Sunday 29 September 2019

The Trent


Thirty six hours on the mighty River Trent; tidal, stormy and in flood - and worse still the barbel had fed like mad at the beginning of the week then completely switched off. But some of the locals were catching the odd fish (with their local knowledge) - so tempting a barbel was still a possibility - even on a first trip.


To cut a long story short; as home time approached I was thankful I’d landed a blank-saver bream, but then, far more by luck than anything else the rod hammered over and the alarm screamed - a hard fighting stocky 8lb 15oz barbel - I was delighted - not one of the monsters the river is famous for - but we’ll be back for them...

6 comments:

  1. You're right about barbel filling up on a rising river, but the big one's get hungry again first ;o)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, they’re probably back on the feed now... but we’ll hopefully get the timing right for the next visit.

      Delete
  2. wow,what are the chances?i went at the start of the week.it wasn't going mad.steve pope struggled in peg 1 and i saw one caught there monday..someone had 2 above me and another had 1 below me.i saw nothing caught opposite.it wasn't busy,but v wet and windy.i saw 2 caught in daylight.i had 5 between 7.12 and 11 and lost one.not bad for a trent virgin who had travelled by train and taxi!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is a hell of a coincidence!

      We fished 73-75 for just two barbel and a bream - in contrast peg 73 produced 32 barbel, 5 bream and 3 chub just a few days before...

      But you can’t expect to just turn up first time and catch them, so I think your five fish to 11lb is a great start (far better than ours).

      Delete
  3. bit of a culture shock after 1/4 leads on the local river.i just turned everything up to 11 as they say.groundbait feeder,source boilies and pellets,trigga dumbells.i may try bob's island next time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You’re right, we had a last minute run around trying to find 5 or 6oz leads. Baitrunners, 2lb tc rods, bite alarms... different world!

      We were deciding between tidal and Bob’s on the way up... I’ll probably bump into you there next time!

      Delete