Lee Swords Fishing

Tidal Trent tackle is something that causes a certain amount of friction within the barbel fishing fraternity as it can be classed as “unsporting” because it is in many peoples opinion “over gunned” for the target fish.

 

Yes, the barbel is a very hard fighting fish indeed as are the numerous chub, eels, big bream and carp that inhabit the  mysterious waters below Collingham Weir, the man made point at which the non tidal Trent becomes the tidal Trent.

But many will argue that they catch far bigger fish on far lighter tackle on other rivers in the UK so why is it that the Trent anglers seem to gravitate towards the carbelling style of fishing rather than the other more sporting methods that are popular within the differing fraternities of our sport?

 

The answer is simple and obvious, it is the river itself that has evolved the tackle and methods the angler uses, there is little point in trying to fish the Trent with tackle that is “under gunned” because the river will simply overwhelm it.

the first rod that I purchased specificall for the job of fishing for the bigger fish on the Trent was the Diawa “Tommy Pickering” Connoisseur

and I paired that rod with a Shimano reel loaded with 6lb line…I thought that I was loaded for bear! Which in comparison to some I was but times change, tackle evolves

as do methods but most of all the fish that reside in the Trent and especially the tidal Trent have got bigger a lot bigger!

therefore it is only reasonable that the gear and especially the rods we use to target these fish changes to suit, not that many years ago roach were the predominant species on the Trent and the stick float was the number one method to catch them but the increase in water quality has seen a corresponding rise in the numbers of barbel and chub that reside in the  river and the stick float has fallen away and out of fashion. Which is quite sad really because if the tackle is balanced away from roach and up towards barbel the method is still very deadly indeed…However the anglers of today and I myself am as guilty as anyone seem to prefer the more sedentary feeder approach rather than the hard work involved in the dynamics of float fishing.

Soon after purchasing the Diawa TPC I purchased the Shimano Stradic Heavy Feeder, a superb rod but one that was prone in my opinion to shattering its quiver tips.

I bought a lot of tips before it dawned on me that maybe “tips” were not all they were cracked up to be… Especially as most of my bites were from fish that didn’t gently rattle my tip rather they ripped the whole kit and kaboodle round ninety degrees in a three foot spasm!

At that point I purchased a pair of Shimano Hyperloops in 2.5 lb t/c for £30 a piece and did not look back for years, I used them for everything!

 

Eventually however fashion called and after many years of faithful service I retired them and bought a pair of Grey Prodigy barbel in the 2.25 t/c . A lovely rod and one I still use for chub fishing on the Trent but it is not suitable for the “big hoik” and heavy feeder work on the Tidal Trent.

The lifetime guaranteed was put to the test and they failed.

They are now used for chub, bream and perch fishing

I then went onto the Fox 15 foot jobs in the 2.75 t/c rating and found them a very useful tool on the wide open tidal Trent where overhanging trees are not so much of a problem as on the upper and middle sections of the non tidal Trent.

the only downside with these rod are that they are quite unwieldy for younger angers, I myself love them and still use them from time to time even if they do attract the odd strange look.

Soon after I bought the Fox 15′s however i was given a Mark Tunley hand made rod to test and I will admit to love at first feel. the thing is awesomeness through and through, it has the poke and the play in good balance and has now become my “rod of choice” on the tidal Trent. Yes it is 2.75 t/c but it needs to be, the feeders needed to hold out in the channel can be anything up to 8oz and this rod can ping them out with ease!

That is the reason why the tackle on the tidal Trent is not the same as the tackle used on other rivers within the UK.

There simply are not that many rivers where 8oz leads are appropriate for the task at hand.

The Thames and the Severn would be the only other rivers in England where I would think that tackle of this scale would even be necessary.

Where else but on the bigger rivers such as the tidal Trent do we have to cope with feet of extra water arriving in the river with only a moments notice? It isn’t unsporting…It is simply functional !