This was the first Cradley Heath club match of the year booked on the Staffs-Worc canal at Hinksford and after coming 2nd here a couple of weeks ago with 6lb I was looking forward to this one that was until I found out that there had been a league match on the stretch the day before which was going to make it very hard natural venues cannot take the same battering as a commercial pool, 6lb had won the match on here the day before and as we had put 3 pegs in above the bridge that hadn't been fished the day before these would be the pegs to draw peg 1 being the peg that had won the match 2 weeks ago. I drew out peg 15 from the bag and when I asked Gary the pegger-outer where this would put me he said I was in the middle of the reeds WHAT I said the reeds what are the reeds in for they are crap there was only 3lb off these pegs 2 weeks ago and they hadn't been fished the day before, he said " I know they are crap but someone has got to draw them" what a F*****g attitude I wouldn't mind if there was no room but when I got to my peg there was 50yards to my left before the next peg on the bird table peg and beyond Kev on the next peg to me to my right a least another 50 yards if not more until the next peg we couldn't even see the the next angler! There was no need at all to put these pegs in we had enough room to miss these pegs out and put them on the bend where Kev had a 8lb from a couple of years ago these were missed out, by this time I had lost the plot and didn't want to fish as I knew we were in for a crap day even before we started we had been beaten by the draw this was one of those times that I wished I had learned to drive as I would have gone straight home without fishing!
I won't bore you with the details of this one as apart from being fished the day before I think today marked the arrival of the boating season due to this being the first day of British Summer Time and the changing of the clocks we had a boat a chuck all day, one of our guy's counted 24 of them! I ended the day with 2lb 8oz of small fish either on squatt or bread punch Kev won the bottom section with 3lb 7oz thanks to 2 bonus Perch for around a 1lb. No guessing for where the 1,2,3 came from yes the 3 pegs that had not been fished the day before as I predicted, Steve Robson had won the match from peg 3 with 6lb+ 2nd & 3rd were both 5lb+ weights from pegs 1 & 2 I wish the lottery numbers were as easy to predict! Stav had 2lb 10oz from a peg above the power cables and on the way back home we both said that we had been cured of the canals
until the weather cools back down around October time when all the boats have gone back to sleep, so that's it for the canals bring on the carp pools its time to catch some fish.
Sunday 22 April 2012
Tuesday 10 April 2012
Blythe Pairs League Sunday 18/3/12
This weekend saw us back at Blythe Waters on Cherries pool for round 6 of our Pairs League which Sav and I are currently leading with a 4 point cushion over Carl/Chris in second place, as we were doing well Stav decided to leave it up to me to do the draw again so into the draw-bag I went and out popped peg 2 for Stav and peg 10 for me. Peg 2 has yet to throw up a good weight in this league and is not a good draw as there is a lot better pegs in his section, my peg 10 has had a good track record in the passed but this year only one good weight of 43lb has come from it Stav fished it in the last round for 2 Carp for 10lb so it looked like we were going to have our work cut out to get good points from this draw. The wind was blowing in the same direction as the last round which was catching me straight in the face and still quite cold so I was going to base my attack on the method feeder up to the boom as this was the only way Stav could catch on in the last round, I was still going to set up the pole but with the cold wind chilling the water I wasn't holding out much hope of catching on it.
Rig 1, Shimano Beastmaster 9/11ft feeder rod, Shimano Stradic GTM 4000 RA, 0.23 Maver dual band line, small 24gr Guru X-safe method feeder, 0.18 hooklength with different size hooks for different baits.
Rig 2, 14.5m pellet line, 4x14 J-range8 float, 0.16 to 0.12 with 18 808 hook, J- range 6-10 elastic.
Rig 3, 6m maggot line, the same float as above just with a 0.14 hooklength 18 Tosciro hook,13 hollo elastic, I could switch between both rigs on both lines as they were the the same depth (4ft) just in-case the fish show up.
For bait I had brought the usual array of pellets from micros to 8mm,4 & 6mm expanders, half a tin of team corn (Stav's shout), 2 pints of maggots, some dead maggots for the hook and boillies of different sizes and colours.
On the whistle I fed the long line with 1/2 a pot of 1mm micro pellets with a few 4mm's and a couple of grains of corn and the 6m line got 1/2 a pot of maggots, I loaded up the method feeder with 1mm micros and a 6mm lassoed pellet and cast up to the clip tight up to the central boom around 30m away. It was around 45mins before I had my first bite and before long my first Carp of the day a 5lb mirror was safely netted, I could see Stav from my peg who had netted a couple of fish so at least we were both up and running. It took another 30mins before my next bite another Carp of around 4lb which again fell to a 6mm pellet again but another 45 mins went passed without another bite so it was time to try my pole lines, I had a small 3oz skimmer first put in on the pellet line but that was it until after around 20 mins just when I was going to give it up I hooked a Carp which went 2 pegs to my left and then the same to my right before it tried to hit the boom 30m away before we parted company I think it was slightly foul hooked! I stayed on the pellet for another 10mins just in-case they had turned up but to no avail and a bite-less 10mins on the short maggot line saw me back on the method feeder, over the next hour I had 1 more bite and Carp no3 was netted it was slow going but apart from Stav catching odd Carp on peg 2 the rest of the top end of the pool was fishing slow. I rang Stav to see what they were catching at the bottom end of the pool in my section as he could look down the pool from his peg I can see nothing passed peg 12 he said there were 3 catching Carp in my section pegs 20.19 & 14, this was bad news as Carl was on peg 19 and Stav said he was catching one a bung and looking like the section winner already. The next hour passed without so much as a bite and with around 1 hour left the wind dropped which made it feel a lot warmer I went back on the pole and had six skimmers in around 15mins on the pellet, it just goes to show that they were there all day but with the cold wind hitting the water they wouldn't feed but another call to Stav confirmed that I would need more Carp for better points I went back on the method for the last 45mins. Back on the feeder I started to get line bites which I hadn't had all day the bites I had were straight round or nothing but now the tip started to dance a bit, I managed 3 more Carp one of which was around the 8lb mark and 2 skimmers something else I hadn't caught on the method all day! It is just frustrating knowing that the fist are there but the cool wind was stopping them from feeding and on another warmer day you would catch Carp and skimmers all day but when that day comes I won't draw it. Stav had put on a fine display winning his section from an out of form peg with 32lb 12oz despite loosing 8 Carp that took him under the boom but better still was that Chris ( part of the chasing pair ) on the corner peg 32 had hooked 10 Carp but lost 9 of them coming last in the section, my 6 Carp+ skimmers gave me the same weight as Stav with 32lb 12oz the best in my section until Kev on peg 14 with 33lb 6oz pushing me into 2nd until the last 2 pegs in my section where Carl on peg 19 won the section and the match with 95lb ( not won the match but p****d it) and Ollie on corner peg 20 had 38lb putting me 4th in the section. Well done to Carl for the match win and after the points had been added up we found out that we were now 8 points clear at the top of the league with 2 rounds left to go so we were looking good but 1 blow-out could change all that.
Rig 1, Shimano Beastmaster 9/11ft feeder rod, Shimano Stradic GTM 4000 RA, 0.23 Maver dual band line, small 24gr Guru X-safe method feeder, 0.18 hooklength with different size hooks for different baits.
Rig 2, 14.5m pellet line, 4x14 J-range8 float, 0.16 to 0.12 with 18 808 hook, J- range 6-10 elastic.
Rig 3, 6m maggot line, the same float as above just with a 0.14 hooklength 18 Tosciro hook,13 hollo elastic, I could switch between both rigs on both lines as they were the the same depth (4ft) just in-case the fish show up.
For bait I had brought the usual array of pellets from micros to 8mm,4 & 6mm expanders, half a tin of team corn (Stav's shout), 2 pints of maggots, some dead maggots for the hook and boillies of different sizes and colours.
On the whistle I fed the long line with 1/2 a pot of 1mm micro pellets with a few 4mm's and a couple of grains of corn and the 6m line got 1/2 a pot of maggots, I loaded up the method feeder with 1mm micros and a 6mm lassoed pellet and cast up to the clip tight up to the central boom around 30m away. It was around 45mins before I had my first bite and before long my first Carp of the day a 5lb mirror was safely netted, I could see Stav from my peg who had netted a couple of fish so at least we were both up and running. It took another 30mins before my next bite another Carp of around 4lb which again fell to a 6mm pellet again but another 45 mins went passed without another bite so it was time to try my pole lines, I had a small 3oz skimmer first put in on the pellet line but that was it until after around 20 mins just when I was going to give it up I hooked a Carp which went 2 pegs to my left and then the same to my right before it tried to hit the boom 30m away before we parted company I think it was slightly foul hooked! I stayed on the pellet for another 10mins just in-case they had turned up but to no avail and a bite-less 10mins on the short maggot line saw me back on the method feeder, over the next hour I had 1 more bite and Carp no3 was netted it was slow going but apart from Stav catching odd Carp on peg 2 the rest of the top end of the pool was fishing slow. I rang Stav to see what they were catching at the bottom end of the pool in my section as he could look down the pool from his peg I can see nothing passed peg 12 he said there were 3 catching Carp in my section pegs 20.19 & 14, this was bad news as Carl was on peg 19 and Stav said he was catching one a bung and looking like the section winner already. The next hour passed without so much as a bite and with around 1 hour left the wind dropped which made it feel a lot warmer I went back on the pole and had six skimmers in around 15mins on the pellet, it just goes to show that they were there all day but with the cold wind hitting the water they wouldn't feed but another call to Stav confirmed that I would need more Carp for better points I went back on the method for the last 45mins. Back on the feeder I started to get line bites which I hadn't had all day the bites I had were straight round or nothing but now the tip started to dance a bit, I managed 3 more Carp one of which was around the 8lb mark and 2 skimmers something else I hadn't caught on the method all day! It is just frustrating knowing that the fist are there but the cool wind was stopping them from feeding and on another warmer day you would catch Carp and skimmers all day but when that day comes I won't draw it. Stav had put on a fine display winning his section from an out of form peg with 32lb 12oz despite loosing 8 Carp that took him under the boom but better still was that Chris ( part of the chasing pair ) on the corner peg 32 had hooked 10 Carp but lost 9 of them coming last in the section, my 6 Carp+ skimmers gave me the same weight as Stav with 32lb 12oz the best in my section until Kev on peg 14 with 33lb 6oz pushing me into 2nd until the last 2 pegs in my section where Carl on peg 19 won the section and the match with 95lb ( not won the match but p****d it) and Ollie on corner peg 20 had 38lb putting me 4th in the section. Well done to Carl for the match win and after the points had been added up we found out that we were now 8 points clear at the top of the league with 2 rounds left to go so we were looking good but 1 blow-out could change all that.
Thursday 5 April 2012
Staffs-Worc canal Hinksford Sunday 11/3/12
This weekend saw us back on the canal at Hinksford for the second Halesowen club match of the of the year and I was looking forward to it as long as I didn't get a coal barge park up in my peg like at Kinver a couple of weeks ago! 20 of us assembled for the draw all in the hope of a good peg and there are quite a few pegs here from which you can catch enough to frame from, I pulled out peg 19 right at the bottom end of the stretch and Stav got peg 2 which was above Hinksford bridge in-front of the water works one of the fancied pegs as 1&2 are the only 2 pegs there and basically pleasure fishing! I walked down the stretch passing all the well known pegs that I know, the first 2 pegs below the bridge are good and can win any match down here, the pegs either side of the power cables are again fliers, the pump house and bird table are all good pegs, then the dreaded reeds which are crap as I drew them 3 times on the trot for next to nothing I was glad to be walking passed them. I was walking to an area that I have not fished before but have a good reputation and I have seen them produce good weights before but when we got there I was told by Martin who had draw end peg 20 next to me that the moored up boats have crept further up the tow-path and the pegs I was thinking of were another 100-150m down the canal, another few years and at this rate you will not be able to fish this stretch for boats they have already taken over the stretch above the bridge and pegs I used to fish with my Dad 25 years ago are all now swamped with boats. I began setting up and had a good plumb up all over the peg trying to find where the ledges were and get a mental picture of the bottom, the weather had warmed up a lot from our Kinver match 2 weeks ago so I thought that the squatt would play a bigger than it did then when all the top weights were taken on the bread but the canal was still pretty clear so I would kick off on the bread and take it from there. I set up 4 rigs to cover the peg
Rig 1, Down the track at 6m bread rig, 4x12 Tubertini Styx float, 0.08 mainline to 0.07 hooklength, 20 Preston PR31 hook, no 3 elastic, set 1 inch off the bottom in 4ft of water.
Rig 2, Up the shelf at 10m squatt rig, that same float as above only a 4x10 with the same lines, 22 PR31 hook, no2 elastic set just touching bottom in 18 inches of water.
Rig 3, Tight over at 11.5m hemp rig, the same float and lines as above, 18 Preston PR 322 hook, no3 elastic, just touching bottom in 2ft of water, I had found a bit deeper water tight over by some tree roots that have eroded the shelf away over the years a common occurrence on this stretch.
Rig 4, Down the track caster rig at 10'o clock 8m, 4x12 Drennan caster, 0.08 straight through to a 18 Preston 322 hook, no4 elastic, set 3 inches over-depth in 4ft of water.
For bait I had brought the usual loaf of liquidized bread, 1/2 pint of red squatt, 1/2 pint of casters and the same measure of hemp, a few pinkies as a change hook-bait and a few grains of giant hemp for the hook.
The whistle sounded for the all-in and after feeding all my lines I kicked off on the bread line and started to catch Roach straight away with a 3 or 4mm punch on the hook mainly small stuff in the 1/2oz to 2oz class but with the odd better 3-4oz fish, the fish kept coming for the first hour while either side of me they were struggling I had 24 fish with Martin on around 10 fish I was happy to carry on fishing the bread for now. After topping up the bread line with another golf ball size of feed it is normally at this point that makes or breaks the bread line if there is a lot of fish there you will carry on catching and a big weight is on the cards but 9 times out of 10 they start to fade away and you have to switch lines, this time the bites kept on coming for around half an hour before the first boat of the day went over the top of them but after the canal settled I was catching but at a slower rate. Martin had struggled at the start on the bread and had to switch to the squatt after around 45mins but with the match 2 hours old he was catching faster than me although I was still in-front on numbers at this point, I was now on 44 fish to Martins 35 so it was time to switch to the squatt which I had been loose feeding with a dozen squatts every now and then for the first 2 hours the bread line had virtually dried up by now after another boat shook them up. I started to catch Roach, Gonks and odd Perch on the squatt not as quickly as the bread but enough to keep the fish count ticking over but nowhere near as fast as Martin who was now fast catching me up, a quick look on both the caster and hemp lines failed to produce a bite, with the boats now getting into full swing in the spring sunshine the track lines were a washout and my squatt line was failing fast and I knew Martin was putting in a small nugget of groundbait in after every boat that seemed to bring the fish back quicker ( I hadn't brought any thinking it was too early in the year for it, numpty! note to self twat) and just relied on loose feed but with the movement from the boats and locks it must have been washing the bait all over the canal. With around 3 hours gone a mate of Martins who fishes the opens down here with him said that a couple of guys were admitting to 3-4lb and when he asked how many fish he had he was on 55 the same as me he had clawed my early lead back, the next hour and a quarter were the worst part of the match for me with only very odd fish on the squatt and no bites on
any other of my lines until with 45mins left I tried the hemp again. I shipped out with a grain of hemp on the float settled and sailed away a 3oz Roach was the culprit next put-in the same again only this time a proper bonus 6oz Roach, I managed to winkle out 8 Roach on the hemp in the last 45mins for around a 1 1/4lb to finish with 65 fish while Martin had 76 fish but without any real bonus fish it was going to be close on the scales. Martin was first to weigh-in on the end peg and the scales read 5lb 6oz then it was my turn the scales settled a 6lb dead those bonus late hemp fish had done it for me without those he would have done me for sure, we walked up with the scales until the end peg on the 3rd set of read the only peg there with any depth where Steve Robson put 5lb 9oz on the scales the dreaded reeds had 3lb and 2 1/2lb as usual crap. The match was won off end peg 1 by Phil with a great 8lb 5oz of Roach mainly on the punch with a bonus 1 1/2lb skimmer well done to him that's 2 wins on the trot for him, Stav was on the next peg to him but fished the squatt back to front in the match and got doubled off the next peg with 4lb 2oz while there was a bag of bread in his bait bag?????? ( I will have to give him lessons one day ). My 6lb was good enough for 2nd on the day which I was well pleased with only being beaten by an end peg and the only one on the match to catch on the hemp as it is normally a bit early in the year for it, the match was very close after the winning weight there was 6lb, 5lb 11oz, 5lb 9oz,5lb 6oz twice and 5lb 4oz out of 20 fishing you wanted 4lb+ to get in the top 10, a good day topped off with a couple of stella's in the bush pub at the end of the road.
Rig 1, Down the track at 6m bread rig, 4x12 Tubertini Styx float, 0.08 mainline to 0.07 hooklength, 20 Preston PR31 hook, no 3 elastic, set 1 inch off the bottom in 4ft of water.
Rig 2, Up the shelf at 10m squatt rig, that same float as above only a 4x10 with the same lines, 22 PR31 hook, no2 elastic set just touching bottom in 18 inches of water.
Rig 3, Tight over at 11.5m hemp rig, the same float and lines as above, 18 Preston PR 322 hook, no3 elastic, just touching bottom in 2ft of water, I had found a bit deeper water tight over by some tree roots that have eroded the shelf away over the years a common occurrence on this stretch.
Rig 4, Down the track caster rig at 10'o clock 8m, 4x12 Drennan caster, 0.08 straight through to a 18 Preston 322 hook, no4 elastic, set 3 inches over-depth in 4ft of water.
For bait I had brought the usual loaf of liquidized bread, 1/2 pint of red squatt, 1/2 pint of casters and the same measure of hemp, a few pinkies as a change hook-bait and a few grains of giant hemp for the hook.
The whistle sounded for the all-in and after feeding all my lines I kicked off on the bread line and started to catch Roach straight away with a 3 or 4mm punch on the hook mainly small stuff in the 1/2oz to 2oz class but with the odd better 3-4oz fish, the fish kept coming for the first hour while either side of me they were struggling I had 24 fish with Martin on around 10 fish I was happy to carry on fishing the bread for now. After topping up the bread line with another golf ball size of feed it is normally at this point that makes or breaks the bread line if there is a lot of fish there you will carry on catching and a big weight is on the cards but 9 times out of 10 they start to fade away and you have to switch lines, this time the bites kept on coming for around half an hour before the first boat of the day went over the top of them but after the canal settled I was catching but at a slower rate. Martin had struggled at the start on the bread and had to switch to the squatt after around 45mins but with the match 2 hours old he was catching faster than me although I was still in-front on numbers at this point, I was now on 44 fish to Martins 35 so it was time to switch to the squatt which I had been loose feeding with a dozen squatts every now and then for the first 2 hours the bread line had virtually dried up by now after another boat shook them up. I started to catch Roach, Gonks and odd Perch on the squatt not as quickly as the bread but enough to keep the fish count ticking over but nowhere near as fast as Martin who was now fast catching me up, a quick look on both the caster and hemp lines failed to produce a bite, with the boats now getting into full swing in the spring sunshine the track lines were a washout and my squatt line was failing fast and I knew Martin was putting in a small nugget of groundbait in after every boat that seemed to bring the fish back quicker ( I hadn't brought any thinking it was too early in the year for it, numpty! note to self twat) and just relied on loose feed but with the movement from the boats and locks it must have been washing the bait all over the canal. With around 3 hours gone a mate of Martins who fishes the opens down here with him said that a couple of guys were admitting to 3-4lb and when he asked how many fish he had he was on 55 the same as me he had clawed my early lead back, the next hour and a quarter were the worst part of the match for me with only very odd fish on the squatt and no bites on
any other of my lines until with 45mins left I tried the hemp again. I shipped out with a grain of hemp on the float settled and sailed away a 3oz Roach was the culprit next put-in the same again only this time a proper bonus 6oz Roach, I managed to winkle out 8 Roach on the hemp in the last 45mins for around a 1 1/4lb to finish with 65 fish while Martin had 76 fish but without any real bonus fish it was going to be close on the scales. Martin was first to weigh-in on the end peg and the scales read 5lb 6oz then it was my turn the scales settled a 6lb dead those bonus late hemp fish had done it for me without those he would have done me for sure, we walked up with the scales until the end peg on the 3rd set of read the only peg there with any depth where Steve Robson put 5lb 9oz on the scales the dreaded reeds had 3lb and 2 1/2lb as usual crap. The match was won off end peg 1 by Phil with a great 8lb 5oz of Roach mainly on the punch with a bonus 1 1/2lb skimmer well done to him that's 2 wins on the trot for him, Stav was on the next peg to him but fished the squatt back to front in the match and got doubled off the next peg with 4lb 2oz while there was a bag of bread in his bait bag?????? ( I will have to give him lessons one day ). My 6lb was good enough for 2nd on the day which I was well pleased with only being beaten by an end peg and the only one on the match to catch on the hemp as it is normally a bit early in the year for it, the match was very close after the winning weight there was 6lb, 5lb 11oz, 5lb 9oz,5lb 6oz twice and 5lb 4oz out of 20 fishing you wanted 4lb+ to get in the top 10, a good day topped off with a couple of stella's in the bush pub at the end of the road.
Tuesday 3 April 2012
Blythe Pairs Winter League Sunday 4/3/12
This was round 5 of 8 of our pairs league at Blythe Waters on Cherries pool where there was 9 pairs battling it out for the title where my pairs partner Stav and I were lying joint 1st with Carl & Chris and Ollie & Ada in 3rd place, Stav had instructed me to draw again as we weren't doing too bad so into the draw bag I went and came out with 30 for myself and 10 for Stav. We were both happy with our draws as there are fish on both pegs and a good chance of catching a few fish, the day was very wet and windy but at least I had the wind coming off my back but Stav had it blowing straight into his face, nice and cold! I have fished peg 30 already in this series catching 12lb for 3rd in my section but the pool had started to fish a little better with Carl having 38lb off the next peg 29 on the last round, for company today on peg 29 I had Gail the fishery manager who I seem to have a habit of drawing next to or opposite this series I knew that she would only throw the feeder to the central boom today and not hold 14.5m of carbon in the strong gusting wind. I planned to fish up to the boom and down my right hand margin at 3m, as peg 30 sticks out on a point there is no room for a margin line towards peg 29 and beyond 3m to the right you cannot see as the bank goes around the corner. I set up two identical rigs to fish the boom just with stronger hook and line and a shallow rig for up in the water although I thought the water would be to cold today to catch shallow.
Rig 1, 4 x 14 J-range float 0.16 mainline to a 0.12 hooklength and 18 Tubertini 808 hook, J-range 6-10 hollow
elastic set just touching bottom in 4 1/2ft of water.
Rig 2, The same as above but with a 0.14 hooklength to a 18 Tosciro hook and 13 hollo elastic.
Rig 3, 4 x 12 Maver Jurassic dibber 0.14 straight through to a 18 Preston PR27 hook with a lasso for shallow.
Rig 4, 4 x 12 J-range 0.16 main to 0.14 to a 18 Tosciro hook and Preston 13 hollo elastic.
For bait I had brought the usual array of pellets from micro to 8mm but planned mainly to use micro's as feed with 4mm expanders for the hook, a pint and half of maggots which I planned to use down the edge and the usual team tin of corn which Stav and I split as we only use it on the hook as a change bait.
I started the match up to the boom at 14.5m carefully feeding a few micros as not to overcook the peg at the
start, as I looked up Stav was playing a Carp first chuck on the method up to the boom a good start. I had to wait around 30mins for my first bite which was a 6oz skimmer followed by a 2 1/2lb Carp next put in so at least we were both up and running in our respective sections, the weather with the wind and rain was very cold and I almost felt sorry for Stav and the rest of the lads on the opposite bank, almost! The rest of the match was plane sailing for me with me catching odd Carp and Skimmer at intervals to end up with a dozen Carp to around 6lb, Stav had suffered on the other bank with just 2 Carp on the method and a few bits on the pole but there were a few people in his section with less. I had tried down the edge a couple of times and up in the water for 5mins but neither produced a bite as I got a gut feeling these weren't right on the day, I had a good day in the cold conditions but new that Ade on pegs 32 in the corner had caught well and Carl had drew the hot corner peg 22 in the deep water and Carl knows how to get the best from every peg on the complex as he used to be the manager here. Carl was first in my section to weigh-in putting 29lb on the scales a good weight in the conditions, there were a couple of weights in the teens but noting to worry about Kev on peg 25 had 25lb before it was my turn and the scales read 39lb 7oz which put me in the lead with only Ade to worry about, he pulled his net out and it looked close he had got over 30lb the scales read 34lb odd which gave me the section win, the other 2 pegs in my section had 16&12lb respectively on the disabled pegs 2&3. Stav's 2 Carp went 10lb which was good enough for 3rd in his section as the pegs on the opposite bank had suffered with the freezing cold wind chilling the water, his section was won off corner peg 20 again with 25 small Carp for 25lb the peg has won the section 4 times out of 5? Stav had brought a new set of Gortex clothing and had sat in the rain all day to test it out in-case it leaked and had to go back, the report was good as he said he was bone dry but F*****G froze! Tony in the next peg had tried the old umbrella routine which had worked for around 4 hours until a gust of wind turned it inside out and had him scrambling around doing a Mary Poppins impression much to the amusement of us on the opposite side, I tried not to laugh honest? When all the point had been sorted out in the dry and warmth of the cafe Stav and I had now gone 4 points clear at the top of the league a great result in the harsh conditions bring on the next round.
Rig 1, 4 x 14 J-range float 0.16 mainline to a 0.12 hooklength and 18 Tubertini 808 hook, J-range 6-10 hollow
elastic set just touching bottom in 4 1/2ft of water.
Rig 2, The same as above but with a 0.14 hooklength to a 18 Tosciro hook and 13 hollo elastic.
Rig 3, 4 x 12 Maver Jurassic dibber 0.14 straight through to a 18 Preston PR27 hook with a lasso for shallow.
Rig 4, 4 x 12 J-range 0.16 main to 0.14 to a 18 Tosciro hook and Preston 13 hollo elastic.
For bait I had brought the usual array of pellets from micro to 8mm but planned mainly to use micro's as feed with 4mm expanders for the hook, a pint and half of maggots which I planned to use down the edge and the usual team tin of corn which Stav and I split as we only use it on the hook as a change bait.
I started the match up to the boom at 14.5m carefully feeding a few micros as not to overcook the peg at the
start, as I looked up Stav was playing a Carp first chuck on the method up to the boom a good start. I had to wait around 30mins for my first bite which was a 6oz skimmer followed by a 2 1/2lb Carp next put in so at least we were both up and running in our respective sections, the weather with the wind and rain was very cold and I almost felt sorry for Stav and the rest of the lads on the opposite bank, almost! The rest of the match was plane sailing for me with me catching odd Carp and Skimmer at intervals to end up with a dozen Carp to around 6lb, Stav had suffered on the other bank with just 2 Carp on the method and a few bits on the pole but there were a few people in his section with less. I had tried down the edge a couple of times and up in the water for 5mins but neither produced a bite as I got a gut feeling these weren't right on the day, I had a good day in the cold conditions but new that Ade on pegs 32 in the corner had caught well and Carl had drew the hot corner peg 22 in the deep water and Carl knows how to get the best from every peg on the complex as he used to be the manager here. Carl was first in my section to weigh-in putting 29lb on the scales a good weight in the conditions, there were a couple of weights in the teens but noting to worry about Kev on peg 25 had 25lb before it was my turn and the scales read 39lb 7oz which put me in the lead with only Ade to worry about, he pulled his net out and it looked close he had got over 30lb the scales read 34lb odd which gave me the section win, the other 2 pegs in my section had 16&12lb respectively on the disabled pegs 2&3. Stav's 2 Carp went 10lb which was good enough for 3rd in his section as the pegs on the opposite bank had suffered with the freezing cold wind chilling the water, his section was won off corner peg 20 again with 25 small Carp for 25lb the peg has won the section 4 times out of 5? Stav had brought a new set of Gortex clothing and had sat in the rain all day to test it out in-case it leaked and had to go back, the report was good as he said he was bone dry but F*****G froze! Tony in the next peg had tried the old umbrella routine which had worked for around 4 hours until a gust of wind turned it inside out and had him scrambling around doing a Mary Poppins impression much to the amusement of us on the opposite side, I tried not to laugh honest? When all the point had been sorted out in the dry and warmth of the cafe Stav and I had now gone 4 points clear at the top of the league a great result in the harsh conditions bring on the next round.
Staffs-Worc canal Kinver Sunday 26/2/12
This Sunday saw us on the first Halesowen club match of the year on the Staffs-Worc canal at Kinver, its been a few years since I last fished this stretch but there are lots of Roach here with a few Perch and odd bonus Chub to go at. We drew on the car park opposite the Vine pub on Kinver bridge where 21 of us gathered I pulled out peg 7 which meant nothing to me so off we all went walking down the towpath, when I got to my peg I was just below some cottages on the opposite side on the edge of some steel pilings. Form my memory there used to be a big overhanging bush on the far bank which has since been cut back by the boaters this was confirmed by Steve Robson who stopped for a rattle on the way to his peg, he said that he had fished the peg last year on a match and had 6lb+ of Roach all on the bread punch down the track and fancied the peg before the draw. I had lots of room as the pegs to my left were all empty for around 50yards as they have no features just the steel piling to look at and to my right there were 3 moored up bargres giving me another 30yards empty that way, I was liking the look of the peg more and more with all this room it must be worth a few extra fish. My plan of attack was to fish 2 punch lines one in the deepest part of the peg down the track with the other just up the far shelf a caster line just coming out of the track at a 10 o'clock angle and a chopped worm line at 13m tight over towards the cut down bush, for bait I had brought a loaf of liquidised bread, 1/2 pint of casters, 1/2 a pint of red squatts (to feed over the bread lines if they failed to produce but I thought that it still was a little to early for them), a few worms and a hand full of red & fluro pinkies for the hook.
On the whistle I put a full pot of bread in at 6m down the track, a few casters at 11m on the 10 o'clock line and a few chopped worms at the edge of the tins near the bush, I didn't feed anything on my 10m up the shelf line at the start until I had gauged weather or not they wanted the bread if not I would start feeding squatt there. I started the match on a 3mm piece of bread on the 6m line and started to catch small Roach from the off, they were on the small side in the 1/2oz to 2oz bracket but I was happy to be catching so I got my head down and by the end of the first hour had 24 of them. I carried on catching for the second hour but my catch rate had slowed down a lot even after re-feeding so in an attempt to carry on catching I put in a pot of liquidized on the 10m line, after only half a dozen fish on the new line it was clear that there were more fish down the track in the deep water and by the end of the second hour I had put another 17 Roach in the net so I had 41 in the net. I re-feed both of my punch lines and left them alone for 10mins to settle while I had a quick look on my caster line where I had been feeding half a dozen caster every now and then for the first 2 hours, I had been on the caster for around 5mins when I had my first bite which was a 1oz Gudgeon I rebated and shipped out but as the float was settling the lock upstream had been opened signalling the first boat of the day. The canal began to settle down again when the barge appeared around the corner from my left but as he got nearer he started to slow tight down and veer over towards the far bank where he was looking to pull over, not a problem I thought! the barge was full of coal some loose but most of it in blue plastic bags they moored up and began to offload a few bags for the cottages. The bow of the barge was virtually over the top of my caster line so I shipped back and picked up the bread rig for the 6m line but the canal was still moving, to my horror while the barge was offloading they had left the engine on tick-over which means the propeller was still turning making my peg resemble the river Severn with around 6ft of flood water on and about the same colour. After around 5mins I couldn't put up with it any longer as I could feel my blood beginning to boil my peg looked like a chocolate washing machine, I got up off my box and walked off down the canal towards Steve with a cup of coffee and a fag trying to calm down until the coal man done one. I stood behind Steve for 5mins before the barge finally went on its way in which time he had a 4oz Perch on the caster but because of the 3 moored up boats in-between us the coal boat had only affected 1 peg mine, I went back to my peg and sat there for another 5mins waiting for the colour and shit off the bottom to settle for I re-fed the peg again. To cut a long story short I caught next to nothing for the next 2 hours I tried everything to get catching again with every bait I had got from all over the canal but they all failed, I had 6 small Roach from the 6m line in the last 10mins as the fish had finally come back but it was too late and I ended the day with 54 fish that barge had totally wiped my peg out for 2 hours which had knackered any chance of me framing. When the scales came my fish went 3lb 2oz which I was disappointed with as I knew that the peg was worth 5lb+ there had been another couple of 3lb+ weights weighed in topped by Steve with a big 4lb+, on pegs 1-6 to my left around the corner Martin on peg 6 had got 81 fish for 5lb 4oz which put him in the lead, there was another 4lb+ weight before Phil on peg 3 had 5lb 4oz 8drams to give him the match win, there was another couple of 3lb+ weights on the first 2 pegs. I was a bit pissed off to say the least because I knew that my peg was worth at least a frame weight if not a match win, this is one of the main reasons I stopped fishing the canals for a couple of years as there are too many exterior factors that can ruin your days pleasure like boats, joggers, bikers, ramblers and dog shit which you don't get on your local commercial fishery.
On the whistle I put a full pot of bread in at 6m down the track, a few casters at 11m on the 10 o'clock line and a few chopped worms at the edge of the tins near the bush, I didn't feed anything on my 10m up the shelf line at the start until I had gauged weather or not they wanted the bread if not I would start feeding squatt there. I started the match on a 3mm piece of bread on the 6m line and started to catch small Roach from the off, they were on the small side in the 1/2oz to 2oz bracket but I was happy to be catching so I got my head down and by the end of the first hour had 24 of them. I carried on catching for the second hour but my catch rate had slowed down a lot even after re-feeding so in an attempt to carry on catching I put in a pot of liquidized on the 10m line, after only half a dozen fish on the new line it was clear that there were more fish down the track in the deep water and by the end of the second hour I had put another 17 Roach in the net so I had 41 in the net. I re-feed both of my punch lines and left them alone for 10mins to settle while I had a quick look on my caster line where I had been feeding half a dozen caster every now and then for the first 2 hours, I had been on the caster for around 5mins when I had my first bite which was a 1oz Gudgeon I rebated and shipped out but as the float was settling the lock upstream had been opened signalling the first boat of the day. The canal began to settle down again when the barge appeared around the corner from my left but as he got nearer he started to slow tight down and veer over towards the far bank where he was looking to pull over, not a problem I thought! the barge was full of coal some loose but most of it in blue plastic bags they moored up and began to offload a few bags for the cottages. The bow of the barge was virtually over the top of my caster line so I shipped back and picked up the bread rig for the 6m line but the canal was still moving, to my horror while the barge was offloading they had left the engine on tick-over which means the propeller was still turning making my peg resemble the river Severn with around 6ft of flood water on and about the same colour. After around 5mins I couldn't put up with it any longer as I could feel my blood beginning to boil my peg looked like a chocolate washing machine, I got up off my box and walked off down the canal towards Steve with a cup of coffee and a fag trying to calm down until the coal man done one. I stood behind Steve for 5mins before the barge finally went on its way in which time he had a 4oz Perch on the caster but because of the 3 moored up boats in-between us the coal boat had only affected 1 peg mine, I went back to my peg and sat there for another 5mins waiting for the colour and shit off the bottom to settle for I re-fed the peg again. To cut a long story short I caught next to nothing for the next 2 hours I tried everything to get catching again with every bait I had got from all over the canal but they all failed, I had 6 small Roach from the 6m line in the last 10mins as the fish had finally come back but it was too late and I ended the day with 54 fish that barge had totally wiped my peg out for 2 hours which had knackered any chance of me framing. When the scales came my fish went 3lb 2oz which I was disappointed with as I knew that the peg was worth 5lb+ there had been another couple of 3lb+ weights weighed in topped by Steve with a big 4lb+, on pegs 1-6 to my left around the corner Martin on peg 6 had got 81 fish for 5lb 4oz which put him in the lead, there was another 4lb+ weight before Phil on peg 3 had 5lb 4oz 8drams to give him the match win, there was another couple of 3lb+ weights on the first 2 pegs. I was a bit pissed off to say the least because I knew that my peg was worth at least a frame weight if not a match win, this is one of the main reasons I stopped fishing the canals for a couple of years as there are too many exterior factors that can ruin your days pleasure like boats, joggers, bikers, ramblers and dog shit which you don't get on your local commercial fishery.
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