The Sessions - June 2024
A Difficult Start on the Rivers.
I enjoyed a reasonable start on the Walthamstow Bream but the highlight of last month’s fishing was a wonderful return trip to Jurassic in Thailand, catching lots of the huge Siamese Carp, it’s something I can’t recommend enough if you’re planning a trip over there , this was enjoyed with some brilliant family days out to make it an excellent holiday.
June soon comes round again and I was really looking forward to being back on moving water again.
09 June 2024 – Barbel Society Show
The first weekend of June was spent recovering from holiday and all the usual stuff after two weeks away from home, there is just never enough time in the day and I’m convinced as we get older you get busier with life and spend less time doing what you enjoy, but with all those jobs out the way I set about prepping myself for this year’s Barbel Society Show.
Julian “Judd” Atkins had organised this year’s show at the Notts County football ground and worked tirelessly to make this show a success, the location was perfect and central to the hub of modern Barbel fishing the River Trent around the Nottingham / Newark area, and we hoped people would support it by attending. The list of speakers was excellent with good friends Ian Potts, James Dennison, Lee Swords and Des Taylor all speaking through the day, a great selection of tackle, bait and fishery stands and I had agreed to do a Rig Clinic.
As in previous years a group of us met up the evening before and had a great night out in the pubs and restaurants by the river and we were all up for breakfast the next morning and ready for the show.
The location was brilliant and the show much better attended than in recent years, I was surprised and very flattered at how busy my rig clinic was, with a constant stream of people coming over to talk (having my very pretty wife sat with me obviously helped), I love sharing my knowledge and take great pride in any help I can give people in improving their angling. I’ve agreed to do the same at the NPS show in Nov this year so come and say hello.
The talks were all brilliant and received great feedback, Dessie’s was particularly good and showed a very honest and humble side to Des a lot of people don’t see and I was pleased I got to hear it, well done mate.
The show was a great success and something to build on for next year, well done Judd, you should be proud of yourself.
16 June 2024 – River Trent, Collingham
The magical 16th had soon rolled round again and I hadn’t really planned where to go due to the cooler temps we had been experiencing, I did go in the draw for Gunthorpe island but didn’t get lucky so after driving up to see my mum in the morning I drove across from the Nantwich area with an open mind. I looked a few places and found them to busy so drove down to the tidal at Collingham as I knew there would be very few people on there, and as expected when I drove onto the field at 17:00 it was empty.
I went to an old favourite area and got the deeper / leading rod to work, with all the flooding in winter and spring I wanted to check the areas again as they will have changed. The river was still carrying water and my in first choice swim the flow was a little too fast to hold properly so I looked at a swim I hadn’t fished for a good number of years, it was now 15 feet deep with the flow just of the rod tip which was perfect and would give me the control I wanted. The next job was to set the shelter up between the heavy rain showers and get ready for midnight, it was cool at 11 degrees and forecast to 8 degrees overnight, crazy temps for June. Once I’d set up camp I put a good spread of BBB / Pandemic through the swim ready for midnight.
It was cold and poured with rain most of the night and was very quiet with just one lost to a hook pull 40 minutes into the session, I then had three bites between 5:00-8:00 with two singles and a double at 12-06 to start the season off.
19 June 2024
It’s been a difficult 18 months for our families and the hits keep on coming, as I’ve mentioned previously my mum had a serious stroke on 27 January last year and after defying all medical logic and recovering covid, pneumonia and heart failure whilst in hospital she made a remarkable recovery, but with little movement in her right side she was moved to a nursing home in Nantwich, where she has been since Sept last year.
On 19June Mum had another minor stroke and with the added complication of cellulitis in her right leg she was in a bad way and moved back into hospital. Regular trips have been made up and down the M1 and as I write this it is looking positive, she was moved back to the nursing home on 28 June and is much more comfortable.
I’m not looking for messages and sympathy as this is just part of life that we all have to deal with at some point, but you don’t see these things coming and it’s a terrible upsetting shock when they do, so please look out for and appreciate your loved ones, say how you feel and treasure the time you have together as you never know what is coming next.
21-23 June 2024 – River Lea, Kings Weir.
I’d pre-booked regular trips to fish Kings Weir throughout the coming season and after a long drive to see mum and her being sedated and in good hands I decided to go and decompress with two nights on the river.
I got to the swim at 16:30, it was sunny and hot at 24 degrees with a light south westerly wind, the river was still carrying water and a lot of weed. The weed had been cut and dropped in and the boats on the canal cut it up as they go through and it all comes over the weir, it then continually back eddies up catching on the lines making presentation difficult.
I checked my spots with the lead and Deeper and then baited with BBB and Pandemic, both rods were flicked into place with a single 15mm BBB and pva bag.
The session was difficult throughout, I had to reel in and clear all the weed from the eddy with my landing net which took over an hour and then regularly clear new weed that came over the weir. It was worthwhile as I could leave rigs in position longer and fish effectively and good prep for the coming sessions through summer. I didn’t get any bites over the two nights, and people came and went in other swims and all experienced the same. The rivers are still out of sorts following the flooding and cooler temps, it is questionable whether the fish have finished spawning so could be anywhere, I’m due back in July and really looking forward to it, Kings Weir is a lovely place to fish and there is a very big Barbel there that I want to trip up.
28 June 2024 – River Trent, Gunthorpe
This was my first opportunity this season to catch Barbel on what is becoming my favourite method in the right conditions, rolling meat
I’d set the swim up the previous evening and got a good sleep and was up at 05:00 ready to start, I checked the river level and it was .45m which is ok but a little high to roll effectively in the swim so I put the kettle on and had some breakfast and waited. The level is controlled at Colwick and comes up overnight and drops again during the day so I was sure I’d get plenty of time. By 06:30 it was down to .42m, that doesn’t seem a lot but makes a huge difference with the flow rate and enabled me to start. Well I’d love to say it was non-stop action but it wasn’t and all I had to show for 6 hours rolling was three Eels, two Chub and a 3 pound Barbel.
The weather was good, cloudy and warm at 21 degrees with a light wind, good conditions; it just appeared the fish were not there in numbers. I decided to have a rest and put out two static rods for the afternoon, I knew the clear spots so lowered a BBB onto each and put a spread of BBB and Asbo through the swim.
It only took 40 minutes for the right hand rod to go with an 11-01 and that was followed by four more singles in the afternoon. With fish definitely there I tried rolling again in the evening and had three more singles before it got dark and I hit the sleeping bag.
29 June 2024
I was up again and fishing at 06:00 with two static rods, as the day before the level was up and would need to drop before I could roll baits again. By mid-morning I’d had four fish to 12-09 and lost three by getting cut-off an inch above the hook, I didn’t want to leave tackle in the fish so tried rolling again only catching more Chub and left for home early at lunchtime to get up to see my mum again.
Not a great start to the season for me but once the rivers sort themselves out it will all come good I’m sure, fishing is my passion and I love it but sometimes other stuff is just more important.
Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😊
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