Backwinding - a good read.

With my fishing results being so poor since my return from Spain I thought a mention of the latest book I’ve obtained would be of interest to my follows.  I collected the book on Saturday whilst at the Tenchfishers AGM.  The title is Backwinding and it was written by Alan Rawden outlining his lifetime pursuit of specimen fish of all species.

Alan is a very successful specimen angler of the old school and unlike me he has not publicised his catches to any great degree.  This does not mean he did not catch, indeed a scan through the book soon shows the reader the scale of his achievements by just looking at the many photographs of monster fish of all species.

Alan would be a similar age to me and while I have written three books to cover my life and achievements in angling Alan has done it in the one book.  That said at 350 pages and weighing several pound in weight it is a hefty tome and will not be read in one session or even several long sessions.

It starts as you would expect by outlining Alan’s early life and fishing, then it carries on to explain his methods and results working through different rivers or venues rather than by different species.  The result of this is that it is simple to read through the different areas where you relate most easily.  I for one began on the River Stour chapter reading through the capture of several 7lb chub to a climax of an 8lb plus specimen.

Once I had finished reading that chapter I moved on to others where I had either fished with Alan or at the very least fished the same venue and I could compare my efforts with his. 

So far I’ve only scratched the surface of this book but already it has shown itself to be well written, with a professional  lay out by Martin Mumby and produced to a very high standard, a book that will surely become a classic amongst specialist anglers.

If interested the book is £30 + £7.50 p&p.  Details can be obtained from Alan at rawden869@btinternet.com  Or send a cheque to  12 Florence Crescent,  Gelding,   Nottingham, NG42QJ

The Barbel Challenge

This is the opening chapter of my book -Target set and Achieved - lots of barbel but plenty of other specimen fish of all species to read about. Get your copy for Xmas at philsmithangler.co.uk

 

                              *The Barbel Challenge.*
 

It all began with a simple thought: ‘How many different rivers could I catch a double figure barbel from in one season?’  After some consideration I decided on seven. It seemed reasonable bearing in mind my results in the preceding seasons.  With that target in mind I began the challenge.  Little did I realise how much time or how many seasons would pass before the challenge would be met.  That said, I did quickly upgrade the seven total to eight and then finally upped that to 10 to make the challenge one I thought was both worthy of the name yet attainable with effort.

 

It was the start of the 2004/5 season that saw the beginning of my barbel odyssey with sessions on a number of rivers capable of producing that elusive double. My main effort would be placed on the Great Ouse, and since I was a member of the Adams Mill syndicate it was there that I started.  A lot of rubbish has been written and spoken about the Mill, along the theme of: ‘Easy fishing for tame fish held between two weirs just a few hundred yards apart.’  Nothing could be further from the truth, the fish can and do run between the two weirs but they are the best part of two miles apart.  When I first tried to catch these barbel the water was a normal club ticket at about £25 per season. In my first year I took a total of one barbel for a lot of effort, so easy they are not.  Then the owner realised what a gold mine he was sitting on and in the way of life he maximised his profits by offering it to the highest bidder at the first opportunity.  That led to the controlling club setting up a 40-man syndicate.  There was an eight-man limit for anglers fishing on any given day but this were rarely, if ever achieved, and the fishing settled down to a very relaxed style of obtaining a blank.  Over the following season I developed my skills in catching difficult fish and also my knowledge of the water, giving more chance of locating the fish.  By the 2004 season I was well able to find and entice these giants and hence it made a good choice to begin the campaign.

 

I arrived at Adams at about 11am on July 1^st, and although the start time was quite late there was only one other angler on the venue.  Fortunately he was fishing for chub and did not interfere with the choice of barbel swims I would need to make.  From the car park there is only a short section up to the top weir, I had decided to fish in this length and only needed to choose between the three or so known holding spots it contained.  Probably the two best places were The Top Hole and the weir pool itself.  A quick check showed that there were barbel in the weir. The other swim appeared empty, although that could change very quickly.  With no one waiting to move into either swim I decided I would take the chance and bait both areas, fishing one and leaving the other to see if fish would move in.  Should an angler come that wished to try it then he would have the advantage of going into a ready baited swim.

                                                                Baiting Adam’s Top Hole

 

A favoured method for barbel is the aptly named ‘bait and wait’ tactic where one will bait up a swim without fishing for several hours in order to allow the fish to feed in confidence. So, having mixed three pints of casters with two pint of hemp I introduced about half of it via a bait dropper into the Top Hole. I had done well in the past in this swim with the method, now it just needed time to mature.  Over several hours I returned at regular intervals to add more caster/hemp mix via the bait dropper.  Still no sign of fish, but not to worry, back to the Weir, where the same bait and wait tactics had encouraged the barbel and chub to feed with a vengeance. 

 

The time had come to try and catch one of those big fish that could be seen with their tails waving as they scoffed the feed I had put in.  My tackle comprised of a Drennan Power Barbel rod with a 1.75lb action.  This was teamed up with 10lb Pro Gold main line and a 15lb Powerbraid hook link, a 2.5oz lead fixed onto a safety clip would then give the bolt effect I was looking for on the set-up.  Barbel, more than a number of our coarse fish species, are not tolerant of feeling the fishing line across their body when over the feed.  In order to alleviate this problem I used a half inch round bullet stopped three-feet up the main line. This ensures that the line will lie on the bed of the river and hopefully the fish will be less aware of its presence. A size 12 Drennan Super Specialist hook tied with a knotless knot to leave a hair completed the rig.  Three casters were then superglued onto the hair in a torpedo fashion as this style also helps to make the set-up a little more resistant to the attentions of the small fish such as dace and minnows.

 

                                                              Torpedo casters.

 

My baited area was at the head of a clear channel amongst the streamer weed that danced in the flow.  The cast was a simple requirement of laying the baited hook at the downstream end and allowing the line to settle along the channel upstream of that position.  This was accomplished in one of the spells while the fish were on their guided tour of the weir so I then settled down to await their return.  As is so often the case with bait and wait, the bite came quite quickly once I had cast in.  With the rod wrapped round in a great attempt to snap it, I struck into a defiant fish that was certainly annoyed at being hooked.  One big advantage of barbel fishing is that once hooked the barbel, unlike chub or carp, will not consciously make for the safety of the nearest snag.  Unfortunately that does not mean that they never get snagged; this fish proved the point as he charged through a cabbage bed and almost by chance found himself wrapped around one of the stems.  I could see the fish and estimated him at about 13lb but although I got him free of the stem, he threw the hook as he came towards the waiting landing net.  Very disappointing, but you win some and lose some; just make sure the first option beats the second by a considerable margin.

 

The battle had spooked the other fish, so with another baited swim waiting it was time for a move.  This time when I returned and again bait dropped into the Top Hole it was in the knowledge that my last visit had shown barbel to be present.  Pressured barbel can be quite spooky and I still needed to get their confidence in feeding freely.  They would come and go from the swim but each time they returned their stay would be little longer.  I would bait drop each time they left putting just caster in the swim, no need for hemp as it had done its job of bringing the fish into the swim. Then having decided it was time I bait dropped yet again, but this time I laid the baited hook down and across the swim back to my position.  Because of the nature of the swim I needed chest waders to get to the front of the rushes in order to bait up and cast the baited rod out.  Now having put the rod on the rests whilst I was still in the water, the reel was spinning in response to a take before I could get back on terra firma.  Total panic just about sums up the next few minutes as I scrambled out of the water and tried to get control of the fish.  He had torn off downstream into the streamer weed that flourished there, now I would have trouble bringing him up to my position through that jungle.  Standard practice when dealing with this situation is to get downstream of the fish, then pull him down out of the streamer.  This I did but once out into the open he just shot off back upstream into the hole where he had taken refuge.  I went back upstream and he moved back downstream in parody of a dance routine.  Some fish you can bully into doing what you want, but not this one, at the moment he was in charge. 

 

This game continued for some minutes with my worry that he would come off as with the last fish.  Obviously with their extra strength and power it is the bigger fish that are likely to gain their freedom.  As the minutes passed it became obvious that my efforts were having an effect, his runs became shorter as he spent more time in front of my position instead of forcing me to follow his. At last he slipped over the net and the Adams monster was mine.  Stef Horak came along the bank in response to my phone call and soon had it on the scales giving me a weight of 16lb 14oz.  It is the second time I had caught this fish, the previous capture still stands as my personal best at 17lb 1oz, but that is well short of the best recorded weight when it took the record at 21lb 2oz.  That was it then, one down with nine to go, but as with all plans it did not work out that way and I finished the season with seven different river targets acheived.
 

                                                          16lb-14oz.  The Traveller.

 

The following season 2005/06, I set out to do exactly the same target of ten rivers, but again I failed with just six successes.  Probably the barbel that stood out from this season’s catch was that taken from the Kennet, a beautiful river in picturesque surroundings.  It was the middle of February 2006 and my intention had been to go down south to fish for chub on the Dorset Stour.  One of the problems of travelling good distances for your fishing is that of changeable weather.  It had been quite mild but the south-westerlies had brought rain over the country.  A call to Terry Lampard confirmed the upper river was coming up fast and the extra water would be down to the Bournemouth area by the following morning.  With the plans to travel already made it just meant a change of venue.  A discussion with Stef soon came up with the option of the River Kennet and the choice of Burghfield.  That put the final stamp on the plan.

 

The Kennet is a slightly different river in that for much of its length it runs in conjunction with the Kennet & Avon Canal.  The section to be fished was one where the river came through a weir as it left one of the canalised lengths.  Stef had said he would be going downstream to a swim where he had previously enjoyed some success, while I decided to fish the weir.  The first ever barbel I caught was taken from Rushey Weir on the River Thames, and I think these features have held a special interest since that date.  Although they all have the same basic function, that of allowing a water level change, they are all different, and even the same weir changes from day-to-day as the flow rate changes or the different weir gates are adjusted.  This time, with flood water coming downstream, the gates were open and the weir resembled a whirlpool.  The diffent currents charged through the open gates to swirl around and finally join together into one flow leaving the weir to continue its way downstream.  Having come along the towpath I arrived at the weir and stood obsevving the flows and currents in order to pick the most advantageous place to fish from.  At this time the open gate set- up had given a heavy flow under the nearside bank but the far side appeared to have far less current passing it.  Moving to that side I could see the flow coming through the nearest gate going down the middle and then turning back in an eddy.  My interest fell on the dead water left in the middle where the flows separated to go their different ways, and I decided that would be my pitch for the day.
 

                                                               Burghfield Weir.

 

First order of the day was to lay the table, so out came the bait dropper and I began to introduce the hemp and maggots that I had brought along.  With the water quite coloured I would not normally use maggots.  These had been left from a previous trip and would change to caster quite quickly so I might as well use them up and hope the barbel would come across the meal they would provide.  One rod would be fished with maggots and a swimfeeder; the other would be on my usual Dynamite Monster Crab shelf-life boilie fished in conjunction with a PVA bag of mixed pellets.  Tackle was fairly standard, comprising of Drennan 1.75lb Power Barbel rods combined with my preferred Mitchell 300 reels loaded with 12lb Pro Gold line.  The hook link is a combi-rig of 10-inches of 15lb Pro Gold tied to 3-inches of 15lb braid and a size 8 Drennan Continental Carp hook.   With the rods cast out I could sit behind the brolly and soak in the winter sunshine waiting for the typical slam round of the rod top that signals the barbel bite.  That said, I could foresee that with the different flows it might not happen like that.  Having cast into the slack water the flow was actually coming straight towards me and in all probability this would resulting a slack line bite as the fish picked up the bait and moved off in the direction of the flow.

 

Throughout the morning I kept up the feed by the simple method of recasting at regular intervals.  The feeder rod would be filled with fresh maggots and the other rod would have a new PVA bag attached.  At last! I watched as the line went completely slack on the boilie rod. The fish was moving across the flow quite quickly, and I had to reel in quickly before I caught up with him and the rod bent over as I at last made proper contact.  The power of big barbel never fails to amaze me and this was no exception. I hoped it was a barbel since at this stage there was always a chance it was a carp, the power was certainly enough for that to be the case.  After a good five minutes of the fight I called for Stef, by the time he arrived the fish was cruising back and forth just in front of me, then his back broke the surface and I could at last confirm it was a barbel.  The fight was almost over by that time and shortly after I was bringing a large barbel over the net. I had thought it would be a double but when I saw the depth of it I knew I had a new Kennet best.  Once he had been unhooked, I put the net back in the water while I got the camera and scales ready for the exciting bit.  Stef and I often play the guessing game at this stage and this time Stef won with his try of 14lb, maybe 15lb.  At 15lb 5oz it was, and still remains, my equal second best river fish behind the Traveller off the Great Ouse.  Yet again fate had stepped in and instead of fishing for chub on the Stour I had taken a magnificent fish off the Kennet. I’ll take those presents any time she wants to pass them out.  That fish gave me a total of six river doubles completed for the year, but it was a figure I did not improve on. Not a failure, but disappointing not to have improved on last season’s result.
 

                                                       15lb-5oz of Kennet barbel.

 

 

Happy birthday!

I went tench/bream fishing yesterday in the hope of catching a nice fish to celebrate the first year anniversary of starting this blog, unfortunately the result was just one small 4lb odd tench that came in one of the short breaks in the incessant rain that fell for most of the session up to when I gave up at 11:00pm.

                                                   A nice male tench that broke up the rain. 

 As you will be all too aware, the rain and the fall in temperatures that come with it, has been all too common an occurrence over the last month or more, if this is a drought heaven help us when we come out the other side of it.

Going back to the blog I would like to thank all the regular readers for their continued support.  When I write for a magazine or one of my books I am never sure as to the response, with the blog I get an up-to date feedback as to the current situation of interest and the positive results I see gives me the encouragement to continue.  I now get nearly 1000 page views per week and the site has gone well past the 27000 hits since that first feature on May 3^rd 2011.  By the very nature of how blogs work those initial hits were more in the 10’s of views until anglers found out that the site existed, more find it every day and those numbers will increase over the coming year.

Within the 86 Blogs that I’ve written so far there are reports of many big fish, 20lb plus pike and carp, bream and zander to double figures, catfish and sturgeon over 50lb, 2lb plus roach, 3lb plus perch and 7lb plus chub.  Probably the most pleasing fish for me were river best barbel  of 11lb-6oz for the Teme, 12lb-2oz for the Derwent and the new river Anker record at 15lb-4oz.  Top this with a pb tench of 11lb-14oz and you can see I had a good year!  One big difference the reader will notice when reading a regular blog as opposed to the monthly magazine reports is you also become aware of the number of blanks suffered by the author, mostly not mentioned in a magazine though they occur just as regularly. 

Hopefully the next 12 months will be just as fruitful and interesting, I’ll be reporting and with luck all of you and more will be reading it.  I cannot close this comment on the last year without a mention of the book ‘Targets set and Achieved.’  It strongly reflects the style of writing you read here and contains the story of numerous big specimens, if you don’t have a copy yet then put it on your wish list for birthday presents and the like or treat yourself.

Tight lines for the coming season and I’ll be here to give the next blog report.

River barbel - Lows and highs of Autumn.

As with all normal fishing it has been a week of highs and lows for me, low on the fishing front, but a high on the entertainment side.  Following the great session on the Derwent last week it almost had to be downhill, and sure enough it was.  Early on in this week I went to the Severn after those big zander again, fished 2pm to 9pm with only a munched up end to a lamprey bait to show for the effort, probably an eel.
Mid-week I went to try a new sturgeon venue, it looks good but although I saw a sturgeon of about 10lb caught my result was a biteless few hours, those fish managed to ignore my meat and salmon offerings without any effort, but I'll be back to try there again.

Then a return trip to the Severn for the zander, but this time I edged my bets.  With the usual two rods in action I had one out with a small roach deadbait for zander, and the other was fishing with a monster crab boilie for the barbel.  The barbel rod won 1-0 with a fish of about 6lb.

Then came the highlight in that the annual Milton Keynes Specimen Group had their yearly function, this one to celebrate 25 years since they began.  With 80 or more like minded anglers it got a bit crowded by the time the guest speaker - Mick Brown - began his talk.  He opened with the comment that with so many anglers in the crowded into the room we had about 20 minutes of air left before we all lapsed into unconsciousness.  Fortunately although we did not need any central heating on, the air conditioning was just sufficient to keep us alive and attentive to the talk.

Mick talked us through a lifetime of dedicated angling where he managed that rare achievement of earning his living for the last 20 years from angling alone.  Many aspire to this, but very few succeed, and Mick did highlight the sacrifices made, as well as those many highlights he has had.  A very good talk with photographs of the highest quality to show off tremendous specimen fish.

                                              Mick signing books - The wide angle lens did not do justice to the crowded room.

Books sales went well, and you can get your copies from http://www.philsmithangling.co.uk/

Too hot for fishing!

With the temperatures reaching record heights of near 30C it was quite comfortable sitting in the Conference Centre at Kettering.  It was the Pike Angler's Club  annual get-together, and hundreds of pike lovers decended on the venue in their droves.  With the air conditioning going at full blast this definately beat being on the bank somewhere, melting in that blazing sun.  For those that did attend there were plenty of attractions, both in the form of talks being given by prominant pike anglers, and a large array of stalls selling everything, this was of course including myself trying to convince a pike angler that there are other worthwhile fish out there.  Fortunately there are still enough all round fishermen to make the day a success, I think that most of those attending will have found something to please them and they will leave following a great day.

                                       Thanks to Tom Balaam for the shot of me signing his book.

I also took the chance to get a bit of tackle, and Monday evening I will be trying it out the those River Severn zander followed by two days boat fishing on Chew Valley Res next week-end. - I'll let you know if it works.

http://www.philsmithangler.co.uk/

Another first.

By definition there is only one chance to do anything for the first time, and I always take care to record the event with an appropriate photograph if possible.  Last weekend I caught my first double figure zander for many years, and since that came from a lake, although very pleasing, it was not a true 'first'.

One of my targets this season was a double figure zander off the River Severn or Warwickshire Avon, just one trip so far had resulted in a blank, but now another trip was planned for an afternoon/evening session on the Severn.  A quick trip to the freezer and I soon had a few 3 inch roach/rudd type baits, perfect for the zander as they seem to prefer the smaller coarse fish.  I know that they can be caught on sea baits, sardine and the like, but experience suggests that if available your chances of success are far greater with the fresh-water type baits.

I had decided to use my Drennan 2lb Bream and Tench rods for the task in hand, far too often the name on the rod dictates its use, but I go by the suitability which is more to do with the test curve and action.  With 12lb main line, and wire traces made up using size 10 trebles I was ready and off I set.  Conditions could not have seemed worse, a heat wave was coming across the country and with temperatures hitting 26C or 27C I was going to melt.  Bright sun blazing down from clear, cloudless skies, did not encourage the thought that the fish would be going barmy on the feed, but it would still be nice to sit on the banks and watch the world go by.

I arrived at the venue to find one obvious effect of the dry summer, while smaller rivers and streams have dried up, the River Severn has all but stopped flowing.  A one ounce lead could have easily held in the minimal flow on the far side of the river but in order to make sure of a positive indication I would use a 2.5 ounce leger weight.  This is to make it more likely that when the fish takes the bait and runs, the line will go though the leder ring rather the moving the weight.  With two of the small roach attatched to the traces and sent out into the river, one about a third of the way across and the other two thirds, I could sit back and relax in the small amount of shade offered by the bush next to my chosen swim.  Looking at the river it definately gives concern that if we have a comparatively dry winter as well, then next year will see major problems of water shortage.  These thoughts soon disappeared as the line came out of its clip, then with the bail arm open it just trickled slowly away as I picked up the rod to tighten down to strike.  All too often this becomes an anti climax as there is nothing there, eel, chub, perch, small zander or pike, we never know, but this time the culprit was still there and the rod bent over in response to its presence.  In that bright sun I was soon looking at my first ever River Severn zander, not big, in fact under 5lb, but hopefully the start of a quest that will see many more and a lot bigger fish coming to the net.

                                                           First of many - I hope!

With dusk settling in I hoped for further action as the darkness came, but it was not to be, and about 9:00pm I decided to call it a day and packed up well content that at least I had broke the duck!

                                                              The sun setting over the Severn.

This Saturday I shall be at the PAC conference with my book, if you have not already got one then maybe that will be the time to correct that slight omission, otherwise you can order it through my web page at http://www.philsmithangler.co.uk/.

Lots of river barbel and busy times.

                                                              Waiting for that barbel bite.


With the book launch just next Saturday 17th, it is a busy time.  First batch of books delivered today and these will have to be packed and sent off, but even with all the various things that need to be completed I still get out onto the rivers in pursuit of the barbel.  With two 11lb plus barbel already taken off the River Derwent this month, I decided on a trip back to the River Teme, so tackle ready off I set.

Friday 9th September.
With Merv recovering from his hernia opp a couple of weeks ago I decided to offer him a trip out to the Teme for a break from the four walls of the house.  He could not fish, but jumped at the chance so off we set.  Arriving to find the river even lower than previously seen, a thing I did not think could happen, I made my way to a nearby swim, Merv could not walk to far in his condition and that dictated which swim had been chosen. Once in place I could set about getting tackle and bait ready. The usual mix of hemp and pellet was done for the feeder, and this was soon going out into the swim along side a 8mm pellet baited hook.  Over the next several hours I got lots of knocks off those chub, but the long hair did its job and none were hooked.  Then I finally got a barbel, not a big one, but at least I was not to suffer my first Teme barbel fishing blank of the season and I mentioned this to Merv sitting nearby.  'You aint landed it yet' came the comment back, and no sooner said than the barbel threw the hook and was away with the fairies.  I don't loose many barbel to unenforced hook pulls, and when I hooked the next one I quickly told him to keep quiet.
A good fight followed where we discussed the size of the barbel we could see twisting in the clear
water, as it turned out we were both well under the eventual weight recorded.  At 11lb-6oz it was a new river pb and means that of the 20 river doubles I've achieved so far, there are 18 of them over 11lb.  Pleased with that!

                                          Flash makes this 11lb-6oz look dark but still light at 7.30pm.

Saturday 10th September.
Went down to the Warwickshire Avon today with Keith Jobling - 9am pick-up and we fished untill 9pm. The river appeared drastically low and clear, and this was reflected in the way action developed over the day's session.  Not a touch throughout the day until dusk when I took a 7lb-14oz barbel on pellet. I did weight this one since you can get out of practice after looking at the Teme fish, they are so long and lean that you easily underestimate barbel off other rivers where they tend to be deeper in the body.
That fish was followed by a 10lb-4oz beauty, and another barbel of about 7lb [not weighed] to round off a pleasing trip. Only problem was leaving home several hour too early.

                                              10lb-4oz of Avon barbel.

Monday 12th September.
I had to make a trip down to Ross on Wye to meet up with Martin Mumby who did the layout on the book, of course the rods went in as well.  Merv travelled down although he would not be able to fish for some weeks yet, better than going rotten looking at four walls all day, or say he tells me!

The river at Ross has grown to quite a size but with the lack of rain it was running quite placidly, 2oz of lead holding in the middle of the river without a problem.  I started the short session on hemp and maggots, using a large swim feeder to keep the supply of the maggots going in, lots of small stuff would be taking all those offered.   After a few hours without action I changed to pellet and then finally to boilies, not sure if it was the late evening or the bait that made the difference, but I then took two barbel in quick succession, one of about 6lb, and another weighed at 7lb-10oz - Wye fish are slim bodied as with the Teme and again are difficult to estimate - they give a great scrap though.

                                                         A nice bonus to a business trip.  Wye 7lb-10oz.

Tuesday 13th September.
Books arrived and packing up to send out.  The post office people are not going to be pleased with this lot all at once, but I did warn them last week what was coming!  The books look and feel brilliant and I'm proud to have yet another volume of my fishing to share with you all.  If you have not already got your order in then check out http://www.philsmithanger.co.uk/ where books can be purchased very easily.

'Target set and Achieved.'

My new book, ‘Targets set and Achieved’ will be published for the beginning of September.  I have arranged with The Land's End Pub at Twyford for a book launch on Saturday 17th September when books will be available and I will be signing if you so wish.

A substantial part of the book will relate the story of my Barbel Challenge, where I caught 16 double figure barbel off different rivers across the country.  This story is then brought up to date with the capture of a further 4 different river doubles along with many increases in river personal best weights for the barbel off other rivers.  Add on this the stories of the capture of many large chub, perch, bream and crucians, along with other stories to cover nearly all of our coarse fish species, and I think it gives a very good, and readable book.

There will be 1000 standard copies at £26:00 + £5 P&P.  Also I will have 40 leathers at £175 + £5 P&P.  History suggests that leather copies go quite quickly so get your order in now.

Alternatively you may wish to send for a copy with a cheque made payable to P Smith to 155 Nunts Lane, Coventry, CV6 4GJ.   Include an e-mail address and I'll confirm receipt of payment.

Any questions ring me on 07980 394864.

Tight lines

Phil

Big river barbel and fishing books.

It can be surprising how much time is taken up in producing a book from scratch, the actual writting process is only the very beginning.  You can of course get to the stage of a finished manuscript, and then if one is available that has accepted your work, pass this to a publishing house where they will complete the process.  Often in today's world it is more common to follow the route of self publish where the author takes responsibily, and the cost, of bringing the book to market and then distributing the copies to the reading public.

I've completed the stages of writing the book and having that worked proof read by some-one far better educated in the English language that I.  Then you check it again to ensure that the spirit of your work is still there, though good proof readers do this automatically.  We now arrive at stage that I am currently at, this is where the book is laid out with photographs and text placed on the pages in a readable fashion.  Here again the finished product is required to be proof read yet again, and the Wednesday and Thursday of this week were taken up by my need to do just that on a few of the chapters.  It is strange since I normally read books in a scanning fashion where not all the words are individually read, now I need to take the time to ensure I read what is actually there, almost word by word.  Within the process of laying out the book it seems very easy to either loose words or sections, or alternatively duplicate those already completed.  One big advantage to me is the ability to see what the final product will look like, and in this respect I am very excited.  Mind you, I will have read the whole thing about a dozen times so it can be a little repetitive!

Still, back to fishing.  Yesterday I decided to try the River Trent for the first time this season, a different challenge to that presented by the smaller Teme and Warwickshire Avon that has taken my interest so far.  Rods need to go a bit heavier, though with the rivers a such a low level I decided the 1.75lb test would probably be up to the job.  The swim-feeders were a different matter and the 60 gram weight was increased up to 110 gram and even this was probably at the bottom end of the range to be used.  I decided that my current tactics of pellet on the hair and a pellet mix in the feeders would be ok for this session, so off I set on the 50 odd miles to the river.

I arrived to find it at as low a level as I had ever seen, streamer weedbeds could be seen where they would not have been visible before, and in many areas the river bed was exposed as the water levels had dropped by such a large amount.   It is one thing to see the effect of low water conditions on the upper reaches of rivers like the Teme but when the middle section of the Trent is suffering it makes one wonder where that could lead to in years to come.  Still, the fish are still there so I set about trying to catch one of the barbel that were my prime target.  The sight of those streamer weedbeds gave me an advantage in that I could drop my bait more accurately in the clear channels that could now be seen, far better that the chuck and chance that normally goes within the section I was now fishing.  A angler I knew, fishing up river from my position could be seen playing a fish, I came to the conclusion that it was a good one, so having reeled my baits back in I made my way up to his position where I found that he had indeed caught one of the better specimens.  At 13lb-11oz it equalled my best for this river, but for this angler who fishes the Trent on a very regular basis, it was still some way from his best. 

Returning to my swim with a little tinge of green in my eyes I thought that at least it was an indication that the fish were feeding, also that the barbel would be interesting to catch later in the season when it could easily gain a pound or two in weight.  Unfortunately the hours passed and it seemed I would return home with a blank results pad, but then with dusk just decending, the rod came to life and I was playing an obvious barbel.  Even with the low water conditions there was still a quite powerful flow on the river and this fish took full advantage of it.  It came to the net, and when weighed it showed a pleasing 8lb-7oz, a good start to my season on this exciting venue.

                                                             8lb-7oz Trent Specimen Barbel