Mid Closed Season

Hmmm, well we’re just over halfway through the closed season and I’m positively chomping at the bit! Having had a bit of warm weather recently has really had me thinking about where to fish during my first session of the 2015/16 season. The choices are as follows: The Goyt or the Dove. Having said that, I’m yet to renew my tickets on either. For the Goyt it’s the Stockport Federation of Anglers; and for the Dove I fish the stretches controlled by The Burton Mutual Angling Association. Being in Manchester the Goyt is the closest. As well as the river, I’ve also been umming and arghhing about which stretch to fish, particularly if I start on the Goyt (which is likely).

And what bait to use? With the disappearance, recently, of the elips pellet – they’re no longer manufactured, apparently – I have to say that a hemp and boilie approach might be the way forward, for the coming season at least. Once I find a good source of cheap(ish) hemp, I’ll post it on here.

Two personal bests

Although, as stated earlier, that I’ve been more than a little remiss at keeping this blog up to date, I should add that it’s been a pretty good season  so far, even if that elusive Dove double still evades me.  For the record, and I can happily report, I’ve beaten my pb with two different species so far this season (not that there’s much left of this one):

Firstly, I’ve increased my personal best chub twice this season.  Initially with a fish of 5lb 6oz from the Dove, at the beginning of the season, the subsequently with a fish of 6lb 3oz (also from the Dove) in late October.  I travelled down to Marston-On-Dove early and arrived at approximately 6am.  It was a perfect day for barbel; overcast and the river had a little colour to it.  My first port of call was to a peg just below the weir downstream of the road bridge.  With no sign of fish there I quickly hot-footed it upstream to an area that’s slightly shallower but with abundant bank side vegetation.  There are some pretty serious tree roots, but also some pretty serious barbel.  Using the tried and trusted super-glued elips pellet I managed to winkle out a barbel of around 7lb.

All then went quiet so I had a mooch around at other potential swims.  With no further indication of fish I decided to try another area completely – so packed up the car and drove up to the railway bridge.  With still enough time for a rove around I found a nice looking swim where I could cast just downstream to my left, near to the bank and slightly obscured by reeds.  I didn’t have long to wait before my rod tip started jigging, then was pulled round and the ‘pin screamed off.  The fish pulled hard and I was convinced I was into a decent barbel, initially at least.  Then it just seemed to give up (most un-barbel-like), and it almost glided in towards the net – a chub.  On first view I couldn’t quite believe the size of it and I was pretty sure it was my biggest to date.  It weighed 6lb 3oz I delighted to say.  Such a deep-bodied, beautiful fish!

More to follow……..

Google+

I’ve set up a forum on Google+ called Barbel Angling.  There’s so much now on Facebook I thought it would be good to have an alternative platform.  One which I much prefer, and one that feels more intuitive to the user,

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/104964725462645537892

Back to the blog

Well, I have to admit to the total neglect of blog for over twelve months. The majority of the 2014/15 season has come and gone, as well as the tail end of the previous season. I hang my head in shame!

I’m still waiting for my first barbel of 2015, though I haven’t exactly been hard at it. Most of my spare time, since returning from my contract in London at the end of 2013, has mostly been spent decorating or with my family. Lily’s now nine and Ava two – the latter, particularly, is very demanding and I’m reluctant to turn down the opportunity of spending time with them.

Lily didn’t really take to angling, however there’s still plenty of time!

Missing Out

Having been made redundant over the summer, I’ve been forced (for want of a better word) to take a contracting role in London. Inevitably, the situation has curtailed my angling activities for the time being, however I should be able to snatch a few sessions in January – even if that seems a long way off (which it does).

The last day I managed on the river was on the Dove on 21st September. The conditions seemed ideal, if not a little too warm. Anyway, I left Manchester at some unearthly time of day – around 3.30am I think – and arrived at the Marston Lane car park a little before dawn.

Firstly, I fished the peg downstream of the weir as this is the swim that left me utterly frustrated on my last visit. I was determined to try and hook the beast that straightened my hook. Ha, what are the chances of that? No much, as proved to be the case! In fact, there was very little action this particular morning.

To cut a long (fishless) story short; I moved swims a couple of times over the course of the day and only a couple of incidents stuck out. One when I lost my unhooking mat, having to then retrace my steps in order to find it – which I did eventually.

The second incident, and by far the most devastating, was the loss of yet another sizable barbel! This season seems to be littered with lost fish – something which makes me question my whole approach. I reckon I’ve lost two personal bests so far this season (if, indeed, the first was a barbel and not a big river carp) , both to the line snapping at the hooklink swivel. Should I give up on braid, or just change brands and increase the breaking strain? I’m going to try the latter; from Spiderwire to PowerPro and from 20lb to 30lb. Anyway, back to the story.

I moved up to a lovely looking swim, above the weir. The same one, in fact, from where I caught my first Dove barbel back in June. It just screams “fish”! Unfortunately, it also screams “snags”! I cast a couple of superglued pellets just under a tree slightly downstream, and followed that up with a small handful of loose pellets. There’s very little flow this close in and the water’s fairly shallow at around three feet deep. I didn’t have to wait long before the tip of my rod showed some interest in my offerings. A couple of taps were followed, five nervy minutes later, by a fully blown barbel wrap around. The ‘pin screamed with delight, I lifted the rod, and was into a fish. I knew at once that this one would test both my tackle and my nerves. And so it proved. My nerves held out but my tackle didn’t! The fish just didn’t want to give anything, though I had her on the surface a couple of times. As I mentioned earlier, the line gave way and that was the end of that.

I fished for a couple more hours, but with very little confidence in my set up. Another negative aspect of my season has been the advent of hook pulls. I don’t ever remember having so many. It’s, obviously, all down to using braid as mainline but I’m going to persevere on that front. As another remedy I’ve also started to used a softer actioned rod.

Update – 1st August 2013

So much for my weekly update…..

During the intervening month we’ve moved house to another semi in Manchester; not massively far from from the old one.

However, before that took place I managed to grab a couple of days on the River Dove and fished mainly around the Marsden Lane area.  What a beautiful river it is!  

I broke my duck on the river just before dusk on the Friday; I’d just thrown a few free offering around my hookbait and missed a tentative pull.  Having re-baited I cast to the same spot and was rewarded with a pretty little fish of around 5lb.  This was upstream of the bridge so I really didn’t know what to expect.

Fishing a swim just below the weir I lost what felt like an almost certain PB (my current best is 13lb).  I cast just under some branches and had a tremendous take using superglued pellets on a coated braid hooklength.  The fish took off like a train; firstly out into the open river, then is changed direction completely and headed towards the sunken branches.  To keep in out of trouble I had to put some heavy pressure on – suddenly it was gone!  I reeled in to discover my forged hook had been straightened.  Gutted, and one I’ll go back for some time in the autumn.

The very same evening, having walked a large part of the upstream end of the BMAA stretch, I revisited the swim.  Fishing the same spot my bait was picked up by a lovely golden-flanked barbel of over 8lb.  It put up a good fight, but also made me realise what I’d lost earlier in the day.

I left the Dove early Sunday morning and drove up to Manchester.  Billy had been in touch via Facebook so I met him in the ‘cheap seats’ just downstream from Pear Mill on the Goyt.  To cut a long story short (though I’ll elaborate later) I lost yet another fish to a hook pull, at around dawn.

Weekly Update – 23rd June 2013

Well, we’re already a week into the season and I’ve had only a couple of sessions; a short evening on the Goyt, plus a full day on the Dove.  With only a couple of chub (albeit around the 3lb mark), and two lost barbel, I’m looking forward to my second Dove trip at the end of the week.  I hope the expected rain will have a positive effect.  My good friend, Jerry Gleeson, may well be tagging along too.

There have been a couple of fish out of the Goyt recently with a fish apiece for Mr C and Sam Steels.  Nothing huge but enough to keep up their interest, and the promise of bigger prizes to come.

Angie and Lily are off to a Chorlton Gardens event today.  Shame about the weather! On the other hand, if the rain forces them home I may well get a couple of hours on the bank.

Edit:  The promised rain didn’t materialise so I’m bloody well stuck at home.  My next session will have to wait now until Friday.  Bugger!

Opening Day (and next day) Blues

I can truly admit that the opening day of the 2013/14 season was a huge disappointment.  Not only did I only catch two chub (for which I’m eternally grateful), I lost two barbel.  The first to a hook pull and the second (which was a very good size – a certain ‘double’) to a break at the hook link swivel. It was the main line braid that gave way, sadly.  I’m currently using 20lb bs Spiderwire, and haven’t experienced a similar break before.  I’ll now be re-spooling with a new batch of braid.

On the positive side, I guess I can be happy about hooking such a fish.  The negative is that, until the fish sheds the hook, there’s a 12″ hooklink trailing from the fish’s mouth.

For bait I was using the Meteor boilies.

The following day I drove down to Tutbury, for my first look at the river Dove.  What an impressive river it is, with the abundant streamer weed and natural cover, in the form of bank side trees and bushes.  It reminds me greatly of the Dorset Stour, though in size it’s more like my beloved river Goyt.  The river looked low and clear; in many of the pegs it would have been a struggle to reach the water with my 6′ landing net handle.  I’ve recently joined the Burton Mutual Angling Association and thus started from one of the allocated parking areas (No 3, as it’s pretty well the middle of the 9 mile stretch).

Ready for action – if only.

Having parked up I assembled my tackle (not a lot, as I travel light nowadays); an army style belt with extra pouches to hold my bits and pieces and bait, quiver with two made-up rods and landing net handle, landing net, lightweight chair (with carrying strap) and some sandwiches.

I had an hour and a half in one swim and was lucky enough to meet the local bailiff (Andy) who was checking cards.  Pretty free with advice, he said where I was would be as good as anywhere, unless I was chasing the legendary big girls (which I wasn’t at the time).  I tried super-glued pellets and a Meteor, to no avail.  Moving downstream I came across the ‘pillars’ peg but didn’t fancy it with all the cows roundabout, so I walked for a few minutes further downstream but didn’t fancy any of the pegs.  I’ll save them for another day.  I had a quick walk around the top end of the stretch and fished a couple of swims, half-heartedly it must be said as I just had a feeling the barbel just weren’t feeding.  Still spawning I think.

What a beautiful setting…

I’m down on the Dove again at the end of the month so will post any successes then……..

16th June 2013 – First Day of the Season

Well, today is going to be my first session of the season.  I was up at 5am setting up two rods with my Fred Crouch Jets, and sorting out the rest of my gear.  Bait for today will be either elips pellets or CC Moore Meteor boilies.

The unfortunate coinciding with Fathers’ Day has delayed my visit so I’ll probably not get to the river before 5pm.  The conditions look good with an air temp of around 18 degrees and overcast.  The river’s been pretty low lately, so the recent drop of rain should have had a positive effect.

I’ve already heard from Jerry Gleeson, who started on the Etherow at midnight.  He had a barbel of over 9lb.  To compound my misery, or should I say increase my envy, John Crabtree has already had a fish over 8lb from the Goyt.