Spotlight on the in-form River Trent
With the river fishing better than it has for years, we turn the spotlight on brilliant stretches near Nottingham
ON THE outskirts of Nottingham run three adjoining sections of the mighty River Trent controlled by the Nottingham Federation of Anglers.
After hosting sections of the Division One National on Saturday, it’s safe to say there are some big shoals of fish of a variety of species to be caught. As on most stretches of the Trent, some of these can reach impressive sizes.
Trent expert Gary Pilsworth is a venue regular and was happy to run us through the waters, the areas anglers should target and the tactics required to keep the bites coming.
CLIFTON BRIDGE PEGS
This section of the river is shallow and pacey, making it a great place for big barbel, chub and some substantial shoals of dace. The dace are particularly special in this area as they average just two or three to the pound. It’s possible to build a 20lb-plus bag of these silver darts on the blockend feeder with maggots, casters or hemp.
POWERGEN WATER
As at Clifton Bridge the feeder dominates for dace, chub, bream and barbel. If you are after the barbel under the present conditions it is advisable to fish late in the day or at night. They will fall to specialist tactics such as big boilies and pellets, fished either on a heavy feeder or lead set-up. These same tactics may even catch you one of the section’s bonus carp.
CHURCH (WILFORD FERRY FIELD)
Despite not being pegged in matches for a substantial period of time the pegs near the church are known to be a bream hotspot. Anglers baiting heavy with groundbait and fishing over the top with worms, pellets or corn have caught 70lb-plus bags of slabs from this area over the years, with individual fish averaging around the 5lb mark.
OLD TOLL BRIDGE (WILFORD FERRY FIELD)
This is a really good area for chub. As on other spots along this length the feeder is the way to catch them. Under present conditions smaller baits such as maggots, casters or hemp are the best bet to get the fish feeding aggressively.