Barbel Time
Playing with a new mould I knocked up some big feeders for the Trent recently, and decided to put an article about DIY Swimfeeders together for Barbel Now.
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I'd been debating whether to have another tench session for most of the week, mainly because the weather forecast was for rain, more rain, and a little more rain. I put it off until the forecast had worsened then decided to go anyway. As I arrived on the Sunday afternoon conditions were grand, light wind from the south west, sunshine and warm. I pretty much had the choice of swims and headed for the shallows, even though the the track was a bit slippy and the car didn't always go the way it was supposed to. While setting the rods up a few spots of drizzle fell so up went the brolly, but the shower soon passed and two method feeders were out and a boilie rig with a bag of pellets - all at staggered ranges. The dreaded maggot feeder having been abandoned.
Labels: tench
I was in two minds about this session. The rivers had opened the day before and were up and coloured. Barbel would be feeding. However I had one of those indefinable feelings telling me to go tenching again. The weather forecast was not great, with heavy showers and prolonged spells of rain forecast over the next couple of days, even though it was a glorious summer's afternoon as I headed south and remained pleasantly warm as I settled into my chosen swim.
Without a doubt this rig, in various guises, has proved to be my most successful so far this spring. Various feeders have been tried and I have settled on the Drennan's for now. The only 'faults' with the feeders are that the tail rubbers are a bit of a slack fit, easily cured by a dab of super glue, and the hole through the tail rubber is very small - only a problem if you are visually handicapped!
Last year I was using a helicopter variant as my maggot feeder rig, but changing hooklinks was a bit of a pain and I was never convinced that it was all that good a rig anyway. Although this one uses more components than I'd really like it is pretty simple, and easily converted to a straight leger rig. I don't like quick-change connectors between my main line and hooklink, preferring to retie the knot. It takes only a few seconds longer, ensures that the knot isn't neglected and makes the rig more streamlined. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
This time last year I took up an offer of some tench fishing on a southern gravel pit, and came away with a new PB, beating the one I had caught a few days earlier on another water. They say you should never go back, but another invite was forthcoming and off I went - to discover the tench fishing had slowed down, but some decent bream had been showing up.