The Sessions - Sept 2024 — Julian Barnes Angling

Fine margins between success and failure.

My river season took a turn for the better in August with a Barbel at 16-08, but the fishing continued to be challenging on the tidal with the Mitten Crabs very active, I did an overnight stop on the Derwent and found the fishing impossible there due to Crayfish….

Despite all the challenges I had a good month with 20 doubles and had some good trips planned for September.

01 September 2024 – River Trent, Collingham

I finished last month with an enjoyable guide session with John, and I stayed on the river overnight, it started well with a high single and it started to rain as I put it back. Two hours later I had another take that felt a lot heavier, and I was rewarded with a nice fish at 12-05 and another single quickly followed, by this time it was pouring with rain so I decided to reel in, I’d had a good trip and felt I needed some sleep and didn’t want a soaking each time I had a take.

When I woke up everything had dried out, so I quickly started to pack the van away, I wasn’t quick enough and the rain started again and was very heavy and literally soaked everything leaving me with a wet drive home.

07 September 2024 – River Trent, Gunthorpe.

I’d been working in Reading all week which involved a lot of travelling each day and by the time I got home on the Friday I was worn out so had a nice night in with Julie, some good food, wine and a movie and I was recharged the next morning.

I had planned to be on the weir rolling meat and had already lost Friday afternoon so left as early as I could and arrived late morning. The river looked perfect and a good level, it was dull and cloudy with drizzle and warm at 20 degrees, the conditions looked great, and I thought I was in for a good session.

I’ve had this before and not done very well so I didn’t set the swim up properly, I popped the shelter up, put the gear under it to keep dry and starting roiling meat around 12:30.

I spent the next five hours rolling meat through every little spot in the swim, it was working a treat, but the fish were not there in numbers, particularly the bigger fish, by 17:30 I’d had seven singles to high nine pound and felt I needed to move, so I loaded the van and headed to the tidal.

River Trent, Cromwell

I was very surprised to find all the swims free and no doubt the Crab activity was having an impact and people were not bothering so I dropped in the swim I felt would give me the best chance with the current river level and started fishing at 19:15.

I baited with approx. 100 boilies, Asbo & BBB, and put both rigs out on BBB soaked in a food dip and hoped the Crabs were not going to be active. Unfortunately, as soon as it got dark the Crabs started and were eating everything, I did get a few fish but it wasn’t easy, with an 11-14 being the best of four. By 03:00 I couldn’t stay awake any longer and went to sleep, the Crabs quickly stole the bait of the hairs and that was the end of any action for me.

09 September 2024 – River Thames

I’ve wanted to fish the Thames for years and had joined a club not far from Reading. I was due to be in Reading for a few more days so did a bit of research on travel and found I would be only 11 miles away so made plans to take the van and tackle with me and do a work overnighter for my first trip on the Thames.

I’ve talked before about my planning on the Trent with weather conditions and river levels, and I record it all in my diary so started to do the same with the Thames, with a river level at 2.82m, I didn’t know how that would look yet but you only find out by trying. It was cloudy and forecast to be 11 degrees overnight, so the conditions looked good.

I got to the river for 17:30 and already had an idea which area to try first, there was one car in the car park, so I was pretty sure he’d be in one of the two areas I wanted to target so walked down to look. The first swim was free, and I walked down the tow path to find him in the second swim, it was an angler I’d met before on Johnsons, so we had a good chat and catch up before I went and set up in the first swim.

I started in my normal fashion with the Deeper mapping out the swim and then swapping to a bare lead to check the bottom, I identified two areas with bare gravel both being 9 feet deep with a slight downstream cast, one close in and the other mid river. I baited with approx. 60 boilies, Asbo and BBB and put both rods on 15mm BBB soaked in food dip. It was soon evident I’d need heavier leads and had to go up to 8oz, the flow didn’t look that fast, but I needed 8oz to hold the rigs in position.

This area of the Thames is quite busy with boat moorings past the upstream boundary and a lot of walkers, joggers and cyclists, and something I’ve not come across before in my fishing, magnet fishermen, but I knew it would soon quieten down once it got dark so was not worried.

The rod tops were trembling straight away, and Dace were hooked on both rods but as it got dark they were not so active but Crayfish moved in, fortunately they were not as bad as on the Derwent and I could leave rigs out for two hours.

10 September 2024

I had a take in the early hours that flew off and stopped, I picked up and struck into nothing and reeled the rod in to check the rig, a dace had hooked itself and tangled the rig up, it had no teeth marks on it so I assumed a Perch had hit the Dace and due to the tangle not got hooked.

I made two hourly recasts through the night and did the last one at 06:00, had some breakfast and started to slowly pack the swim down, at just before 08:00 with everything on the barrow and just the rods left out I had a take on the close in rod and landed my first Thames Barbel at 7-8 pound, not big but very pleasing to get one on my first trip and I’m looking forward to going back for a longer session.

13-15 September 2024 – River Lea, Kings Weir

We’d had a week of mixed weather with warm days and some heavy rain but unfortunately the night temp had dropped to 3 degrees a sharp drop of 8-10 degrees which I hoped would not have an impact, but I felt it might do.

I arrived earlier than previous trips and rechecked the area with the Deeper ensuring I was right on the money with my baiting up. I set both rods up on 15 BBB soaked in the food dip and baited the left-hand spot with two pints of hemp and chopped BBB, and the right-hand spot with approx. 30 BBB.

The afternoon passed quietly and the night was very cold and clear, not the best conditions but with the weir being the deepest area of the section I felt it should be the warmest so the fish would move up.

I recast every three hours through the night, the weed was not an issue but the right-hand rod did have branches on the hook on two occasions.

By midday I’d not had a touch and I instinctively felt I needed to make a tactical change so changed the bait on both rods (I’ll keep this to myself for now). The boats had been busy on the canal and river though the day and the weed was bad in the back eddy where it had been chopped up by the boats so I had to recast every hour to keep the lines clear.

I put another two pints of hemp on the left-hand spot at 17:30 and upped the leads to 6oz to ensure they stayed in position, and by late evening the weed had died right down. I felt I was fishing well and was confident in the changes I’d made.

At 02:40 the left-hand rod went over and line fizzed off the spool, the swim is tight so the rod handle was under the bedchair so I was on it in a flash and straight into a heavy fish, I got my shoes on and stood up and in that 30 seconds the fish had gone round a boulder that I did not know was there, I eased the rod back and the fish was coming slowly back, but on the third time of easing it back the line went slack, it had cut me off, I was devastated, it’s one of those sickening moments when you know it was a big fish and with this section, it was a 50% chance of a PB, its one that will stick in the gut for years to come. I stood there a good ten minutes with the rod in my hand and felt I should just put it on the rest and go to sleep as bites there are so hard to come by, but eventually the fisherman in me made me retackle and put the rod back on the spot.

At 06:20 the other rod went and I’d love to say this was redemption and it was a Barbel, but was approx. 15oz!!! Probably the smallest Barbel caught at Kings Weir for years 😊

I carried on until lunchtime and packed up for home with my tail between my legs, but I’ll be back in October for two more sessions.

16 September 2024 – Walthamstow

I had a day free and was planning to go to another river for a day rolling meat but decided to go for a day’s Bream fishing as they should be feeding up for winter. I arrived for opening at 07:00 and was one of only two people Bream fishing that day so swim choice would be easy and I went in a swim call the Double Grass which is half way down the reservoir, it’s a noted area but also provides a good view up and down the reservoir for showing fish.

The weather wasn’t ideal after the cooler nights, high pressure and the wind had changed to a north easterly overnight but I felt I’d get a chance or two. I started by spombing out approx. 2kg of mix, hemp, 2 & 4mm pellets and chopped boilies, and then put all three rods on 70kg method feeders, two on pineapple wafters, and the other on a banded Elips pellet.

I was recasting the feeders every 90 mins and topped up the area at midday and 16:00, I felt I was fishing well but didn’t see a single show other than Carp and got hammered by Tufties all day. I packed up on closing and spoke to all the Carp anglers as I walked back to the car, no one had a thing all day.

26 September 2024 – River Trent, Cromwell.

What a ten days of weather, we experienced record levels of rain in such a short time in Beds and Cambs it was crazy, the rivers and lakes all burst their banks and there was some serious flooding that made the national news for a few days, one section of the A421 that I use daily was under six feet of water. I was on my ten day stretch at work that also included a night management check and had to make detours most days, and one day it was so bad I made three detours to get home, 22 miles took over two hours!!

I finished on the Thursday lunchtime and planned to drive up to the Trent, the midlands had missed the worst of the weather but the Trent was still high so swim choice was crucial. I arrived at 17:30 to find my first two choices taken so parked the van behind a swim I’m not keen on but it was free and I walked the section. A swim I really like was closed due to flooding but on inspection the level had dropped enough to be able to fish it so I phoned the bailiff and got the green light and set up there.

The level was 1.42m and right to the top of the swim but it was due to drop a bit so I thought I’d be ok. I checked it again with the Deeper and identified a spot at 12 feet deep a rod length out and wanted to try one in the channel at 15 feet. I decided to go big on the bait and spoppered out approx. 150 boiles, Asbo and BBB on to the channel spot, and put 50 BBB out by hand on the close in spot.

I set both up with 15mm BBB soaked in food dip, and put a 5oz lead on the right and an 8oz on the left in the channel.

It was mild with thick cloud and showers with a strong north easterly wind but I was sheltered where I was set up. With the water high and coloured I didn’t think the Crabs would be active but they were although not in numbers so regular checks of the rigs were needed.

The first bite came into dark on the left hand rod, it fought really hard in the high water and I was surprised it was only 10-13 but a nice start.

27 September 2024

The weather was awful and it was hammering down with rain, I made regular checks of the rigs and sometimes the bait was nibbled and others it wasn’t and at 03:50 it was all worthwhile, the right hand rod smacked over and I picked up into a heavy fish, the swim was quite tight so it was hook and hold with trees to the right and left, it came to the surface and I could see it was big, it took three scoops but it went in on the third and was a cracker at 16-02. I had an area set up for photos under a tree and got some film and good pictures, what a result in difficult conditions.

It had gone down to 3 degrees and there was a light frost in the morning up by the shady area by the van. The level had dropped to 1.36m, the cloud and strong wind stayed all day but the rain eased off and surprisingly the Crabs were worse during the day..

Other than a small Barbel falling off at the net the day passed quietly, Ian was in peg 4 and had caught a few to low doubles through the night so a good start for both of us.

An hour before dark I gave the swim another big hit of Asbo and BBB and I felt with the drop in level I may get more on the left hand rod. In a 90 minute spell from 20:50 I had three on the left hand rod at 12-05, 14-02 and 9 plus and then they disappeared again.

28 September 2024

The Crabs were more active so I was rechecking regularly and shortly after a recast at 02:40 I had an 8 pounder and then 40 minutes after the right went and I met solid resistance, although I knew pretty quickly it wasn’t a Barbel as the fight was so distinctive of river Carp, I couldn’t let it get out into the river so held on tight and bundled it into the net, a nice bonus fish at 21-06. I recast both and topped up both spots with BBB.

The night had been cold and clear and the river level was up again to 1.43m and rising after all the rain, at 09:00 I was sat on my bedchair with a brew chatting to Judd on the phone when the right went again, I picked up and could not stop it getting out into the main flow, it was another good Carp and just hung in the flow, eventually after what seemed ages I got it back to net, bent down, picked up the net and the hook just flew out, disappointing but it wasn’t a Barbel so I shrugged it off.

The level continued to rise so I knew I’d have to move, I considered a section on the middle but was informed there was a match on there so I moved to the swim next door which I knew I could fish if the level continued to rise.

I moved and was fishing by mid-afternoon, the level continued to rise through the night with lots of rubbish coming down, the Crabs were a real pain and I landed one as big as a dinner plate! I had one more single figure Barbel before packing up early Sunday morning and drove home very happy with a good session to finish the months fishing adventures.

Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😊

Big thanks to my sponsors for their continued support,

The Sessions - Sept 2024