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Saying Goodbye To Summer - Justin Grapes
I have been having a go myself over the last couple of weeks, throwing the jigs about. It's great fun, even if you are not catching, coz you are always doing something - changing lures, trying different retrieves, etc. I've even been trying out a new product, which you can put onto your lures. It's Flavour Wand, which stays on for a long while. I gave a Crayfish Wand a go and on the second day of trying this out, with a Drennan Orange Paddle Tail. I had a hit on my lure after it had just settled on the bottom, after a flurry of twitches. So, after a couple of seconds, to make sure the fish was still there, I struck into what at first felt like a pike. But after a few hard runs I saw the fish flash just under the surface and it was a big perch! I asked Gareth to throw me the net and landed my prize. It looked a good fish, if it wasn't 3lb then it would be close. I left Gareth holding it in the net and trotted back to my van for the scales. On weighing, the fish went 2lb14oz, so I was over the moon and got a couple of good pics for the album.
Since then I've not had many perch, just pike. But my two work mates have been catching lots of roach, perch and bream, with the odd pike thrown in.
My next trip was on the dull and boring A47/A17 towards the River Trent. We had planned to go for two nights to break up the travelling and to get to know the stretch more, also to get some more swims sussed out for the late autumn, when there are more fish in the stretch. After a slow trip and a pit stop to keep Darryn fed, we didn't arrive until 8 pm, so we only had about 30mins until sunset.
We went for a spot that was occupied the first time we went down, where the river straightened after a bend and there was a good bit of flow from the middle to the far side. After getting the rods sorted and putting a few Source boilies out, I got the brolly up. We sat back and chilled for a few hours.
As I got into bed after a recast, I had an indication on my downstream rod, so I got out of my sleeping bag and struck into what felt like a small fish. It turned out to be a bream of around 4/5lbs. It was a start, but I was hoping the barbel weren't too far away. The rest of the night saw no action for either of us.
I got up first light and had another recast, sitting back and planning what we were going to do if nothing happened. As we were contemplating a move to the other side, the tide slowed up and my left-hand rod was away. Picking up the rod, it was obviously a barbel. After what seemed like ages, Darryn helped me land my new PB Trent barbel. On the scales it went a modest 9lb 6oz, happy days!
We gave it another couple of hours to see if anything kicked off, but it didn't, so we decided a move was the best bet. After bundling the stuff in the back of the van and a short drive, we made are way around to the far bank to where the flow pushed into the bank. We were happy on where we had found and set the rods up, casting out straight away. I put out about 1/2kg of boilies and pellets to start with, putting one rod in the middle of the baited area and the other just off it - in the middle of the river, where there was a crease (or food conveyer belt as we call it).
Not much happened for a few hours, but half way through the afternoon, as we were having a cuppa, my right-hand rod jumped into action. After lifting into what felt like a good fish, a few seconds later it came off. Being gutted was an understatement! We had just been talking about hook pulls on barbel and how we hadn't had any before, but I suppose when you have a 4 to 5oz lead bouncing on your line, it's going to put more strain on the hook hold.
After I had recast, about 5 mins later Darryn had a bite and he was into a hard fighting Trent barbel. With my camera in hand, I went over to see what he had hooked. After a few minutes, the barbel was in the net and it looked a good fish - close to the double figure mark. On weighing it went 9lb11oz, which was a result. After a few pictures, she was returned to her watery home.
As we had had some action and the evening was drawing closer, we decided to put some more bait in, hoping for a few bites in the hours of darkness. As I was turning in for the night, I had a bleep on my right-hand rod and as I turned my head torch on, I could see my rod tip bouncing away. I picked up into what was da small bream, all 2lb of it. Out went the rod again with a PVA bag of boilies, ready for the night ahead.
Nothing happened for me in the night, but Darryn did manage a big barbel of 11lb 2oz. In the morning, I was woken up by the sun in my face, so I reeled in and rebaited the rigs. Casting them out again to see if I could get a bite, like the morning before. But this was to no avail and by mid-morning we had packed up and were on are way home to Norfolk, pleased with what had been achieved on only our second trip.
The next weekend a social overnighter was planned on one of the small lakes on the Bawburgh Complex. My target was carp again like the last social, as I enjoyed the carp fishing that session and was happy to give it another go. On arrival, I saw there was one other down. After a quick look around, I opted for a swim where I could get to the tree line, which I knew the carp and tench move around all the time.
As I could get to where I was casting to, I went around and put some ADvanta Spod Mix and 14 and 12mm Nutcracker on the spot. I only put 4 big handfuls out to start with, to see if I got any indication.
That evening we had a cracking BBQ and a good old laugh between us, ending up sleeping under the stars. On first light, I was up and about to see what was happening on the lake. There were a few fish topping and one or two carp shows early on. After a couple of hours of day light my right-hand rod sprung into life, but not really a full-blown run. As it was coming towards me, I could feel it wasn't a carp. It swam under the rod tip straight away and then I court a glimpse of what looked like a monster roach. But as it turned again, I could see a bit more bream in it and on landing the fish I could see a lot more bream than roach in this hybrid. After slipping her back, I recast to the tree line and introduced another couple of handfuls of particles and boilies, sitting back and waiting to see if a carp would come along.
After about another hour it started to rain and not having a brolly up, I was quickly getting my bed chair on my barrow and under its cover. But half way through this, my right-hand rod was away again and this time it was flying. On picking the rod up, it was obvious I was into a hard fighting carp and it started to power towards the tree roots. I had to clamp down to stop it from snagging me, but after sticking the rod tip into the water to keep the line out of the branches, it started to make its way into open water. After another few minutes of steering the fish away from a couple of weed beds and another tree, it was in the net and it looked like a pretty little mirror. It was a stunning, a scale perfect 13lb+ mirror and with it being so pretty I wasn't bothered about the size at all.
By this time the rain had slowed, but I was still soaked but felt it was worth it. Nothing else happened in the last few hours. All in all, it was a great social and successful fishing session. My next few weeks I'm planning another carp session and then another trip up to the Trent, with a weekend away in between. So, until my next blog, tight lines and enjoy your fishing.
