Blythe Pairs Winter League Sunday 19/2/12

The first outing for me since our last round here 3 weeks ago as the bad weather had finally come putting a stop to the fishing, there was due to be another round on here to be fished a week after the last round but with ice on the pool and the forecast of 2-4 inches of snow on the Saturday afternoon the day before common-sense ruled and we cancelled the match. Last weekend saw us cancel another league match on the woodside canal due to 2 inches of ice so at last we could get out this weekend as the temperature had come up sufficient during the week to allow us to fish but now the water will be full of melted ice nice! ( I had to get out of the house the misses thought she had found a new bloke one that is there on a Sunday! Stuff that before she gets any decorating ideas?).
Stav said he couldn't catch or draw at the moment so left the drawing up to me again so into the bag I went coming out with peg 23 for me again ( the peg I fished the last round )so I was happy with that then pulled out peg 17 for Stav which didn't produce a lot on the last round ( 7lb I think? ) but has had some good weights off in the past so he was reasonably happy with it. After fishing the peg 3 weeks ago I was going to change the plan of attack slightly I set up a small maggot feeder a opposed to the method I fished before because there were 4 Carp caught up my end of the pool and they all fell to the maggot feeder, then I was going to fish 2 pellet lines at 14.5m instead of one as I could only catch on the pellet 3 weeks ago. I would still set up the same pinkie line but this time at 10m and the same margin rig at 13m down the left hand edge as they can sometimes show there but I failed to get a bite there the last time, I set up 4 rigs to cover all my lines and the maggot feeder-
Rig 1, 14.5m light pellet rig 4x14 j-range 8 float, 0.14 mainline to a 18 Tubertini 808 hook to 0.12 line, set just touching bottom in 7 1/2ft of water, doubled up no5 elastic.
Rig 2, A slightly heavier 4x16 version of the same float as above with the same line and hook but with J-range 7-10 hollow elastic.
Rig 3, 10m pinkie line, Preston inter 9 0.30gr float, 0.12 main to a 20 Drennan sliverfish hook to 0.10, 2inches over-depth in 6 ft of water with double no5 elastic.
Rig 4, margin line 4x12 j-8 again with the same line & hooks as the pellet rigs, just over-depth around 3ft from the bank where the shelf drops to around 4ft, 6-10 hoolo elastic again.
For bait I had brought the usual kitchen sink in pellets both micros & 4mm and hooker pellets in all shapes and sizes, corn, maggots and pinkies.
I started the match on the maggot feeder which was the smallest in the Drennan carp feeders on a simple running rig 6lb mainline with just a 12 inch hook-length of 0.16 as I was casting tight to the central boom with a size 1 Tubertini 175 hook, on only my 2nd cast with 2 red maggots on the hook the tip pulled round and Carp no1 was hooked which turned out to be a nice 3-4lb jobbie , a good start! A false start it was as I sat on the feeder until the end of the first hour with only a couple of small indications and no more fish it was time to switch to the pole, Chris on the next peg 22 had a couple of Carp in the first hour on the pole so out went a 4mm pellet on my 10 o'clock pellet line, I had fed the 2 pellet lines at 10 and 2 o'clock trying to keep the fish coming but mainly as the sun was out today and a strong wind rippling the water I would have somewhere to fish away from the blinding sun. I had been on the pole around 10mins and after trying to block out the strong sunlight I lifted into what I thought was a bite and Carp no2 was hooked, it gave me a bit of a run around on the double 5 elastic but after a few minutes and with the help of the pulla kit Carp no2 was in the net and at around 7-8lb it was a nice fish. Over the next couple of hours I managed to hook and land another 3 Carp all on 4mm pellet and all from the same pellet line, I had tried my 2 o'clock without a bite and also the pinkie line failed to produce a bite and for the second match running I couldn't understand why we had failed to catch any silverfish when the place is full of small Roach & Skimmers? Chris to my left was also catching with one of his fish around double figures but the two guy's to my right were still blank, Stav was also struggling with only 1 F1 and 1 Skimmer to show for his efforts but he was right opposite the two guy's blanking. With around an hour and half of the match remaining I couldn't by a bite but there was still one line I hadn't tried the margins which I had fed 3-4 times from the start with 3-4 grains of corn and around a dozen maggots, with nothing to loose I put 2 red maggots on the hook and shipped out down the edge to 13m tipping around 6 maggots over the top of the float which settled and then carried on going? It was a small pastie size Carp in the 2lb class and next put in the same again and 3rd put-in the same again they were lining up, it was strange as the last time I fished the peg 3 weeks ago I couldn't get a bite down there but after 5 fish all in the 1-3lb bracket they slowed down. I potted in around 20 maggots and gave the line a rest to see if the fish would come back over the feed, I sat on the pellet without a bite for 5 minutes and with 15mins to go to the all out went back down the edge. I had another 2 small Carp and pulled out of one in that last period ending the with a dozen Carp with that last but one fish the only loss of the day I was happy with my days fishing and should get good points, it was going to be close between me and Chris I had got more fish than him but his were all of a better size we also found out that Carl the gaffer on peg 29 had caught well with around a dozen as well. Stav's section was the first to weight-in with Baz Robson winning the section with 21lb off the corner peg 20 there was a 20lb off peg 12 and Kev Clarke was 3rd in the section with 14lb off peg 12, Stav only managed to catch one more Skimmer the rest of the match to go with the 2 fish he had earlier and weighed 3lb odd beating just the 2 blanks in his section (sacked does anyone fancy fishing a pairs league?) only joking mate! I am sure he will come good soon? Chris was the first to go in my section weighing 31lb then mine went 39lb 7oz to give me the lead in the section, Dave to my right was dry with 30mins left to go then had 2 Carp & 2 Skimmers for 8lb, JB was the only one to blank in my section on peg 26 (right opposite Stav so it just shows that there were no fish there), as Carl put his fish in the weigh sling I thought that's close but thankfully the scales settled at 38lb dead giving me the section and match win, the best out of the last 4 pegs in my section to weigh in was Ollie on peg 30 with 14lb. When all the points had been added up we are still in joint 1st place with Carl & Chris with Ray & Dave in 2nd place another 4 points behind us, so that's it at the half way point with 4 rounds gone and 4 to go we are still in with a shot at the title.

Blythe Pairs Winter League Sunday 29/1/12

Round 3 of our pairs league on Blythe Waters Cherries pool and as I had sacked Stav as chief drawer it was up to me to draw us a couple of decent pegs? I pulled out peg 23 for myself which was at the deep end so I was happy with that but pulled out peg 5 for Stav which is on the end of the boom on the disabled pegs in the shallows (it's crap) with no form at all. The one noticeable change to the pool was that since our last visit the level had gone back up to normal. Peg 23 is around 22m away from the boom so I set up a small method feeder for this line and 3 pole lines one at 11m for pinkies a pellet line at 14.5m and a margin line at 13m as peg 23 is a corner peg but rarely show as opposed to peg 20 opposite.
I started the match on the method feeder cast tight to the central floating after feeding my 3 pole lines, I had 1mm micro pellets on the method with 2 dead reds on for bait sat back and waited. Gail opposite me on peg 19 had a 4-5lb carp first chuck on the feeder but the rest of us up my end of the pool sat biteless, Ray next to me on peg 25 was next to get a bite on the feeder another carp that was the first hour gone. I sat on the feeder for another 30 mins without a bite before picking up the pinkie rig to at least catch a Roach or Skimmer to avoid the blank, there were 2 guy's up my end of the pool in my section still blanking
(along with me!) so out went the double fluro pinkie. I waited 10mins before I had a bite on the pinkie which is unusual here as there are Roach & skimmers on every peg but it was not a silverfish? Yep I had hooked a carp on my light pinkie rig which soon pulled out after around 10 seconds,shit? After another 10mins on the pinkie rig without a bite I decided to have a look on the pellet line I couldn't understand why the lack of silverfish, I put a 4mm expander on the hook and shipped out to 14.5m where I had fed a few micros and a couple of grains of corn at the start. I lowered the rig in and potted in few micros the floats sat there for around 10 seconds before going under which saw me connected to another carp, after a brief battle a welcome 4lb carp was soon in the net and the dreaded blank was avoided. The next 2 put-ins resulted in the same and I had gone from blanking to 3 Carp in 3 puts things were starting to look up, a quick phone call to Stav revealed that he was catching the odd silverfish but no carp which we had guested anyway. Bites started to slow down on the pellet line but around 30mins later I lost 2 fish in 2 put-ins which I feel were foul-hooked as they just tore off at a rate of knots and never looked back, there were obviously a few fish in the peg but it was just trying to get them to open there mouths. I was afraid to feed anything but a few micros and the odd grain of corn just in-case I blew the peg out totally I managed 1 more fish before trying my other lines, I had tried both maggot and corn over the top of the pellet line plus different sizes and types but I only managed to get bites on a 4mm expander. To give the line a rest I gave both the pinkie and margin lines 10mins each without adding to my net, I was going to stick to the pellet line for the last hour as it was the only place I could get a bite from. I had 3 bites in the last hour loosing one and landing 2 one of which was foul-hooked in the belly and that was the end of that I had a total of 6 carp and lost 3? I was hoping for a top 3 place in my section as Stav had suffered only catching a few silvers and I knew there were 3 others in my section that had caught a few carp. The section opposite was won but Carl the gaffer again with 64lb off peg 12 and Kev Clarke 2nd with 43lb off peg 10 Stav had managed to beat 3 in his section with 6lb odd of Skimmers & Roach, the first peg in my section 22 only had 1 small Carp at the death for 2lb but had lost 8 pulling out of them? My 6 carp went 26lb 13oz, Ray on the next peg 25 pushed me close with 24lb and then Chris on peg 30 had 22lb, it was looking good as the last 2 in my section pegs 2&3 had caught less than Stav until Ollie pulled his net out on corner peg 31 and I knew he had a lot more, 37lb was his total and the section win pushing me down into second he had fished the same peg on the last round and managed only 7lb off it funny ain't it fishing? After all the points had been totalled up our 2 point cushion at the top of the league had been taken up by Carl & Chris who we are now tying with joint 1st at the top of the table.

Staffs-Worc canal Castlecroft Sunday 22/1/12

Just a knock-up this one with no matches booked so we had a bash on Castlecroft, I drew peg 6 and finished 3rd with 4lb 3oz. I had a 1lb chub first put in on the punch which was nice followed by a dozen 1-2oz roach, finished off with around 6 caster fish which 2 were around 8oz each. Brian Smith won the match off the next peg 5 with 6lb 10oz all punch fish 69 of them!, my mate John Bab doing me for 2nd by 2oz with 4lb 5oz he also had 1 Chub plus Perch on the worm.

Woodside Canal Open Sunday15/1/12

I decided to stay in bed for this one with half the canal froze Brian Smith won this one off peg 59 again with 3lb on the waggler with half the field going dry!

Woodside Canal Open Sunday 8/1/12

This was one of the rounds of the winter league but you can still fish them as opens if you don't want to commit to the league, I drew peg 98 in the last section on the canal before it runs into Merry Hill basin and I didn't fancy it as normally between 100-104 there is a shoal of small punch size roach which normally wins the section. I was surprised to win the section with 2lb 3oz with just 3 out of my 6 man section weighing in with the roach failing to show, the match was won off peg 59 in the big bay by Kev Clarke with 5lb odd.

Woodside Canal Open Sunday 2/1/12

This was the first match of the new year for me and it was more of something to do than anything else, the decision had been made to try the early pegs on our canal near Merry hill due to the tow-path being done soon at the bottom end which is were the better pegs are so we were guinea pigging today. This end of the canal is hard and it lived up to its billing with 1 Chub just over 3lb taking the money by Dave Wood on end peg 6, I drew peg 12 next to the walk over bridge talking 16 Roach & Perch on the punch & worm for 1lb dead and the section win. The other weights were 1lb 15oz for 2nd by JB AND 3rd was Tony Bowen with 1lb 10oz.

Blythe Pairs Winter League Sunday 11/12/11

This was round 2 of our pairs league which me & Stav were hoping for more of the same as the first round please as we had both won our sections finishing the day with a perfect score, Stav drew for us putting me on peg 30 and himself on peg 14! Now Stav's peg is crap one of those peg's that never seem to produce much and mine is a good summer peg but with the water level still low and all the carp down on the deep water pegs I feared the worst. It turned out about how we expected Stav only beating 2 in his 9 man section with 3lb odd and I was 3rd in my section with 12lb 12oz, I was beaten by the two pegs in my section with the deepest water pegs 21 & 23 with 19lb & 14lb respectively. I had 10lb of skimmers/roach on pinkie & pellet with a lone 2lb carp from the boom at 14.5m, Carl won the match from peg 20 with 42lb that's the first two matches won off the same peg! We are still winning the league but had our lead cut down to just 2 points from Carl & partner.

Staffs-Worc canal Hinksford- Navi Sunday 4/12/11

Just going to run through these matches in an attempt to catch up with myself, this was the last match of the year for Cradley Heath labour club which was also the fur & feather. I drew just below the Navi pub just where the canal starts to narrow down again and to cut a long story short I struggled all day for bites ending up with 2lb 0oz 8drams coming 12th overall winning the last Turkey by 8drams! The match was won at Hinksford by Gary Mason with 7lb odd, apart from winning the last Turkey I had also won the clubs averages which was great, so I had won the averages in both my clubs which I was made up with.