Back on the road

With such a successful season behind us we were all looking forward to the new one with added enthusiasm as it was fast approaching. With myself and Ginger both working shifts and Tommy office hours it is often difficult for us all to get together these days. With the help of a spreadsheet our own I.T. expert Tommy had put together we could see we had a chance in late May for a weekend trip to the Trent to look at a few stretches. We planned a 2 day trip with a night out in the wilds somewhere by the river where we could have a good chat a couple of beers and a meal.

The meal turned out to be fish and chips in the chippie opposite Trent Bridge cricket ground, the trip nearly came to an abrupt end at this point as a cracking young lady in a short skirt dropped her car keys in front of us as she bent over to pick them up the view caused Tommy to choke on a fish bone (his story) had ginger not have intervened with some rapid first aid the boy could have choked to death, to be honest we were all taken back by the stunning view and our young temptress knew that very well, her knowing smile said it all.

The rest of the trip went well with several new venues visited and plenty of ideas for the coming season. Speaking to different anglers and from our experiences we were sure the way forward on the Trent is to get some bait out and fish over it while constantly topping it up. With this in mind we had to firstly find a way of getting a bed of bait into the river and then a way of keeping it topped up.

Nothing we were aware of that is commercially available is up to the job so we had to set about designing a spod that could carry perhaps a pint of bait and still be cast to the far side of the Trent. In reality it was easy a rod tube with a cap glued on and some high density foam to right it and deliver its contents. With a rod up to the job coupled to a large casting reel loaded with braid we were casting spods loaded with up to a pint of bait around 60yds. We also had some smaller spods to allow that extra few yards if we needed them.

To be able to top up the area the next problem was to come up with a feeder that could carry up to 6ozs and also deliver a good amount of feed. A chat with Mr Swim feeder himself Nick Larkin helped greatly, Nick is the man behind Nisa Feeders and in all truth what he doesn’t know about feeders is not worth knowing. Armed with a head full of ideas some garden mesh and home made leads we were soon producing some excellent feeders which so far are doing a great job.

So we had sorted out the delivery what now would we use to feed the Hungry Barbel we were after. Both the cost and the fact it is too easy to overfeed with just pellet alone meant we had to look at bulking out the pellet with some cheaper ingredients. This season for the first time for several years we were going to try hemp again but rather than just plain hemp we would cook ours in a strong chilli solution. To the hemp we would add some mixed particles a good pigeon food does the job no problem.

To add bulk to your feed a visit to an animal feed merchant will soon have you loaded with suitable ingredients for a superb fish attracting mix. Some to look out for are as follows

Ewe nuts: A pellet around as thick as a pencil up to an inch or so long being a mixture of crushed corn and oats etc all coated in Corn Steep they are brilliant and cost around a fiver for a 25kg bag.

Sugar beet nuts: Around the size of a 14mm pellet they are finely chopped sugar beet coated in molasses, again around a fiver for 25kgs. These will also catapult quite a distance sink like a stone and dissolve in a few minutes

Mollasine Meal: a strong smelling sticky meal consisting of finely chopped oats etc which is then mixed with liquid molasses. This product mixes surprisingly well with fishmeal and produces an excellent mix for the feeder. Around a tenner for 25 kgs its powerful stuff.

Ferret Food: Strong meaty smelling pellets made from fishmeal but also contains meat products to give an alternative to plain pellets. A fiver will get you about 10kgs which is plenty for a season to put into your pellet mix.

These are by no means the only things available at the pet shop that we can use I think the list is endless only limited by how brave we are in trying something else. There are plenty of other horse, goat, chicken, sheep etc feeds that I am sure would work.

To go with all of this it is important to have a quality hook bait, Halibut pellet being the obvious choice but no way was I drilling pellets and the thought of the stink of superglue next to my bait bothers me, so it was with some interest that I sourced some predrilled halibuts in the correct size. Made by Pelzer these really are top notch bait, called Matrix Chunks they are tough and have around a 2 to 3 hour breakdown. We fish these in conjunction with a Nash bait bayonet on a hair rig, if you can get hold of some Pelzer Matrix Chunks don’t take our word for it try them they are superb.

The trip to the Trent and a few evenings mixing groundbait and casting spods wets the appetite for the season ahead. Tommy was busy most of the time as he had some important exams in early June, he told us it was something to do with his work, we think it was more likely the eleven plus he was retaking.

Early season for me as normal would be at Severn HQ Tommy would join me and Ginger would be on the Wensum trying to up that Pb he was so desperate to increase. The trips to the Severn valley would be that much easier from now on as during the summer we had recruited a correspondent in the Bewdley area Tom Rigby.
Tom first contacted me after last seasons Team Barbel antics and we have since corresponded a few times and met up over a pie and a pint. Tom is a handy chap to know, he lives close to the Severn is a nice guy and bloody good angler, his help this season has been much appreciated, Thanks Tom.

The season was a few days old when Tommy and myself arrived at Willowbrook, I was shattered as I had worked the previous night, a few hours kip was in order for me. Tommy would walk the river and see what was happening and who was about. Around 3 hours later Tommy woke me with a mug of tea and the news most anglers were struggling typical early season or so we thought. The Bleep of a text as we walked to the river told us Ginger was struggling on the Wensum with little to report for the third night running.

We were well pleased to see our chosen swims were vacant and we were soon in place and ready for the off. Early season can be hit or miss the word was the Barbel had not yet spawned which meant a tough time was on the cards, the first week last season I had managed 1 barbel all week. Within a few minutes the cry from Tommy was “Barbel on” and a fighting fit five pounder was soon in the net. From the tell tale marks on its flanks and its empty belly we could soon tell this fish had spawned and most likely all the others had as well. As darkness fell we walked of the bank having landed 10 Barbel apiece, well happy and looking forward to a pint of Guinness in celebration.

For the next three evenings running we managed a good bag of fish no big Barbel but with an average around the 5lb mark it was brilliant. Fish were coming to maggot or Pelzer chunk, even in bright sunshine. By the end of the 4th evenings fishing we had managed over 60 Barbel between us.

With the help of Tom Rigby we decided to look at a few stretches of the Teme with the view to fishing one the next day. We dropped my wife and daughter in Worcester and told them to have a lovely day and treat themselves to lunch, craftily giving us even longer to look at some of the areas Tom had suggested. We had both fished the Teme before but had not fished it for a couple of seasons and were well impressed with the areas we looked at. We decided on a quite stretch with season or day ticket readily available only around 25 miles from HQ.

As most rivers have been this Season the Teme was no exception low and clear but with a little thought we were confident of a fish or two, although an early start was not required and we arrived on the bank after a lazy lunch. With the sun blazing down it would be hard for a while but at least we could get a bed of bait down. What a lovely river the Teme is and I felt privileged to sit on its bank and let the wildlife of the river entertain me as kingfishers darted up and downstream and a moorhen noisily protected its newly hatched young.

It was around 8 o’clock before we had any real activity as a smallish Chub finally hooked himself on my Pelzer Chunk not what I wanted but nevertheless encouraging. Next cast again saw activity on the tip as chublets again tugged and pulled at the bait as Westie says “repeat after me I shall not strike at chub bites” In all honesty I wonder how when anglers who are touch ledgering distinguish between a 2ft pull of the line which is Chub tugging the pellet and a 2 foot pull of the line which develops into a full scale Barbel bite, Its easy to see the difference but it must be hard if not impossible to feel the difference. Team Barbel well we will stick to the rod lurching over and only when in no doubt will set the hook with a firm but controlled strike.

As the light of the day was quickly turning into twilight a more violent tug of the rod continued into a full scale Barbel bite and the necessary strike was met with the thump of a well hooked Barbel which was determined not to be the first Teme Barbel to grace my net for a couple of seasons, but with a little luck and the backbone of my Harrison a large Barbel was soon recovering in my Landing net. Tommy was quickly with me as he had heard the commotion “that’s a bloody double” he exclaimed as he lifted the net from the river. 11lb 6oz of Teme torpedo and what a lovely fish it was, Tommy as always took some great pictures and the fish was safely returned. Not many minutes later Tommy quickly landed and returned a lively five pounder, it was a happy duo that returned to the car and took the trip back to the Caravan. Our appetite firmly wetted for future trips to the Teme.

The Trip to the Severn Valley was soon over Tommy returned home a couple of days before me but managed 48 Barbel in his 7 evenings of fishing. With an extra day on the Severn and an afternoon trip to the Teme producing a couple more my first week total was 64 topped by the Teme 11.6. Ginger had been having a poor start on the Wensum without a fish to show for his efforts he was becoming frustrated.

Back to work for a 4 day stint my plan was to go from work straight to the Trent for a 2 day session on a new water. Tommy and Ginger had been the previous weekend and managed a couple of Barbel each so I was ever hopeful. On arrival I set up camp and got my head down for 4 or 5 hours but not before I had spodded a good 3 gallons of bait into my chosen swim.

When I woke I topped up my bait and cooked tea with no one else for miles and a lovely summers evening what more can we ask for, people who aren’t anglers just don’t know what they are missing. At around 6 pm rods were cast and I sat back to soak up the splendid evening, but not for long as it was soon raining boy did it rain. Tucked up in my shelter I was almost dreading a run, but when the Delkim screamed into life I was soon on the rod and playing a good fish and as I netted it I felt sure it could well be a double and so it was at 10.1oz. I managed 2 more before the Bream moved in on the feed and I had 3 slabs before I could blink. Now the worst thing you can do when Bream fishing is to feed heavily over the shoal so out went the big spod with a few noisy splashes above their heads I hoped it would move them on.

It worked, as the 3rd spod hit the water the Delkim sounded a more determined tune as another Barbel was hooked and landed. In all over the 2 days I had 15 Barbel and 25 Bream with 3 chub for good measure. Successful bait was again the 15mm Pelzer chunk.

Myself and Tommy were having a brilliant Start to the season, having had well over a 100 fish between us, poor old ginger was not fairing so well with a run of blanks on the Wensum and only 2 Trent fish to show for his efforts he was not a happy Gnome that’s for sure. I only made it worse when accompanied by him I fished the Wensum for the first time this season and took a 12 5oz from where he had only managed 10 blanks. I know he was pleased for me but inside his blood must have boiled, I am sure mine would have. I just hoped my run could continue, Ginger well it was hard work to persuade him not to sell his gear and join the Wensum valley knitting circle.

Catch up with all the latest news from the Team Barbel boys in the next instalment of Team Barbel on tour coming soon.

Without doubt fishing memories are not made without great mates and I got 2 of the best in Tommy (Tom Sayer) and Ginger (Richard Wells)

Words by Adrian Kiddell

Pictures by Adrian Kiddell, Tom Sayer and Richard Wells.