The rain brings a result

Tuesday 24th August

We had a fair bit of rain yesterday and knowing what the river was carrying on sunday, i anticipated that the level and colour would be about right for a Barbel or two. I wanted to get out last night but never got chance so i made damn sure that i was able to get down tonight.

When i arrived i was a little surprised to see the river only carrying about 6 inches, i thought it would be a fair bit more than that but at least it had a nice colour to it. My tactics was to fish my big home-made feeders filled with a mixture of vitalin, swimstim and pellets with boilies and pellets for hookbaits.

No sooner had i got both rods out the downstream one was away and i struck into a heavy fish. It didnt do much till i got it under the rod tip whereupon it went berserk and after an arse-clenching few minutes where i got caught up in tree and the fish buried in some tree roots i finally slipped the net under it. At 10lb8oz it was the joint biggest id ever had from the river so i was well pleased.

After id done the pics, returned the fish and reset everything, it was about 20 minutes before i had another take which i promptly bumped off on the strike. After that the Chublets moved in with a vengeance and was getting bangs and pulls on the rod tips every 5 minutes. 3 managed to hang themselves despite lengthening the hair to try and keep them off a bit.

No more Barbel were forthcoming and all too soon the darkness began to close in and it was time to go. Once i got home i compared the photos of the 10lber with one i caught at the same weight from the same spot last season thinking it was the same fish. Both looked very similar but there were one or two very subtle differences which indicated both were different fish.

Will the Weather ever make its mind up?

Friday 20th August

As the title of this entry suggests, weve been experiencing some very changeable weather patterns of late and today was no exeption. Heavy rain one minute and bright sunshine the next, surely the fish must be as confused as the rest of us! Never mind, at least weve had a bit of water going into the rivers which should perk the fishing up a bit hopefully.

This evening i headed back to the same area of Trent that i fished last Sunday exept i had the stickfloat in mind cos the spot i fished last week had a lovely crease which screamed Roach. When i got there however the river level had dropped about 6 inches from last week and most of the colour had dropped out of it too. The meant that the crease was now further out and much less pronounced but it still looked worth a go especially as the right hand margin had now become a nice slack area which looked good for a Perch or two.

I soon had the stickfloat trundling along the crease and by feeding a combination of maggots and hemp i was soon getting a bite a chuck. Small Perch were the main culprits but they were interspersed with a few Bleak and the odd nice Roach to about 6oz. After catching the Bleak i setup a livebait paternoster on a second rod and placed it in the slack downstream.

Within minutes it pulled over and a small perch was brought in and this was subsequently followed by another soon after. After that the paternoster proved to be quite slow with just two small Pike to about 7lb caught over the next couple of hours. The Stickfloat provided some good fishing though and i caught steadily throughout the session.

Archie Braddock was fishing the next peg upstream and i stopped fishing for a while to have a good chat with him. The guys been fishing the Trent for many years longer than i am old and i wanted to pick his brain for a few ideas. In true Archie fashion he didnt disappoint and i packed up my kit with some good food for thought.

Sunday 22nd August

The weather was very sunny and warm today so rather than heading out with the full kit i decided upon a bit of lure fishing on my local river Soar. I was getting follows from microperch every other cast on a mepps comet but didnt get anything positive for ages until i finally caught one of about 6oz. Thinking the fish might be in the faster more oxygenated water due to the bright conditions, i headed for a new area near a weir.

First cast brought a small Chub of about half a pound which was encouraging but knowing the area is usually a good bet for a Pike or two i switched to a larger lure. After a good search around with it i eventually hooked a fish which turned out to be a very good Perch, unfortunately it spat my lure back at me after much head shaking leaving me somewhat gutted. The lure i hooked it on is pictured below and as you can see its a good mouthful for a Perch!

After that as i headed back to the car, i saw a couple of Jacks in the margins but they werent the slightest bit interested in anything i put in front of them. Ah well, at least i didnt blank!

A bit of action at last!

Tuesday 10th August

After a grueller at work today and coming home to a housefull of screaming kids and nagging women i had to get out fishing for a few hours. Id bought some maggots with the intention of using them last weekend but i hadnt so i decided to head to a tiny weirpool on a local bit of river near my house. My intention was to catch a few livebaits in order to tempt a Perch or two.

When i arrived i was surprised to see the river was carrying about 10inches of water. Wed had some rain in the night but i didnt think it was that heavy, obviously i was wrong. Despite the extra water it was still running clear and i was soon catching a steady stream of Chublets and Roach.

Out went the first livey on a paternoster and within a couple of minutes the rod was bouncing as a small Perch of about 8oz made off with the bait. A promising start i thought, at least there was one or two in a feeding mood. Soon after recasting the rod top lurched over violently and a better fish of over a pound was soon bristling in the net.

After this it got a bit manic over the next hour or so, the Perch seemed to be really walloping the liveys and i caught around a dozen. Nothing massive with biggest going 2lb4oz (see below) but it was great fun and a lovely change to be catching a few after a dour few weeks. Soon enough the darkness arrived and i was forced to pack up with the fish still biting.

A Quiet Spell

Ill start by apologising for the lack of activity on here recently! ive not really had much to post lately mainly because i havent been fishing much. Its not through lack of oportunities to go either, more due to the fact that not many places are fishing great at the moment and i havent been able to find the inspiration to get out there and do it. Most of my favourite summer haunts are suffering from very low water levels and the fish really arnt playing ball.

Despite this i have managed to have a bit of a dabble over the last couple of weeks, for example, theres a tiny brook near my house where ive been introducing my kids to the world of fishing. Theres lots of little Trout, Dace and Chub in there which are always more than willing to grab a floatfished maggot. Its a good place for the kids to learn a bit about watercraft and stealth because these are truly wild fish and the brook is very shallow and overgrown. They both enjoyed themselves anyway which is the important bit!

Last week i also decided to try for a Barbel on my local stretch of the Soar with no success whatsoever. I stopped into dark fishing pellets and boilies and only managed several Chub raps for my efforts. It didnt look like anyone had fished the stretch for ages because the pegs were very overgrown.
Since that trip ive discovered something which has certainly aroused my interest again big time so watch this space!