Barbel Blues
Todays session was planned as quick overnighter on the Trent in pursuit of some Barbs. I was somewhat pushed for time and didnt want to go through the rigmarole of setting up a full-on camp so i headed for an area where i could set up and fish from the back of the car. The car itself was to be my bivvy for the night which meant all i had to do was throw a sleeping bag, a pair of rods, a net and my kit bag in the back and i was ready to go.
I was on the bank and set up in no time and i began by droppering in 2 pints of hemp and a pint of casters. Both rods were cast along the same line and i sat back to begin the wait. Despite getting several bangs and taps on the rod tips i didnt get any proper bites until darkness descended whereupon a small chub of about 2lb was banked. This was followed by another slightly bigger sample around an hour later.
Sadly that was all the action i was to get for the rest of the night and i packed up in the morning feeling quite dispondent and wondering what id done wrong. There was some decent fish in the peg because i heard several good crashes out in front of me during the night and the peg has got past form for producing Barbel in numbers. I did have a recce of a couple of other possible areas after id packed up and saw a couple which look well worth a future visit. Im gonna head there for an evening session one night this week i reckon.
Sunday 5th September
Perch Power
After my last trip i was in need of a bit of a pickmeup so rather than heading back out after Barbel i thought id give the Dove a go with the lures. Id never lure fished this river before and apart from that Perch i caught last week id never caught a predator of any discription from there (unless you count Trout and Chub?) so i was totally unsure of what to expect.
When i arrived about mid morning i was most surprised to find that i had the entire stretch to myself, thatll do me i thought, pukka! I made my way to the first likely looking spot and made my first cast. After a couple of cranks on the reel handle the tiny Mepps was hit by a fiesty Perch of a pound or so. It was as broad across its back as it was deep and had obviously been gorging itself on the vast shoals of minnows which inhabit the Dove. A lovely fish, now all i needed to do was to catch its dad!
A couple of casts later and i was in again and a slightly larger Perch was soon angrily flaring its gills and shaking its head at my feet. I could get used to this i thought. After returning it in the peg upstream, i made another cast into the same peg and unbelievably found myself connected to another Perch! This one was a fair bit bigger than the other two and required me to get the scales out. At 2lb4oz it was a nice fish and another step closer to a real biggie.
A few more casts into the same spot told me the fish had moved on which also meant it was time for me to move on too. Id love to be able to tell you stories of a real red letter session after such a promising start but the reality is that i never had so much as a touch over the next three hours! I packed up without any more pulls whatsoever. I must have just landed lucky with the first spot thats all i can say. The river is really starting to intrigue me with its Perch potential now, next time i may have to go in with the liveys ......
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