Do They Get Any Better?

With consistent weather forecast and the Mrs away for a few days with little one I set some time aside after work to get out on the bank. Following last week's session I wanted to fish an area that I focused on at the beginning of last season, the outside of a classic Tidal Trent sweeping bend.

Cooking a big batch of hemp up the night before and blending to a pulp, to this I add trout pellet powder and red bread crumb. I purposefully blend the hemp to cause a milky cloud that will carry downstream, the red bread crumb to act as a binding agent to allow balls of ground bait to be thrown some distance and the pellet powder to put a big scent trail into the water but with no free offerings.

Arriving at my chosen swim I parted the nettles and reeds to make a way down to the water's edge, negotiating the sludge covered boulders. Setting up a feeder on the upstream rod and PVA bag set up on the down stream rod they were cast onto the mark. Once I had determined that the 4oz feeder was going to hold comfortably I began to throw 6 or 7 balls a peg upstream of the feeder rod.

Sitting back amongst the overgrown bank vegetation, mice scurried through the long grass and what felt like thousands of mosquitoes provide a constant dull humming buzz overhead.

It took around 45 mind and a little more ground bait to be introduced before the right hand down stream rod to slam over and the bobbin swung loose. The fish rose very early and made several runs utilising the flow. With the rod arced down stream I started to make line back on the fish, working it back up steam consciously keeping the fish up in the water to avoid the boulder lined banks. With the rod bent over double the fish exploded again downstream, by far the best fight a Tidal Trent barbel had given me. Making line up again I brought fish just upstream of where I was balance between the boulders allowing me to let the current drift the fish back over the lip of the net. Peering down into the mesh net the fish looked pristine with the 20mm Hookbait Co test bait hanging in the corner of a huge mouth. Resting the fish for several minutes after the nature of the fight I hoisted the net through the nettles, up the bank and onto the mat. Removing the hook and holding the scales up, she went 11-02. Transferring the fish to a sling I rested her again before return back to the mat, setting the tripod up and mounting the camera, a few quick self takes and she was back in the coloured water; head upstream and soon kicking powerfully back to the flowing water of the Tidal Trent.



The rods went back out and I continued to feed steadily on both rods though no more indications followed. Loading the barrow back up at 9:30pm I had a steady walk back to the car.

Returning to the same stretch the following evening i fished an area I hadn't cast into before as I heard a few rumours it was very snaggy. Although this session produced a blank I learnt that this area is in fact fishable. An area that I may focus some time on as it isn't a popular area….the ideal area for a colossal  wary fish….right?

Following the blank I went back to the Tidal for the 3rd evening on the bounce and set up in the swim the 11-02 came from. It only took around 20 mins for the upstream feeder rod hoop over and line stripped from a tight spool. Picking the rod I felt the fish for a split second as the line went tight and I was snagged up. Looking back at the take and the smoothness that the rod hooped suggests that the feeder was already snagged before the take. After walking up stream and down stream I managed to free the feeder and recovered the rig as well. Intending to fish until around 11:30pm the session was cut short as my head torch refused to work.

Onto next week…..

A Double To Kick Off The 16/17 Season

Having started preparing for the new season well over 2 months ago, my first session was some what on hold as the 16th arrived and passed; having to commit time to interview preperation for new jobs. With the river finning down and still heavily coloured the 30th June was the first opportunity I had to get out on the bank.

Having the gear all ready the night before I dashed home from work and I was soon in the car heading out of Lincoln towards the Tidal Trent. I have made a real conscious effort this season to cut down on gear to enable me to get to swims more comfortably without the need of the barrow. After walking 20 meters I realised that cutting down on tackle needed a little more consideration as I was still waddling like a pack horse with the rod bag strap ripping into my neck and a  unhooking mat tripping me up at every 5 paces. I walked down the area I intended to fish though found someone in the swim I had in mind so I walked back towards to car and fished an area that doesn't receive much pressure (well from the bank I was standing on anyway).

Setting up- the new additions to my approach for this season being the cygnet XL bobbins, having received numerous drop back bites last year that were missed I wanted the slack line to be taken up quickly. Hence the 3 inch chains have been replaced with standard sink plug chains, to allow a good drop should I received any backdrops.

The only other significant change I have made is replacing my weak links of mono from the lead to the lead clip with enterprise snag clips. After playing around with these in the closed season they seem to work a treat, still allowing 6oz feeders to be chucked out. They are also a much better run rings as oppose to the tapering lead clip rubbers.

Balling in 10 or so cricket ball size of ground bait upstream on the line I would be fishing the 2 feeder set ups were soon on the mark and my rod tips pointing skywards. With the river up and still bits of debris coming through I applied a large float stop 3 meters up from the buffer bead to avoid debris making it was down to the feeder and rig.

Having purchased a Nash groundbait ball maker I sat back under the brolly and played around with consistencies of ground bait to allow them to be catapulted out without disintegrating mid air. This will definitely prove to be a very useful tool in the season to keep bait going in on a line.

Recasting every 20 mins or so I also replaced the hookbaits each cast with freshly glugged 20mm boilies. Having spoken to Darren before the season he had been working on a new test bait and it's this bait that I will be solely using through the season.

After around an hour of being on the bank I was talking to a guy called Ben walking the stretch after having a few years away from the Trent. It's amazing when you meet a genuine similarly minded angler how conversation flows though this was rudely interrupted as the downstream rod slammed over. After a couple of powerful runs stripping line as I loosed the clutch she was soon slipped over the lip of net. Giving her a quick rest in the landing net she was weighed at 10-12, photographed and returned.



A very promising start for the season and The Hookbait Company’s new test bait had produced the goods on my first visit of 16/17 and in a swim that I hadn't fished before.

The rods went back out and I rebated upstream but to no avail as the rod tips stayed motionless and I called it a night just before dark; just getting back to the car before the rain set in.

Ending The Season On A Lure Caught PB

With the arrival of my daughter Isla 6 weeks early on the 11th January 2016 I have obviously not had a lot of bank time with her and Sarah now taking priority.

Grasping any opportunity to get out I arranged a mid week session on the estate with Richard, basically a chance to clear out the freezer and chuck some lures around in the shallower reed lined bays. With the temperatures warming up and the jacks starting to group around the big females it was last chance saloon for a decent fish in the 15/16 season.

Arriving at the swim it was evident that the fish had made the move with several very active pike showing their backs in the morning sun. With the lure rod set up we both had a quick scout around with the large Savage Gear Line Thru Pike. It only took a couple of cast before I received a powerful follow and the lure was inhaled into a cavernous mouth. A few head shakes and the lure had made its way up the trace and way from the jaws of the pike allowing no negative pressure to occur giving the fish chance to shake the hooks. Netting the fish and lifting her from the waters edge I was very surprised at her weight as she felt much heavier than visual appearance.

Slipping her into the weigh sling and zeroing the scales she was not an ounce over or an ounce under 20-00 and subsequently my first 20 on a lure.



Sliding her back into the water edge she rested for a few minutes in the reed beds before moving off back down the drop off and into the depths of the lake. Mounting the hooks and guide pin back into the large lure I moved further around into the bay and cast at a showing fish. 



The lure had barely submerged 3ft below the surface and there was a big swirl and the lure had been hit. Instantly there was an even bigger swirl as another fish moved away, a very lively fish which made several runs was soon under controlled and gilled at the edge. This was a smaller fish that the first fish of the morning and I suspected smaller that the fish that made the second swirl but what an impeccably clean fish, swinging the scales to 14-04.



Richard continued to work the swim with several lures as there was no interest at all in the dead baits we had presented, whether they had been drifted, wobbled, quick retrieved, popped up or fished static.



With the 15-16 season now drawn to a close it was nice to finish with a PB on a lure, the rods have now been cleaned down and the predator gear cleaned, sorted and stored away. The early season carp gear will only be out for a short period before June approaches again and the rivers open up again. With a few tweaks to my presentation in mind and a decision to go a little more gung-ho and try somethings very much left of field.

It only takes 1 run.....

Some times in angling you can get wrapped up with a specific water, chasing a species over a certain weight or a certain individual fish. Over the last 5 years I have had the privilege of crossing paths with a specific fish on an untouched water where this stunning specimen is thriving on pure neglect and a natural food chain. This isn't a water stuffed with trout or stocked in any manner, she is simply a natural predator of the highest level. Meals will not show themselves on a plate unlike some prolific predator waters across the country. She will earn her rewards with flared gills, stealthily stalking the roach and rudd shoals.  

Our latest encounter comes 22 months after she graced my net previously, 669 days where she hasn't seen a sea dead bait or had the opportunity to gorge on pre-bait. In terms of proportions she is near perfect specimen in my eyes....one of them fish that you dream of catching or read about as a child in Mr Crabtree goes fishing. Irrelevant of her size she was no doubt a stunning fish at 10-00 let alone now nearing that magic figure.

Currently I am cramming sessions in during any free time I get as myself and my partner have a little girl due towards the end of February. With time running out as such in terms of my predator season to have this fish grace my net once again completes my season's targets with 1 run. 

A single bleep from the alarm as the monkey climber indicator rose and dropped off the pole on the 'sleeper rod'. Leapfrogging my other 2 rods around this static dead bait it hadn't been moved for 3 hours before the big girl took a fancy to 3/4 of a mackerel, coated in salmon oil. 

A heavy short fight pursued though she was soon on the matt, unhooked and resting in the sling .



I thought as the tension of the sling was taken by the scales that she may just do that magic number that so many pike anglers across the breadth of the country are chasing but she was short; not that I was solely focused on what she weighed. To know she is in such good conditions is enough of a reward from the capture. 

Chub On HBC Original Flakey Pop-Ups...

Hottest day of the year so far and armed with a a packet of standard original flakeys and pop up flakeys I headed onto the small Lincolnshire waterway I had spent most of last summer targeting. With the polaroids helping me to peer beneath the streamer weed it didn't take long to locate a shoal of chub with a number of bigger fish holding off at the back of the swim. Gliding from under the weed to intercept free offerings I knew it would be a one cast swim to get it right without spooking them all.

Mounting up a pop up original flakey on the hair, with a size 10 mixer hook poised above it I cast the short length of fluro carbon to mono underneath the over hanging branches a meter or two upstream of the shoal. Instantly the chub rose and the chublets had a go at the 50p sized bait. The benefit of the flakeys is that if that had been bread crust they would have most likely dislodged it from the hook/hair or taken it under the surface where as the robust flakey just kept drifting in the current before one of the bigger fish at the rear of the shoal rose, mouthed the bait and turned setting the hook and causing chaos to unfold. With 9/10th of the river covered in weed with only the small strip of free water to trot the bait through the fish turned and set itself fast in the weed. Giving some slack it freed itself and I was apply pressure to lift it to the surface and bring it across the weed, its big white lips, gaping mouth and bronze flank were soon in the net. A few quick photographs and i was surprised how long this fish was, clearly spawned out it had the frame to be a very big fish come the back end of the season.





As I suspected it was a one cast swim and i tried for another 20 min to get another fish to take a bait though they were more than wary! A quick hour session and the first chub on the flakeys banked.

Sunset On The Tidal Trent...

The end of the working week is finally in sight again and I have been watching the weather closely since my last session on Monday and pin pointed tonight (Friday 26th June) as a possibility for good conditions on the Tidal Trent.

Fishing an angry tidal river such as the Trent, I also keep an eye on high and low tide times. I am yet to find the best time to fish the Tidal whether it be running in stood still or running off, I believe the biggest factor of when the bigger fish feed is daylight. I specifically look at when the river will be stood as this is the time I want to be setting up and putting bait onto an accurate consistent area and if the river is stood it reduces the chances of the bait being washed away in the current.
High tide on the area of the Tidal where I will be fishing this evening will be at 17:02 meaning it will be perfectly stood when I arrive. The river will then run off until 23:37 when it will be at its lowest.

Additionally I had pin pointed this evening on the weather forecast alone even before I had seen the fortunate tide times. Earlier in the week, thunderstorms had been forecast for this evening though this changed into 4 hours of steady rain during the morning, with temperatures increasing into the afternoon and a a dry evening ahead. This should hopefully drop the water temperature ever so slightly consequentially meaning the fish will hopefully be on the feed.

But sometimes things don't quite go to plan...

Arriving at the river it was very low, initially I thought I had totally messed up the tide times though going through them in my head I realised the levels had just dropped and it was lower (at high tide) than it was at low tide less than 4 days ago.

Setting up in the same swim I had the 11-04 out of earlier in the week, I balled in the ground bait mix and left it to rest for 30min before casting both rods onto the area. Having everything set up before I cast in I was entertained by 4 foreign anglers on the opposite bank with bells on their rod tips, striking at every bleep of their alarms and shopping trolleys for rod bags. Though as they started to pack up and I was poised to put the rods on the spot the heavens opened, a quick mad dash to get everything under the day shelter. The unexpected rain lasted for around 45 mins before it eased off and the sun appeared again. A firm tap on the upstream rod resulted in a fish snagging me up instantly, though letting the line go slack the fish freed itself and I was able to land a lovely angry male. Two more barbel and a chub were the only other fish to grace the net in a short evening session, the biggest going 7-01, all falling to single 12mm SMP chop. Looking back I should have fished a section of deeper water.



The evening was one to remember though with a pair of kingfishers darting around the bends and a barn owl working the bank. Bats screeched over head and a cock pheasant called repeatedly behind me. With all this going on the sun set in the distance and over the next hour produced the most stunning colours. The best evening I have had on the Tidal Trent for sure.

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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