Sunday, 20 May 2012
Dudley Canal No1 Woodside Sunday 29/4/12
This match was going to be a Cradley Heath club match on the Woodside stretch of the Dudley canal where a few of the lads regularly fish a winter league but for a change the weatherman had got it right and as a few of us had a breakfast in the Park Lane Tavern, none of us was looking forward to fishing out in that as the gale force winds were bending trees and snapping branches off and throwing recycle bins into the road the rain was puring down and good scene prevailed as we got onto the car park for the draw we put it to the vote and cancelled the match, thank god.
Blythe Pairs League Saturday 28/4/12
This was the last round of our pairs league which had been re-arranged due to snow in the winter and with club match and other commitments on Sundays had to be arranged for a Saturday, Stav and I were sitting on top of the league with a 10 point margin over the second placed Carl/Chris partnership so if we came no lower than 5th in each of our sections we were on for our 3rd league win on the bounce. We were both keen for a good draw to finish the 8th and final round off with so into the draw bag I went and pulled out peg 30 on the point for me and peg 17 on the straight for Stav which was not a bad draw and we both felt that we could do well from these pegs, I had fished my peg twice this league already with good results both times so I was confident that I could come higher than the target of 5th in the section. As the weather warms up a lot of the fish here are caught shallow from under the boom which I could reach with 14.5m of pole (Stav's peg is 17.5m! nice) I set up 2 shallow rigs and 1 for the deck on this line and 1 for the margin to my right, the 2 shallow rigs one with 0.14 line and 13 hollo elastic and the other with 0.16 line and black hydro elastic just in-case the bigger fish turned up, the deck rig had 0.16 line and 13 hollo elastic and the margin rig had 0.18 line with black hydro.
I started the match on the deck cupping in 4mm pellets and fishing a 6mm expander on the hook I had also fed a pot of dead maggots down my right-hand edge for later, all I had for the first 10-15mins was 3 liners as the fish were already up in the water so an early switch to the shallow rig was called for. Kev Clarke on peg 29 had suffered the same fate as were both switched at the same time and shipped out at the same time and both hooked a fish within 30 seconds of putting the rigs in the water, my fish was around 5lb which fell to a 6mm lassoed hard pellet while feeding 4mm's over the top Kev had chose to fish the worm feeding through the pot so it would be interesting to see which was the best. The next fish shortly after was around the same size and we both had around 6 fish each within an hour of coming shallow from around 1-5lb before the fish decided they had had enough, bites were now not coming at all so after a biteless 20mins shallow I picked up the margin rig and put 3 live maggots on the hook and lowered the rig in I had fed around 3 pots of dead maggots here since the start. After around 5mins the float buried and I was connected to a good fish so I just lowered the top kit into the water and held on hoping the black hydro would do its job and I soon had the fish under control which was a nice 8lb common, 5mins later I hooked another good fish but this time I just came back with a scale as I was sitting sideways I could see Carl catching on peg 3 which was a bit worrying as I needed to beat him or at least not end up too many places behind him. I had rang Stav earlier to see how he was getting on and he had just got a couple of Carp but over the last hour he was now catching quickly up in the water and coming back with a fish most put-ins, this was good as I could see Chris his main target in his section struggling on peg 8 so far it was looking good for us. For the rest of the match I just picked off odd fish shallow from the boom and I did manage another fish of around 8lb from my right-hand margin and ended the match with 16 Carp from 1-8lb while after that early flurry shallow Kev too my left had struggled for bites, Stav had found the going hard for the first hour but for the last 4 hours had caught steady all day and looked like the match winner from where I was sitting. The scales started weighing Stav's section first and Dave on peg 10 was the first to weigh anything of note with 36lb and there was not a lot until Stav, I just managed to get around the pool as he was weighing in his two net total went 95lb and easily won the section and the match. The best in my section was Ray on peg 26 with 35lb then Kev next to me put 27lb on the scales my net went 50lb 12oz which put me into the lead in the section until we got to Carl on peg 3 the last peg in my section and he weighed in 65lb for the section win, that left me 2nd in the section and 3rd in the match overall leaving Stav and I as league winners for the 3rd year on the bounce which we were both very pleased with. All that was left to do was retire to the cafe for the results and chew over the fat of the day over a cup of tea we ended the league 13 points clear of Chris & Carl in 2nd place, 3rd place went to Ray & Dave who snuck in by 1 point in-front of Kev & Tony on the last day putting them back to 4th. Thanks to Carl & JB for running the league and well done to Stav my pairs partner for catching a few fish in the end finally pulling his finger out Cheers Mate!!!!!
I started the match on the deck cupping in 4mm pellets and fishing a 6mm expander on the hook I had also fed a pot of dead maggots down my right-hand edge for later, all I had for the first 10-15mins was 3 liners as the fish were already up in the water so an early switch to the shallow rig was called for. Kev Clarke on peg 29 had suffered the same fate as were both switched at the same time and shipped out at the same time and both hooked a fish within 30 seconds of putting the rigs in the water, my fish was around 5lb which fell to a 6mm lassoed hard pellet while feeding 4mm's over the top Kev had chose to fish the worm feeding through the pot so it would be interesting to see which was the best. The next fish shortly after was around the same size and we both had around 6 fish each within an hour of coming shallow from around 1-5lb before the fish decided they had had enough, bites were now not coming at all so after a biteless 20mins shallow I picked up the margin rig and put 3 live maggots on the hook and lowered the rig in I had fed around 3 pots of dead maggots here since the start. After around 5mins the float buried and I was connected to a good fish so I just lowered the top kit into the water and held on hoping the black hydro would do its job and I soon had the fish under control which was a nice 8lb common, 5mins later I hooked another good fish but this time I just came back with a scale as I was sitting sideways I could see Carl catching on peg 3 which was a bit worrying as I needed to beat him or at least not end up too many places behind him. I had rang Stav earlier to see how he was getting on and he had just got a couple of Carp but over the last hour he was now catching quickly up in the water and coming back with a fish most put-ins, this was good as I could see Chris his main target in his section struggling on peg 8 so far it was looking good for us. For the rest of the match I just picked off odd fish shallow from the boom and I did manage another fish of around 8lb from my right-hand margin and ended the match with 16 Carp from 1-8lb while after that early flurry shallow Kev too my left had struggled for bites, Stav had found the going hard for the first hour but for the last 4 hours had caught steady all day and looked like the match winner from where I was sitting. The scales started weighing Stav's section first and Dave on peg 10 was the first to weigh anything of note with 36lb and there was not a lot until Stav, I just managed to get around the pool as he was weighing in his two net total went 95lb and easily won the section and the match. The best in my section was Ray on peg 26 with 35lb then Kev next to me put 27lb on the scales my net went 50lb 12oz which put me into the lead in the section until we got to Carl on peg 3 the last peg in my section and he weighed in 65lb for the section win, that left me 2nd in the section and 3rd in the match overall leaving Stav and I as league winners for the 3rd year on the bounce which we were both very pleased with. All that was left to do was retire to the cafe for the results and chew over the fat of the day over a cup of tea we ended the league 13 points clear of Chris & Carl in 2nd place, 3rd place went to Ray & Dave who snuck in by 1 point in-front of Kev & Tony on the last day putting them back to 4th. Thanks to Carl & JB for running the league and well done to Stav my pairs partner for catching a few fish in the end finally pulling his finger out Cheers Mate!!!!!
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Larford Open Sunday 15/4/12
With no club matches booked this weekend Stav and I had decided to fish the open at Larford which was to be held on the specimen lake with neither of us having not fished here for a while I dug around a bit trying to get some info on how best to approach the lake at the moment, I rang my old work college Dan Bache who fishes here quite regular and it looked like the old pellet wagg / straight lead was the way to go with the long pole line coming good the last half of the match unless you drew on the high bank by the chalets where you could catch on the pole all day. My only concern was that the week leading up to the match the weather had took a turn for the worse and gone from 18-20c to around 8c with one or two frosts thrown in for good measure, the match the week before was won with 100lb+ while we were at Cob House with some good backing weights but I think the weather will make a bit harder than that. I drew peg 18 halfway down the burr and Stav got peg 82 on the high bank (flier corner peg) I was happy with my peg as I have fished in this area before with good results although I prefer from pegs 10-16, I was going to fish the way Dan had said but I had a feeling the long range method which works in the winter might come back into play as the weather had cooled down. For company on my right on peg 20 was an old mate Joe Lowe (works for Maver) and on peg 22 was Paul Cook (sponsored by Maver) so I was in good company, there was 40 anglers on the match so the pegging was every other peg all the way around the lake.
I set up my 12ft Maver Reactolite for the pellet wagg with 5lb maxima reel line and a 8gr loaded John Bonney waggler set up with two gripper stops above and three below so I could alter the depth up and down with a 0.18 hook-length with a 14 Preston PR27 hook with a lasso. The lead rod was my 9/11ft Shimano Beastmaster with 8lb maxima mainline, 1oz lead set up so I could change hook-lengths between lasso for pellets and quickstops for meat & corn, all my hooklengths for the lead were 0.20 14's or 12's PR27's. I set up two pole rigs for the 13m line one light and one heavy both 1.0gr Maver f1 floats one with 0.16 hook length & size 3 175 hook with 13 hollo elastic, the other with 0.18 line straight through and black hydro incase the Carp started to show up in force both were set up on top 4's in around 10ft of water.
For bait I had brought 2 bags fishery 8mm pellets ( around 4 pints ), 2 bags of 4mm pellets, 3 tins of corn and 2 tins of 8mm chopped meat.
I kicked off the match on the straight lead at 25-30m with a single 8mm pellet on the hair while firing a few 8mm's over the top after around 20mins Joe was the first to catch with a Carp on the method on the same line as me while firing 8mm's over the top this is the normal starting method for many on this lake, the first hour passed without so much a a liner to shoe for my efforts despite trying meat & corn on the hook as well as pellets. There was not a lot of fish being caught around by me just the odd skimmer and by the end of hour 2 there were people starting to walk around it was that bad with most of the people to my right with either 1 or no fish, I was still dry at this point despite trying the pole for 15mins with a soft hook pellet not so much as a skimmer it was at this I began to question my own sanity as it was bloody freezing with a very cold wind blowing down the lake towards the Arena pool. I was sitting there wondering what to do next with my hood up trying to keep the wind from battering me wishing I had put my thermal gear on as my feet were freezing, I changed from the straight lead to a cage feeder in an attempt to put the feed down one hole as opposed to firing 8mm pellets all over the place because it was obvious that the fish were in no mood to chase the feed around. After around 3 chucks with the cage feeder with a 8mm piece of meat on the hair I got my first bite of the day a 1lb skimmer and the next chuck another of around 12oz so at least I was off the mark, I was putting a mix of 4mm pellets, corn & meat into the feeder and I had 5 skimmers in around 20mins and just when I thought this were looking up they vanished. I couldn't believe how bad the lake was fishing well around by me it was anyway I had all but given up when with around a hour and a quarter to the all out I got my first proper pull of the day a 6lb common was the culprit and around 5mins later another of around 4lb now with around an hour left it looked like the Carp had finally started to feed, the next bite saw me hook into something a lot bigger and after around 5mins a fish of around 15lb was ready for the net when the hook pulled out CRAP I knew that the way the lake was fishing that fish was going to cost me money. I managed to land another 4 Carp before the all out all falling to meat apart from one which I took on double corn I don't know if I would have caught a few more if I had started on the feeder instead of spraying pellets all over the peg on he straight lead? It had certainly been a cold and trying day too say the least and when Joe Lowe got to our pegs with the scales from the bottom of the burr 14lb was the best weight! that's worse than the middle of the winter for this lake, Joe himself put 17lb on the scales with just that one early Carp and a few skimmers, my 6 Carp and 5 skimmers went 36lb 6oz, the guy to my left had fished the pole all day for 2 Carp+ skimmers for 24lb. There were no weights of note until peg 12 where the guy had 59lb and the guy next to him had 41lb which was bad news as this was my section I had beaten 11 guys to my right but me and Joe were in the section from peg 2-20 of either of us had been in the section below we would have won it? I knew a soon as I pulled out of that fish it would cost me money I knew it would have given me around 50lb'ish made worse when a mate of mine Shunter (Brian Jones) was 3rd with 50lb, you win some you loose some. Stav had also had a bad day tipping around 15lb back off his flier peg, look at the match result below to see he had 3rd, 6th and 1st either side of him (peg 85 is the next peg in after 82 as is goes around the corner) ( sorry mate!!!!).
I set up my 12ft Maver Reactolite for the pellet wagg with 5lb maxima reel line and a 8gr loaded John Bonney waggler set up with two gripper stops above and three below so I could alter the depth up and down with a 0.18 hook-length with a 14 Preston PR27 hook with a lasso. The lead rod was my 9/11ft Shimano Beastmaster with 8lb maxima mainline, 1oz lead set up so I could change hook-lengths between lasso for pellets and quickstops for meat & corn, all my hooklengths for the lead were 0.20 14's or 12's PR27's. I set up two pole rigs for the 13m line one light and one heavy both 1.0gr Maver f1 floats one with 0.16 hook length & size 3 175 hook with 13 hollo elastic, the other with 0.18 line straight through and black hydro incase the Carp started to show up in force both were set up on top 4's in around 10ft of water.
For bait I had brought 2 bags fishery 8mm pellets ( around 4 pints ), 2 bags of 4mm pellets, 3 tins of corn and 2 tins of 8mm chopped meat.
I kicked off the match on the straight lead at 25-30m with a single 8mm pellet on the hair while firing a few 8mm's over the top after around 20mins Joe was the first to catch with a Carp on the method on the same line as me while firing 8mm's over the top this is the normal starting method for many on this lake, the first hour passed without so much a a liner to shoe for my efforts despite trying meat & corn on the hook as well as pellets. There was not a lot of fish being caught around by me just the odd skimmer and by the end of hour 2 there were people starting to walk around it was that bad with most of the people to my right with either 1 or no fish, I was still dry at this point despite trying the pole for 15mins with a soft hook pellet not so much as a skimmer it was at this I began to question my own sanity as it was bloody freezing with a very cold wind blowing down the lake towards the Arena pool. I was sitting there wondering what to do next with my hood up trying to keep the wind from battering me wishing I had put my thermal gear on as my feet were freezing, I changed from the straight lead to a cage feeder in an attempt to put the feed down one hole as opposed to firing 8mm pellets all over the place because it was obvious that the fish were in no mood to chase the feed around. After around 3 chucks with the cage feeder with a 8mm piece of meat on the hair I got my first bite of the day a 1lb skimmer and the next chuck another of around 12oz so at least I was off the mark, I was putting a mix of 4mm pellets, corn & meat into the feeder and I had 5 skimmers in around 20mins and just when I thought this were looking up they vanished. I couldn't believe how bad the lake was fishing well around by me it was anyway I had all but given up when with around a hour and a quarter to the all out I got my first proper pull of the day a 6lb common was the culprit and around 5mins later another of around 4lb now with around an hour left it looked like the Carp had finally started to feed, the next bite saw me hook into something a lot bigger and after around 5mins a fish of around 15lb was ready for the net when the hook pulled out CRAP I knew that the way the lake was fishing that fish was going to cost me money. I managed to land another 4 Carp before the all out all falling to meat apart from one which I took on double corn I don't know if I would have caught a few more if I had started on the feeder instead of spraying pellets all over the peg on he straight lead? It had certainly been a cold and trying day too say the least and when Joe Lowe got to our pegs with the scales from the bottom of the burr 14lb was the best weight! that's worse than the middle of the winter for this lake, Joe himself put 17lb on the scales with just that one early Carp and a few skimmers, my 6 Carp and 5 skimmers went 36lb 6oz, the guy to my left had fished the pole all day for 2 Carp+ skimmers for 24lb. There were no weights of note until peg 12 where the guy had 59lb and the guy next to him had 41lb which was bad news as this was my section I had beaten 11 guys to my right but me and Joe were in the section from peg 2-20 of either of us had been in the section below we would have won it? I knew a soon as I pulled out of that fish it would cost me money I knew it would have given me around 50lb'ish made worse when a mate of mine Shunter (Brian Jones) was 3rd with 50lb, you win some you loose some. Stav had also had a bad day tipping around 15lb back off his flier peg, look at the match result below to see he had 3rd, 6th and 1st either side of him (peg 85 is the next peg in after 82 as is goes around the corner) ( sorry mate!!!!).
Classic Qualifier - Specimen Lake
Sunday, 15th April 2012
A good attendance saw forty five anglers show up for the draw on this latest Classic qualifier on the Specimen lake. Again, as with the previous days qualifier on the Match lake, conditions were not ideal with a cold wind and bright sunshine.
Winner on the day was Frenzee / Bait-Tech sponsored rod, Andy Neal. Andy drew peg 78n on the chalet bank and fished pole and pellet at 14m to weigh in a match-winning 62-14-00, booking his place in the May final in the process.
Neil Taylor (Bath Spartans) finished close behind in second place with 59-11-00 from peg 12 on the burr bank. Neil offered meat fished on the pole and 5m to catch all his fish.
Brian "shunter" Jones (Maver / King William) finished third on the day afte drawing peg 85 on the chalet bank.
Fourth place on the day was taken by Matt Barnes (Whitehall / MFS), who drew peg 76. Matt fished bomb and pellet at approximately 30m to weigh in 46lbs exactly to book his place in the final.
Mark Jones (Tredegar Angling) made a worth while the trip from Wales to draw peg 70 and weigh in 45-04-00. Mark fished pole and pellet at 14m to book his place in the May final alongside Andy Neal and Matt Barnes and Neil Taylor.
Winner on the day was Frenzee / Bait-Tech sponsored rod, Andy Neal. Andy drew peg 78n on the chalet bank and fished pole and pellet at 14m to weigh in a match-winning 62-14-00, booking his place in the May final in the process.
Neil Taylor (Bath Spartans) finished close behind in second place with 59-11-00 from peg 12 on the burr bank. Neil offered meat fished on the pole and 5m to catch all his fish.
Brian "shunter" Jones (Maver / King William) finished third on the day afte drawing peg 85 on the chalet bank.
Fourth place on the day was taken by Matt Barnes (Whitehall / MFS), who drew peg 76. Matt fished bomb and pellet at approximately 30m to weigh in 46lbs exactly to book his place in the final.
Mark Jones (Tredegar Angling) made a worth while the trip from Wales to draw peg 70 and weigh in 45-04-00. Mark fished pole and pellet at 14m to book his place in the May final alongside Andy Neal and Matt Barnes and Neil Taylor.
| Position | Name | Peg | Method | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Andy Neal (Frenzee / Bait-Tech) | 78 | Pole and pellet | 62-14-00 |
| 2nd | Neil Taylor (Bath Spartans) | 12 | Pole and meat | 59-11-00 |
| 3rd | Brian Jones (Maver / King William) | 85 | 50-13-00 | |
| 4th | Matt Barnes (Whitehall / MFS) | 76 | Bomb and pellet | 46-00-00 |
| 5th | Mark Jones (Tredegar Angling) | 70 | Pole and pellet | 45-04-00 |
| 6th | Chris Jones (Crewe Carp & Match) | 80 | Pole and pellet | 43-10-00 |
Monday, 7 May 2012
Cob House Sunday 1/4/12
Today we were on Wyatts pool at Cob House near Worcester for a Halesowen club match and after the disaster on the canal last week I was looking forward to catching some fish, I know its a bit early in the year but this match had been voted for the fur and feather at the A.G.M due to us rotating the 3 different venues river,canal & pool. 24 of us had turned up for this one which was going to be a bit tight on the pool has Wyatts has only got 30 pegs and although we had had some good weather lately we were greeted by a white frosty morning so I didn't think that the big weights that come from this pool on the opens was on the cards, after another great breakfast in the Mayfly cafe we did the draw and I pulled out peg 4 and Stav got peg 26 ( flier where a mate of mine James had won the open from the previous Saturday with 202lb! ) I wasn't really bothered about the draw as this pool is normally even all the way around. The weight James had the week before had been caught shallow but with the frosty start I was a bit sceptical as to weather it would work today but after a quick word with Scott in the cafe he assured me they were still up, I have fished this pool a few times before and normally you can catch from 2-4m out but would it be too close this early in the year and with nearly every peg in it was a bit tight. The water level on most of the pools here is low at the moment like a lot of other pools and lakes in the area Wyatts is no exception you can still fish off the bank or you are allowed by the fishery to put a platform in the water which I prefer to do instead of sitting 3ft off the water level like a garden gnome, after setting up my platform in the water I could see there were fish cruising just under the surface all over the pool mostly on the long pole line as Scott had said it was just going to be a case weather they wanted to be caught or not. I set up 4 pole rigs to cover my peg
Rig 1, 13m deck rig 4 x 16 Maver Jona, 0.18 mainline to 0.14 hooklength and a 16 Tosciro hook, 13 hollo elastic set just touching the bottom in 7ft of water ( I thought this pool had no water in it! I have never drawn up this end before ).
Rig 2, 13m shallow rig 0.30gr Maver Jurassic dibber with the same line and elastic as above but with a 18 Preston PR 27 hook and Bait band on the hair.
Rig 3, top 2+ short 4 (3m), 4x14 Maver Jona with the same line & hook as rig 1.
Rig 4, I did set up a margin rig but with the pegs in both sides didn't fancy it and never bothered using it.
The bait for today was simple a 3 pint bag of fishery 4mm pellets which at £3 is great value for money (unlike some fishery's!) some 6mm hard pellets for the hair rigs and some 6mm expanders, 1 tin of corn, I did bring some dead maggots just in-case I drew an end peg or one with a empty peg I didn't so I left them in the bag.
At the all in I didn't feed any of my lines with a pot I just started on the 3m line with a 6mm expander on the hook and fed half a dozen pellets over the top every now and then, I have found out on previous occasions if the fish are there in numbers and you feed too much the fish just come off the bottom and you end up suffering from liners and foul-hookers. Despite feeding carefully and working the rig after 10 bite-less minutes I soon realised that the fish weren't on this line yet and picked up the shallow rig as there were fish cruising about further out, Ade next to Stav had one shallow first put-in so out went the rig at 13m with a 6mm white Sensas pellet on the lasso set around 18" deep I fired around 6-8 4mm pellets around the float spun the rig and my 13 hollo elastic came out of the pole as Carp no1 was on. The fish in this pool average 1-3lb this one was around 1 1/2lb and this set the pattern until the end of the first hour when my fish counter read 12 fish and while not setting the world on fire I was happy with this as I was catching better than those around me, Stav and Ade were also catching opposite so I just got my head down and tried to keep a good rhythm up keeping the bite rate up by altering my feeding and depths as the fish were clearly not going mad.
By the end of the second hour I had got 25 fish but I was having to work hard at it as after every 2-3 fish they would just vanish for 5mins until they came back or you found them again but by spinning the rig this seemed to get you more bites than just feeding and lifting the rig, now and then I came back in on the 3m line and managed 3-4 fish before they drifted off again I think this was due to the amount of people on the pool and a cold night. The rest of the match was followed the same pattern until disaster struck with around an hour to go I hooked into a fish on the 13m shallow line and as I shipped back with the 13 & 11.5m in my hands the rest of my pole came apart and shot into the pool (SHIT!!!!), I was just about to jump in after my top 7 sections when I realised that I had got my waders on and there was 4 1/2ft f water on the 3m line I had to stop myself from jumping otherwise I would have sunk like a stone. The pole remained afloat going forwards and back at one point I thought it was coming back but with nothing to grab a hold of the Carp pulled it back into the middle of the pool, my main worry now was that there was a rope next to me with the aerator attached and the Carp was dragging it dangerously close towards it and if it got tangled in the rope it would be curtains. Then Steve Robson a few pegs to my left shouted that he had got a lead rod set up so I ran and got it then ran back passed around my peg and around the corner of the pool as I had to get to the other side so I had something to cast over and try to hook my rig, when I got to the other side my pole was only a rod-length out and as I tried to cast over the pole with the lead I hooked my finger ( SHIT & BOLLOCKS! ) as I was pulling the hook out of my finger Bob who's peg my pole had come into managed to hook my rig with his and as I scrambled down the bank I just caught hold of the top end and I had got it back. Phew that was close I thought it was going to sink for sure the Carp was around 3lb and after dragging my pole around the pool for 5mins looked knackered I told Bob to put it in his but he wouldn't and after pulling my pole out of the water I made it back to my peg, I took Steve his rod back and after drying all my sections off I sat down and soaked up all the mickey taking as some of the lads had made some comments like " if you don't want it there is no need to chuck it in" or " he's trying to give us all a chance by throwing he's pole in". After sorting out another shallow rig I decided to have a look on the short with around 45mins left of the match I had around 6 fish on this before they tailed off then another 7 fish with the shallow rig on the 3m line before the all out sounded, I had ended the match with 62 Carp which was not a bad day after the episode with my pole Stav and Ade had also caught opposite but I couldn't see what had gone on at the top end of the pool. We started the weigh-in off on the other side and Stav was the first to weigh in anything of note with 89lb and Ade next to him had 70lb, the top end of the pool had fished hard as Barry Robson won the top 6 peg on that bank with 45lb and Martin Yardsley winning the top 6 peg section on my bank with 36lb ( that is hard for this pool ), there was two 60lb weights from Steve & John in my section before I weighed in my 62 fish that gave me 107lb 8oz for the match win. I was happy with my days fishing apart from nearly loosing my pole, the pool had fished as I expected with 24 anglers on it and a sharp overnight frost and all that was left to do was to retire to the Bell pub for a couple of Stella's and chew over the fat as Stav and I were first and second we had won some beer tokens?
Rig 1, 13m deck rig 4 x 16 Maver Jona, 0.18 mainline to 0.14 hooklength and a 16 Tosciro hook, 13 hollo elastic set just touching the bottom in 7ft of water ( I thought this pool had no water in it! I have never drawn up this end before ).
Rig 2, 13m shallow rig 0.30gr Maver Jurassic dibber with the same line and elastic as above but with a 18 Preston PR 27 hook and Bait band on the hair.
Rig 3, top 2+ short 4 (3m), 4x14 Maver Jona with the same line & hook as rig 1.
Rig 4, I did set up a margin rig but with the pegs in both sides didn't fancy it and never bothered using it.
The bait for today was simple a 3 pint bag of fishery 4mm pellets which at £3 is great value for money (unlike some fishery's!) some 6mm hard pellets for the hair rigs and some 6mm expanders, 1 tin of corn, I did bring some dead maggots just in-case I drew an end peg or one with a empty peg I didn't so I left them in the bag.
At the all in I didn't feed any of my lines with a pot I just started on the 3m line with a 6mm expander on the hook and fed half a dozen pellets over the top every now and then, I have found out on previous occasions if the fish are there in numbers and you feed too much the fish just come off the bottom and you end up suffering from liners and foul-hookers. Despite feeding carefully and working the rig after 10 bite-less minutes I soon realised that the fish weren't on this line yet and picked up the shallow rig as there were fish cruising about further out, Ade next to Stav had one shallow first put-in so out went the rig at 13m with a 6mm white Sensas pellet on the lasso set around 18" deep I fired around 6-8 4mm pellets around the float spun the rig and my 13 hollo elastic came out of the pole as Carp no1 was on. The fish in this pool average 1-3lb this one was around 1 1/2lb and this set the pattern until the end of the first hour when my fish counter read 12 fish and while not setting the world on fire I was happy with this as I was catching better than those around me, Stav and Ade were also catching opposite so I just got my head down and tried to keep a good rhythm up keeping the bite rate up by altering my feeding and depths as the fish were clearly not going mad.
By the end of the second hour I had got 25 fish but I was having to work hard at it as after every 2-3 fish they would just vanish for 5mins until they came back or you found them again but by spinning the rig this seemed to get you more bites than just feeding and lifting the rig, now and then I came back in on the 3m line and managed 3-4 fish before they drifted off again I think this was due to the amount of people on the pool and a cold night. The rest of the match was followed the same pattern until disaster struck with around an hour to go I hooked into a fish on the 13m shallow line and as I shipped back with the 13 & 11.5m in my hands the rest of my pole came apart and shot into the pool (SHIT!!!!), I was just about to jump in after my top 7 sections when I realised that I had got my waders on and there was 4 1/2ft f water on the 3m line I had to stop myself from jumping otherwise I would have sunk like a stone. The pole remained afloat going forwards and back at one point I thought it was coming back but with nothing to grab a hold of the Carp pulled it back into the middle of the pool, my main worry now was that there was a rope next to me with the aerator attached and the Carp was dragging it dangerously close towards it and if it got tangled in the rope it would be curtains. Then Steve Robson a few pegs to my left shouted that he had got a lead rod set up so I ran and got it then ran back passed around my peg and around the corner of the pool as I had to get to the other side so I had something to cast over and try to hook my rig, when I got to the other side my pole was only a rod-length out and as I tried to cast over the pole with the lead I hooked my finger ( SHIT & BOLLOCKS! ) as I was pulling the hook out of my finger Bob who's peg my pole had come into managed to hook my rig with his and as I scrambled down the bank I just caught hold of the top end and I had got it back. Phew that was close I thought it was going to sink for sure the Carp was around 3lb and after dragging my pole around the pool for 5mins looked knackered I told Bob to put it in his but he wouldn't and after pulling my pole out of the water I made it back to my peg, I took Steve his rod back and after drying all my sections off I sat down and soaked up all the mickey taking as some of the lads had made some comments like " if you don't want it there is no need to chuck it in" or " he's trying to give us all a chance by throwing he's pole in". After sorting out another shallow rig I decided to have a look on the short with around 45mins left of the match I had around 6 fish on this before they tailed off then another 7 fish with the shallow rig on the 3m line before the all out sounded, I had ended the match with 62 Carp which was not a bad day after the episode with my pole Stav and Ade had also caught opposite but I couldn't see what had gone on at the top end of the pool. We started the weigh-in off on the other side and Stav was the first to weigh in anything of note with 89lb and Ade next to him had 70lb, the top end of the pool had fished hard as Barry Robson won the top 6 peg on that bank with 45lb and Martin Yardsley winning the top 6 peg section on my bank with 36lb ( that is hard for this pool ), there was two 60lb weights from Steve & John in my section before I weighed in my 62 fish that gave me 107lb 8oz for the match win. I was happy with my days fishing apart from nearly loosing my pole, the pool had fished as I expected with 24 anglers on it and a sharp overnight frost and all that was left to do was to retire to the Bell pub for a couple of Stella's and chew over the fat as Stav and I were first and second we had won some beer tokens?
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Staffs-Wors canal Sunday 25/3/12
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.
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.
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.
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