22/01 Trent

Not been out for a week or so due to the snow, thought a quick one after work wouldn’t do me any harm. Not confident at all so was quite surprised when the barbel rod sprung to life with the rare beast that is the snow barbel. Thought I'd have stood more chance with the deadbait rod but not a touch there. Quite cold, didn’t take the water temp though.

14/01 Trent

It's snowing...must go fishing...
Nipped home at lunch and grabbed my fishing gear ready to go straight from work. Not a lot of snow by the time I got to the river but I'd planned the spot exactly where to photo my snow barbel to maximise the effect. Blanked.

13/01 Derwent

Cold/ icey, not ideal conditions by a long way but bored sat at home and ended up on the riverbank. Nothing happening, tried boilies and deadbaits.

08/01 Trent

Was expecting great things for tonight given the conditions, unfortunately not as productive as expected. Two bites one fish. Just a small one. Got to test my new camera anyway...all £18 worth. At  least it works.

06/01 Trent

Another mild, dry January day, should have been ideal. Somehow left my chair in the car which made for an uncomfortable session...
Bit of a frustrating one, 1 small zander landed, 1 lost and a couple of missed bites. All the bites came to one rod. Have been experimenting a bit with rigs but think I've nailed it now...hopefully better results next time. Borrowed a camera that works.

04/01 Trent

Back on my favourite stretch, rivers dropped back inside the banks and to a sensible level. Started slow, first bite/ fish caught after a couple of hours, zander of about 6lb at 5ish. Lost 2nd fish due to user error.

Very quiet again until 10 mins before packing up time (20:50) and a 14lb 0oz barbel - very long fish, and very powerful. Unfortunately my 2nd camera malfunction of the season left me without a photo, gutted. It worked fine for the 1st zander but then wouldnt even switch on after that...now disovered camera works with new batterys.
One small zander as I was packing up. Good day for fishing, bad day for photographs.

31/12 Derwent

River was a bit higher than expected but water temp was a possitive 8 degrees...only downer was realising I'd left my headtorch at home. One barbel about 7lb at 5:15 but hard work unhooking/ rebaiting in the dark and called it a day at 6. Would have been worth staying a bit later but happy to have caught.

28/12 Trent

Met up with Mick for an overdue session we had planned for a while. Our first choice venue was still underwater but there was a couple of fishable pegs nearby. This stetch wasnt kind to me last season so hadnt fished it at all this time round. It proved to be tough going, with one fish caught between 3 of us in the end. Fortunately it was me that caught it, a zander of about 7lb. Not a bad evening to be out though, quite mild just wish a few more fish had shown.

26/12 Trent & Mersey Canal

Couldnt get to the Trent due to the flooding, so settled for the canal close to the river. Thought there might be a few fish sheltering from the high water, but not a bite. Theres usually a bit of a drop to the water level...

25/11 Trent

Not many places left fishable due to the high river levels. I found one swim just OK. Fishable but no fish. In that respect, no different to how its been almost every other time Ive been here...A dog walker did warn me that I should move due to the rising river level. I had plenty of space though.

20/11 Trent

1st choice of swim not practical due to wind and rain direction, ended up in an old favourite round the corner. A good afternoon perching, 5 over 2lb - I weighed the biggest 2 at 2lb 14 and 3lb 1oz. Only managed to photo the 1st one before the camera packed up though...

I had 2 zander, 9lb 2oz and a small one. Missed a few runs as well including 2 due to striking with the baitrunner on. Once would be bad enough but to do it twice is a bit retarded.

It got a bit quiter later on so I cast one rod a bit further out where I missed one take (one of the baitrunner errors). Recast and not long later had a fish on again. Expecting a small zander I was surprised to see it was a perch, 2lb 13oz. It had been properly dark for about 3 hours - 7.45pm. Ive had a couple of perch before on deadbaits but never at that time of night...

13/11 Trent

Quiet and bored at work so took the afternoon off and headed to the river armed with 5 rods, maggots, worms and deadbaits. Floatfishing awkward due to the flow and gave up after an hour or so to concentrate on 2 quiver tips. Lost a fish and caught a perch about 2lb and a bream.

The perch was followed in by a pike, I waited a while but as my right hand quiver hadnt seen a bite I swapped this for a deadbait. 1 bite, felt a fish then a snag. Retrieved all tackle. Cast to the same spot and the same thing happened. Cast to slightly different area and 3rd time lucky, landed this 15lb 7oz pike.

Moved swims at dusk and put 2 deadbaits out. 2 zander, not particularly big at about 4 or 5lbs. Hook up ratio not bad - 2 out of 3. All 5 rods used...

10/11 Trent

2 of us fishing 2 rods, various baits failed to register a bite...a familiar tale on this stretch, think Ive fished it 6 times now for a 9lb barbel and a small carp. Sure theres some big fish here so cant give up just yet...

07/11 Trent

A pleasant afternoon/ evenings fishing on the Trent...glad I waited the extra day for the weather to get a bit milder.
Started with a small perch on 1/2 a roach deadbait. the other half was took by something a bit bigger in the shape of a 19lb pike

I managed a decent perch on a more conventional bait of lobworm a bit later 2lb 10oz, before my predator hat-trick was completed with a 8lb 10oz zander

Didnt catch anything more, tried moving swims but quite content with my evenings fishing...

01/11 Trent

We had quite a bit of rain here in Derby Wednesday night, I hoped this had reached the Trent by Thursady evening so I raced down after work...but it was still at a normal level. I did get a small carp, a long skinny one, saved a blank at least (only about 5lb!). The river did rise later on in the evening looking at the environment agency website, I think I was just a bit too early.

30/10 Trent

Too much flow/ isotopes not bright enough to float fish. 2 legered deadbaits out, 1 quick bite and one proper one resulting in this zander of 8lb 9oz. Got cold and left earlier than planned...

25/10 Trent

Barbel fishing again, quiet as it always seems to be on this stretch. One fish of about 9lb. Im sure theres some very big ones here, might take a while to get one though...

23/10 Trent

New tactic to reduce missed runs...worked straight away with this pike of 15lb 1oz

The real reson for the new tactic (floatfishing with isotope float) was zander, the other rod had my old rig on and landed the only other take of the evening...not quite back to the drawing board but maybe my old tactics werent that bad after all

20/10 River Severn

10 of us met up for the annual Barbel Adventures forum 'Barbel Cup', semi competitive social/ barbel fishing match. These events have never been prolific, due in part to usually being in the middle of winter. This year on the Severn in October we thought there might be a better chance of a few fish. We did get a couple but that was all, both coming very early on. Was still a good day out, heres Leyton with the winning fish

09/10 Trent

Fished for barbel on one and deadbait on the other. Frustrating on the deadbait rod with missed runs, fish lost due to user error - striking with baitrunner on - and lost hooked fish that came off. One barbel, just after 9pm if I remember correctly and just under 12lb...11lb 15oz I think