The Sessions - February 2016
February – It’s Show Season
04 Feb – River Trent
Following a few frosty cold nights the weather went cloudy and mild in this crazy winter so I thought this would be the window for a Feb double so loaded the car and made the familiar drive up the A1 to the mighty and much loved River Tidal Trent. It had been 12 degrees during the day and when I arrived in the dark it was still warm for Feb, the forecast for the night was mild so I was very confident of a bite or two. The levels were down a bit but it was still pushing through but no rubbish coming down.
I put two rigs out with 6oz leads, my ever faithful Pandemic boilies and pva bags and a third rod with a third of a tin of Spam. I followed my normal winter routine of re-baiting every two to two and half hours unless of course I had a bite.
20:10 hours – 90 mins into the session and I had my first take on the Pandemic, a small fish at approx 7 pound but a good confidence boost, re-baited both boilie rods.
23:15 hours – I’d re-baited again at 22:00 hours due to the strong flow dragging the rigs out of position. The right hand boilie rod went and the fish felt very strong in the flow and was a better one at 9-09.
23:55 hours – the same rod went again and straight away I could tell this was a good fish. As Barbel anglers well know and I keep trying to convince my friends to try, there is nothing else like a take and fight from a Barbel… brilliant stuff from start to finish. This fish was no different and went 11-13
02:10 hours – I was playing another strong fish but suffered a hook pull, this was only my 6th loss of the season so I couldn’t complain.
03:15 hours – the same rod went again and it was another strong fish, I wasn’t disappointed and it went 10-07.
The river started to rise with rubbish coming down, I’d taken the small window of opportunity and packed up happily at first light, mission accomplished.
6/7 Feb – Brentwood Show
The first show of the season promoting CatMaster Tours with my pal and company owner Colin Bunn. A good show as always, although not as busy on the Saturday due to problems on the M25 with a lorry blocking both carriage ways.
10 Feb – Cambs Lake
The weather turned really cold again and the rivers were all in flood so out came the Perch rods again and another trip to the Cambs lake.
I arrived mid morning and it was very cold, cloudy with sunny spells and windy, I dropped in the same corner swim that did offer a little shelter but it was difficult to keep the floats in position.
I fished King Prawns on floats and loose fed maggots little and often, the place was alive with silvers who nailed all the maggots without doubt but they kept the swim active which is what I was looking for.
It was another pleasing session with 3 swim trashing Carp and 7 Perch, fours 1’s and two’s at 2-07, 2-13 and 2-14. As it was getting dark the line was freezing in the rod rings so I gladly packed up for home.
16 Feb – Cambs Lake
The temperature had really dropped so any plans for Barbel were out. When I loaded the car it was still -1 degrees but was sunny but I should have realised and looked at a lake close to home because when I got to the lake it was completely frozen over. Now I like a challenge and had driven 40 miles so after chatting to the owner I had a 20 foot piece of 3 by 2 and smashed a hole in the ice that would allow me to fish the hot area.
It took 90 mins of feeding maggots to get any activity in the swim but the silvers were soon smashing the maggots down so I felt I had a chance. I waited over 5 hours for the float to dip under and I had a Perch at approx 1-08 that saved a blank and was well earned but I know when I’m beaten so headed home.
20/21 Feb – Manchester Show
The fourth Northern Angling Show in Manchester and what a success it was. As always we had a great weekend catching up with friends, old and new from around the country. The only slight on the weekend was a lot of thieving with the Fox stand having a manikin stripped naked and Avid having a made up bivvy stolen, a bit of work to do on security but all round a great show and it will only get better.
22 Feb – Cambs Lake
I only had the day of work so decided on a Perch trip, the weekend had been warm with some of my pals catching good barbel but work beckoned so a perch trip it was.
When I arrived mid morning it was cold, cloudy and windy but the ice had all gone and felt confident of a good day.
I float fished King Prawns and fed 2 pints of maggots through the day that had the silvers going crazy, I finished with 1 Carp and 8 Perch at 1-08, 1-11, 1-14, 2-00, 2-08, 2-09, 2-15 and a repeat of the 3-00. Catching that fish for the third time certainly had me doubting fours and fives but who knows……
All in all a good month, very cold challenging conditions that I managed to over come and two good weekends away, what more could you ask for.
Feb – 1 night on the Trent, 4 Barbel / 2 doubles
Tight Lines
Julian Barnes