The Sessions - June 2025 — Julian Barnes Angling

More Tench Success & the rivers opening

My Tench fishing in May couldn’t have started better with success at two lakes with 9’s from both and a stunning first double at 10-14 caught on 30 May 2025. I planned to carry on fishing for Tench well into June until I felt the chance of a monster fish north of 12 pound was gone, and then I’d move back onto my beloved Barbel for a while.

1 June 2025 – Northants Lake

The session couldn’t have been better with the double and 8’s and a 9 on the first day, it slowed up on the second day which I spent chatting to fellow Tench Fishers member Richard Clarke and we’d gone into the night fearing the Tench may start spawning imminently.

I was awoken by a take at 03:40 with another lovely fish at 8-07 and noticed Richard was already up, when he saw I was awake he came round to tell me the fish were spawning in front of him and driving him mad going through his lines.

As it got light I could see Carp and Tench spawning like crazy in the weed in front of us and the bobbins started going mad, so that was that, we reeled in got a brew on, watched the fish for a while and packed up for home. Fortunately for me I’d got my timing perfectly right and landed the fish (size wise) I’d been after from this lake for a few seasons, and drove home very happy.

5 June 2025 – Beds Lake.

The lake had been closed for two weeks due to the Carp spawning, I understand why some clubs do this but it is very frustrating for anglers that fish for other species, especially Tench, as the lake was closed when they were potentially at their biggest weights. Common sense should prevail and Carpers don’t fish for them when they are spawning but this isn’t always the case and we are where we are.

The lake re-opened at a good time as the Tench were spawning on the Northants lake so were left alone. We’d had a week of cooler weather with heavy rain and big south westerly winds and more typical May temps at 17 degrees so I didn’t expect it to be busy, but I arrived after work at 18:00 to find most swims taken. I had a walk round with the leading rod and found the two swims with the wind pumping into them both free, they aren’t the most popular for some reason but in the conditions looked a good bet.

I leaded the first swim and found very little weed due to deeper water, so leaded the second swim and although deeper found what I wanted, the Eel weed at three and half wraps, so I set up in that swim.

I baited the spot with half pints of casters and hemp and some 2mm pellets and put the rods out on method feeders and fake casters and was fishing by 21:30.

6 June 2025

I don’t expect much with Tench at night and slept well and was awoken at first light with a small Tench under four pound, although not big it gave me the confidence that they visit the spot. The same rod went again two hours later and felt much better only for a high single figure Carp to pop up.

At 07:30 I got the leading rod to work again for another spot further out and found a large gravel bar, I spent time looking for the right spot and settled on eight and half wraps right on the edge of it before it went soft, I then baited both spots with the same amount of bait as the previous evening.

It was quite cool and breezy with showers, just good fishing weather. I started to see the odd Tench rolling on the margin spot and after another small Carp I had the first decent Tench at 7-12 mid-afternoon. That was followed by another at 6-13 that definitely looked like it had spawned and I just hoped they hadn’t all spawned while the lake was closed.

It rained heavily late afternoon and evening and I baited the spots again at 18:00 and while doing it had quite an audience 😁

7 June 2025

I had another early morning wakeup call on the margin rods with another nice fish at 7-08. I reset all the rods and topped the spots up with another hit of bait.

The wind was causing a lovely ripple on the water and by 06:00 I started seeing fish roll over the long spot for the first time, I had a line bite and a few minutes later the bobbin dropped back, I picked up and lifted into the fish and it felt heavy but slow and sluggish and I thought one of the big Bream. It did kite to the left so I had to wade out to ensure it didn’t reach the reed line but I turned it easily and I still thought a big Bream until it popped up and I saw a huge Tench looking at me. I reached out with the net and it went in first time, I looked down on it and it looked short but very deep. I lifted her up on the scales and couldn’t believe it, another double at the same weight as my May fish at 10-14, I really should do the lottery, what a stunning fish, and my first Drennan Award of the new season.

Tench continued to roll on the long spot so I put a second rod on it and had another take 50 minutes later but the hook pulled half way in. I carried on until 09:00 and all the gear had dried out so I packed up as Julie and I were heading up to Nottingham for the Barbel Society Show.

8 June 2025 – Barbel Society Show

We drove up the evening before and met up with the rest on the committee and had a nice evening meal, some drinks and the usual banter.

In the morning we went to the Notts County football stadium and set up my rig clinic stand ready for the 10:00 start, it is a really good venue and we hoped for a good turnout.

It was a really good day, not as many people as we hoped but still good. My stand was busy all day, I really enjoy helping people improve their fishing, and it’s great to hear people I met last year telling how their season and catches had improved when employing my rigs and tactics, new friends were made again with some guide days booked in for this year to.

A real high light of the show was a late surprise and a great guest speaker in Fergal Sharkey, he was a great speaker and very knowledgeable on the state of our rivers and the sewage issue. The work he is doing is first class but will mean nothing if we as anglers don’t all support him in some way.

I remember him from my youth as the lead singer of the Undertones, a punk band from the early 80’s, in those days it was pay on the door for concerts, me and my pals got to the door and it was full so we dashed up the multi storey car park and could see through the windows of Cambridge Corn Exchange to see some of the show. I got Julie to get the song “Jimmy Jimmy” up on her Spotify in the car, she hated it as I sang along, brilliant memories.

This photo of me and Fergal was me relaying the storey to him, what a legend.

13 June 2025 – Beds Lake

I love being on the rivers on the 16th but with my Tench fishing going so well and both lakes holding fish over 12 pound I still thought I had a chance of a really big fish so stayed on the still waters and planned to do two nights on each lake.

I got to the lake early to find it not busy at all but the swim I fished on the last trip was taken so I walked round to find the best swim on the lake was free so dropped some gear in there to secure the swim. I got set up and got the leading rod to work and took a while to find a clearish spot amongst the weed which is what I was looking for at just over ten wraps and a nice drop. The swim is quite central on the lake so I baited more heavily, to hopefully stop passing fish, with a pint of each, casters, hemp, 2mm pellets and was fishing by 10:30.

It was warm and muggy but a very quiet day with very little being caught and I went into the night after topping the spot up with casters and hemp.

14 June 2025

The middle rod went at 01:10 and after a long fight a Common at 23-02 was slipped straight back, this was followed shortly after with a Tench at 7-03 and again was slipped back without a photo.

It was pretty clear the Carp were spawning again in the weed in front of me so I knew I needed to move to deeper water without the weed in front of the swim so I could avoid all the line bites.

The swim from my last session became free so I moved back in there for the second night and fished it the same way and had no trouble with spawning Carp. But other than a Tench at 6-07 and a big single figure Bream it was quiet.

My pal Paul Elt was in the top swim and did better than me with a brace of 8’s in a five fish catch to finish his Tench fishing this Spring.

15-17 June 2025 – Northants Lake

I packed the van and moved to the second lake for two nights and found it pretty much empty with only two other anglers on the 30 acres. The south westerly wind was pushing onto the road bank so that made my swim choice easy and I went back in the same swim I’d fished two weeks previously.

I checked the swim with the leading rod and the weed hadn’t got any worse on the spot so I wrapped the rods and baited up with a pint each of caster and hemp with some 2mm pellets and was fishing again by midday.

The bailiff came round for a chat and said the Carp had been spawning again in the warmer weather so I hoped that wouldn’t affect the Tench fishing as they could be pre-occupied with eating fish eggs. The day and evening passed quietly and I put a little more bait in at 18:30.

The session ended up being quite frustrating, I did land two to 7-10 and annoyingly lost three to hook pulls, the weed was a lot thicker closer in and cost me the fish, one was a good one that I couldn’t quite reach with the net.

The Carp were spawning like crazy in the shallow weedy bay and I think this definitely had an impact as I wasn’t seeing the Tench roll so packed up early on the 17th.

Still I have no complaints after a brilliant short period fishing for Tench with two doubles, two 9’s and a good few 8’s, you shouldn’t wish your life away, but I’m already looking forward to next Spring.

27-29 June 2025 – Middle Trent

Julie and I had a lovely trip away to Berlin, we were there four nights and visited most of the notable landmarks from the war, some of which were harrowing, but I’m glad we saw them. We had a two night concert watching Marillion who were excellent and a real highlight was the Cutting Crew who were support on the Sat night and were just brilliant, some of my older readers will remember “I died in your arms tonight”, what a song and brilliant live.

After a few days back at work it was time for my first Trent trip of the season and with it being summer and low conditions it was perfect for rolling meat. We’d had a lot of hot weather up to 32 degrees and the river was low at .39m, so I set up full of confidence that the fish would be there.

Potty was on the section and we had have a good social and a pizza delivery to see in the new season.

Both days were hot with a strong westerly wind, and with it being so hot I had plenty of breaks in the shade and drinking plenty of fluids. The wind made controlling the rig difficult as it was a downstream wind and was taking the rig with the flow so it took a while to get the plastercine weight right.

The fish were not there in numbers and bites were sporadic but I managed seven Barbel with two doubles at 10-12 and 11-00 to start my river season off.

Until next, tight lines and be lucky 😊

Big thanks to my sponsors for their continued support,

The Sessions - June 2025