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Finding The Summer Species - Justin Grapes
As it was getting late in the season to get fresh peeler crab for bait, I ended up getting some frozen crab, and mackerel and squid for backup or to put out as bait for rays. The weather forecast was looking like it was going to be kind to me for a change, with the wind coming off the land for most of the week, so the sea was going to be calm, which is a must for smooth-hound.
Having been fishing on the Lincolnshire coast a few times before, I went back to the place where I'd had some sport previously and set up about an hour before low water. I started off using one rod with mackerel and squid on just in case there was a thornback ray about and one rod with peeler crab on.
As the time went by, with regular casting things didn't seem to be very lively and as low water came and went and there was still no action it became obvious the hounds would not be turning up, so after about three hours of the flood tide I packed up and went back to the caravan for a beer.
The next day I thought I'd give it another go just in case things were different, but after a few hours around prime time at low water it was clear the outcome would be the same, so I packed up and headed home to Norfolk with my tail between my legs.
In search of River Yare roach
After that disappointing weekend, the next session for me was targeting roach on the River Yare. The following Sunday evening I made my way down to the river with my quiver tip rod. As the tide was ebbing when I arrived, I picked a swim with the flow on my near bank. Using a cage feeder running on the line, a size 16 hook and a single maggot, I was catching small fish from the off.
The sport was constant throughout the few hours I fished, with a couple of bream thrown in and a few roach around 10-12oz, but none of the big roach the river is famous for. All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening - getting bites and catching a few fish is what it's all about.
After that session, I moved my thoughts to helping a couple of guys at work get back into fishing. After sorting out some essential bits for them both, landing a few fish at lunchtimes was quickly achieved, with both catching some nice bream, roach and perch. I got more out of this experience than fishing myself.
Tackling barbel on the Trent
My next trip was to my new syndicate stretch of the River Trent. I've only ever fished the Trent once, which was an overnighter near Collingham weir last year that ended in a blank for me. My syndicate stretch is about 5-6 miles downstream of Collingham and on the Friday evening, me and Darryn [Stolworthy] made our way up the A17 towards Newark. We had been in contact with the guy who runs the club and he gave us directions to the area we were heading for.
It was quite busy on arrival, so we had a chat with a couple of the members who were fishing already. Our contact was on his way down to give us a look and give us the lowdown on the stretch. We had a look about and found a spot on the inside of one of the bends. It looked fishy, so we decided to drop in there and give it a go.
I had rigged up one rod with a 4oz Korum River Feeder with a fluorocarbon hooklink and a Korum Xpert Power Hook with maggots on. On the other rod, I was using a 5oz gripper lead and a boilie on a hair rig with PVA bags of boilies. This rod I was going to put on the far side of the bend in the main flow, hence the bigger weight, and the feeder rig I was going to put three-quarters of the way across and keep recasting to get a bed of bait out.
After casting out and switching on the bite alarms, I got base camp set up for the night, but as this was only my second time on the river and we were on a shallow part of the bend, I had to move a couple of times as the tide kept pushing me back, but after an hour or so it stopped coming up. I was catching roach and perch from the off on the maggots and had a bream on the boilie rod, but no barbel. We had been talking to a couple of the regulars and they said it had been fishing slow in the low, clear conditions, but that that was normal as they move up into Collingham weir where there is more flow and oxygen.
As the evening went on we were both catching regularly on the maggot rods, but only the odd bream on the boilie rods. As it got dark the heavens opened and the bream started to bite. Not a combination to my liking, so I reeled in for a while to see if the rain would ease enough to cast out again. It wasn't until early morning I had any action on the boilie rod - as I was having a chat with Darryn about tactics the alarm sounded. On reeling in the fish, it was obvious it wasn't big, but it did feel like a barbel, and as it got closer I could see it was; it was only a small one at around 2.5lb, but it was still my first Trent barbel. Things didn't really improve from then on, so after lunch we decided to call it a day and have a look around the rest of the stretch for the next session.
Return to the River Yare
The next time I went fishing it was feeder fishing on the River Yare in search of big river roach, but it went pretty much the same as the previous trip - there was a good selection of roach and bream, as well as the odd perch. However, something happened mid-session that got me to change tactics; I had just had a small roach and had released it back into the river, when I noticed a swirl in close, followed by the small fish coming to the surface again a little further out and getting attacked again by what looked like a couple of perch.
So, with the roach fishing being slow, I went back to the van to try a find some bits to make up a livebait rod. After a few minutes of making up a lure rod and a baitrunner reel with a few other bits of tackle, I went back to the swim and tried to catch some small roach for bait. A couple of casts later I caught one, then put it out on a paternoster rig just under the rod tip, and within a minute it had been taken by something.
As I struck into the fish it darted off and gave me the right run around for a couple of minutes, but I landed it and it looked to be a cracking perch of around 2lb. I put it into a keep net so it couldn't spook anymore that might be there - and they were there. I caught and put out another roach, which got taken straight away by another impressive perch that looked slightly bigger than the first. The next cast produced a smaller perch of 1lb, but on the cast after that I hooked into something which felt bigger than the first two. Sadly, within seconds of the take whatever it was spat the roach out and was away. After that it went very quiet and there was no more action.
Carp comeback
My next session was a social that saw me getting my carp rods out for the first time in years. After spending a few hours one evening sorting out my carp tackle bag and making up a couple of new chod rigs and KD rigs, I was ready and excited for my first go in ages.
We arrived at the lakes and had a look around to see where we could double up for the night, and came across a likely-looking area where I felt confident of getting a bite from a tough, low-stocked lake.
We made our swim choices, got set up and cast out for the night. We then got the barbecue going, sat down with a beer and put the world to rights until it was dark. The only action was on my long rod down the side of an island on a single naked chod rig with a cell popup on it. It was around 1am and I had a single bleep, then a few seconds later the bobbin went up slowly to the rod and stayed there.
It took me a few seconds to get my chest waders on and get to the rod, and by this time it had stopped bleeping, but with the bobbin staying at the top I picked up and wound down to the rig, only to find no resistance at the end. I wasn't too sure whether it was a line bite or a pick up, but either way there was nothing to show for it. After recasting I went back to bed to wait for the morning bite time, which came and went without any more action for either of us. All in all, it was a very enjoyable social and it did get the carp fishing juices flowing again.
The next trip I have planned is a weekend jolly on the Trent once again, but hopefully this time it will be more successful than the last one. So, until next time, tight lines and enjoy your fishing.
