Todays session was to be on an area of the Trent which i hadnt fished before. I was to have a companion for the day in the shape of my mate Phil whos idea it was to fish the new area. Hed fished it before with some success and it sounded well worth a go.
We arrived to find the river fairly coloured but running at its normal level, there didnt seem to be much weed and rubbish coming down it either which was a bonus. My intention was to fish for Perch during the morning and early afternoon before switching to Barbel later on into dark. Phil was going all out for Barbel.
I started off with the baitcatching rod and was getting a fish a chuck from the very first cast although all were too big to be of any use as livebaits. The wind had picked up considerably too and was causing real problems with regards to casting and baiting let alone presentation. Then to add insult to injury the heavens opened and at that point i gave up on the Perching idea and moved to the comfort of the brolly and set up the Barbel gear.
The afternoon passed uneventfully with nothing more than a couple of half hearted bangs on the rod tips and soon it began to get dark. At about 9oclock a shout from Phils peg told that hed hooked a fish and i quickly made my way over to lend a hand with the netting and weighing. At 11lb8oz it was a stunning Barbel and a new pb for Phil aswell.
Soon afterwards we packed up with nothing more to show for our efforts but Phil was well pleased and for me the fish more than highlighted the potential of the area. I will be back soon! I would have put a pic of the fish up but i havent managed to get one off Phil yet.
Wednesday 1st September
I found myself with a day off work today and once again decided to join Phil for another river session. Todays adventure was to be on the river Dove near Uttoxeter, an area we had fished before but never during the warmer months and never when the rivers been at its normal level.
It was running clear with a very slight tinge of colour but there was lots of fish topping and rising when we arrived and we were looking forward to a productive day. Having not seen this stretch in these conditions before i was struck by what a stunning piece of water it actually is, Shallow fast riffles next to deep slow moving pools and lots of lovely overhanging trees, heaven!
Our plan was to rove about with float gear and maggots just to see what came along. After tackling up and donning my bait apron i arrived at my first spot, a lovely deep boily run on the outside of a bend coming off a shallow area. Within minutes of starting i found myself connected to what felt like a decent fish in the flow and sure enough a pristine fat Perch was soon netted. It was around the pound and a half mark and was a bit of an eye opener for me. Id never associated the Dove with decent Perch before and this got me thinking about what else might be lurking in there Perchwise.
After that me and Phil really started to get amongst the fish and we spent the rest of the morning moving from spot to spot taking a succession of mostly Trout and Grayling with the odd Roach and Dace thrown in for good measure. All the fish were truly pristine specimens the highlight of which be a Grayling of 1lb10oz which fell to Phils rod, another pb for him, the mans on fire!
No comments:
Post a Comment