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!