BARBUS MINIMUS

     I had the chance to fish with my friend Laurence today, as his guest, on the River Trent. Funny river the Trent; it is very long, wanders all over the place and deciding whether one has been invited for a day on the upper or middle reaches is a matter of opinion but I'm going to settle on the latter.

      I fished it a couple of miles further up years ago and enjoyed every minute but the only time I got a look at this precise stretch it was shallow, fast and weedy. With this in mind and the weather forecast to be wet, I settled for fishing the feeder. I really, really wanted to float fish but not wishing to clutter Loz's car up with loads of extra gear which I didn't think I'd use, decided not to. Decision making is not my strong point, I have to confess. Give me a choice between two of anything and I religiously choose the lemon.

     I had a half pint each of casters, hemp and 4mm pellets which was about half of what I needed. The Trent picks up water from a massive catchment; not that far upstream of where we were fishing it's volume is swollen by the Thame, the Mease and the Dove bringing in water from areas as diverse as Birmingham and the Derbyshire Peaks. Even in low water conditions it is fast here and I shifted all my bait pretty quickly. 2oz feeders were necessary and given that my casters were smashed in seconds it's not hard to see where it went.

     An extended period on pellets drew interest but no bites. Casters brought small Roach, Dace and Chublets regularly enough. On the float it would have been great fun; on a carp rod and 2oz feeder not so much. For the last few casts, I ditched the feeder in favour of a half ounce bomb which was far more enjoyable and caught me the prize of the day. At first it felt like a small Chublet of maybe a pound but it turned out to be a very irate and stubborn 8oz Barbel which made up for everything.

     It was such a beautiful piece of river with huge potential and only 40 min from home. I had to get a book for the place so I could get back with my float rod and a sensible amount of bait but alas membership is closed until the 1st January. One thing's for sure, my application is going off in December