wants to go again!
18th July - Hazelford
Decided to have an evening session on what had been a red hot day. I fished in the same swim where I had the picnic with Pauline.
I had a very good rod wrench as soon as I put the bait in and landed a barbel of 6lb8oz.I thought I was on for a good session but found,as usual, what appears to be indications of a good session soon fades.
I fished until 10o'clock with a few tugs and knocks. This was my first barbel on a boilie.
24th July - Hazelford
Arrived at the river at around 5;30am,with my guest John Ledger.
It was starting to feel very warm already, and the river had a fair bit of foam coming down from the weir that really did make John moan. as he wanted to trot a float down.
He did however, despite his moans land a very good netful of roach from just down stream where the foam had thinned below the stretch of willows, fishing with tares and caster.
As the sun moved around and started to become very hot he moved up under the willow shade and just sat and chatted with me.
In the meantime I had landed a barbel of about 4lb on my first cast and around an hour later landed one of 6lb8oz.
Two in the first hour.
I then proceeded to catch fairly regularly chub to about 2lb8oz and my first bream from this stretch, only about a pound but a change from the usual.
In the meantime John had moved up close to the weir wall, so I moved up one swim down from him so we could continue our chat and I was soon into a barbel which gave me an excellent tussle under the rod tip and weighed in at 8lb14oz. It did have somebody elses deep swallowed hooklength which I snipped off as low down as possible,. I didn't want to go digging around it's insides!!
So we lingered on,and decided we would get the the local pub in Fiskerton for about 1o'clock as it was really heating up.
.John had one more cast and landed himself an 8lb barbel and vowed that next time I invited him he would barbel fish only.
We went along to the Bromley Arms to sit on their riverside patio, with a couple of good pints of ale each before our journeys home.
4th August - Hazelford
I took the water temperature when I arrived at 1pm on a cloudy but warm afternoon, it was 19.7centigrade!
IH was already in the first swim of the fishery under the weir wall.It ended up he had six barbel between 1215 and 4pm and then nothing.
I was down a few pegs and my rod was active all afternoon, but no barbel the chub had moved in and I had six between about a pound and the biggest 4lb10oz. I left at around 8pm after a few motionless hours.
16th August - Hazelford
Another warm and sunny day which started to cloud over before I left after a five hour session from 6:30am.
I took the water temperature again out of interest, and it had reduced from my last visit to 17.1c; I decided to fish below the weir wall as there there was still a good current running through the low and clear river.
I was very soon into the barbel, in fact 3 in the first 15 minutes.
It came to the point where I decided to discontinue fishing with two rods, as they were both nodding away to the activity in the depths and were neither getting my full attention.
A pretty good morning catching 5 between 4lb6oz and 8lb7oz and loosing three to snags.
28th August - Hazelford
Another hot and sunny day with a threat of heavy rain, that just moved around the valley. The river was still low and clear but was running through quite quickly, so some rain was falling upstream.Water temperature 17.5c.
Fished for nine hours in total, three of which were downstream, no bites. I moved up to the weir wall swim and tried prawns and mussells as bait, no barbel but a chub of about 2lb8ozs and a roach of about oozs.
Two others in attendance IH who was piking and Barry the Baliff, he had one barbel.
30th August -Hazelford
The river was still running clear at 18.3c, when Ray and I arrived at 4pm for an evening session on a warm afternoon that developed into a misty rain evening by the time we left at 8.30pm.
One again I fished the weir wall with Ray just down stream from me.
Fairly slow fishing, but Ray ended the afternoon with two chub at 3lb14oz and 3lb8oz on small pieces of luncheon meat.
I finished with two barbel at 8lb14oz and 8lb8oz.caught on pellet and Source boilie
9th September - Hazelford
Fished from 8am to 1pm in the wall swim and blanked as also did KT who was there when I arrived.
Water temperature 18.3c.
25th September - Hazelford
A hazy sunny morning start on the river at 7am and another visit with John Ledger for his barbel session.
The river was pushing through and fining down, with a temperature of 17.6c.
John lost his first fish after an hour of starting, and ended up with four barbel all around the 4/5lb mark.
I caught a chub of 4lb13ozs on the Source!
We left at 1.30pm for the Bromley Arms
27th September - Hazelford
A late warm afternoon session from 3.30 to 7pm found me again fishing the weir wall.
I have made a habit of taking the water temperature just to see what affect it has on my fishing, and will continue to do so, today it's 17c.
I also needed to get out to maintain my quest for a barbel a month and today would be my last chance in September and on my first cast a 6lb10oz fish.
What followed was a number of line and hook length failures. My main line should have been renewed at the start of the season, and now it was beginning to punish me with 3 fish lost!
Totally my fault and bone idleness, hopefully I will learn! Kicked my own arse all the way home.
12th October - Hazelford
The river is at the highest level I've seen it this season and quite choppy, so I chose to move down stream.
I fished with one rod from around 11.30 am and was into my first, and what turned out, after it snagged me for a short while, to be my only bite and barbel of 7lb14ozs. Caught on a double Teme Severn hali pellet.
It took a long time for the fish to recover, probably about 15 minutes, but it was a fish in fine condition.
The Reverend Hugh turned up shortly after I arrived and fished to about 3 30pm and left me for another hour on my own..biteless.
31st October - Hazelford
The river was clear and running off when I arrived at 1pm on cloudy,blustery rainy afternoon.
The water temperature is 12.8c.
Hugh is in attendance again, but we both blank with no sign of life, as I left at 5pm the evening shift of five members turned up. After spreading the doom and gloom I left for home.
My barbel tally so far after 13 trips
June 1
July 4
August 7
September 1
October 4
I will return with Part 2. Did I make my target,or will it have to wait until next season ?
No comments:
Post a Comment