The Sessions - March 2016

The end of a magical season

01 March – Cambs Lake

Work was taking too much fishing time again and it had been over a week before I could get out again. I’d got the nod to fish a private section of a fen drain where some good Perch had been caught and the bait fish were holding up during the winter so with a day of work I drove over.

The weather was horrendous with strong wind and driving rain that was hammering down the drain, not the best weather for a first trip. After a quick look I was back in the car and drove across country to the Cambs lake where I could get some shelter from the wind.

I arrived at lunchtime and it was still raining but was warm at 13 degrees. I dropped in the same corner swim for the shelter to keep out of the wind and started trickling maggots in.

I fished King Prawns on floats and loose fed maggots little and often, the place was still alive with silvers and they didn’t let any of the maggots hit the bottom but they kept the swim active.

The rain eventually stopped but the fishing was a little tricky but I caught in the end, 2 Carp and 3 Perch, a high 1 and two 2’s at 2-02 and 2-06. I had a busy evening planned so headed home at teatime.

04/05 March – River Trent, Burton Joyce

The weekend of another charity event had arrived, UsforIwan. Well known angler Lee Swords had arranged the event along with my pal Jerry Gleeson, Jon Preen and Grazy Roberts. It was for a young lad named Iwan that needed some specialist medical care in America as our NHS could not provide it, this young lad had captured the heart of Lee and the work and effort put in by the lads was nothing short of phenomenal. Ashfield Angling allowed us to use the section of the Trent at Burton Joyce and the lads managed to get approx 45 of us down there for the weekend. Not only that Jez worked tirelessly for months setting up an auction where lots of anglers from around the country offered guiding days for auction, tackle and bait companies put bits in and in total we raised just shy of £12,000, quite amazing really. Nick Waller even paid £160 for 24 hours with me.

To make it all a blinding success and American (very wealthy) saw what we were doing and came in with the rest of the money for Iwan’s treatment, what a fantastic gesture and hats off to him.

The weekend was full of laughter with like minded people, we had great BBQs both mornings and the Sat evening and it was an all round great weekend. The weather was against us with rain through the week making the river very high and the banks pretty dodgy, to cap it off it went clear and very cold with frosts both nights. The only fish caught was a foul hooked Zander by me and a Bream for another angler. So with the fishing so bad what does a group of anglers lead by Jez do… the picture below says it all, great times.

08 March – River Trent

My only other window for a March double had arrived and I didn’t want to fail at the final hurdle.

The conditions were not good, the nights had remained frosty and the river was still high. However the forecast was that it was getting warmer but 24 hours of rain was also on the way so I knew it would be tough. The section I chose I knew from experience fished well when the river was high and had produced well for me last season in cold conditions so I felt it was my best chance, a quick call to Kye the bailiff who told me no one was fishing so I drove up.

I arrived at 16:00 hours and got set up with two nights available to fish, it was cold but cloudy and no rain. The river was high but looked quite fishable.

I put two rigs out with 6oz leads, my ever faithful Pandemic boilies and pva bags and crossed all my fingers and toes. I planned to follow my normal winter routine of re-baiting every two to two and half hours unless I had a bite.

17:35 hours – I didn’t have to wait long for my first take but it resulted in a Bream, I wasn’t to disappointed as I am convinced they feed together comfortably, I re-baited both rods.

22:20 hours –the right hand rod went again, this one was a Barbel at approx. 7 pound which was an encouraging sign.
23:30 hours – the same rod went again and this one felt stronger especially in the stronger flow but you never know until it’s netted. After landing it I still wasn’t sure and thought it may be a naughty nine but the needle stopped at 10-01 and I was over the moon, I’d done it, a double for every month two years on the trot.

09 March

01:55 hours – I suffered a hook pull and then quickly had another take, another average Barbel at 7plus.

04:15 hours – the same rod went again and by now it was pouring with rain, I spent too much time pulling on my boots as I was still half asleep, I picked up and it was another strong fish but the hook pulled, totally my fault as I took too long but being only my 8th loss of the season I wasn’t to unhappy and shrugged it off.

The rain carried on as forecast all night, the morning was definitely warmer but with all the rain it was certainly not comfortable fishing and then as expected by mid- morning the river started to rise.

I’ve introduced my pal Matt Marlow in my ramblings before, he arrived at 14:00 hours hoping for an end of season double and for me it was great to have good company in pretty awful conditions. The wind swung round to a strong cold northerly which was good timing as it meant I had to move my shelter round but also quite a way up the bank as the river was rising quickly and rubbish had started to coming down.

I had to go up to 8oz leads and with experience in this area I dropped the rigs in a lot closer as the fish hug the near margin to keep away from the strong flow.

18:10 hours – we stood chatting in the rain with Kye when I noticed my left hand rod just nod over slightly, the other two handn’t seen it and thought I was seeing things, as I went to the rod it did it again but very slight so I picked up and met heavy resistance, it was definitely a fish and a strong one at that, it fought so hard I had to go down to the next swim to land it, Matt did the honours and we all knew straight away it was a double, a nice end of season fish at 11-12 and was hard earned.

10 March

The rain carried on all night and the river kept rising, we both had to move back up the bank during the night. Rubbish coming down made fishing very hard but I did manage to trip another up in the night at 8plus.

At first light it was freezing, the river was still coming up and there were trees coming down in the flow so we both decided enough was enough. As we were cooking breakfast before packing up I tripped another up, a small fish at 6plus to end a tough but enjoyable session.

17 March – Decoy Lakes

With the rivers now closed I was looking forward to spring Tench and Carp fishing but planned a couple more Perch trips first.

I spent the day between two swims float fishing King Prawns in the margins, it’s a one rod rule here which makes it harder for locating them. I loose fed casters little and often and the Carp loved them, I had two in the first swim and they trashed it so I settled in the second one and caught four more, any Perch would have been bullied out so I packed up for home early.

19/20 March – The Big One, Farnborough

The Big One had arrived and what a great show with 22,000 plus people through the doors over the weekend. As usual Colin and I had a great weekend and we had another of our friends Reg Whitehouse with us for the weekend promoting CatMaster Tours.
I became a member of the Castaway PVA team and it was great to meet all the lads involved and I’m looking forward to using their gear this coming season.

22 March – Cambs Lake

To finish the month I went back to the Perch Lake with the intention of trying an up in the water worm rig once I had located the fish. The conditions looked good, a frosty morning that soon cleared to a warm sunny day at 10 degrees.
I dropped in the same corner swim to start with and put out two floats with King Prawn loose feeding red maggots. The Perch had other ideas and just weren’t there, as forecast the cloud came over and it looked bang on but all I got was Tench and Carp.

I moved and tried two new areas with the same result, Carp. I moved again and settled by a large tree over hanging the water, this was late afternoon and I still hadn’t caught a Perch. I could only use one rod as it was a tight swim so I lowered a prawn in and started feeding maggots. The silvers started going mad on them so my confidence grew and not long after I had my first Perch. I fished on until 18:00 hours catching 6 Perch to 2-09.

The worm rig will have to wait for another day.

A tough and challenging month that ended well.

March – 3 nights on the Trent, 6 Barbel / 2 doubles.

That was the end of a truly magical season for me, I fished new venues all over the country, made a lot of good friends along the way, I’d set 5 new species PBs, caught Barbel from every river I’d fished and had my third different river 14+. I’ve been targeting Barbel for two full seasons and am totally addicted.

I completed a personal challenge catching a double a month throughout the season for the second year on the trot and finished the season with 147 Barbel and an incredible 57 doubles!

Tight Lines

Julian Barnes