Filling My Boots On The Tidal Trent
Loading the barrow up on the Friday night the trek upstream was somewhat more eventful than it was a few seasons back when I first fished this stretch. Approaching the far end of the path there were a group of bullocks laid by the gate, about 50 meters away I started whistling and talking to myself in an attempt to get the stubborn animals to move but they didn't. Within 20 meters of them they all decided to stand to their feet and move backwards towards the gate, brilliant. So I keep walking rambling on to myself and it must have been when I was 5 meters away from them with the only defense of a my barrow in front of me that they all (all 10 or so) decide to freak out and come charging past me! A new pair of pants later and sweat dripping of my nose I walked down the bank to the swim I want to be in.
Getting everything set up and the rods out of the holdall my plan of attack was my usual approach feed heavily on the upstream feeder rod and fish a single bait with PVA bag on the same line down stream. I recalled in previous sessions here trying to drop bait with a large homemade lead free feeder though this often became snagged whilst bouncing it on the bottom so I formed a groundbait mix into orange sized balls to feed. 8 or so of these went into my desired line up stream of where I wanted to be landing the feeder.
The session looked promising as I picked up positive knocks immediately on both the upstream and down stream rod, both mounted with double 12mm Spicy Meat Prop chops, I had a feeling that it could be a shoal of bream in the swim and this was soon proven as dropping down to a single 12mm resulted in a firm knock resulting in a take, a bream of maybe 3lb kited into the landing net. Not wanting to get 'breamed out' I increased my hook bait size drastically, mounting SMP 30mm chops onto the hairs. Glugged for a short period of time in the SMP bait dip, they stunk and are ideal single bait approach. Having already kept a few balls of groundbait and mixed particle going in throughout the session I baited heavily again before the light faded and both rods were put back on the line of free offerings.
At around 10:30 my down stream rod literally melted on the pod as a tight clutch was stripped of line, looking back I was probably a split second or two slow to strike, feeling the fish run again, I couldn't stop it and had to give line and then it went solid, it had snagged me up. Slack lining for a minute or so to see if the fish would free itself from the snag was unsuccessful and I had to walk up and down stream working the jammed lead from different angles before it finally gave way and I retrieved the rig. The hook point was still sharp and the braid hook length had not a mark on it, indicating to me that the lead had caused the issue. After cursing repeatedly as I mounted another bait up it was pushing time for me to be off the stretch.
Over the weekend I had a think about what I could have done differently in the situation and was my approach suitable for the type of bottom I was fishing, and so I made some changes. Firstly I was clearly fishing too close to some large snags so shortening up my line of feed by 3 meters in the next session was going to be my first alteration. In terms of the lead jamming and not coming free I decided to have a trial of fishing a rotten bottom with the lead/feeder mounted on a small loop of mono (knotted in places and weaker than my main line).
This loop of line would then fit onto the free running clip. The next issue I faced was would the weaker mono sustain the force exerted in a cast of a 5oz feeder pushing 8oz when fully loaded, probably not. Luckily the leads and feeders I use have large eyes allowing a short section of PVA mesh to be tied through the eye and into the free running clip taking all the weight off the weaker mono.
3 days had passed since I had been snagged up and after rushing back from work on Monday evening I head down onto the Tidal Trent. Thank fully the cows had been moved and getting through the gate was some what less of a drama! The swim I fished previously had two anglers sat opposite on the far bank so I moved down stream and fished the area where I had been casting with my down stream rod the session before. The groundbait was mixed consisting of Hookbait Company SMP groundbait, crushed hemp, 6mm pellets, a few chops, fish meal, bread crumb and a good glug of CSL and SMP bait dip. As I planned I balled in the feed on a shorter line and cast the upstream feeder rod with a single 12mm onto it and the down stream rod poised with a donkey choker of a 30mm chop. Re-casting every 30min the rotten bottoms were working perfectly as the PVA melted away. At around 8:45 the upstream rod bounced and I paused to see if there was still contact with the fish, the tip slammed down and I was in. Luckily I had just brought the downstream rod in to recast so I didn't have a problem with space in the swim or moving rods around. Not giving the fish anything I stayed high up the bank wanting to get it up clear of the boulders on the river bed. It ran again stripping little line against a very tight clutch, it came to the surface down stream and working it back up through the flow of water netted a lovely barbel and a good double for sure. Thick set across its back and shoulders she looked fairly empty and spawned out. Resting the fish before dropping the net off the pole I scaled the boulders back up to the top of the bank where she was unhooked and weighed at 11-04, transferring her to the sling I took her back down to the water to rest again before planning to take a few photographs, but a missed step on one of the sludge lined slippy boulders and I was staggering into the water struggling to get my balance by which time I was over my boots and well up to my calf's. With my boots filling with the relatively warm water I unzipped the sling and held her up stream to which she graceful kick out and glided back into the Tidal Trent. First barbel of the season banked and a lovely one to start off with for sure. As I squelched back up the bank the rods were re-baited and cast onto the same line. With sopping wet trousers and boots I gave it another half hour before calling it a day.
Just to top the session off I snagged up my up stream rod bringing it in, a small amount of pressure applied and the rotten bottom gave way and the rig was easily retrieved. Its always nice when a plan of attack comes together!
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