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Newark Dyke - Who knows what??

Steven Palmer

Senior Member
Hi All,

I've recently moved to Newark and am lucky enough to be living in a house with Newark Dyke at the bottom of the garden but I don't know much about the stretch. From research the Dyke section seems to generally be held to be the stretch from Staythorpe Power Station through Newark to Crankley point.

So the question is do the Barbel frequent this stretch or am I going to have to be content with Bream & Roach from the back garden and then travel up or down stream for my Barbel fishing.

Any advice most welcome.

Cheers,

Steven.
 
There is some very big Barbel here Steven, good numbers too in each section, lots of carp and its also a very good roach, chub and bream section overall i loved the place as a teenager.
You will not be short of new friends with the Dyke in your back garden.

Prebaiting would be a winner

Jon
 
Hi Jon,

Thanks for the reply, I'm on the bit just up from Newark Marina not somewhere you get many reports on, seems a bit slow pace wise for Barbel, had heard there are Carp around but would love to catch Barbel from the back garden! 4ft under the rod tip, 6/7ft 2 rod lengths out and 9ft just after that, bottom seems fairly flat a gravelly, slight rise to 7.5ft deep (from 9ft) a few yards downstream, no far bank features.

Any advice on methods, tactics and baits from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Steven.
 
I would agree pre-baiting WILL be a winner but it doesn't have to be masses of feed. I was lucky enough to spend 7 years living next to the middle Trent and during that time i kept a few swims ticking over with a few handfulls of pellets each day. This will be enough to make the fish frequent the area on the lookout on a regular basis. On actual fishing days i would use a lot more - say 2kg of pellets and a gallon of hemp but putting this amount in every day will invite the bream to stay. They will naturaly graze and a few handfulls of pellets will do nothing to keep them in your area. Unless you like catching lots of them it's best to keep the feed down. ;)
 
Hi Jon,

Thanks for the reply, I'm on the bit just up from Newark Marina not somewhere you get many reports on, seems a bit slow pace wise for Barbel, had heard there are Carp around but would love to catch Barbel from the back garden! 4ft under the rod tip, 6/7ft 2 rod lengths out and 9ft just after that, bottom seems fairly flat a gravelly, slight rise to 7.5ft deep (from 9ft) a few yards downstream, no far bank features.

Any advice on methods, tactics and baits from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Steven.

where it rises from 9ft to 7.5ft is the place i would bait up. tbh though a steady baiting campaign when you get up and an hour before sunset for a few days will bring the fish in, you wont need too much at this time of year. Come the new season when its warmed up and the fish are on the feed,you could go through a lt of bait and the rewards could be massive. Yes it is carpy but big barbel and carp do follow very similar paths.
In your back garden, i couldnt wish for a better place, as long as something is going in they will just keep coming back for more.
Good luck Steven you will defo be in for some rod acheing action, if you need an hand when your arm gets tired send me a pm.

Jon
 
Thanks for the info. but I must say I'm really surprised that the Barbel could be through this stretch, it just doesn't look like your classic Barbel water (it's the bit in-between the A46 bridge and Newark Marina), it just looks slow (unless rising through rain) and featureless!

I'll certainly try pre-baiting, I assume a mix of seed particles and pellets would be fine, then either straight lead or groundbait feeder with pellet or meat as a hookbait.

I'll keep you all informed of progres, going to try a bit of a "fish in" over the last weekend of the season :)

Cheers,

Steven.
 
Prebaiting - little & regular is key. I would probably feed two general mixes of cheap bait. Try the likes of wheat, maple peas, ewe nuts & pigeon conditioner from the agricultural stores & maybe with small amounts of cheap pellet. Emphasis is cheap & very easy to prepare & where appropriate freeze.

The reason I said two mixes is to use a different flavour in each to get the fishes confidence. Fish one flavour at a time for a couple of sessions whilst still baiting a separate swim with the other flavour.

The changing of flavours allows the fish to discern your freely fed risk free bait amongst others fishing the area. As you catch on one flavour for a few sessions, before the fish start to get aware of risk association one can swap to the other flavour for the following week fishing. Also, if someone gets ear of your hard work, it is not that hard to cast across onto you hard worked baited spots; but at least they will be neither on your bait type nor on your flavours.

As nice as it is to spread the word of your fortunate opportunity - be careful as to how widespread word gets around. Wild fire would be an understatement. You'll be very surprised as to what you'll see in your very own slice of heaven, right in close.

Any further points on baiting - a lot of info on the net to search or as others have done, drop us a pm once/if you need to consolidate a few thoughts.

Cheers, Jon
 
Steven,

Can I come fish in your back garden?;)

Lots of fish in that stretch inc big barbel, carp and Zander.

If I would you I'd also consider investing in a small boat. ;)
 
steven, have a look at newark and district piscatorial federation website, some good info about newark dyke on there, paul....
 
Prebaiting - little & regular is key. I would probably feed two general mixes of cheap bait. Try the likes of wheat, maple peas, ewe nuts & pigeon conditioner from the agricultural stores & maybe with small amounts of cheap pellet. Emphasis is cheap & very easy to prepare & where appropriate freeze.

The reason I said two mixes is to use a different flavour in each to get the fishes confidence. Fish one flavour at a time for a couple of sessions whilst still baiting a separate swim with the other flavour.

The changing of flavours allows the fish to discern your freely fed risk free bait amongst others fishing the area. As you catch on one flavour for a few sessions, before the fish start to get aware of risk association one can swap to the other flavour for the following week fishing. Also, if someone gets ear of your hard work, it is not that hard to cast across onto you hard worked baited spots; but at least they will be neither on your bait type nor on your flavours.
As nice as it is to spread the word of your fortunate opportunity - be careful as to how widespread word gets around. Wild fire would be an understatement. You'll be very surprised as to what you'll see in your very own slice of heaven, right in close.

Any further points on baiting - a lot of info on the net to search or as others have done, drop us a pm once/if you need to consolidate a few thoughts.

Cheers, Jon

What exactly does the law say on this one then Jon? If you own a section of river bank, does that not normally give you riparian rights? And if so, does that not preclude anyone else from fishing your half of the river, without your consent?

Cheers, Dave.
 
Good point Dave. I am not really a specialist on the rights or wrongs of riparian ownership. How about those fishing from an anchored boat in the mid river or downstream of a weir. On some spots on the middle & tidal trent people boat fishing weirs seemingly remain unchallenged?!?

Hopefully someone more in the know could answer this one - if I was in the fortunate position of my house backing up to a prime bit of water I would like to know exactly as to what rights I could reserve or give.

Any pointers appreciated.

Jon
 
Dave, hopefully this following example illustrates the point a little further (?):

Whilst fishing the Trent for example I am fishing from a bank side that I have bought a licence to fish (eg Nottingham Anglers Association) but cast across the whole river to fish the opposite margin whose fishing rights is owned by a different club (say Nottingham Federation of Anglers).

On principle, I have only obtained permission to fish half way across the river (dry weather flow) by virtue that the Riparian Owners have sold/leased the fishing rights to NAA & casting any point further across than mid stream I would have seek permission of those with the fishing rights of the opposite bank(?!?). Hope that makes sense.
 
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Hi Chaps,

Interesting points on rights :) So it appears that if anyone fishes opposite my house strictly speaking they can't cast beyond half way. I guess the same would apply to me not being able to cast over half way to the other side (I don't even know who owns the rights from the opposite bank). To be fair it's really hard to reach the other bank with no vehicle access and a fair hike so I don't see it as a problem. That was why I raised my initial question as information is limited as to what's caught in this section probably due to no one really fishing it. I'm certainly going to give it a go though!

I'll definitely check out the Newark Fed. website to see what info. they have, thanks for the tip:)

Cheers,

Steven.
 
Steven, perhaps you could pm me the OS reference, and that way I can make sure I don't accidentally visit the opposite bank and fish your prebaited swim ;):D
 
What exactly does the law say on this one then Jon? If you own a section of river bank, does that not normally give you riparian rights? And if so, does that not preclude anyone else from fishing your half of the river, without your consent?

Cheers, Dave.

You're right Dave, riparian rights only entitles an angler to fish from one bank to mid-way, this stands for the smallest brook to the biggest river. Though I like most others feel no sense of guilt when casting tight to the far bank, if it takes my fancy...

Am I to take it that when you fish your local river Colne, unless you have consent, you DO NOT cast beyond mid-way???
 
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They always say ignorance is bliss & I have to hold my hand up & state - yup, maybe not awares of the absolute details of riparian ownership. I always thought that it applied to fishing from the bankside not necessarily fishing from the opposite bankside & that if one is fishing from a boat then the right to fish without consent became a little more grey.

Similar to you Colin, I (cough, cough) trip over & accidentally over cast somewhere beyond the middle, though as I get older my sense of proportion is diminishing as with my hairline & sight
 
Similar to you Colin, I (cough, cough) trip over & accidentally over cast somewhere beyond the middle, though as I get older my sense of proportion is diminishing as with my hairline & sight

Jon, I'd guess 99%+ of river anglers have these "accidents" especially on small rivers, even when sat down and casting with a deft under-arm flick.... I'm off shortly to practice; not casting beyond mid stream yet land a foot away from a tree that is 15ft past mid-way...... All clever stuff.;):)
 
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