Pictures by Adrian Kiddell, Tom Sayer and Richard Wells
Until last season (2003) I had not fished the Trent for barbel since taking my first of the species back in 1988. Little did I know back then just how much that battle with a fish weighing less than 2 pounds would shape my entire hobby for the next decade and beyond. With the Trent growing in stature as a barbel river with ever more chance of landing huge fish one of my fishing partners Ginger, king of the chat rooms and internet forums, had managed to locate a stretch of river recommended by a fellow Barbel Society member. Last season that stretch was very kind to me, Ginger and the other member of Team Barbel, Tommy. We never blanked, had several doubles and slowly got to grips with the ways of the river. We even had a rat trapping competition to add a little spice to the trips, unfortunately Ginger was disqualified for using more than one trap. We ended last season on a high and ready for this season to begin in anticipation of some superb sport, only to find the stretch in question had become syndicate only and the membership was full with a waiting list.
We had to work fast to locate some likely venues for the 2004 campaign. A chance meeting with Bob Roberts was very helpful. What a nice guy Bob is, he spent a long time with us drawing maps and pointing out areas worth a visit. We had a few ground rules we applied to any venue before a visit. Rule No 1: we had to be close to the car, not because we are lazy sods but the tell tale piles of glass and burnt out cars meant any unattended vehicle was likely to be attacked by the local bandits. Rule No 2: we wanted to be able to night fish. With a round trip approaching 250 miles to fish the Trent, day sessions were not worthwhile. Rule No 3: we needed to be sure the area had some potential to produce barbel. A couple of close season trips to suss out the area found us 3 or 4 likely venues. As always I started the season on the Severn and had an awful start, one fish in four days fishing. The fish had not spawned and were still too busy thinking about that to worry about food. Ginger started on the Trent and did not fare much better with only odd barbel. Tommy was too busy with his studies to care about fishing; his turn would come later. During July my season started to improve, I had several more barbel from the Severn. My favourite summer method of block end feeder and masses of white maggot got the fish into frenzy on several occasions. My count for the season began to rise but I still had not visited the Trent. The one who has to be obeyed had for a while wanted a new kitchen and bathroom so for four weeks I did not even wet a line but rather than prolong the agony I got on with the DIY vowing to catch up for lost time later in the year. Ginger had had a few barbel from the Trent but had also had some blanks so all was not well. Worse still for the boy Tommy he was still barbelless for the season.Late august on the Severn and bingo I had a seven day break and managed 48 barbel in the week, with most fish coming to the pellet, the maggot was a bit of a struggle in what I would have considered to be perfect conditions for it. At last, in late August Team Barbel had their first trip to the Trent together. Tommy and Ginger, much to my dismay, said they preferred to fish a stretch just down from Nottingham we had looked at and they had fished a couple of times. We found the swims they had fancied to be occupied by some match men until 3pm, so a couple of hours on the bed chair prepared us for the night ahead. My colleagues were keen for me to fish in the middle while ginger ran to the downstream peg and Tommy had got his gear in the up streamer as soon as we arrived, so I did not have much choice. The fishing, to be honest, was not good. Just a few bream and chub and we also had around 40 specimen carrier bags – don’t they put up a fight when full of water! Tommy did manage to break his duck with the only barbel of the trip at 6.8. After losing my eighth lot of gear in the snag pit I was fishing I realised I had been stitched up. Highlight of the trip was the moony I pulled to the floating disco as it passed. It brought a cheer from the girls on board and made ours and their night that much better. Just as I got my head down for some kip a load of matchmen turned up to fish the pegs. Well, they were welcome to mine as I would not be returning. Things were still good on the Severn with the pellet being the bait. I had my first double out of the Severn for around four years and also had a 9.10 in the same session. A couple of trips to the Wensum produced odd barbel. Ginger managed a double from the Trent and one from the Wensum. Ginger was putting more time in on the Trent than me and Tommy but his fish tally was not good. All reports had the Trent fishing well. A point Ginger did not always agree with, although he did manage an 11 fish bag so it did fish if conditions were right. We also found out Tommy was good at catching the Wensum bream, but the barbel avoided him. I had a trip in early September to the Trent with Matt a young stud who works at the local tackle emporium, having taken him to the Severn last season to break his barbel cherry, which he did in style he fancied a trip to the Trent. The boy come good and managed to winkle a couple out. Myself? Well, same old story; barbel blank, again bream and chub the only fish to show for the session.
With Tommy due back at Approved School in October a trip to the Severn was arranged before we again lost his attention. The Team Barbel Autumn Outing left Sunny Norfolk in a thunderstorm. With Bat out of Hell at full blast Meatloaf seemed to shorten the 200 miles considerably. We found the river in fine form, up a couple of foot and still dropping after being up around six foot. Weather forecast was good. Full of anticipation a walk of the stretch found everybody catching. We had an early night in preparation of the forthcoming action. During the night we had to confiscate a book Tommy had brought with him, I along with Ginger were surprised to find he had such an interest in naked woman of 50 and over. As I Fish this stretch on a regular basis I gave the other two choice of swims and would take whatever they left. We had hardly sat down when Tom in the downstream peg had doubled his season total to two with a lively 5-pounder. Ginger was struggling to come to terms with what has to be one of the deepest pegs on the middle Severn, the swim at its deepest is 30ft plus deep, a bit of a snag pit but home to some considerable barbel. A real mans peg – is that why Ging was struggling? I took a peg between the two of them but we were well spaced. Now When I am away fishing personal hygiene is not high on my list and the fish never seem to complain. But the smell that kept wafting around my nose I am sure was not B.O. A quick check around the peg found a partly decomposed Sheep; boy did that stink, and set up by the others again I reckon. Day one ended with Tommy on 12 barbel, me on five and Ginger on three.
Day two and we decided to fish a couple of hundred yards upstream of the area we fished the day before. Tommy went upstream, ginger in the middle and me downstream. Tommy again had an early fish, I managed a fighter of 7lb-odd on my second chuck, while Tommy managed five fish chucking upstream into a slacker area close to our bank, and he was gutted when an angler on the far bank landed a massive fish for the Middle Severn at 12.12. Be sure that more fish of this size will get caught as the fish fatten up on their new diet of high protein pellets and boilies. Late afternoon we moved around half mile upstream to an area known to hold better fish. A couple of hours soon proved the point with all of us landing good fish. Tommy again had the best day with 10 fish. I was suitably rewarded by olla the God of the barbel with a cracking fish of 9.7. Ginger again struggled to come to terms on a man’s river.
On the morning of day three we discovered the river had come up a foot or so overnight but we were not deterred as we settled into the area we had finished in the evening before. Several bags of pellets were deposited in the swims with the help of some PVA. It soon became apparent that the extra water would make this area much harder to fish for even 4oz leads were struggling to get a grip. We moved upstream to an area known to hold fish when the river is carrying extra pace, with an agreement in place to move swims, slowly making our way back downstream as the day progressed, hopefully ending up at our starting point for the day for the last couple of hours. I managed a single barbel on the way back down but in all not much to report. Even the wonder boy Tommy was Blanking. We had to pack in at 4 o’clock to be back at the caravan to clear up and travel back to Norfolk. Arriving at our starting point we settled down for the last couple of hours all sitting in a row as more of a social than serious fishing, but the pellets deposited earlier had done their job as we all managed fish within minutes of sitting down. Wonder boy Tommy managed a corker at 8.14, a cracking two hours was had by all and we ended up packing in well late. Final figures for the three days were Tommy had 28, Ginger had five and I had 12 with the best of the trip at 9.7, which is good stuff for October. A great trip was had by all as nothing beats a few days away in great surroundings with good mates, and catching a few fish is the icing on the cake.
Back to work for the week with anticipation of a trip that weekend to the Trent. Leaving Norfolk early the trip to the Trent is not easy as the A17 is full of Lorries and tractors so the 100 or so miles can take four hours which always seems to drag. On Arrival we selected an area that Ginger had done well in a few weeks previously. Ginger had been at work all night so elected to sleep for a couple of hours while Tom and myself set up the TV as England were playing Wales that afternoon and we fancied seeing the Taffies get beat, which would be a good start to the trip. The game started and right on cue, bingo! off went my rod the shrill of the alarm signalling my first Trenter of the season at 8.4. Not a bad start. Back to the telly and we were 1 Nil up. The football wasn’t bad but the fishing only got worse with no other barbel to show, only the normal bream and chub. The year was getting away and the daylight hours shortening, the trip home was hard work as we again had failed to find the fish.
The Trent was really proving a hard nut to crack this season; Ginger’s account was 34, 26 Trent fish from 10 visits, three Wensum fish, topped by a nice double of 10.3. His haul completed by the five fish from the Severn. The Boy Wonder Tommy had done well on the Severn but still only had one Trent fish to his name. My tally for the Season was around 130 barbel with all but two from the Severn, one from the Wensum and one from the Trent completed my score. Could team barbel crack the Trent this season? Would Ginger manage to turn his alarm volume down? Will Tommy always be frightened of the dark? Will Ade ever get his bivvy up correctly? All these and more questions answered in part 2 ‘Storm in a Trent Swim’ – coming soon! Without doubt fishing memories are not made without great mates and I got 2 of the best in Tommy (Tom Sayer) and Ginger (Richard Wells). |
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