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.