I hate the Trent

sam vimes · Sep 13, 2012

1) It's a big ugly lump of water that only gets worse the further downstream you go. (I've never fished upstream of Nottingham though).
2) It's ruined barbel fishing for me on my local river. Why sit there scratching around for the odd bite when I can happily catch a shed full on the Trent? Fifty barbel in my last three trips (19,23 and 8), including three PBs (inc two in the same session), all on floatfished maggot, plus several back up doubles.*
3) I generally return home tired and aching.
4) It's far too far to travel every week!

*I do apologise to those that get their knickers in a knot about such things. I guess I must be one of those dispicable "number chasers" that they go on about.

sam vimes · Sep 13, 2012

guest61 · Sep 13, 2012

sam vimes said:
1) It's a big ugly lump of water that only gets worse the further downstream you go. (I've never fished upstream of Nottingham though).
2) It's ruined barbel fishing for me on my local river. Why sit there scratching around for the odd bite when I can happily catch a shed full on the Trent? Forty barbel in my last three trips (19,23 and 8), including three PBs (inc two in the same session), all on floatfished maggot, plus several back up doubles.*
3) I generally return home tired and aching.
4) It's far too far to travel every week!

*I do apologise to those that get their knickers in a knot about such things. I guess I must be one of those dispicable "number chasers" that they go on about.

Never fished it - its the wrong area of the country for me and I wouldn't know where to start. Forty Barbel in three sessions is decent fishing, is this with Cralusso floats or other?

dezza · Sep 13, 2012

sam vimes said:
1) It's a big ugly lump of water that only gets worse the further downstream you go. (I've never fished upstream of Nottingham though).

It might be a big ugly lump of water for some, but it's a river where barbel truly belong.

I have fished the Trent on and off since the 50s, down as far as Littleborough and up as far as Stone. I have seen it when it was grossly polluted but still had big roach in it. Today the Trent is very like it was in the 1850s and 1860s when it was chock a block with barbel shoals.

The tidal is only 33 miles from my home and I agree with Archie Braddock when he says its the best coarse fishing river in England.

I have only fished it 3 times this year but I am delighted with my results and on the 3 occasions I wasn't fishing for barbel.

sam vimes · Sep 13, 2012

bottle rocket said:
Forty Barbel in three sessions is decent fishing, is this with Cralusso floats or other?

It's actually fifty in three, I can't count.

First two sessions were with the Cralusso Bolo Floats. The last session was with a big (bolo style) Avon float. The wind was playing havoc with the Cralusso for some reason.

Ron The Hat Clay said:
It might be a big ugly lump of water for some, but it's a river where barbel truly belong.

They also belong in my local river, along with all the other Yorkshire Ouse system rivers. I know where I'd go for the views, and it wouldn't be the Trent. However, I'd rather catch a shed load of fish once in a while, that's unlikely on my local river Swale

dezza · Sep 13, 2012

sam vimes said:
I'd rather catch a shed load of fish once in a while, that's unlikely on my local river Swale

It was the other way around when I was in my twenties. A night on the Swale, Ouse or Ure would often mean as meany as 12 barbel, but they were not as big as they are in the Trent.

In 1965 I caught an Ouse Barbel of 7 lbs 1 oz it was the second largest recorded in the whole of Yorkshire for the whole season. Ray Webb had one from the same swim at 8lbs 4 oz., the biggest of course, caught near Dunsforth.

The biggest barbel I ever caught from the Swale in 1965 was 6lbs 12 oz. at Myton. It was a monster in its day.

In 2002 I went up to fish the Swale with the late John Ledger. I caught 3 barbel, 7lbs 9oz, 8lbs 14 oz and 9lbs 14 oz.

All three bigger than any Yorkshire fish I had caught previously.

sam vimes · Sep 13, 2012

Ron The Hat Clay said:
It was the other way around when I was in my twenties. A night on the Swale, Ouse or Ure would often mean as meany as 12 barbel, but they were not as big as they are in the Trent.

In 1965 I caught an Ouse Barbel of 7 lbs 1 oz it was the second largest recorded in the whole of Yorkshire for the whole season. Ray Webb had one from the same swim at 8lbs 4 oz., the biggest of course, caught near Dunsforth.

The biggest barbel I ever caught from the Swale in 1965 was 6lbs 12 oz. at Myton. It was a monster in its day.

In 2002 I went up to fish the Swale with the late John Ledger. I caught 3 barbel, 7lbs 9oz, 8lbs 14 oz and 9lbs 14 oz.

All three bigger than any Yorkshire fish I had caught previously.

I know folks that have fished the Swale all their lives and never had a double. I considered myself very lucky to have topped out with a Swale fish at 11lb 4oz with a couple more doubles thrown in. I very much doubt that I'll ever beat that.

While I've not beaten that 11lb 4oz by a massive amount on the Trent, I have topped it three times. Each time I was float fishing maggots. A far, far more satisfying way of catching them than legering. I doubt that I'll ever fish the river often enough to have a particularly good chance of the really big girls gracing my net.

cg74 · Sep 13, 2012

sam vimes said:
1) It's a big ugly lump of water that only gets worse the further downstream you go. (I've never fished upstream of Nottingham though).
2) It's ruined barbel fishing for me on my local river. Why sit there scratching around for the odd bite when I can happily catch a shed full on the Trent? Fifty barbel in my last three trips (19,23 and 8), including three PBs (inc two in the same session), all on floatfished maggot, plus several back up doubles.*
3) I generally return home tired and aching.
4) It's far too far to travel every week!

*I do apologise to those that get their knickers in a knot about such things. I guess I must be one of those dispicable "number chasers" that they go on about.

Sam, a serious question; do you think it'd become insipid if it were your local river. As after doing no end of sessions on the Lower Severn last season, I felt it was too easy and though it's nice to bag up every once in a while - you can have to much of a good thing....

To the point where both Beany and myself agreed that we actually preferred Oxon rivers, because they held bigger chub, perch, bream and if desired carp but they offer a challenge and it's more than how many you can bag.

I'm not knocking others choice of fishery but in March, I opted to fish the Lugg rather than bag up endlessly on the Wye; each to their own and all that.

sam vimes · Sep 13, 2012

cg74 said:
Sam, a serious question; do you think it'd become insipid if it were your local river. As after doing no end of sessions on the Lower Severn last season, I felt it was too easy and though it's nice to bag up every once in a while - you can have to much of a good thing....

To the point where both Beany and myself agreed that we actually preferred Oxon rivers, because they held bigger chub, perch, bream and if desired carp but they offer a challenge and it's more than how many you can bag.

I'm not knocking others choice of fishery but in March, I opted to fish the Lugg rather than bag up endlessly on the Wye; each to their own and all that.

Colin,
it's hard to be sure one way or another as I've only fished for barbel once this season. I've only fished the Trent the three times since July 11. I don't mind a bit of a challenge but it's always nice to catch a few fish. I thoroughly enjoy getting plenty of bites and plenty of fish. I can't see me ever get bored of doing so. I do tend to get disheartened fishing for a single barbel bite on my local, especially when there's a fair chance it'll turn out to be a fairly small splasher. Not so bad on a decent day when just being there is pleasant, grim when the weather is a bit more inclement.

This time round the little personal challenge was to catch on a certain (non-barbel specific) rods and with a couple of different methods. I float fished with a fairly inexpensive (at the price I paid) Specialist float rod and then used an extra long, extra heavy feeder rod with inline maggot feeder and a mag aligner rig with a slight twist

. Both methods and sets of gear worked well and, for some strange reason, the float seems to sort out the better fish.

flightliner · Sep 13, 2012

sam vimes said:
Each time I was float fishing maggots. A far, far more satisfying way of catching them than legering.

Over the last six or seven years I,ve all but given up using heavy bottom gear for the Trent Barbel-- when needs must -yes- but its (for me at least) the lowest common denominater where method is concerned. The float tells you so much more about the swim you,re fishing and to repeat-- you,re fishing! . My float best is a 13-13 which I hold in much greater esteem then several other much bigger fish.

Titus · Sep 14, 2012

I have to agree with Colin. The Trent is no real challenge and having been there and done it (and loved it at the time) I was quite happy this year to give up an exclusive syndicate place with a decent bunch of blokes and let someone else have a go.
And with fuel prices as they are I was finding it difficult to justify a 220 mile round trip when the Severn at Ironbridge is 10 minutes away.

dezza · Sep 14, 2012

Titus said:
The Trent is no real challenge

Do you agree with that Flightliner?

I wonder what Big Swordsy thinks.

The Severn? The Teme? The Hampshire Avon?

They are all stocked barbel waters! The Trent is wild!

Still I suppose it's one less on our river.

sam vimes · Sep 14, 2012

Titus said:
I have to agree with Colin. The Trent is no real challenge and having been there and done it (and loved it at the time) I was quite happy this year to give up an exclusive syndicate place with a decent bunch of blokes and let someone else have a go.

Some days it isn't the greatest challenge. However, when it's low, clear and the majority are complaining that they can't catch a great deal in such conditions (conditions on each of the sessions concerned were like this), I take some satisfaction from decent results. Bear in mind that when I say session I don't mean three days and a couple of nights at it, I'm talking get up, travel, fish, return home, all in the same day. Definitely no more than sixteen hours of fishing.

guest61 · Sep 14, 2012

The 'beauty' of fishing is you never know what you'll catch. Some days enjoying catching fish is what you want or need to build confidence, you might developing a method, bait or tactic that's got your 'touches' - nothing better than catching a few to build confidence.

Titus · Sep 14, 2012

bottle rocket said:
The 'beauty' of fishing is you never know what you'll catch. .

Correct, and that's the point.
I've done the middle Trent to death, I was privileged to be a member of a syndicate which controls arguably one of the best stretches of the middle and I loved it.
However, I knew exactly what was coming out when I fished each of the swims on the stretch.
I'd done the numbers thing to the point where one day I started fishing at 3pm and was sat in the pub eating a steak by 9pm having caught my target of 20 barbel. I'd done the big fish thing with a river pb and a record for the syndicate that year of 12lb 6oz. I'd had big nets of chub and roach. I'd gone home with the car stinking of bream slime and I'd caught pike till I didn't want to see another one (never my favourite species).
The only thing left was to catch one of the elusive river carp but that will have to wait for another lifetime. I'm now spending my time on waters closer to home which are more of a challenge.

As for Ron's post, Sh!t stirring nonsense as usual, ask any of the anglers you have named and all will tell you the Trent is an easy river.

As for me being,

"one less on YOUR river",

that is not a problem for you as you would never have been allowed on the stretch I was fishing.

guest61 · Sep 14, 2012

Titus said:
...I've done the middle Trent to death, I was privileged to be a member of a syndicate which controls arguably one of the best stretches of the middle and I loved it.
However, I knew exactly what was coming out when I fished each of the swims on the stretch.
I'd done the numbers thing to the point where one day I started fishing at 3pm and was sat in the pub eating a steak by 9pm having caught my target of 20 barbel. I'd done the big fish thing with a river pb and a record for the syndicate that year of 12lb 6oz. I'd had big nets of chub and roach. I'd gone home with the car stinking of bream slime and I'd caught pike till I didn't want to see another one (never my favourite species).
The only thing left was to catch one of the elusive river carp but that will have to wait for another lifetime. I'm now spending my time on waters closer to home which are more of a challenge...

Ah, I'm with you.

flightliner · Sep 14, 2012

Ron The Hat Clay said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Titus
The Trent is no real challenge

Do you agree with that Flightliner?

The biggest challenge on the Trent was during the time when all anglers had given it up due to lack of fish/catches. The Barbel were establishing themselves under everyones noses. It was only a mere handfull of guys that never lost faith in the river that did all the early work sussing things out. Locations, methods etx etx.
They were more than rewarded for their efforts before it was widely realised that the river was not in fact "dead" and the numbers of anglers using it expanded rapidly from the year 2000.
Those early days were when the real challenge of discovery and Trent barbel pioneering took place. Today its pretty easy for anyone to catch some if they use a heavy feeder, its effective but its not called the pig for nothing-- which is why these days I seldom use it, much preffering the float

Titus · Sep 14, 2012

I am a member of a club with water on the the upper Trent which I've not visited yet. That I believe is a real challenge but well worth the effort.

sam vimes · Sep 14, 2012

flightliner said:
Today its pretty easy for anyone to catch some if they use a heavy feeder, its effective but its not called the pig for nothing-- which is why these days I seldom use it, much preffering the float

I beg to differ a little. There are times when chucking dirty great feeders simply doesn't work (been there, done that). There are plenty that don't acknowledge that. I recall making the two biggest catches I mentioned in summer 2011. I also recall reading folks on forums moaning that the river was fishing very badly, their experience differing quite a bit from mine. However, I very much doubt that any of those complaining were fishing trotted maggots over hemp.

dezza · Sep 14, 2012

Of course I'm stirring the ****. Remember what King Charles II said:

"The more you stir a turd the worse it stinks!"

Yet there are quite a few of us fishing the Trent who are still challenged by the river. For a start, at the age of 70, I am challenged by the banks in parts.

And this year and for I hope at least 3 days next week I will be challenged by the bream, perch and roach. ****** the barbel. I have caught more of the damn things than I ever deserve, not only their African cousins, but barbel from 13 different English rivers too.

And you don't need to chuck out bloody great feeders over halfway across the river to catch Trent barbel. A simple link leger with a PVA stick attached, lobbed virtually under your bank on the outside of a bend will catch barbel.

I hate the Trent

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