21/09/2026 - Back for another go

Smarting from the loss of that decent perch during my last session on the Soar I was keen to go back and try again. 

I also still had over half a pint of maggots left somehow (I'm sure they multiply in the fridge), so finished work early and headed down the motorway and was parked up on the bridge in Kegworth by 4 o'clock. Walking up to the lock the river looked a bit lower than last time and was gin clear, so I could easily see the bottom well over halfway across. It was also bright and sunny, so all in all not great conditions for catching a big stripey. However, it was a cracking afternoon and just nice to be out and not in fornt of a screen, even better for having the whole section of river to myself again. Crossed the lock onto the island and followed the path upstream. Before too long I was scrambling down the bank and settling into "my spot" in the run off from the weir upstream. 

Ran the stickfloat down amongst the bubbles and immediately had a small bleak, which went out on the perch paternoster straight away. Didn't have time to pick up the float rod before the bite alarm registered interest and the tip of my Greys 1.25 lb Specimen tapped a few times then slowly pulled down. However, turned out to be another micro-pike with eyes far bigger than it's belly. Carried on trotting and started picking up some nice roach, dace and chub, all too big for perch bait and I began to wonder when I'd get the paternoster out again before eventually picking up a few more small bleak. 

Again, the response on the paternoster was immediate and was from the right species this time, but nowhere near the size I was after. Must have been a few of these around as the next couple of baits that I put out were just harried relentlessly. The rod tip would start bouncing about and then violently pull over, but I'd wind down to feel nothing and the baits would come back scuffed and lifeless. I therefore decided to wind the rod in until the last half an hour and carried on enjoying trotting in the sun, adding more dace, chub and bleak and a few of those pesky perch. 

As the light started to fade I popped the paternoster rod out onto the crease once again and awaited developments. After a few minutes the rod tip tapped a few times and I was quickly onto the rod, pulling the line out of the clip and feeling it running out through my fingers. Wound down into a heavy fish but knew straight away it wasn't a stripey, which was almost immediately confirmed when a green, spotty torpedo erupted from the surface of the river and then charged around the swim, before burying itself headfirst into a bed of pennywort. Dug it out with the landing net and quickly unhooked him, the size 6 single nicely in the scissors, before sending him on his way. Packed up at this point and headed back to the car. Again, another busy and eventful session but no big perch. 

Will perhaps give it one more go before trying something else but might need a bit of water and colour in the river first.

10/09/2026 - Back on the river at last

Sad news recently about the death of Trent fishing legend and local character Archie Braddock. Was lucky enough to fish with Archie, mastering trotting with the long rod and paternostering for perch under his tutelage, although his propensity for speed made the drive to the river from his house in Long Eaton a real white knuckle experience! 

With a bit more water in the local rivers I was keen to get out this week with the float rod. However, demands of work kept pushing my plans back and it was Friday afternoon before I managed to find the time to head the short distance down the motorway to the River Soar near Kegworth. Go the chesties on and then headed up to the top of the section. The hot weather and low river levels over the summer seemed to have suited the dreaded floating pennywort as there were thick beds of it all the way up to the Deep Lock. Crossed over the lock gates onto the island and walked up to my usual spot downstream of the weir, negotiating several new fallen trees, although it looked as if some work had been done to clear out a couple of the pegs that had been unfishable last season. 

River looked in good nick and I was confident of a few bites as I waded out into the flow, disturbing a pike that had been hanging around on the edge of the pennywort as I did so. First trot down and float disappeared resulting in a clonking dace. 

Over the next hour and a half it was a fish a chuck - mostly dace, but also a few roach and chub and a single perch, all in cracking condition. Had a break from the float rod at this stage, breaking out the feeder rod instead and lobbing a "dink-dink" rig over to the far bank. 

Response was immediate but I had to risk the temptation to strike at the small knocks and rattles and instead wait for the quiver tip to slam over. Quickly added another half a dozen, nice dace to the tally. However, the reward didn't match the effort involved in constantly having to re-fill the black-cap feeder, so I was back on the float rod after about 30 minutes. Carried on where I had left off, catching more dace, chub and roach. Was winding in a small perch when I spotted a much bigger one following it in. Had a couple of traces tied up with size 6 single hooks in the bag from a previous session so, not wanting to miss an opportunity, I swapped the feeder rig over to a perch paternoster. 

However, I hadn't caught anything small enough to use as bait up to that point so shallowed up the float to try and catch a few bleak. After a bit of effort I managed to put half a dozen in the net and duly popped one out on the crease, roughly where I'd seen the big perch earlier. Didn't have to wait long before something showed some interest and bent the quiver tip round. However, after token resistance I brought the world's smallest pike in to hand! Popped him back to grow a lot bigger, put on a fresh bait and repositioned the rig. A few minutes later the tip wrapped around again, but I fluffed the strike. Slashes on the bait indicated that it wasn't my intended target anyway, so out it went onto the crease once more. 

A couple of taps on the quiver tip and this time I was straight on the rod, opening the bail arm and feeding the line out before striking into a decent fish. Initially thought it was another small pike due to the lack of head banging, but when I got it in closer I saw it was indeed the big stripey that I'd been after. However, as I tried to stop it from burying itself in a bed of pennywort, the hook pulled out and it promptly disappeared, swiftly followed by a couple of expletives! Took this as sign to pack up and head home. I'd also been having trouble with a tooth all week and it decided that this was the time to give me some proper aggro! Had been a reasonable session in terms of number of fish including some quality dace, but I'm once again rueing losing a decent perch. Next time...

06/09/2026 - Bassing in Exmouth

Didn't get out much over the summer - high temperatures and low river levels prompting local clubs to enforce fishing bans being one of the reasons. Had nearly three weeks in France as well, where temperatures peaked in the early evenings in the low forties. We therefore limited our excursions to the relative cool of the mornings and spent the afternoons back at the cottage sat around our makeshift pool and spa complex taking in plenty of liquid refreshment. In amongst the sight-seeing I managed several trips out on the local River Charente in the kayak or on the paddleboard.

With it being low and gin clear it was like like looking into an aquarium - saw roach and gudgeon, big chub and perch, shoals of coral-finned barbel and bream, carp exploding out of the margins and even two wels catfish with heads as big as my paddle that, in contrast, barely twitched as I passed over them. Certainly made me re-think about taking some tackle over next time. Arrived back in the UK just as some much-needed rain arrived to provide some respite, although it curtailed any plans to get out on the local rivers. 

Instead I found myself with an unexpected opportunity to do some sea fishing when our friends invited us down to Exmouth for the weekend. Normally I would take the LRF gear and go fishing for mini species in and around the marina, but this time I took my lure rod having seen a couple of clips on Youtube of people fishing the estuary for the bass. Arrived Friday afternoon and took a walk down to the seafront while our friends finished work. There were a few lure anglers about and I watched one chap catch a decent bass of 45 cm+ on a white Sandy Andy that was promptly despatched and popped in his bag. The following day my friend Simon and I got up at 6 o'clock and were down on the beach half an hour later for low water. 

There were already a few other folks down there thrashing the water, including the chap from the day before, with more arriving after us. The tide was already pushing back in so I joined them, punching out a Savage Gear sandeel as far as I could out into the channel and swinging it in the flow. Hadn't brought the chesties, but at 17 degrees the water was perfectly pleasant for wet wading. Carried on for about an hour in a couple of different spots without a sniff before suffering the mother of all wind knots. Hadn't seen anything caught up to that point, so rather than try and sort it out on the beach, we found a bench and had a coffee and a natter in the sun as the beach got busier with swimmers and dog walkers. The next morning we were up at the same time . 

In contrast to the day before there was a stiff breeze blowing straight in from the sea that was causing a good chop on the surface. Started with the same tactics but the cross-wind was a right pain and was limiting my casting distance. However, as the sun came up I had a bang on the rod tip as a greedy, little schoolie nailed the lure, then added another one a few casts later. As I carried on I could see a big flock of seabirds starting to work the surface out in the estuary in fronnt of me. Eventually they drifted tantalisingly almost within casting distance, so I clipped on a chrome Sling Shot "surface iron" in an attempt to get a bit more distance. Worked immediately as I had two more schoolies before the birds drifted off again. The wind had dropped off a bit by now and there were visible pockets of activity cropping up all over the estuary at this point.

In places the bass were striking really close to the shore with bait fish throwing themselves up onto the sand in panic. Following the disturbance and casting parallel to the beach I had three more small bass on the surface iron, which turned out to be a perfect match for the prey items they were busy gorging themselves on. More anglers had turned up at this point and it got a bit daft with people virtually running down the beach and wading in where I had been casting literally seconds ago! As there didn't seem to be any bigger fish about I therefore decided to pack it in and again sat and drank a coffee with Simon in the sun before we headed back to the house for breakfast. Still, it had been a fun couple of hours spent in good company.

Back home now and already a week into September - prime "trottanostering" time for a big stripey hopefully!