John Smith 2
Senior Member
Still struggling on the reaches around Newark. Is it me or is anyone else experiencing a slow start?
Regards John
Regards John
-
You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...
Middle Trent
- Thread starter John Smith 2
- Start date
Steven Ballard
Senior Member
Extremely slow, so is everyone else on our club stretch, ive not had a fish yet, and usually will of caught 10-20 fish in the 5-6 sessions ive fished so far
Jon Frisby
Senior Member & Supporter
I hear the whole rivers fishing poorly. My last 2 times out I have never had a run on my boilies, which generally are ok.
Brian Kelly
Senior Member
Just done 4 days on the middle and 1 on the tidal for the grand total of 1 Barbel, it was a double though
Bob Brookes
Senior Member
It has been a slow start for everyone I think. The odd person has had a reasonable bag but not like in previous starts to the season. Blame the June high water making conditions not ideal for spawning.
Personally my start has been a good one, although usually just the odd fish with a couple of blank sessions. I have been targeting some larger barbel the smallest of my first 5 weighing 11.07. So far I have had just 15 barbel yet 9 of those have been double figure fish.
I think that they have now finished spawning, hence the drop off in weights. I suspect we will be heading for a major feeding spree any time soon. Expect the barbel to spread out from the faster, shallower, parts of the river.
Personally my start has been a good one, although usually just the odd fish with a couple of blank sessions. I have been targeting some larger barbel the smallest of my first 5 weighing 11.07. So far I have had just 15 barbel yet 9 of those have been double figure fish.
I think that they have now finished spawning, hence the drop off in weights. I suspect we will be heading for a major feeding spree any time soon. Expect the barbel to spread out from the faster, shallower, parts of the river.
David Craine
Senior Member & Supporter
Hopefully things may improve for Monday, I have a trip arranged to the Tidal, first this year, so fingers crossed. It will be a daylight session, but the tide times are good, so it may just be ok,if a little slow.
Dave
Dave
Roger Cramer
Senior Member & Supporter
Just adding my "two penn'orth", out of 13 trips so far I've managed a grand (?!) total of just 12 barbel
(although 4 have been doubles, at least!)
Whilst I am always aware that early season results are customarily disappointing, when compared to the same period last season (21 barbel caught) and 2014 season (25 barbel), this current dearth of whiskers is worrying. And I know that this is also a problem on other rivers such as the Warks Avon and Severn.
To add a bit more detail, the four doubles all came from four outings to a particular stretch of the Tidal (2 in June and 2 this month) with the catches running thus Trip 1: just a 10lb 8oz, Trip 2: a 6lb followed by a 10lb 10oz,
Trip 3: 11lb and Trip 3 (last Thursday) a 6lb 7oz, 3lb & 13lb 4oz. What was significant about these outings was that I fished hemp and caster on one rod all day without a single bite and Elips pellet (as I always do, everywhere ) on a second rod; and all of those progressively bigger doubles (along with the remaining smaller ones) came on Elips, virtually on the last cast of each day! (Maybe I ought go back on my next outing because I should be due a new PB the way the doubles have been growing!!!)
Although I don't want to sound all bitter and twisted now, I discovered something yesterday about the only other angler that was there (about 70 yards or so downstream of me) on my last trip from a colleague (who knew he was there via a mutual source), which I have grave concerns and reservations about. I had spoken briefly to this angler just once before setting up and learned that he was "there for three days" and had had several successful, multiple catches previously. He was bait-dropping particles (hemp etc., like myself) regularly throughout the day. And as far as I could tell he had banked about 5/6 barbel before I left at about 8.30pm. What my friend then told me was that he had netted some seventeen barbel on the Friday, and as for Saturday...heaven knows!(I haven't been able to speak to my friend to ascertain the final result!)
Now I'm all for anglers trying to better their catch rates, but I am just now wondering whether it will be really worth my while actually going back there now. If he's been fishing over several days in that same area (which I'm pretty sure he has!) around the same period of time that I've been struggling to get a bite at all, maybe this extended, multi-night, bivvying-up, carping-style approach is what has now been creating the "pressure" on barbel in our rivers that is being mentioned regularly on this particular website?
At 70 now, I am not inclined to want to kip through the night, relying on blue tooth bite alarms, having enjoyed a few cans and some dubious "roll-ups" that I regularly see being indulged-in on my "day-time" outings. Surely the whole point of barbelling is being there to actually see the classic three-foot twitch which makes it all worth while (if there any barbel left for me!)
Roger
(although 4 have been doubles, at least!)Whilst I am always aware that early season results are customarily disappointing, when compared to the same period last season (21 barbel caught) and 2014 season (25 barbel), this current dearth of whiskers is worrying. And I know that this is also a problem on other rivers such as the Warks Avon and Severn.
To add a bit more detail, the four doubles all came from four outings to a particular stretch of the Tidal (2 in June and 2 this month) with the catches running thus Trip 1: just a 10lb 8oz, Trip 2: a 6lb followed by a 10lb 10oz,
Trip 3: 11lb and Trip 3 (last Thursday) a 6lb 7oz, 3lb & 13lb 4oz. What was significant about these outings was that I fished hemp and caster on one rod all day without a single bite and Elips pellet (as I always do, everywhere ) on a second rod; and all of those progressively bigger doubles (along with the remaining smaller ones) came on Elips, virtually on the last cast of each day! (Maybe I ought go back on my next outing because I should be due a new PB the way the doubles have been growing!!!)
Although I don't want to sound all bitter and twisted now, I discovered something yesterday about the only other angler that was there (about 70 yards or so downstream of me) on my last trip from a colleague (who knew he was there via a mutual source), which I have grave concerns and reservations about. I had spoken briefly to this angler just once before setting up and learned that he was "there for three days" and had had several successful, multiple catches previously. He was bait-dropping particles (hemp etc., like myself) regularly throughout the day. And as far as I could tell he had banked about 5/6 barbel before I left at about 8.30pm. What my friend then told me was that he had netted some seventeen barbel on the Friday, and as for Saturday...heaven knows!(I haven't been able to speak to my friend to ascertain the final result!)
Now I'm all for anglers trying to better their catch rates, but I am just now wondering whether it will be really worth my while actually going back there now. If he's been fishing over several days in that same area (which I'm pretty sure he has!) around the same period of time that I've been struggling to get a bite at all, maybe this extended, multi-night, bivvying-up, carping-style approach is what has now been creating the "pressure" on barbel in our rivers that is being mentioned regularly on this particular website?
At 70 now, I am not inclined to want to kip through the night, relying on blue tooth bite alarms, having enjoyed a few cans and some dubious "roll-ups" that I regularly see being indulged-in on my "day-time" outings. Surely the whole point of barbelling is being there to actually see the classic three-foot twitch which makes it all worth while (if there any barbel left for me!)
Roger
Bob Brookes
Senior Member
At 73 myself, I can buy into your feelings about not wishing to fish through the night. I accept that it may be an efficient way of maximising your catch rate, but that is not for me. Personally I try to fish away from the crowds. On my first 6 sessions this season I only saw someone else on one occasion, my son and the bailiff.
I am pleased to say that my approach has resulted in some great barbel over the last 2 seasons, many from club controlled stretches of the Trent which have open membership at very little cost. It does help that I have retired, so I do all my fishing on weekdays. I realise that others are not so fortunate, needing to get their fix at nights or weekends.
I am pleased to say that my approach has resulted in some great barbel over the last 2 seasons, many from club controlled stretches of the Trent which have open membership at very little cost. It does help that I have retired, so I do all my fishing on weekdays. I realise that others are not so fortunate, needing to get their fix at nights or weekends.