The occasional angler

This entry is something of an update rather than the usual report mainly because ive hardly been out . Im still looking for a worthy fishing vehicle and hopefully ill be fully mobile again in the next week or so.
What of the fishing then? well, since my last entry ive been a grand total of three times . The first was an evening Barbel session on the Trent and other than a tiny Chub the fish werent obliging whatsoever. The temperature plummeted as it got dark and the moon shone like a torch in the sky . Ive never paid too much attention to moon phases but even so, im never confident in a full moon which is why it got the blame for my crap session!

Great for werewolves, not so great for Barbelling (not for me anyway!)

My next trip out was another evening session, this time in pursuit of Zander for the first time this season. Again the Trent was my destination and i headed straight for my favourite area and had to beat out a peg in the himalayan balsam as it appeared that nobody had been up there so far this season. The action was a lot slower than i was expecting but it wasnt too long before i was doing battle with a jack of about 5lb. The lead got snagged in some boulders under my rod tip though and i ended up getting cut off. I hate leaving traces in Pike like that but i only use single barbless trebles when Zandering so hopefully the fish will manage to shed the rig without coming to much harm.

Around an hour later i hit into what felt like a big Zander on the rod in the central channel. I was convinced it was a Zander right up until a largish Pike of around 15lb sounded on the surface .  At this point it woke up and behaved in a far more pike-like fashion, making short fast runs and tail-walking all over the place. As i went to net it i could clearly see my hook in the front edge of its bottom jaw. I reached out with the net and i couldnt believe it when a final defiant flare of its gills had the hook flying back at me! Its head was on the drawstring as it turned and slowly disappeared into the murky depths. Bugger! The Zander never played ball in the end either despite me stopping into darkness so i packed up on a blank.

The ubiquitous rod shot

My most recent trip was last Thursday and i went out for the afternoon on a stretch of my local Soar, target Perch. After walking the stretch there was a lot of Chub in evidence around some moored boats so i spent an hour or so chucking a light link leger at them baited with maggots. A string of small Chub to around 2lb fell to the tactic before i got itchy feet and headed to my fancied Perch area.

Livebaits werent hard to come by and every put-in with floatfished maggots resulted in a small Chublet so it wasnt long before i had a float paternoster bobbing about next to a likely looking bush.

In the dangerzone...... 

The bait was hit in less than a minute by a tiny perch with eyes bigger than it belly, in fact it was only a couple of inches longer than the Chublet it took! This swim proved to be full of these small fish and i was catching them as fast as i could catch baitfish to give to them!



Greedy bstard!

A move was called for and after doing so i quickly found the next spot wasnt much better! To be fair the fish were a little bigger although the fish pictured below was pretty much the biggest one i had.



Biggest of the day

Once again i moved, this time to a spot where ive good fish before . Bait catching was a bit of an issue here and i struggled for bites. It soon became apparent why the small fish were scarce in the swim though because once i did manage to catch a baitfish it was quickly mullered by the resident Pike (see the pic below). I couldnt raise any more action after that so i packed up pleased at catching a few fish albeit small ones .

Jacks were troublesome ....

Starting em young

Sunday 7th August

Ive not been out at all this week due to some major car trouble which has resulted in us becoming a one car family for the first time in over ten years. As a result this has drastically cut down on my fishing opportunities and the situation looks set to continue for the next couple of weeks until i can sort a new motor out, nightmare!
Nevertheless i managed to get out on Sunday afternoon and instead of heading to the river i opted for a trip to a local brickpit with my daughter Charlotte. Shes been on at me for ages to take her fishing and the pool in question has a good stock of small Carp and silvers so action was guaranteed.
The heavens opened just as we made our first casts and within minutes the great British weather was throwing everything it had at us! Thunder, lightning and torrential rain battered us as we sheltered under a little nylon brolly. I couldnt believe it, i was expecting a nice easy afternoon of sitting in the sun catching 3-4lb Carp on bits of floating bread! I was tempted to pack up but it soon started to brighten up and with all the fish showing it wouldve been rude not to stay and catch some of them!
It didnt take long to start getting a few, they werent interested in floaters but maggots fished shallow with freebies sprayed over the top at regular intervals brought us a string of fish, mostly rudd and skimmers. I put out a pellet on a method feeder along the margins and this was soon rattling off as the resident Carp took an interest.
We stayed around 4 hours and had a decent bag of fish by the end of it. Charlotte certainly enjoyed herself even though she struggled with casting and striking a bit . She wants to know when were going again anyway so the weather obviously never put her off at least!



More new spots and a few new tricks

Monday 25th July

Ive been reading a lot about rolling meat for Barbel of late so tonight i decided to try it out for the first time on a local stretch of the Derwent for an hour or two. Theres only so much you can learn from reading about it and as i made my first cast i wasnt sure what to expect.
My rig was total simplicity, a size 4  buried in a rough cut chunk of spam and 2 swan shot pinched on the line about 10inches from the hook. After a few casts in a couple of swims i hadnt had any discernable pulls and i was starting to doubt my technique, was i getting it wrong somehow? I felt i was getting better control of the bait with every cast but the fish didnt seem to be playing ball.
The next spot i tried was the one where the Swan thwarted my plans the other night and i could see a few Chub ghosting about but no Barbel, they wouldnt be far away though. I cast in line with a nice run between the streamer weed and watch the bait trundle through. A couple of fish inspected it but never picked up until i started to retrieve it for another run down. As soon as the bait lifted a Chub dashed sidewards and grabbed it but i bumped it unfortunately. They didnt seem spooked so another cast was made, this time the bait disappeared from view behind some weed. A sudden double thump on the tip had me striking into a fish and after a brief tussle i landed a Chub of 4.4, at least id caught on the method now, i was well made up!
Obviously after the disturbance the fish did a disappearing act so i moved to another swim. I had no bites after 4 or 5 casts so i decided to try holding the bait back every 5-6ft and let it step its way down the swim. It was deeper here than the last spot and i couldnt see the bait so i was relying on feeling for a bite . When it came it was unmistakable, a sudden smooth pull which took the rod with it! i struck and the culprit was obviously a Barbel judging by the speed i was now backwinding! I locked up and applied some side strain in a bid to turn it then everything went slack. Closer inspection revealed that the knot on the hook had given way, yet another lost fish then, my own fault for not checking the knot after that Chub.
After that i was a bit gutted and the light was drawing in so i headed for home. Rolling is certainly a method ill be trying again very soon .


Friday 29th July

Tonight  was time for what has now become my weekly trip out with my pal Keith . We had originally planned to hit the Dove but didnt fancy it on the day and opted for yet another new area of the Trent instead. I say new but ive fished the pegs on the lower and upper ends of the stretch before but considering they are over half a mile apart that leaves a lot inbetween where ive never wet a line! Judging by the amount of swim clearing we had to do it didnt look like anybody else had fished there either!
I cast out a 4oz lead rig about 3/4 of the way across in the main flow and found it was holding bottom well until the drifting weed hit it. To beat the problem i was forced to backlead which is something i hate but sometimes its a necessary evil and it certainly did the trick on this occasion. My other rod was a blockend feeder setup which was cast down the edge along the crease. The reason for using a blockend was to hold a flavour trail near the bait rather than having it washed away within seconds, a trick i picked up off one those underwater Barbel DVDs that are doing the rounds at the minute. Both rods were on Boilies.
Nothing happened until the last half an hour before dark which seems to be the magic time these days. Suddenly i was getting the odd tap and fish were starting to show regularly out in the middle. I was feeding a few pellets along the inside crease every five minutes or so and just as it was getting dark i recieved the 3ft twitch! I picked up the rod and struck only to bump the fish off! If i didnt have bad luck i wouldnt have any luck!
Fish were still showing in my swim so i quickly recast and rebaited. This time the knocks and taps had stopped completely and i was convinced id blown my only chance of the evening. Suddenly, out of the blue the same rod wrenched over and a Barbel was well and truly on! The thing went mental and its a good job my other rod was backleaded otherwise id have been in right mess. Once landed i weighed it at 8lb2oz.

Keith also chipped in with and 8lber of his own so it turned out to be one of our more successful trips in the end and from an area which has certainly shown some potential. The blockend feeder thing seems to have some mileage in it too considering i never had sniff on the standard rig out in the flow which is where the fish were showing.

Sunday 31st July

I was Trentbound again this evening, the conditions seemed pretty good for a bite or two being muggy and overcast with a warm breeze. Both rods went out with blockend feeders tonight and i also droppered in about 2 pints of hemp aswell to see if itd have any marked effect.

To cut a long story short it didnt, all i caught was a Bream of about 3lb and had a few other Breamy looking knocks. I stopped till 10.30 in the hope of an afterdark Barbel to no avail. Keith managed a fish of 8lb2oz though.

At one point i nearly jumped out of my skin as a couple of blokes on dirtbikes came thundering past within inches of my head. I was sat to the side of the path and if id leaned back in my chair at the point they came past they would have taken my head off. Just prior to packing up we were treated to an impressive fireworks display coming from a nearby hotel which probably had the Barbel reaching for their tin hats!

I seem to be really struggling with the Barbel this year for some reason. Lots of trips for not many fish and the Trent in particular has been very tough for me so far. I need to take a step back and maybe stick to one venue or have a look at my approach. There are other venues which offer much easier fishing but i want to catch the fish which i know to be present in the ones im on now. At the minute my 2011 target of a 12lb+ fish seems a very long way off!

Back to business as usual

Wednesday 20th July

After spending a long weekend in Wales followed by a couple of nights staying with some friends in Wiltshire i was gagging to get back on the river and after arriving back home i didnt waste any time in doing so! After unpacking i was sat on the banks of the Trent within two hours!
The river looked really good to be honest, wed had some rain whilst id been away and id been informed it had got to around 2ft up at its peak. Today it had 3-4inches on it but still carried a nice bit of colour, the slight flush through seemed to have cleared some of the dreaded drifting weed out too and there was none of the usual great clumps of the stuff in evidence.
I got setup in a likely spot and it wasnt long at all before the tip banged over and a very tatty looking Chub of around 3lb was duly banked. Whilst i was down in Wiltshire i took the opportunity to pop into Hinders at Swindon and picked up a 10kg bucket of Elips pellets and it was one of these i caught the Chub on. I was hoping that might be the start of some frantic action but as ever, i found myself twiddling my thumbs and biteless for the next couple of hours. I was picking odd strands of weed up on the line but the situation was ten times better than it was before i went away.
About half an hour before dark i switched one rod over to boilie and within ten minutes i found myself connected to another Chub. At 5lb2oz it was new best for the season so far by an ounce and really brightened my session up . I packed up shortly afterwards. The pic below really doesnt do the fish justice, it was incredibly thick across its back.

Thursday 21st July

After last nights Barbel failure on the Trent i headed to the ever reliable Derwent for a morning session today just to get one under my belt for the week if nothing else. The river was fairly clear with nothing on it when i arrived although it mustve been up recently because one or two snags had been dislodged and some swims had tide marks indicating the river had been up around 18inches to 2ft.

I dropped straight into a known spot which ive caught from already this season and after a biteless couple of hours i was scratching my head and thinking about a move. The swim looks like its had a bit of hammer recently judging by the empty luncheon meat tins and beer cans strewn everywhere. I headed downstream to a couple of other swims a bit further off the beaten track.

When i got there i didnt fancy either of them, ive caught Barbel from both in the past but i couldnt put my finger on it, they just looked wrong somehow. I carried on downstream, hacking through the thick Himalayan balsam until i came to a spot which really caught my eye. Id fished it about four years ago and lost one, ever since then its always been one ive walked past in preference to other swims yet this time it seemed to call out to me strange as it may sound.

I cast in and sat back more in hope than expectation and after an hour of absolutely no indications whatsoever i was getting a little dispondent. Suddenly the baitrunner went into meltdown and i hit into a fish which flat-rodded me straight away such was its speed. I can honestly say ive never had a battle with a Barbel like the one i was now experiencing, it just wouldnt give up. One minute it would be on its side looking ready for netting and the next it would be half way across the river again hugging the bottom, brilliant stuff! I managed to net it in the end though and at 8lb8oz it was no monster but with its tatty dorsal fin and other scars it looked a right bruiser and it had certainly given me a good kicking!



I didnt even bother recasting in that swim after that, instead i had a walk even further downstream. As i did so i casually looked in the river for signs of fish like you do and after a short walk i suddenly froze. I couldve sworn id just seen a Barbel flash in the murk, sure enough, after a minute or so it did it again only this time it was accompanied by another, this was my next spot then!

The run the fish were in was only about 3ft deep and surrounded by streamer weed, fortunately the first cast was smack on at the head of the run and i quickly followed that up with a pouch of freebies to pull them up to the baited rig. After about 20minutes i was just starting to get little plucks and twitches which normally indicates theres a fish or two around the bait when the resident dumbass Swan appeared. He decided he didnt want to swim upstream anymore and that hed fly instead which is fine exept that his runway happened to be my nice Barbel filled gravel run. Obviously after hed clattered his way through it the fish were well and truly gone and he landed a mere 50 yards upstream wiggling his backside giving me the swan version of the two fingered salute, Gutted.

I decided to pack up after that as i was now miles from the car and the sky was looking dangerously like rain. Spotted these Goosander on the way back, i wouldnt like to be a Roach in the Derwent these days .......



Friday 22rd July

I spent the morning wandering around some of the less fished areas of the Trent with the lure rod with the intention of finding a suitable area for tonights Barbel session with Keith. The weed seemed quite bad in some areas compared to others but eventually after much legwork i found an area that made me confident of catching just by looking at it. It was slap bang in the middle of nowhere and it was obvious that nobody had been near it for years yet there was some lovely Chub to be seen in amongst the streamer weed and i felt sure the Barbel wouldnt be too far away.

That evening myself and Keith tabbed our way up there full of anticipation, there was lots of fences to negotiate and lots of foliage to batter down but we got there in the end. Its one thing getting to these places with just a lure rod and a small shoulder bag full of bits but when your encumbered with a full rod bag, a big rucky and a chair aswell as a net and a coat its a completely different ball game as my now knackered shoulder will testify!

The fishing wasnt as good as we were hoping with just one small Chub to my rods. Both of us were getting a few Chubby knocks on the tips throughout the evening and Keith lost a good Barbel as it was getting dark which was encouraging. Some big fish rolled in front of us too so ill definately be back there soon. 6oz was needed to hold bottom but the drifting weed was practically non-existent in the swims we fished so the baits held position for a good amount of time.

As we trudged back to the car the heavens opened and we got well soaked which just added to a fairly disappointing evening. Its all part of fishing though and your never gonna catch anything sitting at home. Time for a bit of a change for my next trip i think, i fancy breaking out the liveys for some Perch i reckon .........

Sunday 24th July

Today was to be my first trip for Perch with livebaits this season and i headed for a local stretch of the Soar. The conditions really didnt look great for it, very bright and quite hot with the river itself being very low and clear . Still, i had the maggots and they needed using so i headed down just for the morning before the sun got too warm . 

My general method of fishing this way is to fish a swim as normal trotting with the stickfloat and feeding it up and to have the livey paternostered on a second rod at the tail of the run.  The idea being that the feed attracts the small fish which in turn pull the bigger Perch into the swim and hopefully the first thing they come across will be my bait.

I managed to catch a small Dace on my first run down and out it went in readiness as i continued to build the swim. I caught loads of Roach, Dace, Bleak and Perchlets over the course of the next couple of hours but the bigger stripeys didnt seem to be having it at all. Suddenly the rod tip on the paternoster started tapping as the bait was obviously agitated by something, within a minute the tip slammed over and a Perch was on .  I saw it flash deep down in the water before suddenly it came off! wounded! it looked half decent too.

I hooked up another bait and recast, this time the bait was hit within seconds and a chunky fish of  1lb12oz was quickly netted. Out went another Dace  and again it was hit almost straight away, another lost fish! After that the shoal must have dispersed because no more takes were forthcoming.

An hour or so later and i had a Gudgeon kicking around on the paternoster which was violently taken by something. That too came adrift purely because the hook had turned around and was masked by the livebait so the Perch was never hooked. I usually hair-rig my liveys to avoid deep hooking but the trouble is it does allow the hook a certain amount of movement which can work against me on occasions.

It didnt take long to get another bite and there was no mistakes with this one as a nice 2lb6oz Perch slid into the net. That was to be it for the remainder of the trip, the sun was starting to burn so i made tracks pleased at getting a 2lber in tough conditions. Id like to have fished the evening instead but i had things on so it wasnt possible, i might try and squeeze an evening in one night after work this week.

The lure of the Trent

This week i have mostly been walking the banks of my local Trent chucking shiny bits of metal at unsuspecting fish and even though ive had some success its not exactly been mega prolific.

Monday 4th July

This was a good evening in terms of numbers of fish. It seemed that every peg contained hordes of tiny Perch and more often than not i had several little 'wasps' snatching and banging the lure as it neared the end of the retrieve. I ended up catching 8 or 9 Perch up to about 1.8, all good fun though and way better than an evening in front of the telly!


Saturday 9th July

It was a bright sunny morning as i headed out for a couple of hours . The stretch i fancied had a match booked on so i headed elsewhere and it proved to be a real grueller. There was large clumps of weed drifting down in every peg it seemed and the fish werent exactly crawling up the rod either. After the evening with the Perch last time around i had brought my ultralite gear to be a bit more sporting and allow the fish to give a better account of themselves. It didnt do me much good though and after an hour or so all i had was two tiny perch of about 4oz apiece.
Eventually i came upon a lovely swim with an overhanging tree and about 2ft of water over golden gravel gently flowing underneath it. More importantly there was five decent looking Chub holding station in the swim accompanied by a large Perch which was hanging close to the bank. I made a cast and all the fish drifted downstream a little although they didnt look overly spooked. My next cast was across the fishes noses and the Perch visibly bristled at the Lure at which point one of the Chub charged in and hit the lure hard. The light rod buckled over and the Chub put up a really good scrap. It was a good mid-4lber and it saved a tough session.

That evening i returned in a bid to catch a Barbel with my pal Keith . Other than a couple of chubby type knocks i ended up with a blank but Keith managed an 8lber just as it was getting dark. The weed situation seemed to be a lot better than it was earlier in the morning though.


Sunday 10th July

I managed to sneak out for a couple of hours in the afternoon to try and make up for the previous nights blank. I headed for the Derwent this time and i had a banker spot in mind which i felt sure would give me a Barbelly fix no matter what. It didnt disappoint and i had a nice 8.4 within an hour of casting in . Mission accomplished i headed for home just in time for supper!



Monday 11th July

My better half gave me a pass for yet another trip out tonight, i reckon she must have a fella on the go or summat trying to get rid of me all the time, good luck to him i say! Anyways, i headed back to the Trent with the lures and what a poor trip it turned out to be! I had a follow from a very large Perch which turned away at the last minute (dont they always?) and then sat under a weedbed refusing everything i ran in front of it. A short while later i hit into a lively Jack which threw the hook as a went to glove it out and then, just as was getting dark, i finally caught a fish! Still, it saved the blank, bless it!



Hotting up

Wednesday 29th June

Todays trip was a fairly spur of the moment affair, i had a few jobs to do after work and once these were done, i got home, had some dinner and sat down with nothing to do other than watch the wifes Soaps. Sod that ill head up the river for a couple of hours i thought, so i did.
I headed to the Derwent cos the Trent weed was starting to get bad again and i was setup and fishing for about 7ish. I had a couple of good pulls early on but no hookups but i kept trickling feed in and soon connected with a nice Chub of around 4lb or so. The 30lb braid took no prisoners and subdued the fish in no time.

Despite stopping till dark i had no more action other than another couple of bangs on the tip. The river seemed to have risen slightly whilst i was there cos the flow was noticeably quicker and there was weed drifting down too, strange because weve had no rain really.


Saturday 2nd July

I woke up Saturday morning with no intention of fishing till the evening, however it was really sunny outside and a shame to stay indoors so i managed to get a morning pass for a walk along the Trent with the lure rod. I headed to an area well off the beaten track which i fancied having a look at with a view to some future Barbel sessions.
The fishing started quite slowly which wasnt surprising considering the bright conditions and all i could muster in the first hour was a tiny perch with eyes bigger than its belly!

I did have a spectacular strike from a lovely double figure Pike on a 6inch Freestyler and it led me a merry dance until its tailwalking enabled it to shed the hook. After that i had a good look around at some swims, dropping in the odd spot with no success. I spotted some nice Carp in one area and made a mental note to return and have a bash for them at some point.
All the spots id tried so far had been slacker areas and seeing as id had little success i tried a much faster, shallower swim in a bid to maybe tempt a chub. First put in and the spinner got hit by a slightly better Perch.

Maybe i was onto something i thought and after no more pulls there i sought to find some more similar swims. I had a couple of follows in my next couple of spots but no hookups. I switched from the Mepps to a Sandra in an attempt to keep the bait down near the bottom in the quicker flow. The lure was absolutely smashed on my first cast with it and i was pleased to find myself connected to a proper Perch. At 3lb5oz it was the biggest id ever had from the Trent and it well and truly made my morning.

It wasnt until id put the fish back that i realised id moved the dial on the top of the camera to a different setting by accident which is why the photos above are so rubbish colourwise not to mention the fishes tail was curled around on the bottom pic too. The graffiti on a nearby bridge said it all ..........

I was on a real high from that last capture but my day wasnt done yet and in the very next spot i tried i latched into another good fish. This one went 3lb1oz on the scales leaving me gobsmacked. Ive fished the Trent many times for Perch and never had a three yet on this trip id had two in 10minutes!



The sun was now out in full force and was really starting to burn so, pleased with what id already had i headed back to the car. As i did so i decided to have a cast into one last swim. After a couple of casts i was just about to lift the lure out of the water when a large Perch rose out of the depths and inhaled the lure right before my eyes. This one scrapped like hell and after netting i thought it might even provide me with a hat-trick of threes. It wasnt to be on this occasion though but at 2lb8oz i wasnt disappointed, not one little bit.



That rounded off a very enjoyable session and i headed home for some lunch making plans for an evening of Barbelling ...........

After spending the afternoon in the garden with the kids and then having some dinner, i made my way to the Derwent for the evening. I only had minimum kit with me cos the area i intended to fish was a real hike from the carpark but it wasnt too long before i got setup.
I didnt have to wait long for a pickup, about ten minutes to be precise! The tip walloped over and the braid sang in the rod rings. I played the fish hard to stop it getting into a nearby snag and soon enough the fish was netted. At 8lb8oz it was a good start.



After that i moved on and found a nice spot with some deep water and a heavy current going under some nearbank bushes, it looked nailed on for a Barbel.  I needed 5oz of lead to hold bottom but i was confident of some action. After a while i had a bite and connected with a powerful fish which shot upstream and the hook pulled. I recast and had a repeat performance almost straight away. I was a bitted gutted at losing two on the bounce but that was put to rest about half an hour later when i landed a right battered old warrior of a Chub which went 5lb1oz, the best of the season so far!

By now the light was beginning to fade so i quickly headed for another spot i had in mind. By the time i got cast in it was nearly dark and i was struck by the sheer numbers of small fish that were showing. Cormorants have given the river a proper going over in recent years so it was nice to see lots of small fish still present in there. A fast take soon had my mind back on the job at hand and i found myself doing battle in the pitch black. The fish repeatedly weeded me up but after a few hectic moments rummaging for the net and head torch with one hand whilst holding on for grim death with the other, the fish was safely banked. It went 9lb4oz and brought a great days fishing to a happy end.

Barbel, braid and the return of the dreaded weed

Wednesday 22nd June

I had Wednesday booked off work to go fishing, i was meant to have a few days off but an ultra heavy workload caused by everybody else going on holiday meant i could only get the one day so id have to make the most of it. I really wanted to get back on the Derwent to even the score after losing a couple of nice fish last time around so, after dropping the kids off at school, i pointed the car towards Derby.
The river was painfully low but it was quite overcast and there was rain in the air so i was hopeful of a bit of action, I had a spot in mind so i headed straight there. It didnt look like thered been many down and i took note of a couple of new snags that had appeared during my 12month absence from the stretch.
The swim was tight so a one rod approach was all that was required and after casting in it wasnt long before i started to get a few bangs and twitches on the tip. I peered over the bank and could clearly see three Barbel in the vicinity of my rig, one was twice the size of the other two and clearly a nice double. As i watched, the larger fish suddenly bolted across the river and my baitrunner screamed. I grabbed the rod and a brutal struggle ensued. There was a nasty snag upstream and i had to really bully the fish on a short line, i could see it twisting and shaking its head in the clear water midriver. It shot towards the snag and i was forced to lock up in a bid to turn it, unfortunately this was a bridge too far for my mainline and it parted a the knot leaving me gutted.
Obviously there was no more Barbs to be seen in that area so i moved on to another stretch. The carpark on the new stretch was deserted so i thought itd be a good opportunity to fish the known flier peg down there. Id not fished it before and when i got there i was a little disappointed to see there was hardly any flow on it. There was a lot more broken water downstream which looked more Barbelly but having heard of the swims reputation i stuck to my guns and got setup.
Within 30minutes i hit into a fish and after skulldragging it away from the snag opposite into midriver i soon had it in the net. At 9.2 it was a good start and my first Derwent Barbel of the new season. Another one of 6.12 followed shortly afterwards and my confidence in the peg was sky high, now i know why its so popular!

9lb2oz

6lb12oz

Unfortunately, things went a little downhill after this due to another angler showing up determined to fish the snag opposite me regardless of me being there or not. Despite me being the only other angler on the river for miles he setup upstream of me and cast down to my swim. A slight argument ensued and he went on his way somewhere downstream. After this i couldnt get any more action so i headed to the Trent for an evening session.

As soon as i saw the river and the clumps of drifting weed coming down i new it was going to be tough going, nevertheless i found a nice looking spot, droppered in a load of hemp and pellets and commenced fishing. Regular readers of this blog will know how i detest the dreadful stringy weed which seems to blight the Trent every summer, fortunately it wasnt as bad as it looked on this occasion and i was able to keep the bait in the water for a decent amount of time for a change. The Barbel didnt want to play ball though and one Chub of 4.2 was all i had to show for my efforts by the time i packed up.

Saturday 25th June

I had planned an evening of Barbelling on the Trent with Keith this evening but i found myself at a loose end in the morning so i headed to the Trent to do a spot of trotting for some Roach. Some good bags had been reported over the previous week so i fancied a bit of the action myself. It wasnt to be though and i struggled to get around a dozen fish in about 3 hours of fishing. A couple of other anglers nearby also really struggled too so it wasnt just me being crap (thats what i kept telling myself anyway!).

Keith picked me up in the afternoon and i soon found myself sat next to the Trent once again. Conditions were pretty good, warm, overcast and extremely muggy with very little wind. After losing a few barbs lately ive decided to switch my mainline from 12lb mono to 30lb braid and this was to be my first session with it. I use braid for all my lure fishing but ive not used it for bait fishing before so this was a totally new experience for me. At 0.1mm diameter its less than half the thickness of the mono ive been on so it should offer a lot less drag in the water too.

The weed wasnt too bad again but it was definately worse than weds and i was getting around half an hour to fortyfive minutes inbetween casts. The Barbel didnt show at-all, in fact nothing showed not even a Chub to either of us and we were both left scratching our heads by the end of the session. You win some you lose some i guess!