With the end of February turning very wet, the start of March saw the rivers incredibly high with the Trent breaking out in to the fields in most places. It was to high for most anglers the first weekend of the month but I know a couple of spots on the tidal you can get away with it when most spots are washed out. An early start put me on the river for first light and as the season was coming to a close rapidly any opportunity couldn’t be wasted, especially if I was to put this target of a 15lb plus Zander to bed. The morning was uneventful to say the least not even so much at a tap in the first two swims, especially when conditions looked good for it. Around dinner time I decided to take the dead bait off and put a huge lump of Spam on, I had a curry to cook for my dinner and if your not focused on your rod tip you can easily miss your only opportunity of the day with the Zander. Putting a bait out for a Barbel was a safe bet, this decision turned out to be the right one as 20mins later the lead bounced out followed by the rod pulling over with a fish on. The fight was brutal, braided mainline and heavy flood that Barbel used everything to its full advantage. But it was soon in the net and a very welcome conserlation on such a quiet day and yet again another big quality Barbel from the Trent.

I fished the rest of the day out on the dead baits bouncing between the two swims without so much as a tap. The fishing has been a lot slower last few weeks even with very favourable conditions but the Zander just haven’t been there, have they moved ? Have they moved for the spawning season? Or has the increased presence of Seals played a part? Who knows…

After the torrential rain towards the back end of last month we were offered a nice prolonged spell of dry weather, this giving chance to some favourable Chub fishing conditions on my local rivers. Again not wasting any Opportunity’s this late in the season I opted for a short evening session after work, I was half way up the A1 towards the river Swale when I decided to change my plan and drop on a different stretch on a different river one I had spend a bit of time on there a few years ago. After a short walk across the fields I arrived in a swim that had been kind to me over the years often holding a shoal Chub with the chance of a huge fish, I have done quite a few big 6s and even a 7 from the area so you never know. I got myself settled in and rigged up, I opted for my 1.75 rod and braid over the usual 2oz glass tip quiver rod, mainly because the swim in question means chucking to the far back fishing across and over the main current and with the tip rod the tip would be locked over solid with the flow creating resistance as the river hadn’t fully run off yet. But with the 1.75 and braid as a mainline you can sit nicely in the flow but still have the sensitivity on the rod tip from the braid. First chuck I had a serious bang almost straight away followed by a short pull and I struck in to nothing I’m pretty sure it was a Chub. On the second cast I waited about 20mins for the first indication a series and 3 small taps which had me poised covering the rod with the anticipation of a pull over. When it finally pulled over I was on it in a flash and connected with what felt like a pretty substantial Chub. It took a few yards of line of its first outburst but was soon under control and guided back across the river with just the odd heavy head shake. I crouched down with the net ready when all of a sudden the fish took off upstream and smoked about 20 yards of line from me. I chuckled to myself “that isn’t a Chub” Barbel? Or have I foul hooked a Salmon? The battle went on for a few more minutes before a nice Barbel popped up to be netted. It made a nice suprise as it was only my second Barbel from the stretch in 4 years of angling up there, I’m way up the river system and couple that with an abondance of Otters it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting to catch that night. After a quick rest and a weigh I managed a couple of self takes and sent her on her way. The fish had a very fresh wound on its tail from an otter that was still bleeding which I treated with some Propolus. Just goes to show some Barbel can out smart the otters on these small clear rivers, and a respectable 10lb 9oz of Yorkshire Winter barbel was one hell of a result for the evening.

I fished on for another couple of hours resulting in one small Chub of about 3lb but I was more than content for the drive home.

As the dry weather continued, by the weekend the Scottish rivers had dropped inside favourable levels for another roll of the dice for monster grayling.

I started the session off with my Euro Nymphing set up it was a hard morning with only two small fish to the net by early afternoon, so a tactical change saw the trotting gear come out with some maggots. The afternoon was a lot better with plenty of fish to the net and all a really good stamp of a pound and a half plus. But the day was topped off with fish of 2lb 4oz and a new PB of 2lb 11oz in consecutive trots.

A very enjoyable day but a long one at that I set off from home just after 3am and didn’t land back on my drive till 11pm, knackered is an understatement!

With the final days for season approaching fast the weather changed yet again and offered up 3 days of solid rain across the midlands and Yorkshire pushing up the rivers again. Come Saturday the last day of the season the Trent was top of the bank yet again, this time with warmer water. The conditions looked brilliant for a spot of Zander fishing so I made the journey South for that one final go of the season. Just like the previous 3-4 sessions where the Zander had eluded me. The session was incredibly slow but mid morning I received a tiny pluck on my tip followed by another a few seconds later and in a flash I was hooked in to a fish, it bore deep in the flooded river trying to make sanctuary in the submerged trees and shrubberies. The drought was over I had finally caught another Zander, no record breaker but a nice fish to finish the season off with. The local Chip Shop is a special one with very good food and opened just after dinner, so that was my next move to celebrate and round the season off.

The season had been a good one to be fair with a real mix of species as always and managing PBs for 4 different species it was a win all round.

I managed to push up the weighs to:

• Barbel – 16lb 14oz
• Eel – 3lb 11oz
• Brown Trout – 5lb 12oz
• Grayling – 2lb 11oz

With the River season closed now it was only a matter of days before the local trout season opened, I was itching to get out with the Fly Rod it’s something I’ve been really enjoying the last 4-5 years and makes a nice change to what I normally get up to. The opening day came and a few days later I had penciled my first session in and right on cue 20-30mph winds, I wasn’t going to be beat and battled the elements for a few hours and the Saturday afternoon

I ended up having to euro nymph for them, but it was incredibly hard to present right and the gusting wind was dragging my flies across and down very unnaturally. But odd times between the gusts of wind I would get a decent run through and managed to snare my first Brown of the season and an OOS grayling for my efforts.

In all not a bad month but I’m definitely looking forward to some warmer weather and April brings a good chance of specimen Tench and to some more fly fishing…