September update.

As it is nearly the end of October I thought I had better include an entry from my goings on in September.

Following the Division 1 National I took a break from fishing for a few weeks in an attempt to have a bit of a rest and get some jobs done. Well I only managed the rest, I still have kitchen walls not painted etc.

River Mersey and Bolo Floats.

Anyway I managed a few hours on a Friday afternoon on the River Mersey near Victoria park in order to try fishing with bolo floats. Prior to the National I had bought a 15/17ft Maver Powerlite rod in case it might be needed. With hindsight maybe I should have tried it!!! So I thought it might be a good idea to give it a go. Having previously got some Woody's floats together, which were ordered from the net I got some maggots and hemp and sat on peg 14. The river was carrying a bit of extra water and colour. As the river is quite deep in most places I set up the rod to 17ft and began plumbing the depth with a 3gr float on. I must admit I eneded up fishing not far short of the maximum rod length. I started by catapulting some hemp slightly downstream and then followed that with some maggots.

As a complete novice I did struggle a bit with the casting, bankside vegetation stopped me casting sideways and the overhead cast tangled sometimes. However I did manage to get it right some of the time and I actually caught some fish, dace and some nice roach, mainly quite a way down the peg due to the flow. I must admit the length of the rod helped to pick the line up on the strike and mend the line. After 3 hours or so and another tangle I decided to call it a day, the maggots had nearly gone as well. With more practice it would become a very good way of catching, more interesting than watching a tip. However the pegs on the Mersey are a bit close together, so I am not sure how good it would be in a match. Maybe feeding small hard balls of groundbait would help to keep the fish in your peg.

On the Sunday after my little practice session there was a match organised to help raise funds to enable Helen Dagnall compete in the Ladies World Championships in South Africa in October. After Fridays little session I thought the river would be in good nick, however there was more rain on the Saturday and the river was running faster than normal, but the colour had dropped out of it. Everyone thought we would be in for a grueller!!! I drew peg 46, I think, and had Stu Conroy for company on the downstream peg, no pressure then. Due to the pace of the water I discounted fishing the bolo and set up a 4grm pole rig and a feeder rod. After plumbing up I had a good depth at 13 metres and a clear run. The feeder set up was a 40grm black cap and a 3oz tip, for fishing down the middle. I fed 6 balls of groundbait and casters via a cup at the start. (How it did not break a pole section I will never know) and started on the feeder while the pole line settled down. I have modified the black cap feeders slightly by removing the red tag and making a hole in the bottom of the feeder in order to pass a loop of powergum through and clamp it under the feeders weight, this way the feeder can be used either as a standard block end or a semi open end by removing the black cap. These feeders are ideal for the Mersey as the different sizes allow you to change the amounts you feed more easily, which suits the changing conditions and feeding habits. My match did not go well, they never do on the Mersey. I spent too long trying to catch on the pole, when it was clearly never going to work due to the pace of the river. I did manage some fish on the feeder, dace and roach again, but I think I weighed less than 2lb. Once again I made the wrong decision about the pole and should have fished the feeder all match. Anyway the match was won by Dave Brooks with 13lb and 6lb was second. The river was patchy and most did struggle. Stu Conroy only manged 2lb odd, so I could have scalped an England man.

Up-coming matches and Winter Leagues

Following on from exploits on the rivers lately I decided to enter the River Severn Classic matches at Shrewsbury. These are a series of 4 qualifier matches and a final from October onwards to a final in early December. The top 4 and the section winners qualify for the final. I have always been interested in the fishing on the Severn at Shrewsbury as I have read about the fishing in the town in the winter months for roach and dace over the years and always wanted to have a go, so this seemed like a good oportunity. So sent my cheque off and got my name on the list for the 4 qualifiers. The first match is in October, so hopefully there will be a few fish about and not much rain to spoil it.

Warrington match group have also entered a couple of winter leagues, which are on alternate Sundays so as not to clash. The first match was in the Wirral Winter League on the Shropshire Union Canal at Soudley and Goldstone on the last Sunday in September. I was drawn on peg 6 in B section at Goldstone. I was not sure what to expect other than the skimmers are a good size around 2lb if you get them and a recent match was won with 30lb, close to where I was pegged. As the weather had not turned cold I decided to fish a squatt line, caster down the track and across as well as a hemp line a section past my squatt line. At 11.5 metres I found a nice depth of 2ft+ going up the far shelf, so this is were I fished with squatt. To the left of a small overhanging bush I plumbed a caster line as well as 1 at 6 metres down the middle, and I also set up a light hemp rig at 13 metres directly past my squatt rig. At the start I potted in 3 balls of groundbait and one pot of loose groundbait with squatts and hemp in. Some casters and hemp went in down the middle and next to the bush, and finally I potted in some hemp at 13 metres. I started on caster down the middle to try an snare an early fish and let the squatt line settle down. There were no bites on caster so I started to fish squatt. I immediately started to catch small roach and guedgeon at which point I started loose feeding squatts every cast as well as a few grains of hemp further across. I could not see that much being caught around me so I plugged away. After a while I caught a small skimmer and then I hooked it's bigger brother. It came to the surface shortly after being hooked and looked over 2lb, so I gently started to ship back and the hook pulled as the fish neared the middle, oh dear. I carried on with the squatt and tried the other lines as well. The hemp was very slow roach wise although I did manage a 1lb skimmer on it which went off like a big roach. By this time the angler to my left had caught a couple of very big fish, it was time to try something positive. I cupped in another ball of groundbait and went back to caster down the middle for a while, this resulted in a small perch. I then tried caster over the squatt line, to see if I could single out the skimmers and I did manage one small one and a couple of guedgeon. It was no time to try the far bank caster swim, but this only resulted in a couple of small roach. By now I was running out of time, so I stayed on the caster to try and catch a bigger fish.. Needless to say it did not happen and my 3lb 10oz only beat 1 other in my section. The angler next to me weighed 14lb of chub caught on worm and caster to finish second in the match. Our consulation was that team mate Martin Griffiths won the match with over 16lb of skimmers and bream again on caster and worm.
In the end I was on a good peg and have not been positive enough. I did not feed any chopped worm and that was costlty. I also think my far bank caster and hemp swims were too close together, so I don't think the fish settled properly. I was very disappointed to finish so low down in the section, but I did loose over 3lb off the hook, which would have put me a lot higher in the section. On another day those fish might have stuck, on the other hand.....At the moment I am not making the right kind of decisions tactically and do not have enough knowledge about the pegs I draw. On the plus side it was the first time I had fished that area of canal and the fishing is a lot better than the canal fishing I am used to.

So eventually thats about it for September. I do ramble on a bit.
October sees the start of the River Severn matches and more canals.

Tight lines.