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Targets Set & Targets Met - Ade
The way I tackle conditions like this is by fishing long hook-links, and here I am talking up to 6 foot, and fishing small baits; a single 8mm pellet will catch plenty of barbel: needle in a haystack sums up a single pellet in a big river but take my word for it I find plenty of needles!! Big, juicy red maggots and fresh castors also work well when the river is clear. The one thing I don't do is fine down hook-link strength - the extra length negates that need. However, I will change hook size to suit bait size.
Ten minutes into my first autumn session and the proof was in the pudding as they say when I slipped the net under a plump autumn barbel that fell to a bunch of red maggots. Whilst returning the first fish the second rod, this time baited with a Sonubait 8mm cheesy garlic “O” pellet, leapt into life and another autumn barbel was in the bag.
In the end 20 barbel and a couple of chub graced my net, no record breakers but a lovely afternoon’s fishing. I packed in at dark with the landing net frozen to the bank as the early evening frost bit hard.
A few days later, and old mate and Angling Direct regular, Graham Hall and his wife Debs paid us a visit, with Graham Keen to sample some river fishing and Debs keen to have a look round the area and catch up with Tjitske. Graham is a commercial fishery regular and can hold his own in the best of company but by his own admission has very little running water experience, especially with the pole. Grahams brief was simple; he wanted barbel, bream and chub on the pole if possible: shouldn't be too hard if the weather was kind.
With the weather perfect for barbel we started in a spot where the chances of a barbel were high and decided to target them on a heavy pole rig with maggot hookbait, feeding maggot, and a bit of groundbait, mixed heavy to get it on the deck before breaking up. My old mate Glenn at Angling Direct Norwich had sent me out a gallon of fresh maggots: they were like snakes compared to what’s available out here in France: remember that if you are coming out to France for a fishing holiday quality fresh bait is not so easy to find - visit your local AD branch and get them to pack you some fresh bait up, loads of freezer packs in a cool box and the bait will be fine for 24 hours or more.
After getting Graham sorted I put out the feeder and sat back and watched the world go by, but not for long as Graham was soon into a fish, a first for him and a lovely fish at that, in the shape of a sneep, well sought after for its fighting power and good looks: they look like a roach-chub hybrid and are often mistaken for a barbel when they flash over the gravel bars. Not too long after that Graham hooked and landed a lovely barbel of over 6lb. With his commercial fishery experience and well balanced gear Graham soon had the fish beat and in the net. He finished the afternoon with two more barbel and some smaller roach and chublets for a most satisfying first river pole session.
Day 2, chub on the menu, and we both decided to fish the pole in the town centre. I love fishing in town centres in the autumn and winter, the extra warmth and activity seems to attract fish; it's the same all over Europe, so ignore urban fishing at your peril, especially at this time of year. I had some great bags of fish last year in the same spot so we decided to give it a go and again we weren’t disappointed, with a nice bag of small roach, bleak, and small chub; the bonus was we both manged a chub over 4lb, great sport and made the day on a wet and blustery afternoon.
All good things come to an end and the next morning the weather had changed from mild, wet, and windy to a frost, and then wild, wet, and cold. Bream being the target we set off for an area where the river is much wider and slower, and I had managed plenty of bream before. The pole was out of the question with the very strong gusty winds so we decided a feeder would give us more chance.
Graham was in first, but we had a problem: the nets were still at home hanging out to dry. So, with no landing net between us, every fish had to be handed in and as much as possible we unhooked in the water, not easy on a muddy, slippery bank, especially with bream up to 6lb. Graham had a brilliant day with over 20 bream, another sneep, and a bonus chub, I managed a few but ended up with cold hands after unhooking most of Graham’s fish!
Sadly Graham and Debs had to leave early next day after an all too short stay. I am pretty sure he will be back sooner rather than later. I had a busy week, trying to get the last of the outside jobs done before winter sets in. But with the weather improving as the week progressed I fancied a go at the bream and this time decided to take a landing net to make it all a lot easier.
I had a brilliant afternoon’s fishin,g with 25 bream a few roach and a sneep completing the bag, all on maggots. Tjitske was on hand to take some nice images and even managed to fish for an hour herself with 3 nice bream the result. 5 hours fishing for well over 80lb of fish in the middle of November; that can’t be bad.
Simple running rig with a 2oz feeder packed with a groundbait mix of 50-50 Sonubaits Worm Fishmeal and SuperCrumb River laced with a Kilo bag of 2 mm Bloodworm fishmeal pellets and a tin of F 1 corn, hookbait with some of Glenn’s juicy reds.
Hopefully the weather will stay kind for a few more weeks. Last year the river iced over restricting the fishing for a few weeks; I will keep you informed.
