The need to fish.....

[TrentFisher]

With Saturday being a washout for two reasons, firstly a job at home taking longer than expected and very heavy rain settling in!

Sunday looked a better prospect for a few hours idling on the Trent after an early lunch. I had taken a walk in the morning just to see how the river looked.
For the first time in weeks it had a bit of colour and some extra water.
I still wanted to float fish as there will be many occasions during Autumn and Winter when it will be my old beat up Barnsley Black quiver tip rod needing to be used.

Bait wise was to be bread or wheat both being pack in the rucksack.
I arrived at the river and was set up just before 2.00pm.My original first choice spot was now occupied by a barbel fisher, I beat a retreat without a conversation and not being noticed.

I opted for what I call the long glide swim which as the name suggests offers the option to long trot.
The conditions were windy but due to the nature of the high bank and lucky for me the wind mainly gusting over my right shoulder I would be able to fish quite comfortably.
With waders pulled up I found a firm piece of bank with the simple homemade bait stand in place, landing net positioned...just in case!
I was using 13ft of the black stuff as my thinking was the ultra slim blank would handle better in this wind this was coupled with an old closed faced reel which again I find perform well in these conditions.
In general I normally fish heavy floats to boss the river, today I opted for a big stick float carrying 8BB.
Just a word on my shotting ,I have for many years used the usual shirt button approach ,however I pair my shot together to about the last 3 feet and then single shot this with smaller shot 6's and 8's.It works for me so I stick with it . I was first shown this back in the 70's by a local successful match angler....
The first few trots were all about adjustments and getting to understand the changes in flow. I finally settled on around 10 feet which in couple of spots would drag the float under due to weed beds but in the main It looked to be about right.
The wind disturbing the surface made it a little hard to gauge where the changes in current where, I finally worked this out that at about rod and half the float would avoid being pushed out to far and would travel in the slightly slower current .Two thirds down the the swim the current tended to push across at this point from the far bank and the float would push back in towards the near bank at this point and then continue on it's journey.
With this all sorted and the wheat being fed twice per cast I finally got my first bite which resulted in small chub of about 8 ounces.
This was my only fish in the first hour and half, during the this time I bumped another fish .
The skies darkened and this resulted in a heavy prolonged shower .I maintained my position and kept the fed trickling in.
Finally a flurry of bites resulted in 6 roach and two more chub, nothing above 8 ounces. Still rewarding in the conditions.
This pattern followed and with it the time passed so quickly as it always does.
The wind had finally eased and the sun on the far bank trees causing beautiful Autumn reflections on the river. A chirp from a passing Kingfisher completed the scene.
I was guessing I had about half an hour left of the day, so I decided to give the bread a go as quite often this produces a better stamp of roach.
Despite my best efforts it only produce one further roach of about 6 ounces and 2 chub no bigger than the others.
With the light fading it was time to pack away ,reflecting on the session I was very pleased with the result of about two dozen fish and that need to fish had given another memory to enjoy.

All the best
Nige.

[Jeremy Croxall]

I would say that was a good session, well planned and thought through.
Not huge fish but a just reward for your efforts.
Well done, well angled

[Catfish.017]

Nice day TF . I'm off to the upper river at Handsacre after lunch. Hopeful of a couple of those better Roach I stumbled upon a few weeks ago!