A Summer Barbel Hypothesis, Strategy and Conclusion – Specifically Relating to past and future FM Barbel Fish-insOr……The Best Laid Plans – Part One I’m changing the way I think about fishing tactics this year. Would you like to know why?… Oh go on then, it’d be a darned short article if I didn’t tell I suppose. I’m going to show you the pictures of all the fish I caught during two (yes two!) FishingMagic Barbel Fish-ins last year. Both were weekend overnighters and I arrived both times on the Friday evening making them near forty hour sessions. So, just in case you’re not quite grasping the ‘fish to time’ ratio involved here, that’s a total of eighty hours (approximately) actually fishing, with two rods, so one hundred and sixty rod hours and, wait for it,… two fish. Both admittedly very nice fish, (well they all are, aren’t they) but all the same two bloody fish!?! What ‘s that all about? That’s one fish every four thousand eight hundred minutes, or, one hundred and nine and a half (must have encountered a pike whilst reeling in) fish a year… assuming I never actually stopped fishing the Trent for an entire year. This, apart from being illegal given the closed season, is also a tad impractical. Imagine that though… a whole year non stop fishing, mmm…
Back to reality then, not only were they my only two fish but my memories of them are spoiled beyond repair because some(Dicky)body needs to learn how to use a camera properly! (I’m not bitter or anything but I don’t have a picture of my first ever barbel either, so much for digital convenience eh?). Now some may say that’s the way it goes, or even go so far as to accuse me of being a bit of a rubbish angler! I’ll ignore them though because that’s not true. It can’t be true, no reason in particular… apart from I’m great at everything so it just can’t be that. Well tennis I suppose, I’m not very good at that… or putting that sealant stuff round baths neatly, that’s pretty bloody tough too. Anyway, I wouldn’t have minded my modest catch rate half as much if people up and down the bank, even two yards away from me, weren’t latching into fish left, right and centre (including barbel) at all hours of the day and night. Basically it got me thinking about why I tend to catch some nice fish; just, it seems, with complete irregularity. Am I simply a poor angler? What defines a poor angler anyway? If it is lack of consistency then I suppose I must be. Well no, I actually don’t think I am a poor angler, my definition would be someone who catches infrequently but doesn’t go on to question why and then try to resolve the situation. I Identify weaknesses and concentrate on turning them around; I’ve found the problems and now I need to find a solution. And so it began 9th May this year, 2006, and I remember the thread in the forum well. It was just the kick up the backside I needed: ‘Big Swordsy’s Second Trent massive! Was anyone up for getting down with the bewhiskered temptresses’? I most certainly was up for it, having not got down with the golden, freshwater torpedoes for nearly a year now! Now don’t get me wrong as this was not for want of trying. I may not fish quite as often as I would like to (or half as often as some of you dear reader), but I made a few fundamental errors last season. Firstly, having joined a Derby based club for the first time I visited almost all their waters like a child in a sweet shop, never really concentrating on one stretch of river or lake. My fishing in Derbyshire for the 2005/2006 season produced intermittent results usually through a combination of raw talent (Ahem!) and good fortune. The only place I returned to with any real knowledge of the swims submerged landscape was a stretch of the glorious Trent in south Derbyshire. Not long after joining and still in the close season I had decided to investigate the river ‘waters’ at my future disposal (during open season rivers are my opiate, stillwaters always more of a placebo). These bank walking sessions eventually revealed a veritable Barbel Mecca consisting of gravel runs on a sweeping bend causing slacks and rapids to flow over several large tree remains wedged in the river bed. As if that was not good enough, a large dark silhouette glided effortlessly from one snag to another in the blazing sun. I seem to remember my companion on that day, one infamous crap photographer, said something along the lines of, “you lucky sod!” Suffice to say, he was not a member.
I of course returned to this glorious place and indeed it produced a personal best for me after a few initial blanks (see self congratulatory picture below). Circumstances however seemed to conspire against me from then on. Whenever I had the time to venture forth the river was either rising, in full flood, or worse still, as shallow as a paddling pool. This was the beginning of my folly, visiting different places through impatience and not persevering with one or two ‘projects’. I didn’t spend any time learning a venue despite having quick and easy, already paid for, access to them. This, I must stress, is by no means an article designed to release my bitterness for there is none of that. My season fulfilled me and taught me a lot. It provided me with numerous personal bests and showed me what nurtures my personal fisherman inside.
The point of all this reminiscing is that I have learned from my mistakes. Not in time for the previous barbel fish-ins admittedly but better late than never. Both of these left me bereft of the target fish, however, the first saw me holding another very welcome personal best in the shape of that slightly out of focus bream you saw earlier. Lesson one ‘Stick to what you know’. Sounds like a narrow minded attitude…? It isn’t meant that way in this context. I am talking here about unknown venues, new and uncharted territory: why did I fish unfamiliar waters using unfamiliar methods? New rig ideas or a clip here and an extra bead there may seem necessary at the time but why introduce a second unknown quantity into the equation? I’m sticking to a tried and trusted technique, at least then I only have to worry about where I’m fishing instead of how as well. And why did I invest in a myriad of ‘new’ baits? Sure, they may be effective under the right circumstances but I didn’t even know what circumstances occurred there yet! This year’s FM Fish-in gatherings will see me leaner and more focussed. A carefully selected top five hookbaits, no more, no less, five and that will be that (probably). No kilo upon kilo of groundbaits either, some ready made ‘Bait Bombs’ courtesy of ‘Fryer’s ‘patent pending’ baitledger (if you don’t know this quirky item then look it up on ‘Google’ or I’ll show you on the day. Also known as the ‘Gardener Bait Bomb’ – it’s genius). I’ll also have a few emergency PVA bags in reserve. Lesson Two ‘Listen to people who’ve fished there before’. Sounds obvious? Well yes, OK, I’ll give you that one. Harder than it sounds sometimes though I think. Here I am on the bank at Collingham with my carefully constructed rigs made from freshly bought, ultra high-tech mono/fluoro/braid stuff, home made wonder bait and misguided self confidence. I choose a swim on a stretch I’ve never fished before, two pegs down from one I’ve been told ‘produces fish’. Why? Because I’m bloody daft that’s why. I’m going to ‘produce fish’ from my choice of peg thank you very much, on my choice of rig and on the bait I decide they’re having today. I have decreed it shall be so. This was never competitive in a malicious way you understand, more a desire to prove what I’d learnt to myself and, I suppose, prove my abilities to an audience too. My first act this time around will be listening to the well researched wisdom of others and learning from it. I have plenty of years ahead to perfect an annoyingly founded arrogance in these matters (I hope, both in my projected life expectancy and skill acquisition).
Conclusion Come July the 15th I shall be able to carry my gear to the swim in one go (hopefully). My tackling up will be a considered but simple process relying on the acronym ‘KISS’ which of course stands for ‘Keep It Simple Stupid’ (interestingly, on a slight tangent, this could also stand for ‘Knights In Satan’s Service’ according to ‘acronymsearch.com’ but I don’t believe a barbel has ever been landed successfully using a hair-rigged inverted crucifix; so Luncheon meat it is). My range will be determined by a combination of last year’s experience, local information and leading around. My bait use will be consistent with the conditions instead of eclectic and my reward for this diligence will be? Well I wouldn’t want to tempt fate but I will definitely let you know… |
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