The Sessions - June 2015

The magical 16th and Eels

05 June – Ginger Bread Lake

I arrived at the crack of dawn and walked round looking for signs of fish, when your day fishing it’s crucial to locate them before you start but not always easy and may take time.
The only place I found fish was free but I had to sit in the car as a huge storm started as I was going to set up. This soon blew over and I set up in a swim called the point. A few casts with a bare lead showed me it was clear against the tree margin on the far side, so a stiff hinged rig went out 50 yards followed by 40 freebies and three good handfuls of tigers. The sea gulls were unable to get any as I had walked round and put them in by hand.

I found an area described as an old road running through the swim and it was a nice hard clear area at approx 30 yards so I put both the other rods on it, placing them on each edge before it hit weed and put 20 freebies over each. The time and preparation paid of as I had a take on the tree margin rod at 08:35 hours, the fish didn’t feel heavy but was fighting hard and I was real pleased to slip the net under a good Tench at 9-03, my spring target was a “9” and a double would be extra special so I was getting closer.

The rain and cloud passed by and it was sunny and hot at 25 degrees. The fish had been flirting with spawning and they started again, I fished till 16:00 hours without another take but went home happy thinking my spring thirty may have to wait.

I had a week of nights coming up that would take me to the 16th and give me 7 rest days to go fishing.

The magical 16th of June

I hadn’t fished from midnight on the 15th for years. One of my new friends from last years fishing Pete Ellis had booked a section of the Trent for the first night and invited me along to join him and his two friends. We had a section of 10 swims between 4 of us and they were all good ones.

After finishing work on Monday morning following 7 nights and a crazy riot in a certain establishment I was on my way and arrived at 18:30 hours. There were no problems and the bailiff had put signs up indicating the section was booked so it was a case of set up, have a kip and wait for the others to arrive.

I thought I’d be knackered after being up for 30 hours but I was buzzing for the season to start and couldn’t wait so sleep went out the window. The other three soon arrived and got set up and we cracked a few tins to celebrate.

Midnight soon arrived and out went two of my now standard Barbel rigs onto my margin spots with the brilliant MAD baits test bait and PVA bags with my special mix attached. If you haven’t read my previous blogs, I fish for a bite when Barbel fishing and don’t pile the bait in, I’ve watched people do this and I nearly always catch more, if it isn’t broke then don’t fix it…..

The river was up and had a tinge of colour following the rain the week before, it was warm and cloudy with a gentle breeze, perfect conditions.

I didn’t have to wait long and had three in the first hour at 9-04, 4+ and a double at 11-10, what a great start.

I got the rigs back out and 15 minutes later the rod crashed over again and I had another double at 10-14

June the 17th

By 08:00 hours I’d had further Barbel at 6+, 5+, and 9-07, a Bream and a small Chub. The day started to warm up and was sunny with broken cloud and the levels were noticeably dropping. I had two more during the day at 7+ and 8+ , a Bream, a chub and suffered a hook pull and then the evening set in and it looked perfect, bite time without a doubt….

Surprisingly nothing happened until well after midnight and by 06:00 hours I’d had a further three at 8+ and then packed up for the drive home.
The other three had mixed fortunes but did manage a few fish. I was over the moon with my start to the season, 12 Barbel with 2 doubles.

June the 17th cont – Fenland Pit

After the drive home I popped to the gym, had a wash and a refuel and sorted the tackle for another two nights out fishing. This trip was going to involve Eeling at night with a trip to the Crucian Lake during the day in between so an assortment of rods, tackle and bait was required.

I was soon on the road again and arrived at the Fenland Lake at 17:30 hours and was surprised to have it all to myself. My intention was to fish a different swim every trip until I had located the spots for the bigger Eels, so I dropped in peg 3 which is the middle swim at the wide end of the lake. It was warm, cloudy and muggy, conditions felt right and confidence was high. A dyson rig with two Lobworms was cast out under a tree to my left, a half Roach along the right hand margin and another half Roach out 30 yards next to the pads, on went the kettle and I sat back to await events.

Surprisingly I didn’t get a twitch until it was dark at 23:00 hours and then started to get plucks and pulls on both the margin rods.

During the hours of darkness I had 5 takes on the dyson rig, 1 was missed, 3 were Eels with the best being 2-12 and 1 was a small bonus Catfish.

I had 2 takes on the margin deadbait, on the first I didn’t connect but the bait had a lot of damage that suggested an Eel, the second was another Catfish only bigger at 25-09, this went back without a picture.

The third rod had remained quiet so I swapped it to Lobs on the bottom and had another small Eel. I felt I was making progress and the Eels were getting bigger but the big girls were still evasive. I had a couple of hours sleep and packed up at 05:30 hours for the next leg of the trip.

June the 18th – Fields End

I’d packed up the Eel kit and made my way to my pal and UKMA owner Ray Best’s house to pick him up for a trip to Fields End to do a Crucian Carp feature for the website.

The cloud had cleared, it was warm and sunny and looked perfect for a few fish. We arrived nice and early and got the pegs we wanted and got set up for the day.

It proved to be a good day and I caught Crucians at 1-08, 1-11, 1-15, 2-00, 2-01, 2-02, 2-04, and 2-05. Ray managed two at 1-15 and 2-01. Although not monsters when compared to the infamous Marsh Farm fishery in Surrey, these were good fish for this lake and I was real pleased. The tactics and bait used to catch these has been covered in the feature published on the website so I won’t repeat it again here.

June the 18th cont – Fenland Lake

We packed up after a good day at tea time, I dropped Ray back off at home and made the short trip back to the Fenland Lake and was fishing again at 20:00 hours, I’d chosen another new swim half way along the lake. The margin was slighter deeper but as with all the other swims there were no real features apart from the marginal reeds and trees.

I put ledgered half Roach in both margins and the dyson rig with two Lobworms 10 yards of the left hand margin.
After a bit of trial and error I felt I had the dyson rig right. I used a 3.5oz lead on a 6 inch piece of 12 pound line attached to a small swivel (this acts as a weak link), tied to that was 3 and half foot length of stiff 30 pound mono attached to a large run ring with a Drennan sub float, beads either side and sliding stop knot tied on to allow the depth to be set. The mainline is then threaded through the run ring and a short 6 inch quicksilver hooklength attached with a size 2 ESP Raptor hook. It is then a case of casting out, allow the float to settle in the upright position and tighten up enough to suspend the worms at the required depth. When the Eel hits the bait the mainline pulls easily through the run ring with minimal resistance.

I had Perch instantly on the dyson then it went quiet until dark. I then had my biggest Eel from the lake at 3-02 on the dyson followed by two dropped takes on the deadbaits. One of them had a large bite / crush mark which suggested a good Eel. Another small Eel fell to the dyson at first light and then I started to pack up.

June the 22nd – Ginger Bread Lake

After a good weekend spent with family celebrating my Mum’s 80th birthday and the long drive home from Cheshire I thought I’d spend father’s Day evening fishing. Having attained a night ticket for Ginger Bread I thought I’d have a go there for the Carp and Tench.

When I arrived I found most of the good pegs taken and didn’t see a lot of fish movement. So I tried a new swim on the back of a warm westerly wind called “the Lawns”. A bit of leading around soon located three likely areas and three stiff hinge rigs made their way out into the lake followed by 30 freebies around each rod. Also on the margin rod went a good helping of sweetcorn.

The night was fairly uneventful everywhere but I did manage two Bream of around 7 pound to save a blank and packed up at 05:00 hours for work.

June the 25th – Fenland Lake

I arrived with time to set up before dark and went in peg 2 which is a corner swim. I’d given the dropped runs some thought and picked the brains of my pal Glenn Patterson who is a renowned Eel angler for advice.

The conclusion was a heavy lead that would stay in position and allow the Eel to take line through the run ring on an open bail arm. I set up a 4oz lead on a short boom of 30 pound stiff mono to a large run ring, this was threaded onto the mainline and a 12 inch quicksilver hook length attached with a size 2 ESP Raptor hook.

Two rods went out on dyson rigs with worms, one on a half Roach. I took a forth rod and after talking to the members I put out a bolt rigged single 22mm halibut pellet and baited up with 4mm pellets.

The first take was on the Roach but I didn’t connect. The next one was on Roach and I thought it would be big due to the size of the bait but it was under two pound!!
I had a further three Eels on the dyson and a number of dropped takes, very frustrating!!

June the 27th – Fenland Lake

My last trip of the month saw me back after the Eels again which was starting to be a head banger!!

I managed to get into a swim called “the Pallets” for the first time which offers a lot of good areas to put a bait. The baits were out for 20:00 hours, two on dyson rigs with worms and two on ledgered half Roach.

One of the dysons fished under the near bank tree was being murdered by Perch and I ended up reeling it in until dark before I ran out of worms.

It was another frustrating night, 13 Perch, a Jack Pike and 2 Eels to 2-05, both on the dyson. To cap it all off it started to pour with rain and I had to pack all the gear away soaking wet.

That completed another enjoyable months fishing, as always learning along the way. With Barbel being my favourite English species and I do get a lot of questions about fishing for them it’s worth keeping my monthly tally going as last year.

Barbel – 12 fish / 2 doubles – 1 trip to the Trent

Tight Lines

Julian Barnes