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.

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.

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.

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.