Is this the best river stretch in the country?
Is this the UK’s best running-water venue? That’s the question being posed by specimen anglers nationwide following reports of huge carp, bream, roach and perch from Cromwell Weir on the Trent.
Add in the monster barbel for which the stretch near Newark is most famous, and it’s hard to disagree that there is no more prolific river stretch in the country.
Two of the latest visitors to have experienced the session of a lifetime are Drennan-backed Simon Ashton and former Drennan Cup champion Jamie Cartwright.
Northamptonshire specialist Jamie banked no fewer than 61 barbel, many running into double figures, during a hectic 36-hour session at Cromwell.
All fell to 14mm 3 Foot Twitch Lamprey & Smoked Herring boilies.
“The quality of the fishing here is unparalleled anywhere else in the country,” said Jamie.
“I was feeding boilies with a throwing stick until I got a bite, and at one point the barbel were taking my bait on the drop…absolutely incredible.”
Simon Ashton’s story was very much the same as he banked a new personal-best fish weighing 13lb 5oz in a session that produced 45 barbel, 16 of them into double figures, on trimmed-down Sonubaits boilies.
“The rod was nearly pulled out of my hands within 10 seconds of my casting out,” Simon told Angling Times.
“It was my most productive barbel session in 41 years of fishing across the country.”
However, this Trent fishery is now about much more than big barbel. It’s already produced roach over 2lb, double-figure bream, carp over the 20lb mark, 4lb perch and huge chub so far this season.
Rotherham rod Carl Stansfield is a regular visitor to the venue, and is of the opinion that those that choose just to fish for the resident barbel are missing out on some incredible fishing for other species.
“I’ve had 2lb roach, big carp and bream to 9lb 14oz, and this is just the tip of the iceberg here. No-one fishes for other species here, as it’s always packed with barbel fishermen,” he said.
“I’ve seen fry in the margins and watched huge perch just smashing into them. The weir is absolutely full of carp, too.
“There’s nowhere else on the Trent like it.”
