With one thing and another I have not been able to get out as much as I would have liked so far this season, as I write this (14/7/10) I have only managed four short afternoon / evening trips to the River Dove.

The first two trips were to a stretch of the river I had never fished before. The first afternoon I fished an absolutely classic looking swim with two far bank bushes which were on the outside of a bend (meaning that the main area of flow would be pushing underneath these bushes, giving more oxygen in the water in that area

11lb 3oz – a good first trip

and also pushing any food items along with it), this was also the deepest area of the swim. We started fishing at about 4.30pm on what was a really hot day with my mate fishing about 300 yards below me.

At around 6pm the rod fished to the upstream bush gave a ‘delicate’ 3 feet twitch! , and I was attached to my first barbel of the new season. It turned out to be a nicely conditioned fish of 11lb 3oz. As I was just about to weigh my fish, my mobile rang with my mate informing me that he had just caught a barbel of 11lb 10oz. Two 11’s at exactly the same time, can’t be bad! This proved to be a very short feeding spell has the only other bite either of us had came from a very spawned out chub of 5lb 2oz that I had at about 8pm. We packed up at 11pm. All in all, a good first trip.

Next trip was a total blank. I fished another swim on the same stretch without any bites or fish movement whatsoever. My mate also blanked.

The third and fourth trips were to a stretch about a mile downstream. The third trip was again uneventful, but the fourth trip produced a really long hard fighting barbel of 11lb 12oz. This fish snagged me up solid under a tree for several minutes, but after trying various things (slack line worked) she eventually came out and then proceeded to fight like a demon all the way to the net. This is where it is imperative to use a line with a good abrasion resistance and once again the Pro-Tough had performed well. Just to prove how short the feeding

11lb 12oz – ‘fought like a demon’

spells have become, just as I was weighing my fish the mobile rang again with my mate informing me he was just weighing a 11lb 6oz barbel. These fish were both caught at about 10.50pm shortly before packing up.

The fish have now reverted to type (on a low crystal clear river) with little being caught before dusk. Therefore you need to keep any swim disturbance to a minimum from say 9pm onwards so that you maximise your chances of a bite during what can be a very short feeding spell.

The fish that I have caught have fallen to a feeder fished pellet, with the pellet wrapped in either Quest barbel chop paste or Special Crab paste. The feeder being filled with Quest Baits mini mixed pellets.

The main thing I have noticed different about the river this year is the vast amount of streamer weed that is in the water. It is the most I have ever seen, and from what I have been told the Upper Trent is exactly the same. I would have thought that this would have been exactly the opposite after such a long hard winter. Anyone got any theories on this one?

So there we are, 4 short sessions, not many fish caught, but those that were caught were of a good average. That’s really what my fishing is all about these days, ‘Quality over quantity every time’. Although I have no interest in chasing big ‘named’ fish, as long as I am catching good sized fish in fairly quiet surroundings then I am more than happy.

Cheers,
Pat Gillett

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