Staffs-Worc canal Castlecroft Sunday 27/11/11

This was the last match of the year for one of my clubs Halesowen on our own stretch of the staffs-worc canal at Castlecroft nr Wolverhampton, this stretch can be a bit peggy with most of the winning weights made up of Chub that seem to live in numbers on certain pegs.The Chub flier on this stretch is peg 35 and if you have read my blog before this peg has won a lot of matches on here due to an overhanging ivy bush that sticks out into the canal creating a haven for the Chub, in an attempt to stop the domination of this peg we have decided to move the peg to the left on the edge of the ivy and move peg 36 to the opposite end to try and share the fish out a bit? This will either share the fish out or create 2 fliers leaving the rest of the field fishing for third only time will tell. I was sitting pretty on top of the clubs averages with an 11 point cushion over my nearest rival Shaun Waite, but with 21 of us turning out today meant that 21 points were up for grabs so a win for Shaun and a blow-out for me would see him take the title. We all went in for the draw and I came out with peg 21 which to be honest I was quite happy with as during a match up here earlier this year Andy Smart had won the section off just beating me with 6lb odd of small fish, with the peg having no Chub form I thought the chances of winning or even framing off of it was very slim but as long as I could catch a few slivers and come in the top 10 the title would be mine. A quick word with Shaun reviled that he had drawn peg 17 a noted chub peg (jammy git)and would be going all out for the win but normally peg 18 is the better peg with a lot more form, peg 21 is next to a bridge which is the only peg from 18-24 to be used loads of room I can here you shout but it cannot be that good as it has 3 empty pegs either side and pegs 13-18 are all in, why? because that's were all the fish are? Peg 21 is around 13m wide with a big set of reeds to the right which stick out virtually into the middle of the canal and the canal naturally narrows right down at this point just before going under the bridge, the very edge of the reeds can be reached with only 6m of pole and the deepest part of the canal is only 4m out where the boats line up to get under the bridge. The canal was very clear the clearest I have ever seen it to the point that from 10-13m I could see the bottom so all my lines were going to be at angles either side of me using the spare peg to my left and the bridge to the right, I planned to fish the punch at 6&8m the worm & caster to my right on the edge of the reeds and a caster line 13m down the canal towards peg 20 just out of the track at around a 10'o clock angle. I set up 4 rigs to cover these lines,
Rig 1, 4x12 Tubertini styx float, 0.08 mainline to a 0.07 hooklength and a 22 B511 hook, set 1 inch off the bottom in around 3 1/2 ft of water down the track finished with a no3 elastic.
Rig 2, 4x8 Tubertini styx float with the same line, hook & elastic as above but at 8m where the canal shallowed right up to around 2ft deep beyond this I could see the bottom.
Rig 3, 4x12 Drennan caster float, 0.12 straight through to a 18 B611 hook, J-range 6-10 hollo elastic for Perch & Chub fished to the edge of the reeds at 8m.
Rig 4, 4x12 Drennan caster float, 0.08 straight through to a 18 Preston PR322 hook, no 4 elastic fished down the canal at 10'o clock 13m.
For bait I had brought a loaf of liquidized bread, 1/2 pint each of casters & squatts and 1/2kg worms plus a few pinkies for the hook along with a couple of slices of bread also for the hook, just before the whistle Shaun came walking passed on his way to see his mate Gary who was on peg 26 saying all he needed was for him to win the match and me completely blow out "Cheers mate all the best to you as well" I said "only joking" he said but I knew that the competitor in him meant it.
On the whistle I feed the short bread line with a golf ball size of bread the worm line got around 1/4 of a pot of chopped worm and 20 casters while the 13m down the track swim was fed with 12 casters just loose fed with the catapult, I was going to leave the 8m bread line alone until I had gauged the response of the first bread line in-case I had to feed squatt there if the fish didn't like the bread. I kicked off on the bread with a 3mm punch on the hook and no soon as the float had settled it shot under and Roach no1 was swung in at around 1oz it was a good start, over the course of the first hour I stuck with the punch getting bites on a regular basis and had around 12 roach for around 1lb. The only thing about being so far away from any other anglers is that I couldn't tell if anyone else was catching then I saw 2 figures walking towards me down the tow-path, it was Andy and Bob who were on pegs from around the corner saying that neither of them had had a bite yet while Shaun had 2 Chub and Martin 1 I thought they were on the wind-up but they weren't. Great that's all I need this early in the match Shaun bagging but then I reassured myself that I didn't need to win the match just catch fish and with people starting to walk already it was a good sign for me, the punch line had started to slow so it was time for a little top-up I put in just half the amount of the initial feed a walnut size of licky went in. I changed up in hook size to 20 B511 and switched to a 4mm punch as I had dropped a couple of fish off while swinging them in so hopefully the bigger hook would help with this, the first 2 Roach I had after re-feeding were slightly bigger around 3oz each then it went quite for 3-4mins before I hooked a bigger fish some distance down the peg away from the feed area a 10oz skimmer which was a welcome bonus. Hoping for more of the same but over the next 10mins I couldn't get another bite so I put in another small amount of licky just enough to cover the bottom of the pot and fed it loose instead of a ball which is normally a no no on this stretch as it has a steady flow all the time, I thought that the smaller Roach were hanging higher in the water so I changed back to a smaller 3mm punch and shallowed up to around 3 inches off the bottom. This worked for a time with around 6 Roach in the 1oz bracket before the bites totally dried up and with around 2 hours gone the bread line had dried up so switch to the worm was called for, I had topped up the worm line a couple of times while fishing the punch but before I could ship out the worm my phone rang and it was Steve Robson who was up on peg 1A saying that he was dry and so was the rest of the top section apart from JB on peg 6 who was catching punch fish. This was good news for me to get into the top 10 and win the averages so I shipped out the worm and lay the rig in which promptly carried on going under a 4oz Perch was the culprit, the next 10mins saw me have 2 more Perch around 2oz each before bites dried up on this line as well so with around 2 1/2 hours gone I thought I had got around 3lb so all was good. I went back on the punch line but never had a bite so I fed the line another section over at 8m with a small nugget of lickey and a few squatts before I tried the 13m caster line, no bites on the caster despite sitting on it for around 15mins and no bites on the new line either on the punch or squatt. I had failed to get a bite at all for the last 45mins and was starting to get worried, despite trying all the swims I had put in I couldn't get another bite it was like there were no fish left in the swim at all. I opened up a new line down the canal at 13m towards the bridge with a small amount of worm mush & fluro pinkies a sure fire get out of jail tactic but even this failed to get me a bite, the whistle sounded and I couldn't get my head why I had caught for the first 2 1/2 hours then totally blanked for the next 2 1/2 talk about a game of two halves! I was just hoping that I had done enough to get into the top 10 as the last I heard from Shaun was that he had got at least 6 Chub and a couple of big Perch, before long the scales arrived after weighing in Shaun and Martin first Shaun had a fantastic 28lb 14oz with 8 chub and 4 Perch, Martin had 3 Chub+ bits for 9lb 14oz, my first half fish gave me 3lb 7oz I just hoped it was enough. I packed in and walked up the canal stopping at Shaun who was still packing away to congratulate him he said that apart from the Chub one of the Perch he had went 3lb 1oz! (no wonder we cannot catch any gudgeon up here) what a great canal weight, Shaun said that the more bait he put in the better it got running out of bait in the end after putting in 1/2kg of worm and a pint of casters! He also said that he had tried to stop one Chub from going through reeds so he pulled harder with his tight black hydro the result ended in his top kit looking like 50 pence piece smashed into around 8 pieces? OOPS! Well done to Shaun for annihilating the match, Martin was 2nd and John Bab was 3rd of peg 35 with 6lb odd. There were 2 4lb+ weights from JB on peg 6 and Gary on peg 26 who said he had 20 chub in the 1-2oz bracket, I ended the day 7th after getting done by Ade on peg 13 by 4oz with 3lb 11oz that done by 2oz last week on the river and 4oz this week but I cannot complain the season I have had ending up winning the averages. Next week we have the last match of the year with Cradley Heath the fur & feather on the Staffs-Worc canal at Hinksford but with 1 match left to go I have already won the averages unable to be caught?

Stourport River Severn Sunday 20/11/11

This weekend saw us on the river Severn at Stourport for a Halesowen club match on the BAA stretch at Newalls Meadow below the bridge and a few pegs above the bridge on the Littleton water, I have not fished this stretch for around 25 years so it would be a bit of a blast from the past for me. If you catch the river conditions right weights of 20lb+ of Roach & Dace are on the cards but as the river has been running clear lately the open matches run on the upstream Littleton water have been won with weights of 10-15lb, most of the weights are taken on the stick float, waggler or bolo there is the odd bonus Chub, Bream or Barbel but sticking your neck out on the feeder can end up with you catching very little. I drew out peg 14 which was down towards the bottom end of Newalls Meadow and for company I had Shaun Waite next to me on peg 13 who was chasing me for the clubs averages so we could at least keep an eye on each other, what we did notice on the way down was that the pegs at the top end of the stretch seemed to have a lot of room in-between them some had 2-3 pegs each. I made a comment to Shaun as we walked passed these top pegs saying that you watch when we get to our pegs there will be no room in-between them! We got to our pegs and I put my barrow down and shouted to Shaun "I told you so" the bottom 5 pegs had all been put in all in a line GREAT I thought but then it got worse Stu had drawn peg 15 below me all of about 8 yards below, basicly this was going to be a float match and I had no room to run the float down????????????????? I don't normally moan about pegging but this was taking the piss some of the guys had miles of room while we had been all packed in like sardines, I went and looked at the rest of the pegs which all seemed to have around 15-20 yards in-between them mine was the worse of the lot. Now I know that pegging out is a thankless job but it looked to me that the bottom 5 pegs had been put in the the other 6 on Newalls had been spread out once they had realised there was a lot of room left, I was fluming at this point with with smoke coming from ears ranting and raving I get one day a week to go fishing and I had just been f****d up the a**e before the start. I felt like going straight home and not even set up if I could have got my hands on the w****r than had pegged out he would have gone swimming no messing, I had to fish as I was in the running for winning the averages so after I had calmed down a bit I began to set up as the pegg'er out'er was a mile away above the bridge I couldn't do anything about it.

I set up the stick and straight lead as the waggler would be out of the question due to such a short run down I would have been on top of Stu before the shot had settled, I went for a 6 no4 in 5 1/2ft of water around 2 rod length's out stick shotted with strung out no6's and two no8's near the hook on a 13ft light stick rod and a closed face Abu 706 reel, Mainline was 2.6lb with a 20 B520 hook on a 0.08 hooklength. The straight lead was my Shimano Beastmaster 11/9ft rod with the lightest tip in set at 9ft a Shimano 2500 super gtm reel with 3lb maxima mainline, a 18 B520 hook with a 0.10 hooklength I put just 2 swan shot on a paternoster rig. I had brought 2 pints of bronze maggots and 1 pint of hemp for bait plus a few worms if I had to scratch around for a few Perch, I had set up and had a fag & coffee before the all in still trying to calm down after my earlier rant.

At the all in I began feeding a dozen maggots as far upstream as I could throw them which was easier said than done as there was a overhanging tree above me stopping me from throwing them as far as I would have liked and a few grains of hemp straight in-front of me, after a few runs down it seemed there was a bit of weed on the bottom covering the hook-bait at one spot some 3/4 of the way down the peg so I had to hold back the float hard to get over the obstruction, it took some 30mins to get my first bite which was a small 2oz Perch from virtually right underneath Stu's keepnet which I was allowing to run down as far as possible as Stu had started on the waggler. Next run down produce the same out come and another 2oz Perch then I went around 10mins before my next bite a 3oz Dace which came from a lot higher up the peg, another couple of small Dace and a solo Roach was the sum total of the first hour's work for around 12oz. Hour 2 followed a similar pattern with just odd fish here and there saw me struggling for bites without me being able to get the fish into some sort of pattern with around 1 1/2lb in the net I was going nowhere fast then I hooked a nice 4-5oz Dace right underneath my rod top by accident! I was having to reel in and feed with the rod in the rests and the rig in the water pick up the rod and cast underarm due to the tree to my left I couldn't do the usual side cast, it was while doing this that I hooked the Dace on a line that was some 12 inches shallower than where I was fishing so I decided to have another go at it. Putting the 1ft extension in-to my rod making it up to 14ft to get over the marginal weed I repositioned my rod rests and messed about with the shotting and depth to lay the rig on holding the float back hard, the next 10mins produced 2 more Dace and a Roach for around another 8oz which was a little better then the bites dried up on this line I think due to how clear the water was the fish were spooking. This seemed to set the pattern for the rest of the match you would catch 2-3 fish then they would back off due to the clear water then you would go bite-less for around 10-15mins before they would come back, I am sure that had there been a bit of colour in the water that we would have been able to keep the fish coming for longer. I had a frustrating period in the match with about an hour to go until the end I started hooking Dace right under my rod top hooking around 10 fish in quick succession but only landing around 4 they were twisting off despite me going up in hook size to a 18 I had tried a 16 hook earlier but failed to get a single bite with the bigger hook, that was the best period of the match for me which I failed to capitalize on and soon enough the match came to an end with Stu below me struggling all day for half a dozen fish I thought I had got around 5-5 1/2lb and with on one walking around I didn't know how the others around me had got on. As I got up bank starting to pack my gear away Shaun above me appeared who I couldn't see due to the trees in-between us saying he had got around 5lb and so did Dave Wood on the peg below Stu so it looked like it was going to be close at this bottom end unless they were all liars? The scales soon came down and Bob the bosun on peg 17 was the first to weigh with a level 5lb then Dave on peg put 6lb 6oz on the scales, Stu on peg 15 had just 12oz for last in the match? (sorry mate) I put my fish on and scales-man gave me 6lb 4oz just 2oz short of Dave, then Shaun above me put 6lb 20z just 2oz short of me so it had been close on the bottom 5 pegs were we had been packed in like sardines. Up the top end of the stretch there was a 8lb dead and a7lb 6oz & 7lb 4oz topped off by John Billingham on the first peg 7 in the bay with a great 15lb 14oz, above the bridge there had been a 7lb 2oz and another 6lb+ weight. Well done to John for winning the match a good angler on a good peg! Not taking anything away from John but he had got 3-4 empty pegs below him and no one above him for until above the bridge some 200-300m above him! All the top 3 came from above us at the top end of Newalls where there was a bit of room in-between the pegs so if that doesn't tell you the storey then nothing will, I was done for the section by Dave with that 2oz extra and the only good thing was that I managed to beat Shaun by the same 2oz margin to stay on top of the averages by 10 points with just one match left to go! I caught up with the pegger out'er in the pub after the match and gave him a piece of my mind along the lines of him needing a white stick and a guide dog (or words to that effect minus the swear words?), he did apologise but that's always easy after the event.