Barbel Society 10th Anniversary Fish In

Saturday 3rd September 2005

It was the weekend before the 10th anniversary fish in at Sutton on Trent but as always, preparations to be done.

First of all I had decided to approach the river a bit different from how we had been doing recently, rather than use the big spods to lay a large bed of pellets and hemp etc the decision was made to try to make ourselves some large feeders for the job, my thoughts were that the big beds of bait were a waste of time, once one of the large barges had been through the swim the pellets could be several hundred yards away. So my plan was to use the feeders to introduce feed more accurately, on the little and often principle.

On discussing this with the other 2 members of Team Barbel (Ade and Tommy) it was decided that there were no suitable feeders on sale, so we would have to make our own. Ade was straight on the case though with a couple of bags of heavy leads and a length of 2inch drain pipe. Several large feeders were made to show both Tommy and myself, these to be fair looked the business. Large enough to hold the required amount of bait and sturdy enough to not disintegrate after a few casts. That was until we took a look round one of the local garden centres, Tommy had spotted some garden netting, a green plastic mesh which he thought might do the job better, both myself and Ade were not convinced that it would be up to the job though. But as always we were prepared to give it a go, anyway to cut a long story short, we ended up making some more feeders in a couple of different sizes, using the mesh. (We will cover how to make some home made feeders in a future article.)

   

Next we had to sort the groundbait for the feeder, the idea was to have a mixture stiff enough to use as a carrier for the usual small pellet particle combination. A mixture of meaty grounndbait and molasses meal was our answer to this, hook bait as usual was our pre drilled Halibut pellets, a variety of different boilies, and a selection of flavoured Maize.

Wednesday 7th September 2005

With fishing tackle prepared the only other thing to do was sort food and supplies for the 3 day trip ahead. As always with the Team Barbel boys it was like a military operation, with nothing left to chance.

Thursday 8th September 2005

With just myself and Ade making the trip the plan was to arrive early and get a good choice of pegs, we arrived a little after nine and on driving over the flood bank we were treated to a sight, we were pleased with, no other anglers, so we had a complete pick of the swims.

I choose an area at the end of a stretch of bank called the beach, just upstream of a big sweeping bend, Ade decided to go 50 yards downstream, to an area that had been recommended by another member on a previous trip.

Half hour later all our gear was set up and ready for the stay, the gravel was found with marker rods and we were ready to go. We settled down, rods ready, awaiting the action we were sure would come. Daylight hours we have found tend to be slow, all the same regular casting was needed to get some bait out, we did receive action from the numerous Bream but no Barbel. So we decided that after a few hours fishing and with the tide now easing we would get some sleep, so reeled in and settled down for a few hours.

Ade woke me at around 6pm with a hot meal and the normal mug of tea. We soon settled down for the rest of the day and night nothing much happened on the Barbel front just the one fish each, mine going 6lb11oz and Ade managing a 9lb6oz, Apart from these 2 fish numerous Bream and the odd Chub were landed by us both.

Friday 9th September 2005

Time for a rethink on my behalf during the daylight hours I had seen several big fish crashing out of the water on the far side of the river. I had been persevering with fishing the boat channel but with just the one fish I decided that I would now start to fish my baits further across, to where I had witnessed the fish showing. Within the first hour of casting to the new area I had my second Barbel of the trip a fish of 5lb10oz followed quickly by 3 others during the next hour. With fish up to 9lb8oz, this was good fishing. Poor old Ade had seen enough, after this quick run of fish, he decided to move 50 yards upstream of me, the first I knew of this was when Ade walked passed bivvy erect on his back looking like some giant snail, I could not see the poor bloke struggle so helped with the rest of his gear.

While this was going on my tally of Barbel had risen to 6 for the day in a matter of a few hours fishing, by now Ade was sorted out and fishing again, the action continued for the next few hours the 2 of us getting runs regularly. Then the tide started backing up, as this is often a quiet time we both decided on reeling in and having a much needed few hours kip. By now my total for the day stood at 9 Barbel all to the 15ml drilled Halibut pellet, Ade had also got in on the act with a couple of fish his biggest a 7lb4oz fish to the flavoured maize.

Awaking 5 hours later we were ready for a bite to eat, head chef Ade served up another treat for us both, beef stew and fried potatoes, a meal fit for a king, washed down with the usual mug of piping hot tea. That out of the way everything washed up we were ready to go again.

By now the river was running off again perfect, baits out and ready for the expected action, we did not have to wait long I was into a fish almost straight away at 7lb2oz a welcome start and the 10th of the day. The next bite was not long coming, this fish keeping low and fighting a lot stronger than all my other fish. Ade came up to offer a hand with the netting, the Barbel was soon ready for the net, straight in first time, “you’ve got a double there” he said, onto the scales and at 10lb4oz he was right. Congratulations and photos completed we returned the fish to fight another day.

The rest of the day was to produce another 3 fish to me best 9lb8oz Ade managing another fish to take his total for the day to 3. My total for the days fishing was 14 Barbel to 10lb4oz, also another 4 fish over 9lb for a total of 114lb9oz all caught during the hours of daylight and all on the 15ml pellets. This now was turning into some trip.

What did surprise me was the lack of Bream, I don’t think they could get a look in with that many Barbel to compete with, not that I was complaining. Most of the hours of darkness were spent asleep in preparation for the morning.

Saturday 10th September 2005

The Day of the Barbel Society 10th Anniversary fish in.

I had set my alarm on my mobile to wake me up an hour before daylight, the weather had now taken a turn for the worst it was raining hard, normally we would not have bothered but we had hoped for some good weather so that we could maybe have a few hours fishing then pack up and get to speak to a few of the other anglers in attendance.

Considering the weather there had been quiet a few anglers turning up both the evening before and also first light, most were only concerned with setting up and getting out of the rain, (cant say I blame them), by now we were back in action rods out, Ade was in first but unfortunately the fish managed to find a hidden snag.
I was soon away with the first fish of the day, a small fish of 4lb8oz but welcome all the same. Ade was in action again this time he was to land his first of the day at 6lb12oz a welcome sight.

By now we were soaking wet even our waterproof gear was starting to take in water with the relentless rain, but did we care “no” we were having fun. The next fish I hooked was clearly another good fish fighting deep and powerful like all the better fish do, Ade came up to give a hand, his comments on landing the fish “you’ve another double there mate” on the scales a weight of 10lb4oz was recorded, a fish we have both caught before with a recognisable mark on one flank. A couple of photos for the record and the fish was returned to swim away strongly.

Bites were now coming regularly but unfortunately we were loosing a few to the unseen snag, for some reason this had not been much of a problem up till now, but despite both of us loosing fish to it we did manage to land a few more. I finished the day with 5 fish the biggest the earlier double, Ade managed 4 his biggest 7lb11oz.
By 4 o-clock most anglers had had enough we packed up in the pouring rain. Then took a trip to the local pub for the raffle draw, a pint and snack...

28 anglers turned up for the event raising a total of £440.

Thanks must go out to Steve Hastie for organising the event, he spent most of the day up and down the stretch having time to talk to all the anglers as well as selling raffle tickets. All this in the poring rain which must of stopped for all of 5 minutes all day.

Also the anglers to our right, these 2 chaps kept us amused all day, what with there Day-Glo orange waterproofs and there attempts to cast further after witnessing us catching from the far side. The last time I witnessed casting like that was on the north beach at Great Yarmouth.

And lastly to Ade, cheers mate the session would not have been the same without you, sure you enjoyed it as much as me.

Not forgetting Tommy he did not miss out we kept him informed of every fish with regular text messages and phone calls.

Words: Richard Wells (Ginger)

Photos: Ade Kiddell, Richard Wells and Tommy Sayer