Hello Once again.
After settling down after loosing focus again after the Division 1 national, I decided I needed to get back on track and try to concentrate on my fishing a bit more.
I was lucky enough to be invited to fish in the teams of 4 league by Bob Campbell that runs through winter on the canals in the area. The team is imaginatively called Bob's Lot.
Round 1
The first match was fished on the Bridgewater Canal near Statham. I was pegged in A section peg 3 near Ditchfields Bridge. This was an area I was not keen on, as the better pegs are higher in the section back towards Statham. The usual methods were used, breadpunch caster and some worms for perch. At the start I tried a large punch to try and nick a skimmer, but none showed, so I had to revert to catching very small roach. After a couple of hours it was a real struggle, bites had dissappeared on bread and I only managed a couple of small perch on worm. I did get a couple of caster roach near the end, but nothing decent. I weighed in 1lb 12oz or so. It was only enough to beat one in my section. Sure enough the weights increased in the higher peg numbers. The match was won with over 10lb of skimmers and roach on caster. So not the best of starts.
Round 2
The second match saw us desend on Middlewich Town centre to fish the Trent and Mersey Canal. In the past this section of canal has fished well with double figure weights. I was drawn on B section peg 1. This placed me in a narrow section of canal close to the main road bridge. However in the middle of my section was a basin, so I was up against it, especially I was told that the pegs in the narrows were rubbish. The usual rigs were set up, bread and caster as well as a light squatt rig for fishing across and a caster rig for down the track. The squatt line was to be fed with 2 balls of groundbait with a few squatts in and left for at least 2 hours to hopefully allow the fish to settle over it.
I started on the punch and caught small roach and gudgeon. I tried the caster line down the middle and caught the odd perch, roach and gudgeon, but nothing to get carried away with. After a couple of hours I tried the squatt line and caught some roach straight away. I had a bit of a nightmare with this line as I totally trashed several rigs when they got caught in the overhanging vegetation. This line did produce though, so food for thought for the future. I did manage some more roach on caster, both down the middle and across. I had caught steady, but the weights from the basin were far too good. I weighed in 3lb 12oz to finish as predicted last in the section. I was feeling a bit down with my results as I was not helping the team much. However I could not compete with the basin which had weights from 6-11lb come from it. There was a silver lining in that team mate Bob Clough won the match with over 12lb of Roach and Rudd on caster.
Round 3
This match was fished on the Macclesfield Canal around Congleton. I was drawn on peg 5 in A section near Henshall Hall drive. The peg looked promising as there was an overhanging bush and reeds along the far bank. Whilst setting up a couple of large fish rolled close by, these might have been big perch. As it turns out the bush was a noted peg for perch as several big weights had been recorded in the past. As usual breadpunch, caster and a heavy worm rig were set up. I planned to fish the bread about a section short of the far bank and at at angle to the right in fronts of the reeds. I also had a heavy chopped worm rig for fishing under the bush as well as the normal caster rig for across as well.
I started on bread and caught some small roach and gudgeon, it was not fishing that well and the roach were a lot smaller than expected. A did manage to get a good roach on caster over the bread swim, but no more showed after that. I tried the chopped worm swim at regular intervals through the match and caught a few perch up to 8ozs. I topped up after died off and rested the swim for 20 minutes each time. I still managed to catch on bread in between trying the worm swim, but again the fish got no bigger. Caster caught a few roach at the end as well. I could not tell how well I had done in the section, due to the overgrown banksides. I weighed 3lb 12oz again which was good enough for 4th in the section. So my results were starting to improve. Again the better weights came from the early pegs in the section. Team wise Phil Cross won his section with over 6lb.
Round 4.
The Trent and Mersey canal was scene for round 4 at Broken Cross near Rudheath. I drew the end peg of the match in D section peg 7, which was just by the entrance to a small basin near the School Road access point. The swim looked good to say the least with a small tree on the far bank and rushes all along the far side and into the basin. The main problem was the wind which was gusting quite strong and could make presentation a little tricky. Rigs were the usual, bread, caster and worm. I planned to fish the bread at 10 metres towards the basin, hoping to attract some skimmers, as well as caster down the middle and across and a chopped worm and caster line under the small tree on the far bank.
I started on a big punch, but could only catch roach and gugdeon as usual. I tried caster over the bread line, but caught the same size fish, after a missed bite I lowered the rig in again and struck into something much bigger. I was convinced it was a skimmer, as it did not fight much. I had one hairy moment when I had to keep the rig low as a boat went past, but once the fish came close in it started to fight a bit more. The fish surfaced near the middle and to my surprise it was a very big perch. In the end I got it in the net without to much fuss and I guessed it to be about 2lb.
After this I carried on switching between bread and the chopped worm line. I caught a few more nice perch and odd roach on the worm, as well as more roach and gugdeon on bread. I left the caster line until the last hour and caught some nice roach regularly. At the weigh I got 6lb 5oz, which was more than I thought due to the small roach. The perch was weighed separately and went 2lb 7oz. Easily my biggest perch to date, but not for the first time I forgot to take a picture. The match was won with over 7lb by Helen Dagnall who was also in my section. So I finished second in the match and the section. This was certainly helping my confidence as my results were getting better. But it would have been a bit embrassing not to do well off such a good peg. The perch was a complete fluke, caught on single caster 18's hook over the bread line and landed on No. 2 elastic. That probably explains why it did not fight as much as if would if hooked on heavy gear.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Friday, 25 November 2011
No more matches please.
After the division 1 national I fished 2 open matches at Brookside. Needless to say I did not do very well and showed that you cannot stay out of touch from this type of venue for very long as the regulars have it nailed spot on.
After this I was feeling a little deflated with fishing once again. I don't seem to enjoy travelling to fishing after spending a lot of time in the car with work. The early starts do not help either. I needed a bit of a break and a change.
So I managed to have my first proper go at Barbel fishing on the River Severn at Emstrey near Shrewsbury. I would finally get to use my new Barbel rod for what it was intended for.
I had also managed to persuade my Dad to come along as well. We went to Total Angling in Shrewsbury for some bait and advice on where to fish. We got to the River and had a look at some pegs. We were told to fish around peg 44, which was near the car park, so that was were we fished. I set up a stick float rig and a pellet feeder on the barbel rod.
The fishing was not brilliant, I could catch a few small dace on the stick float, but nothing any bigger. I spent most of my time trying to catch barbel. I was casting a feeder loaded with 4mm halibut pellets and marine halibut groundbait, and fishing a 10mm banded pellet on the hook. I caught 2 barbel, the first was just under 5lb and the second about an hour later was 7lb 14oz. (see picture)
My dad brought a set of scales with him, thought that might be the kiss of death, but was good to weigh them and get a picture. I once had a good session on the Ribble a few years ago catching 8 barbel. I am not sure if any of those were bigger, but seen as this one was weighed this is the one to beat. I am sorry to say that my dad did not manage to catch any barbel, but caught a few other fish on the maggot feeder. My dad enjoyed the day, but we both agreed that the fishing was not great. It was good to be out with my dad again and we fished on until it was starting to get dark, none of this 10 till 3 rushing about. Hopefully we will get back on the Rivers again next year. I think we are both yearning to fish the Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour again.
After this I was feeling a little deflated with fishing once again. I don't seem to enjoy travelling to fishing after spending a lot of time in the car with work. The early starts do not help either. I needed a bit of a break and a change.
So I managed to have my first proper go at Barbel fishing on the River Severn at Emstrey near Shrewsbury. I would finally get to use my new Barbel rod for what it was intended for.
The fishing was not brilliant, I could catch a few small dace on the stick float, but nothing any bigger. I spent most of my time trying to catch barbel. I was casting a feeder loaded with 4mm halibut pellets and marine halibut groundbait, and fishing a 10mm banded pellet on the hook. I caught 2 barbel, the first was just under 5lb and the second about an hour later was 7lb 14oz. (see picture)
My dad brought a set of scales with him, thought that might be the kiss of death, but was good to weigh them and get a picture. I once had a good session on the Ribble a few years ago catching 8 barbel. I am not sure if any of those were bigger, but seen as this one was weighed this is the one to beat. I am sorry to say that my dad did not manage to catch any barbel, but caught a few other fish on the maggot feeder. My dad enjoyed the day, but we both agreed that the fishing was not great. It was good to be out with my dad again and we fished on until it was starting to get dark, none of this 10 till 3 rushing about. Hopefully we will get back on the Rivers again next year. I think we are both yearning to fish the Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour again.
Division 1 National.
Once again I sit down to write this more than 2 months after the event.
This years match was fished on the New Junction Canal near Doncaster. After the Supercup exploits we were once again left with little time to practice.
I only managed 2 practice matches which were mixed to say the least.
On the first match I drew the end peg in the match, should be good. I also had Alan Scotthorne next door but one and Sean Ashby in my section. This was going to be tough. The main catching methods were squatt over groundbait at 10-11 metres, a close in chopped worm line and fishing 16 metres with chopped worm and caster for bonus eels and perch. Some pegs might produce chub, but not that many.
I had a poor match I only caught 5 perch 2 on squatt and 3 on the 16 metre line. I got neck ache from watching Alan Scotthorne catch more or less all day, he finished 2nd in the match with 6lb odd.
This was another match were it would be back to the drawing board regarding rigs and feeding. After Martin Griffiths had picked the brains of Stuart Conroy new floats and hooks were ordered. Namely Sensas Jean Francois and Auchy as well as Gamma green barbless hooks. The Jean Francois was for fishing a bulk with some droppers and the Auchy as a light rig, both for the squatt. The barbless hooks were used to prevent damage to the bait. These are very good hooks, very sharp and popular for bloodworm fishing and winter F1 maggot fishing.
The second practice match was a little better I managed to catch some roach for a change. The fishing was not brilliant, the peg would die off after a quick burst of catching fish at the start, but by feeding small amounts of hemp regularly you could also catch bigger roach again towards the end of the match. However I missed a lot of bites on hemp, but it did prove how effective the bait would be. I weighed in just under 2lb, not great but a big improvement on the previous match and I did manage to catch some roach. My confidence was getting better after sorting the rigs out. I needed to make sure I hit as many bites as possible on hemp, as these fish were generally bigger.
We held a meeting on the Wednesday before the match to get a plan together and sort out a few ideas. The meeting went well and information flowed. However it did show how under prepared we were with lack of practice and also due to the fickle nature of the canal most had struggled in practice.
Come the big day I was drawn on H section peg 42 on permanent peg 384 I think. In the previous weeks match some fish had showed there and on getting to the peg roach were topping all over the canal. It was a big relief to see fish moving about. If you fished an area were the fish were not topping it meant that you were in for a bad day.
The plan was to fish as described earlier. It was important to fish the squatt line as quick as possible to catch the early fish. I feel that my match went fairly well. I caught from the start on squatt, but it eventually went quiet, but the odd fish would still have a go. The short and long lines were very poor and I only caught 1 perch close in. The angler on the next peg lost an eel fishing long, but I could not get any decent bites. So I mainly concentrated on the squatt line. The hemp fishing was my life saver, in which I had a good last hour by alternating between the heavier Jean Francois rig and the light Auchy rig. I did loose a big roach on hemp, which was a bit gutting because it must of been near a pound. The only trouble with catching late on is that you wish you could fish another hour or so. At the end I weighed in just over a kilo for 39 section points out of 59. So I just made the top 20 in my section.
After how the practice matches had gone I felt a lot better about my result, but just wished I could have fished the canal a couple of more times to get a bit more used to it.
On the team front too many of the team struggled in poor areas, as you can only catch what is in front of you and some areas were really poor. I was just lucky to be drawn in a good area. The team finished in 44th place, which sounds bad, but is just a reflection of what poor areas and a lack of practice. At least we were not relegated, so we live to fight another day in Division 1.
Next years match is on the Bristol Avon. I am already not looking forward to that drive.
Tight lines.
This years match was fished on the New Junction Canal near Doncaster. After the Supercup exploits we were once again left with little time to practice.
I only managed 2 practice matches which were mixed to say the least.
On the first match I drew the end peg in the match, should be good. I also had Alan Scotthorne next door but one and Sean Ashby in my section. This was going to be tough. The main catching methods were squatt over groundbait at 10-11 metres, a close in chopped worm line and fishing 16 metres with chopped worm and caster for bonus eels and perch. Some pegs might produce chub, but not that many.
I had a poor match I only caught 5 perch 2 on squatt and 3 on the 16 metre line. I got neck ache from watching Alan Scotthorne catch more or less all day, he finished 2nd in the match with 6lb odd.
This was another match were it would be back to the drawing board regarding rigs and feeding. After Martin Griffiths had picked the brains of Stuart Conroy new floats and hooks were ordered. Namely Sensas Jean Francois and Auchy as well as Gamma green barbless hooks. The Jean Francois was for fishing a bulk with some droppers and the Auchy as a light rig, both for the squatt. The barbless hooks were used to prevent damage to the bait. These are very good hooks, very sharp and popular for bloodworm fishing and winter F1 maggot fishing.
The second practice match was a little better I managed to catch some roach for a change. The fishing was not brilliant, the peg would die off after a quick burst of catching fish at the start, but by feeding small amounts of hemp regularly you could also catch bigger roach again towards the end of the match. However I missed a lot of bites on hemp, but it did prove how effective the bait would be. I weighed in just under 2lb, not great but a big improvement on the previous match and I did manage to catch some roach. My confidence was getting better after sorting the rigs out. I needed to make sure I hit as many bites as possible on hemp, as these fish were generally bigger.
We held a meeting on the Wednesday before the match to get a plan together and sort out a few ideas. The meeting went well and information flowed. However it did show how under prepared we were with lack of practice and also due to the fickle nature of the canal most had struggled in practice.
Come the big day I was drawn on H section peg 42 on permanent peg 384 I think. In the previous weeks match some fish had showed there and on getting to the peg roach were topping all over the canal. It was a big relief to see fish moving about. If you fished an area were the fish were not topping it meant that you were in for a bad day.
The plan was to fish as described earlier. It was important to fish the squatt line as quick as possible to catch the early fish. I feel that my match went fairly well. I caught from the start on squatt, but it eventually went quiet, but the odd fish would still have a go. The short and long lines were very poor and I only caught 1 perch close in. The angler on the next peg lost an eel fishing long, but I could not get any decent bites. So I mainly concentrated on the squatt line. The hemp fishing was my life saver, in which I had a good last hour by alternating between the heavier Jean Francois rig and the light Auchy rig. I did loose a big roach on hemp, which was a bit gutting because it must of been near a pound. The only trouble with catching late on is that you wish you could fish another hour or so. At the end I weighed in just over a kilo for 39 section points out of 59. So I just made the top 20 in my section.
After how the practice matches had gone I felt a lot better about my result, but just wished I could have fished the canal a couple of more times to get a bit more used to it.
On the team front too many of the team struggled in poor areas, as you can only catch what is in front of you and some areas were really poor. I was just lucky to be drawn in a good area. The team finished in 44th place, which sounds bad, but is just a reflection of what poor areas and a lack of practice. At least we were not relegated, so we live to fight another day in Division 1.
Next years match is on the Bristol Avon. I am already not looking forward to that drive.
Tight lines.
Angling Times Supercup Final.
Supercup Final
Our semi final was fished 2 weeks before the final so we had very little time to practice compared to the other regional teams. I fished one practice open match were I drew peg 5 on Canal pool. I have fished this peg twice before, once in an open before a Maver pairs match and in a club match. The peg has rushes down the sides and a small clump of rushes on the far bank. My plan was to fish meat and pellet both across and down the edge. After a very busy days fishing I managed 89lb of F1's and carp. This is my best weight in a match and I had a feeling I might have caught my first ton, but it was not to be. That result gave me a section win by default.
Again the captains could place anglers on each pool, and again I decided that I did not mind were I fished. I really like Tunnel Barn the fishing is very good and I felt comfortable with what to do. I was placed on Jennys pool, and was a little bit miffed not to be on Canal pool after the last match, but never mind. It was good just to be in the final. After the practice matches and talking to the local anglers it became obvious that the pegs that fished well had plenty of cover for the fish to sit. The less cover you had meant that you caught well at the start but the fish would back off after a while. As it turned out my peg did not have a great deal of cover across, and other pegs looked a lot better. I fished a line across with meat and groundbait as well as at the bottom of the near shelf and against the near side rushes. I also set up a shallow rig for banded pellet down the middle, but this is not a method I am confident with. The match started ok with small carp and F1's being caught fairly regularly. After a while I could not help bu notice that anglers further up the bank were catching a lot quicker than me, but I seemed to be doing ok against the anglers close to me. I needed to change something so I started to feed against the next peg platform to my left at about 11.5 metres. The idea being to plumb in front of the platform and look for the deeper depression caused by the keepnets. Once this was sorted I started to kinder pot in some meat and groundbait and managed to start catching carp and F1's again on 6mm cubes of meat. However once again I knew I was not catching quickly enough. In the end I think I weighed 54lb which only beat 2 others in the section I think. On the lake there were several weights over 100lb and the overall the fishery can only be described as awesome.
It was a bad day all round for the team and we finished dead last. We collected our medals and bait box of goodies from the sponsers, had a beer and a laugh about it. I personally don't think we had a good draw, my peg and several others could have been better. We also suffered from lack of practice and from not being used to that sort of fishing. When its good it really is head down bagging, you have to be quick but not rushed if that makes sense.
Anyway a big thank you to the team of Jeff, Martin, Rick, Arthur and Jake. We had a good laugh and enjoyed everything along the way. Thanks also to Warrington AA for help with peg fees and petrol money, Angling Times and the fisheries involved.
It was great just getting to the semi final so the final was just a big bonus. We put no pressure on ourselves and made sure we would enjoy it, which we did. Will we be as lucky next year, who knows.
Our semi final was fished 2 weeks before the final so we had very little time to practice compared to the other regional teams. I fished one practice open match were I drew peg 5 on Canal pool. I have fished this peg twice before, once in an open before a Maver pairs match and in a club match. The peg has rushes down the sides and a small clump of rushes on the far bank. My plan was to fish meat and pellet both across and down the edge. After a very busy days fishing I managed 89lb of F1's and carp. This is my best weight in a match and I had a feeling I might have caught my first ton, but it was not to be. That result gave me a section win by default.
Again the captains could place anglers on each pool, and again I decided that I did not mind were I fished. I really like Tunnel Barn the fishing is very good and I felt comfortable with what to do. I was placed on Jennys pool, and was a little bit miffed not to be on Canal pool after the last match, but never mind. It was good just to be in the final. After the practice matches and talking to the local anglers it became obvious that the pegs that fished well had plenty of cover for the fish to sit. The less cover you had meant that you caught well at the start but the fish would back off after a while. As it turned out my peg did not have a great deal of cover across, and other pegs looked a lot better. I fished a line across with meat and groundbait as well as at the bottom of the near shelf and against the near side rushes. I also set up a shallow rig for banded pellet down the middle, but this is not a method I am confident with. The match started ok with small carp and F1's being caught fairly regularly. After a while I could not help bu notice that anglers further up the bank were catching a lot quicker than me, but I seemed to be doing ok against the anglers close to me. I needed to change something so I started to feed against the next peg platform to my left at about 11.5 metres. The idea being to plumb in front of the platform and look for the deeper depression caused by the keepnets. Once this was sorted I started to kinder pot in some meat and groundbait and managed to start catching carp and F1's again on 6mm cubes of meat. However once again I knew I was not catching quickly enough. In the end I think I weighed 54lb which only beat 2 others in the section I think. On the lake there were several weights over 100lb and the overall the fishery can only be described as awesome.
It was a bad day all round for the team and we finished dead last. We collected our medals and bait box of goodies from the sponsers, had a beer and a laugh about it. I personally don't think we had a good draw, my peg and several others could have been better. We also suffered from lack of practice and from not being used to that sort of fishing. When its good it really is head down bagging, you have to be quick but not rushed if that makes sense.
Anyway a big thank you to the team of Jeff, Martin, Rick, Arthur and Jake. We had a good laugh and enjoyed everything along the way. Thanks also to Warrington AA for help with peg fees and petrol money, Angling Times and the fisheries involved.
It was great just getting to the semi final so the final was just a big bonus. We put no pressure on ourselves and made sure we would enjoy it, which we did. Will we be as lucky next year, who knows.
Angling Times Supercup.
Hello once again.
As I have lost track with my blog I need to do some catching up, so firstly I will update on the Supercup.
Warrington AA Blue had qualified from round 1 and now had the home draw against Richmonds A team. We decided to fish on the Macclesfield Canal at Scholar Green. After several matches in the Spring League there it seemed like a fair venue and hopefully our canal skills would win through.
I had a good pleasure fishing seesion on the stretch before the match, catching some good fish on caster down the track, I personally felt the fishing would be good. However on match day it did not produce.
I was drawn against the Richmonds Captain in the last but one section of the match. My plan would be to start on bread, have a caster swim across and down the track as well as feeding some hemp over the breadline and past it up towards the far side for later on in the match.
I started on bread and caught some nice size roach right away, after I while I started to get the odd gudgeon, so I tried a grain of hemp. I had a bite straght away and I started catching nice roach again, this continued for about the first hour and I thought I might get a good weight. However a couple of boats went over the swim and I could not get the fish settled again. The caster line down the track was rubbish, which I was banking on after the practice session. I did manage the odd roach or two by fishing hemp in the shallow water close to some reeds, but it was nowhere near as good as at the first hour.
The canal did not fish well and some struggled to catch a pound, which was a shame. I weighed 4lb 6oz which easily won my section and it turned out the match, so I was pleased to get some pennies back. If the hemp line had carried on I could have had a really good weight. I think my inexperience showed through a little. Anyway the team won the match, only loosing 1 section. So its on to Woodlands Lakes at Thirsk for the semi final.
Woodlands Lakes.
I managed to fish 3 open matches in the run up to the semi final. The first match was a complete disaster I only caught 2 carp and a few silvers and managed to break the 13 metre and 4th section of my pole. The number 4 was easily fixed, but the 13 metre section was a write off. Luckily after the match I found one being sold on E Bay, so I ordered it.
The secton had not arrived by the time of the second match the following weekend, so I would be a bit limited on what I could fish. At least I could put some time in fishing the method. Before the draw the organisers asked if we wanted to fish on Swallow lake as a practice. This lake is one of the older lakes on the complex and is not usually included in the open matches. So we decided to give that a go. The lake has 2 islands in but not all pegs can reach the island. I could only fish up to 11.5 metres anyway, so it would be method fishing for me. I drew peg 13, in this case the island was about 20 metres away, so I set up a method feeder, a rig for skimmers at 11.5 metres, a 5 metre rig for meat and a margin rig. I started on the method casting as tight to the island as I could with groundbait to start with and a banded pellet on the hook. I caught a carp and a few skimmers, before bites tailed off, so I started fishing at 11.5 metres for skimmers with an expander on the hook. I caught a couple of small skimmers, then a bonus carp and after that it was back to the skimmers. Small fish were a problem so I used a 6 mm expander and the fish got slightly bigger with th odd one over a pound. Bites were pretty instant as soon as the rig settled and I just fed a few damp micros and a couple of pieces of corn each cast. The 5 metre line on meat only produced more skimmers, so I fished the last half an hour on the method again. I caught a couple more carp and weighed around 26lb, which was second on the lake, but sadly no money. The lake was won from peg 11, who fished against the island at 16 metres with meat to catch over 40lb. After the match the angler said that the older lakes suffered deaths to the carp over the cold winter, so the numbers of carp had been reduced compared to the other lakes.
For the 3rd match I was drawn on a corner peg on Wagtail. I planned to fish up against the boards at 13 metres with meat and go further along if needed, another 5 metre line and a margin rig into the corner. In the previous matches I had fished the margin swim feeding pellets and corn by thr pot ful and not getting any bites or indications of feeding fish. For this match my tactics were slightly different. I had read an aricle in Match Fishing magazine about feeding groundbait in the margins and fishing a visible bait over the top. The thinking behind it is that the groundbait lies on the bottom and atracts the fish to the swim and the only food they find is your rig. As the margins had not produced for me previously what did I have to loose. So I started on the method casting towards the boards, I got an early carp and a couple of skimmers, but it was slow going. The pole swim at 13 metres was not much better, again a carp early on and then some skimmers and roach. The 5 metre line was a bit better, but again only skimmers. With 2 hours left I potted in 2 pots of neat groundbait and left it for 20 minutes. I quick look saw no bites so another pot went in. After another 10 minutes I tried again, after a couple of minutes the float slid away and I struck into a good fish. Thankfully it did not tear off all over the place, but it did take a while to get it in, it was easily a double figure fish. Once that was in the net anther pot of groundbait went in and I started again. Another 20 minutes passed and I got another bite, again it was a good fish, after a similar fight to the last another double slightly smaller than the last was in the net. Following this I did manage another smaller fish from the margins. All the margin fish were caught on double corn. I weighed in just under 40lb, I think the lake was won with over 50lb. The groundbait tactic had boosted my confidence and I felt it definately made a difference.
This was the last practice before the semi, so we had to decide who would fish where. The competion rules allowed captains to place anglers on each lake, but there would be a draw for section pegs. After a bit of thought I felt I was based placed on one of the older lakes, as I did not think that I could compete if it was a bagging match. I felt more comfortable trying to get the odd carp on the method as well as going for the skimmers. So that was that and I ended up fishing Dragonfly on peg 20 (I think) The peg was opposite an island, but was quite wide. There was a small bay on the island opposite me which I thought might be a good holding area for the carp. The plan was similar to how I fished Swallow lake in the earlier practice.
Following the festival held in the week leading up to the match the fishing was a bit poor. I caught a carp and some skimmers on the method against the island and some more skimmers on pellet fishing at 13 metres. After having some success feeding groundbait in the margins I also fished this line too and caught a reasonable carp close to the end. This definately helped as I weighed in about 21lb for 5th in the section.
Once the results were in we found out that we got the last qualifying place as we tied on points but got through thanks to a section by Jake. Top stuff. The team were made up, but faced another 200 mile round trip to Tunnel Barn Farm.
As I have lost track with my blog I need to do some catching up, so firstly I will update on the Supercup.
Warrington AA Blue had qualified from round 1 and now had the home draw against Richmonds A team. We decided to fish on the Macclesfield Canal at Scholar Green. After several matches in the Spring League there it seemed like a fair venue and hopefully our canal skills would win through.
I had a good pleasure fishing seesion on the stretch before the match, catching some good fish on caster down the track, I personally felt the fishing would be good. However on match day it did not produce.
I was drawn against the Richmonds Captain in the last but one section of the match. My plan would be to start on bread, have a caster swim across and down the track as well as feeding some hemp over the breadline and past it up towards the far side for later on in the match.
I started on bread and caught some nice size roach right away, after I while I started to get the odd gudgeon, so I tried a grain of hemp. I had a bite straght away and I started catching nice roach again, this continued for about the first hour and I thought I might get a good weight. However a couple of boats went over the swim and I could not get the fish settled again. The caster line down the track was rubbish, which I was banking on after the practice session. I did manage the odd roach or two by fishing hemp in the shallow water close to some reeds, but it was nowhere near as good as at the first hour.
The canal did not fish well and some struggled to catch a pound, which was a shame. I weighed 4lb 6oz which easily won my section and it turned out the match, so I was pleased to get some pennies back. If the hemp line had carried on I could have had a really good weight. I think my inexperience showed through a little. Anyway the team won the match, only loosing 1 section. So its on to Woodlands Lakes at Thirsk for the semi final.
Woodlands Lakes.
I managed to fish 3 open matches in the run up to the semi final. The first match was a complete disaster I only caught 2 carp and a few silvers and managed to break the 13 metre and 4th section of my pole. The number 4 was easily fixed, but the 13 metre section was a write off. Luckily after the match I found one being sold on E Bay, so I ordered it.
The secton had not arrived by the time of the second match the following weekend, so I would be a bit limited on what I could fish. At least I could put some time in fishing the method. Before the draw the organisers asked if we wanted to fish on Swallow lake as a practice. This lake is one of the older lakes on the complex and is not usually included in the open matches. So we decided to give that a go. The lake has 2 islands in but not all pegs can reach the island. I could only fish up to 11.5 metres anyway, so it would be method fishing for me. I drew peg 13, in this case the island was about 20 metres away, so I set up a method feeder, a rig for skimmers at 11.5 metres, a 5 metre rig for meat and a margin rig. I started on the method casting as tight to the island as I could with groundbait to start with and a banded pellet on the hook. I caught a carp and a few skimmers, before bites tailed off, so I started fishing at 11.5 metres for skimmers with an expander on the hook. I caught a couple of small skimmers, then a bonus carp and after that it was back to the skimmers. Small fish were a problem so I used a 6 mm expander and the fish got slightly bigger with th odd one over a pound. Bites were pretty instant as soon as the rig settled and I just fed a few damp micros and a couple of pieces of corn each cast. The 5 metre line on meat only produced more skimmers, so I fished the last half an hour on the method again. I caught a couple more carp and weighed around 26lb, which was second on the lake, but sadly no money. The lake was won from peg 11, who fished against the island at 16 metres with meat to catch over 40lb. After the match the angler said that the older lakes suffered deaths to the carp over the cold winter, so the numbers of carp had been reduced compared to the other lakes.
For the 3rd match I was drawn on a corner peg on Wagtail. I planned to fish up against the boards at 13 metres with meat and go further along if needed, another 5 metre line and a margin rig into the corner. In the previous matches I had fished the margin swim feeding pellets and corn by thr pot ful and not getting any bites or indications of feeding fish. For this match my tactics were slightly different. I had read an aricle in Match Fishing magazine about feeding groundbait in the margins and fishing a visible bait over the top. The thinking behind it is that the groundbait lies on the bottom and atracts the fish to the swim and the only food they find is your rig. As the margins had not produced for me previously what did I have to loose. So I started on the method casting towards the boards, I got an early carp and a couple of skimmers, but it was slow going. The pole swim at 13 metres was not much better, again a carp early on and then some skimmers and roach. The 5 metre line was a bit better, but again only skimmers. With 2 hours left I potted in 2 pots of neat groundbait and left it for 20 minutes. I quick look saw no bites so another pot went in. After another 10 minutes I tried again, after a couple of minutes the float slid away and I struck into a good fish. Thankfully it did not tear off all over the place, but it did take a while to get it in, it was easily a double figure fish. Once that was in the net anther pot of groundbait went in and I started again. Another 20 minutes passed and I got another bite, again it was a good fish, after a similar fight to the last another double slightly smaller than the last was in the net. Following this I did manage another smaller fish from the margins. All the margin fish were caught on double corn. I weighed in just under 40lb, I think the lake was won with over 50lb. The groundbait tactic had boosted my confidence and I felt it definately made a difference.
This was the last practice before the semi, so we had to decide who would fish where. The competion rules allowed captains to place anglers on each lake, but there would be a draw for section pegs. After a bit of thought I felt I was based placed on one of the older lakes, as I did not think that I could compete if it was a bagging match. I felt more comfortable trying to get the odd carp on the method as well as going for the skimmers. So that was that and I ended up fishing Dragonfly on peg 20 (I think) The peg was opposite an island, but was quite wide. There was a small bay on the island opposite me which I thought might be a good holding area for the carp. The plan was similar to how I fished Swallow lake in the earlier practice.
Following the festival held in the week leading up to the match the fishing was a bit poor. I caught a carp and some skimmers on the method against the island and some more skimmers on pellet fishing at 13 metres. After having some success feeding groundbait in the margins I also fished this line too and caught a reasonable carp close to the end. This definately helped as I weighed in about 21lb for 5th in the section.
Once the results were in we found out that we got the last qualifying place as we tied on points but got through thanks to a section by Jake. Top stuff. The team were made up, but faced another 200 mile round trip to Tunnel Barn Farm.
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
April's Fishing
Hello once again.
April may seem a bit hectic, but as I write this May some of March's matches might have overlapped.
As a bit of a change I took my new barbel rod to Grey Mist in Warrington to try and catch a few tench. The warm weather at the beginning of April had started the tench feeding in earnest, with some anglers getting over 10 fish in a session. I have not fished Grey Mist since I was 16, so as you can imagine I did not manage any tench in my first visit, but it was a nice change. My second visit was a bit more productive. After some good advice from a fellow angler I set up in a swim on the left hand side of the lake in a small bay with the wind blowing towards and across my swim. I was told not to fish too far out using a groundbait feeder and a bunch of 4 or 5 maggots on the hook. I was fishing from around 5 pm and it only took fifteen minutes for my first fish, a tench around 5lb I guess. The rod seemed to perform well. After unwrapping it after it was delivered at 1-3/4lb test curve I thought it might be a liitle heavy handed, but it casts well and has a good action when the fish was hooked. Anyway review over. About 10 minutes after that I caught another about the same size. At this point I thought I might be in for a good session, but that was the last of the tench. I kicked myself afterwards for not taking any photos. My only 2 other bite after that were from Jack Pike, which was very strange. I did manage another session on Grey Mist. I fished a car park swim, with the wind blowing to opposite end it was no surprise that I blanked.
In between fishing at Grey Mist I fished a couple of matches in the Cheshire Angling Spring League. The first was on the Macclesfield Canal at Scholar Green. I have never fished this part of the canal before, so I just set up the usual bread punch, caster and a chopped worm/caster rig. This was one of the first warm days of the year which made a nice change. I ended up with just over 3lb made up of small skimmers and roach on bread and a few caster roach. I think nearly 10lb won the match.
Following this I fished another spring league match on the Trent and Mersey canal at Broken Cross near Northwich. I drew a peg close to the main road towards the end of the pegs being used. The peg was on a slight bend just before the road bridge, because of this the boats would need to manoueve close to the bank to line up to get under the bridge. As a result anywhere past about 8 metres was very shallow, I did settle on an area towards a moored boat at an angle to my left at 11.5 metres as a bread line at around 2.5 feet deep. Any further across was really too shallow, but I set up a caster rig anyway. My other line was at 6 metres where I fed casters with a bit of hemp. The bread line was ok, but the fish where quite small, so I started to loose faith in this line. I tried the caster swim at 6 metres and caught the odd roach. A couple of boats went over the line, but once the water had settled I could bite again. I kept plugging away and caught some nice roach in the end I weighed 5lb odd and the match was won with 14lb and a couple of doulbe figure nets followed that. It was a good match and I enjoyed catching some nice roach on caster.
As I have not been up-dating this blog very much lately I will group together reports rather than do each month and hopefully catch up with myself.
Tight lines.
April may seem a bit hectic, but as I write this May some of March's matches might have overlapped.
As a bit of a change I took my new barbel rod to Grey Mist in Warrington to try and catch a few tench. The warm weather at the beginning of April had started the tench feeding in earnest, with some anglers getting over 10 fish in a session. I have not fished Grey Mist since I was 16, so as you can imagine I did not manage any tench in my first visit, but it was a nice change. My second visit was a bit more productive. After some good advice from a fellow angler I set up in a swim on the left hand side of the lake in a small bay with the wind blowing towards and across my swim. I was told not to fish too far out using a groundbait feeder and a bunch of 4 or 5 maggots on the hook. I was fishing from around 5 pm and it only took fifteen minutes for my first fish, a tench around 5lb I guess. The rod seemed to perform well. After unwrapping it after it was delivered at 1-3/4lb test curve I thought it might be a liitle heavy handed, but it casts well and has a good action when the fish was hooked. Anyway review over. About 10 minutes after that I caught another about the same size. At this point I thought I might be in for a good session, but that was the last of the tench. I kicked myself afterwards for not taking any photos. My only 2 other bite after that were from Jack Pike, which was very strange. I did manage another session on Grey Mist. I fished a car park swim, with the wind blowing to opposite end it was no surprise that I blanked.
In between fishing at Grey Mist I fished a couple of matches in the Cheshire Angling Spring League. The first was on the Macclesfield Canal at Scholar Green. I have never fished this part of the canal before, so I just set up the usual bread punch, caster and a chopped worm/caster rig. This was one of the first warm days of the year which made a nice change. I ended up with just over 3lb made up of small skimmers and roach on bread and a few caster roach. I think nearly 10lb won the match.
Following this I fished another spring league match on the Trent and Mersey canal at Broken Cross near Northwich. I drew a peg close to the main road towards the end of the pegs being used. The peg was on a slight bend just before the road bridge, because of this the boats would need to manoueve close to the bank to line up to get under the bridge. As a result anywhere past about 8 metres was very shallow, I did settle on an area towards a moored boat at an angle to my left at 11.5 metres as a bread line at around 2.5 feet deep. Any further across was really too shallow, but I set up a caster rig anyway. My other line was at 6 metres where I fed casters with a bit of hemp. The bread line was ok, but the fish where quite small, so I started to loose faith in this line. I tried the caster swim at 6 metres and caught the odd roach. A couple of boats went over the line, but once the water had settled I could bite again. I kept plugging away and caught some nice roach in the end I weighed 5lb odd and the match was won with 14lb and a couple of doulbe figure nets followed that. It was a good match and I enjoyed catching some nice roach on caster.
As I have not been up-dating this blog very much lately I will group together reports rather than do each month and hopefully catch up with myself.
Tight lines.
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
March Fishing
Hello all.
Firstly I must apologise that I have not been keeping this blog up to date. As a result of this I am writing March's diary in May!!!
The first match was the 1st round of the Angling Times Supercup against POHAS at Meadow View. If I remember rightly I drew peg 11 or 12. The fishing was pretty much the same as the practice matches. I managed 1 carp, caught by fishing a slowly sinking pellet about 12 inches off bottom. Just dropping the rig in different areas to see if I got a bite. I also caught a few roach on maggot close in. I weighed 6lb odd which comfortably beat Jim Bates, who struggled next to me. In the end Warrington AA qualified winning 6 sections to 2. The match was won by Martin Griffiths WAA with just short of 30lb. He gave my dad a good battering!
Following this I fished an open match at Brookside. My recent fishing had been a bit disappointing, so I wanted to try somewhere where I would get a few bites. When I arrived I found out that the new lakes were being included for the first time and low and behold I drew on one of the new lakes. The match was an absolute disaster. I only caught 2 fish and lost a couple. Not many fish were caught and there was no way of competing with the older lakes. This really dented my enthusiasm, it was the first time that I had felt ripped off in a match, knowing that it would not be my ability that would affect the result, but the fact that the pools were totally different to the older lakes. In defence of the venue I believe the sport has picked up since. So just my luck to fish it on a bad day.
After this I decided that matches would not be the be all and end all of my fishing. I started to think about fishing rivers for barbel in the summer, as a change. So I went and ordered a Fox barbel rod from E-Bay. I just need to get some terminal tackle together and I will be ready for a few sessions on the rivers. This way I won't mind so much if I don't catch much and by taking that pressure off I hope I will enjoy matches more.
After Brookside I did not fish for a couple of weeks, so I went into April a little refreshed.
Tight Lines.
Firstly I must apologise that I have not been keeping this blog up to date. As a result of this I am writing March's diary in May!!!
The first match was the 1st round of the Angling Times Supercup against POHAS at Meadow View. If I remember rightly I drew peg 11 or 12. The fishing was pretty much the same as the practice matches. I managed 1 carp, caught by fishing a slowly sinking pellet about 12 inches off bottom. Just dropping the rig in different areas to see if I got a bite. I also caught a few roach on maggot close in. I weighed 6lb odd which comfortably beat Jim Bates, who struggled next to me. In the end Warrington AA qualified winning 6 sections to 2. The match was won by Martin Griffiths WAA with just short of 30lb. He gave my dad a good battering!
Following this I fished an open match at Brookside. My recent fishing had been a bit disappointing, so I wanted to try somewhere where I would get a few bites. When I arrived I found out that the new lakes were being included for the first time and low and behold I drew on one of the new lakes. The match was an absolute disaster. I only caught 2 fish and lost a couple. Not many fish were caught and there was no way of competing with the older lakes. This really dented my enthusiasm, it was the first time that I had felt ripped off in a match, knowing that it would not be my ability that would affect the result, but the fact that the pools were totally different to the older lakes. In defence of the venue I believe the sport has picked up since. So just my luck to fish it on a bad day.
After this I decided that matches would not be the be all and end all of my fishing. I started to think about fishing rivers for barbel in the summer, as a change. So I went and ordered a Fox barbel rod from E-Bay. I just need to get some terminal tackle together and I will be ready for a few sessions on the rivers. This way I won't mind so much if I don't catch much and by taking that pressure off I hope I will enjoy matches more.
After Brookside I did not fish for a couple of weeks, so I went into April a little refreshed.
Tight Lines.
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
February update.
Hello once again.
Most of my fishing in February was geared towards the 1st round of the Supercup against POHAS at Meadow View on Linnet pool.
WAA had booked 2 practice sessions before the match and I also managed to fish myself one Sunday, prior to the practice matches. The day I fished it was a little windy and there was some rain about. This limited the pole fishing to 11.5 metres, where I fished with pellets and corn, hopefully for carp and I also set up a light maggot rig for fishing at the bottom of the near shelf at 5 sections of pole. I fed the carp line with a few pellets and pieces of corn and then a handful of maggots at 5 metres. I started fishing on the carp line and had no bites for 2o mins, so I moved to the maggot rig. Sods law dictated that after a couple of minutes I hooked a carp, which eventually broke me. After that I could catch roach more less each put in, but they were small fish. I did manage 3 carp on the longer line, which were caught towards the end of the session on either pellet or corn. My main findings were that a different bait would be required to try and sort out the bigger silver fish, casters would probably be the best bet.
The first practice match had me drawn on peg 16 I think, which is towards the corner on the car park bank. The weather was calmer than previous, but the wind was cold and blowing into the end of the lake that I was fishing. My set up was the same as before, however I could fish further out, so I settled on 13 metres, with an option to go to 14.5 if the fish backed off. The 5 metre line was fished the same except chopped worm and caster would be fed at the start and loose fed casters over the top. Sticking to trend of carp fisheries I started on the 13 metre line with corn on the hook. To my disappointment I bumped a carp after 5 mins. No more bites materialised so I started on the close in line with red maggot on the hook. I caught a couple of roach, which were noticeably bigger than those caught previously on maggot. Then I hit a bigger fish, which I thought might be another carp, after a short fight a chub about a 1lb or so surfaced, a nice bonus. I continued to catch on this line including a roach and perch close to a pound each. I think the cold wind put pay to any carp in my peg as I could not get any more bites fishing pellet or corn. In the end I weighed just short of 8lb, which was fourth and the only weight in the top six not to include carp. I seemed to have found a reliable method for catching the better stamp silver fish, pot luck for the carp though. As with many commercials if the carp are not in your peg then they are unlikely to move around in cold weather.
Most of my fishing in February was geared towards the 1st round of the Supercup against POHAS at Meadow View on Linnet pool.
WAA had booked 2 practice sessions before the match and I also managed to fish myself one Sunday, prior to the practice matches. The day I fished it was a little windy and there was some rain about. This limited the pole fishing to 11.5 metres, where I fished with pellets and corn, hopefully for carp and I also set up a light maggot rig for fishing at the bottom of the near shelf at 5 sections of pole. I fed the carp line with a few pellets and pieces of corn and then a handful of maggots at 5 metres. I started fishing on the carp line and had no bites for 2o mins, so I moved to the maggot rig. Sods law dictated that after a couple of minutes I hooked a carp, which eventually broke me. After that I could catch roach more less each put in, but they were small fish. I did manage 3 carp on the longer line, which were caught towards the end of the session on either pellet or corn. My main findings were that a different bait would be required to try and sort out the bigger silver fish, casters would probably be the best bet.
The first practice match had me drawn on peg 16 I think, which is towards the corner on the car park bank. The weather was calmer than previous, but the wind was cold and blowing into the end of the lake that I was fishing. My set up was the same as before, however I could fish further out, so I settled on 13 metres, with an option to go to 14.5 if the fish backed off. The 5 metre line was fished the same except chopped worm and caster would be fed at the start and loose fed casters over the top. Sticking to trend of carp fisheries I started on the 13 metre line with corn on the hook. To my disappointment I bumped a carp after 5 mins. No more bites materialised so I started on the close in line with red maggot on the hook. I caught a couple of roach, which were noticeably bigger than those caught previously on maggot. Then I hit a bigger fish, which I thought might be another carp, after a short fight a chub about a 1lb or so surfaced, a nice bonus. I continued to catch on this line including a roach and perch close to a pound each. I think the cold wind put pay to any carp in my peg as I could not get any more bites fishing pellet or corn. In the end I weighed just short of 8lb, which was fourth and the only weight in the top six not to include carp. I seemed to have found a reliable method for catching the better stamp silver fish, pot luck for the carp though. As with many commercials if the carp are not in your peg then they are unlikely to move around in cold weather.
The second practice match was fished in a similar manner to the first, the weather was a little warmer, however the water looked clearer than previous. In this match I did manage to catch 1 small carp and did loose a couple of foul hooked fish. Once again I did manage some roach on the short line. It was made a bit difficult due to the clear water. After catching a couple of fish, they would back off, this pattern would repeat itself through the match. It was just a case of swapping lines to catch what you could. I did not catch as many stamp fish this time and weighed 7lb, which was equal 3rd. It seems that to do well in the supercup match you have to a least catch one carp and back it up with the silver fish. Luck will play a big part as to whether you get carp or not.
The last match for February was fished on the Trent and Mersey Canal at Middlewich town centre. There had been good weights of roach and skimmers in previous matches. Once again the weather had an affect on the fishing. There was heavy rain the day before and the wind was gusting quite strong. My peg was opposite a line of moored boats, so it looked promising. I set up the usual breadpunch, caster and chopped worm rigs. All of my fished were caught on bread fishing a line close to the boats. All I could catch were small roach and gudgeon. There was nothing doing on caster or chopped worm.The better stamp fish that had been along these pegs had simply moved away. The section of canal we were fishing is between 2 large locks and the fish were caught at the other end in this match. Typical. There were some skimmers caught to my right in more open water pegs. From were I was it was a race to catch the small fish. I weighed just under 3lb which was only good enough to beat a couple in my section. At least there were plenty of bites, so it could have been worse. The match was won with over 11lb of roach, which is a great weight from a canal.
That covers my fishing in February. I was hoping to have a trip to the River Severn at Stourport before the river season finished, but after posting on the internet forums it seems the cormorants have had their dinner there too. So after seeing what has happened at Shrewsbury I decided that I was probably going to be a wasted journey. Such a pity, hopefully the river will recover soon.
Tight lines.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
January Update
Hello all.
Managed to do a bit more fishing in January than in December, but not by much!!!
The River Severn Classic final was postponed again due to high river levels, but eventually the final went ahead on the 29th Jan. On the day 33 of the 39 qualifiers turned up and where greeted to river in good nick. The level and pace was fine, although the water was clear and apparently the water temperature was low. Once again I drew on the Quarry section on peg 86, which was also the end peg for the match. This made me think that I should at least catch something.
Unfortunately the fishing has not improved since Christmas and another difficult match was on the cards. Following the last qualifier match I knew that I was most likely to catch on the chopped worm feeder. So this was set up along with a 3grm bolo rig for down the middle and an 8 No. 4 stick for close in. The peg was comfortable, but there was no cover on the inside, so the stick float looked like being grim. The match plan was similar to before, each of the float lines was fed at the start with maggots and hemp, and I started on the chopped worm feeder, with worm and crushed casters in the feeder capped with a little groundbait.
After half an hour without a bite I tried the bolo rig, once again nothing happened. At this point I knew I would be lucky to catch at all. Due to the clear water, most anglers were trying to snare a chub on the bread feeder, a method I had overlooked. Having said that you needed to be on a peg that had previous chub form. Usually you would expect to catch anything on the worm. Anyway after a relatively quick 5 hours I ended with a blank. I was very disappointed, especially having got to the final and knowing that with the fishing being so difficult it would be anybodies match to win. I did miss a bite on the worm whilst I was tackling down the stick float rig due to boredom. The actual match result would show how costly that was.
Out of the 33 anglers fishing only 3 actually caught anything. 1st place was 6lb odd made up of 2 chub. 2nd place was a single chub for 3lb. All caught on breadflake. 3rd place was 8oz of small roach and dace on the stick float close in, and that was that. In the pub a few people had lost fish and missed bites, so I was not alone, some were more gutted than others. Therefore the organisers had to draw out 4th place and the section prizes from a hat. I could not even win anything there either. Never mind.
I felt sorry for the organisers and the controlling club. The matches were well run and had great support from the sponsors, so a big thank you has to go to Andy and his team at Total Angling in Shrewsbury and also to all the anglers who entered the series. I don't think anyone expected the river to fish as badly as it did. The Severn in Shrewsbury town centre appears to be devoid of any numbers of silver fish. 12 months ago 10lb plus was winning matches, now it is next nothing. Apparently the weights overall have declined steadily over recent years. A lot of blame has been put at the door of cormorants and goosander, but surely they could not have eaten everything. There must be other factors that anglers are not aware of yet. Its a great shame to see a river decline so rapidly, although it has happened on the Trent which has recovered to some degree of late. So hopefully the blip will not last long. It is not just the river that has suffered, low catches discourages anglers from fishing. So the controlling clubs, tackle shops, local pubs, hotels and shops all suffer if the number of visitors declines. Shrewsbury is a lovely place to visit, but for now it might be best to leave your rods at home, unless you want to try for the barbel in the summertime.
The day after the final I fished on the River Mersey (I had plenty of bait left) I fished a peg on Kingsway, just downstream from Paddington Bank. I set up the same bolo rig as the day before and a small feeder rig with casters and a bit of groundbait. I have fished this area before and have had some good sessions, however in this case I might as well have gone back to the Severn. I had no bites on the feeder. After 2 hours of feeding a few maggots and hemp for the bolo swim I had a bite which resulted in a lovely roach between 8-10oz, but that was it. In common with the Severn I did see a few Cormorants flying about, at one point there was a group of 6 birds flying overhead. If the effect that has been seen on the Severn is anything to go by I really do worry about what state our Rivers will be in over the next few years without some sort of control measures being put in place. It really is annoying that this problem has been widely recognised for over 20 years, but with very little action being taken from angling bodies and the government. Anyway rant over with.
I will finish on a fishing note. Prior to the River Severn final, the weather finally warmed up enough for the lakes and canals to thaw which allowed the delayed POHAS Fur and Feather match to take place on Meadow View in Lymm. This match was fished on Linnet pool which holds 24 pegs. The weather was still very cold and the aerators had to be used to keep the pool ice free. I drew on permanent peg 7 which seemed OK enough. However it turned into a grueller, the cold had made the carp reluctant to move about, so they were only caught on certain pegs and mine was not one of them. I managed to catch a few roach on maggot, but I was a bit dis heartened by the whole thing so I did not bother to weigh in. Over 46lb won including near 16lb fish. After that a couple of people caught the odd carp, so backing weights were not that good. Blame it on the weather I suppose.
February will involve practising for the Supercup competition. In one of life's little ironies I had decided to fish with Warrington Anglers who have actually drawn away to POHAS, so if selected for the match I will be fishing against my clubmates. This match will be fished on Linnet at Meadow View. Hopefully the weather will warm up to encourage the carp to feed a bit more and I will also have to find a way of catching good numbers of roach. Otherwise I will try to fish as much as possible in the coming weeks.
Tight lines.
Managed to do a bit more fishing in January than in December, but not by much!!!
The River Severn Classic final was postponed again due to high river levels, but eventually the final went ahead on the 29th Jan. On the day 33 of the 39 qualifiers turned up and where greeted to river in good nick. The level and pace was fine, although the water was clear and apparently the water temperature was low. Once again I drew on the Quarry section on peg 86, which was also the end peg for the match. This made me think that I should at least catch something.
Unfortunately the fishing has not improved since Christmas and another difficult match was on the cards. Following the last qualifier match I knew that I was most likely to catch on the chopped worm feeder. So this was set up along with a 3grm bolo rig for down the middle and an 8 No. 4 stick for close in. The peg was comfortable, but there was no cover on the inside, so the stick float looked like being grim. The match plan was similar to before, each of the float lines was fed at the start with maggots and hemp, and I started on the chopped worm feeder, with worm and crushed casters in the feeder capped with a little groundbait.
After half an hour without a bite I tried the bolo rig, once again nothing happened. At this point I knew I would be lucky to catch at all. Due to the clear water, most anglers were trying to snare a chub on the bread feeder, a method I had overlooked. Having said that you needed to be on a peg that had previous chub form. Usually you would expect to catch anything on the worm. Anyway after a relatively quick 5 hours I ended with a blank. I was very disappointed, especially having got to the final and knowing that with the fishing being so difficult it would be anybodies match to win. I did miss a bite on the worm whilst I was tackling down the stick float rig due to boredom. The actual match result would show how costly that was.
Out of the 33 anglers fishing only 3 actually caught anything. 1st place was 6lb odd made up of 2 chub. 2nd place was a single chub for 3lb. All caught on breadflake. 3rd place was 8oz of small roach and dace on the stick float close in, and that was that. In the pub a few people had lost fish and missed bites, so I was not alone, some were more gutted than others. Therefore the organisers had to draw out 4th place and the section prizes from a hat. I could not even win anything there either. Never mind.
I felt sorry for the organisers and the controlling club. The matches were well run and had great support from the sponsors, so a big thank you has to go to Andy and his team at Total Angling in Shrewsbury and also to all the anglers who entered the series. I don't think anyone expected the river to fish as badly as it did. The Severn in Shrewsbury town centre appears to be devoid of any numbers of silver fish. 12 months ago 10lb plus was winning matches, now it is next nothing. Apparently the weights overall have declined steadily over recent years. A lot of blame has been put at the door of cormorants and goosander, but surely they could not have eaten everything. There must be other factors that anglers are not aware of yet. Its a great shame to see a river decline so rapidly, although it has happened on the Trent which has recovered to some degree of late. So hopefully the blip will not last long. It is not just the river that has suffered, low catches discourages anglers from fishing. So the controlling clubs, tackle shops, local pubs, hotels and shops all suffer if the number of visitors declines. Shrewsbury is a lovely place to visit, but for now it might be best to leave your rods at home, unless you want to try for the barbel in the summertime.
The day after the final I fished on the River Mersey (I had plenty of bait left) I fished a peg on Kingsway, just downstream from Paddington Bank. I set up the same bolo rig as the day before and a small feeder rig with casters and a bit of groundbait. I have fished this area before and have had some good sessions, however in this case I might as well have gone back to the Severn. I had no bites on the feeder. After 2 hours of feeding a few maggots and hemp for the bolo swim I had a bite which resulted in a lovely roach between 8-10oz, but that was it. In common with the Severn I did see a few Cormorants flying about, at one point there was a group of 6 birds flying overhead. If the effect that has been seen on the Severn is anything to go by I really do worry about what state our Rivers will be in over the next few years without some sort of control measures being put in place. It really is annoying that this problem has been widely recognised for over 20 years, but with very little action being taken from angling bodies and the government. Anyway rant over with.
I will finish on a fishing note. Prior to the River Severn final, the weather finally warmed up enough for the lakes and canals to thaw which allowed the delayed POHAS Fur and Feather match to take place on Meadow View in Lymm. This match was fished on Linnet pool which holds 24 pegs. The weather was still very cold and the aerators had to be used to keep the pool ice free. I drew on permanent peg 7 which seemed OK enough. However it turned into a grueller, the cold had made the carp reluctant to move about, so they were only caught on certain pegs and mine was not one of them. I managed to catch a few roach on maggot, but I was a bit dis heartened by the whole thing so I did not bother to weigh in. Over 46lb won including near 16lb fish. After that a couple of people caught the odd carp, so backing weights were not that good. Blame it on the weather I suppose.
February will involve practising for the Supercup competition. In one of life's little ironies I had decided to fish with Warrington Anglers who have actually drawn away to POHAS, so if selected for the match I will be fishing against my clubmates. This match will be fished on Linnet at Meadow View. Hopefully the weather will warm up to encourage the carp to feed a bit more and I will also have to find a way of catching good numbers of roach. Otherwise I will try to fish as much as possible in the coming weeks.
Tight lines.
Saturday, 8 January 2011
December Update
Hello once again.
Firstly a very Happy New Year to all, and I hope that anyone who reads this blog had a good Christmas.
Since fishing the final River Severn qualifier I have not been fishing either as a pleasure session or in any matches. As many people are aware the weather in this part of the UK has been particularly cold and a decent amount of snow had fallen in mid December. This has resulted in still waters and canals freezing over and rivers becoming very iffy.
I must admit this has coincided with a loss of interest and motivation from myself, so I have been reluctant to go out fishing in the knowledge that it would be a struggle. Maybe it has been the difficulties of the River Severn matches that has dampened my spirits slightly. As I write this today, no canal or still water in the area has thawed out yet and river levels are constantly up and down either due to a thaw or rain.
The River Severn Classic final is due to take place next Saturday (15th Jan), so hopefully the river levels will be good and the weather will have warmed up slightly. I have no idea if the fishing has improved at all.
Anyway I suppose with it being the New Year it is a time for planning the next years adventures and targets. I am thinking of giving Fish o mania a miss this time. Although I would enjoy a day out to different venues, the chances of getting the tickets you want are slim and I am not at a standard high enough to realistically compete. That may just be down to confidence, which has taken a bit of a battering lately.
My thoughts at the moment are to fish the matches on the Mersey until the end of the River season and then move onto a local commercial for a while. Later in the year thoughts will return to the Division 1 National which is on the New Junction Canal near Doncaster. I would like to get as much practice in as possible, as I have never fished a deep canal before. Suppose it might be similar to the River Weaver. All in all I have to start thinking a little more positively and concentrate on methods I am comfortable with rather than trying different things.
So for the remainder of January I have the River Severn final and the postponed POHAS Fur and Feather match to look forward to. Then on to the Mersey I think.
Tight Lines.
Firstly a very Happy New Year to all, and I hope that anyone who reads this blog had a good Christmas.
Since fishing the final River Severn qualifier I have not been fishing either as a pleasure session or in any matches. As many people are aware the weather in this part of the UK has been particularly cold and a decent amount of snow had fallen in mid December. This has resulted in still waters and canals freezing over and rivers becoming very iffy.
I must admit this has coincided with a loss of interest and motivation from myself, so I have been reluctant to go out fishing in the knowledge that it would be a struggle. Maybe it has been the difficulties of the River Severn matches that has dampened my spirits slightly. As I write this today, no canal or still water in the area has thawed out yet and river levels are constantly up and down either due to a thaw or rain.
The River Severn Classic final is due to take place next Saturday (15th Jan), so hopefully the river levels will be good and the weather will have warmed up slightly. I have no idea if the fishing has improved at all.
Anyway I suppose with it being the New Year it is a time for planning the next years adventures and targets. I am thinking of giving Fish o mania a miss this time. Although I would enjoy a day out to different venues, the chances of getting the tickets you want are slim and I am not at a standard high enough to realistically compete. That may just be down to confidence, which has taken a bit of a battering lately.
My thoughts at the moment are to fish the matches on the Mersey until the end of the River season and then move onto a local commercial for a while. Later in the year thoughts will return to the Division 1 National which is on the New Junction Canal near Doncaster. I would like to get as much practice in as possible, as I have never fished a deep canal before. Suppose it might be similar to the River Weaver. All in all I have to start thinking a little more positively and concentrate on methods I am comfortable with rather than trying different things.
So for the remainder of January I have the River Severn final and the postponed POHAS Fur and Feather match to look forward to. Then on to the Mersey I think.
Tight Lines.
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