Feb update

Hello all.

Two matches to report on. Firstly it was round 6 of the Warrington Local league on the Bridgewater Canal at Dunham Massey. Once again the canal showed how bad it can be, coupled with poor weather conditions. The canal was covered with a thin sheet of ice that was easily dispursed. As in the last match at Cliffe Lane one of the problems was the ice moving about after it had been broken up. There had also been some snow in the days leading up to the match, so it was no great surprise that the match was tough. However there were many blanks in all sections and only a couple of teams managed four catchers. I managed to catch a single small perch, fishing pretty much the same way as at Cliffe lane this again got me 3 points and the team finished 3rd on the day with 1 blank and 1 section win. There are two rounds left and there is still a chance of getting third place in the league.

The second match was fished with POHAS on Meadow View near Lymm. This was a practice match for the forth coming supercup round against Richmonds and Partridge Lakes. As I am committed to fish the teams of 4 league. I am unable to fish in the supercup match itself, but was looking forward to fishing on a carp fishery for a change.

12 turned up for the practice and my luck held at the draw picking peg 42 on Lark pool. This is on the bank nearest the office and at the car park end. Generally speaking in cold weather this is the end you need to be at to catch carp, especially as the far end past half way in the lake can be very poor. My main methods would be pole and leger. Due to the weather I decided to concentrate on long pole at 13 metres with an option to fish a bit further at 14.5 metres if the fish backed off. I set up 1 rig of a Preston 4x12 Chianti with a size 18 808 to 0.12mm hooklength to fish two swims at 13m. On the left I feed about half a 150ml pot of 4mm fishery pellets and a bit of corn, and to the right I fed about 20-30 micro fishery pellets and 2-3 pieces of corn via a kinder pot. I also fished the leger straight in front in the middle of the lake with a single piece of corn on the hook feeding nothing. At the start I started on the leger after feeding both pole swims. After about 5 mins the tip went round and I struck into my first carp. After a short scrap a 4lb fish was landed, good start, no-one else was catching. After a couple of missed bites on the tip I tried the pole swim to the right with single corn. After 5 mins I got my first bite and struck into a good fish. Using size 10 latex I just had to take my time and the fish would soon be netted. This fish was possibly 5lb. I tried the left hand swim for a while and again after about 5 mins I got another carp, this one was a bit bigger. So after about 40 mins of the match I already had around 15lb in the net. A couple of people had managed at least 1 carp, so it was looking good. After swapping and changing through the different swims and trying pellets and corn on the hook, things were a little quiet. Then after 2 hours I caught 3 fish one after the other, one of which must have been close to 10lb. Again it went quiet until the last hour when another 3 carp were landed the last coming just before the all out. In total I caught 10 carp plus 1 roach and 1 Ide. The fishery staff carried out the weigh in and I was last to weigh with 64lb. This was enough to win the match as 39lb was second.
All in all I enjoyed a good days fishing for this time of year, but I was also lucky getting the peg in the right area and having a fair amount of room around me. I was surprised that most of the fish 6, came from the heavily fed left hand swim. At around 3/4-1 hour intervals I fed the same amount of bait as I did at the start, just to see what the reaction would be. In the last hour my 3 fish came from this swim. If the match had gone on any longer I am sure more would have been caught as the light began to fade.
Once the winter league is over I am now looking forward to going back to the fisheries and hopefully catching more fish and enjoying myself more.

As a footnote I applied for 3 Fishomania tickets at Tunnel Barn, Larford Lakes and Partridge Lakes. Luckily I ahve managed to get a ticket for Partridge Lakes, so once the league is out of the way I will be fishing the opens at Partridge each weekend. As it is a local venue there is no excuse for not practicing.

Tight Lines.