Following last years relegation from Division 1 on the River Trent Warrington AA were once again faced with a match on the Trent this time fishing sections from Nottingham up to Newark. At least there were no sections on the tidal river when I suffered a really bad match last year fishing at South Clifton, and scored only 2 points. The rest of the team did not fair well either and the team were relegated. Not a good feeling.
I was hoping to be able to have some time to practice this year, but my work schedule during July and August had me working away from home a lot and just could not spare time or deal with the long journey especially after working in Scotland. I needed to rest at weekends. God help me when I get older.
Prior to the match only a couple of people had managed to practice and have a look at the river. We were able to come up with a loose plan and were aware of which sections were good and bad. In the run up to the match the weather had been steady with no significant rain so we knew that in the main big fish like barbel and bream would be less likely to feed, as they prefer coloured water and an increase in river flow. So our plan was mainly centred around catching the smaller fish on pole or float tactics.
Come the big day my draw gave me A section peg 18 at Clifton just by the main bypass into Nottingham, generally a shallow faster paced section with the possibility of barbel. This was only a short drive from the draw HQ so I had plenty of time to get ready. Firstly big thanks to the controlling club, Nottingham Federation. All the pegs featured steps down to either a concreted area and platform or a platform. From the pictures below of my peg it would put many commercial fisheries to shame. Added to this the bonus of being able to park behind your peg made it a fantastic experience. Its a wonder why anglers are drifting away from rivers when clubs put this much effort in.
First picture of peg number (permanent peg 16 out of shot), second view across to far bank and third from top of steps leading to peg.
After looking at my peg the water was very clear, and I can say that the clarity of water is similar to the Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour. On this day there was no algae or sediment to colour the water. When the sun came out I could see the bottom were I would be fishing the pole and stick float. My main plan was to float fish. I set up a stick float for close in, waggler for further out and 2 pole rigs, one for chopped worm and the other at 6 sections to fish over some groundbait. I set up a feeder rod in case it went really bad.
From our team meeting we knew there were plenty of perch to be caught close to near bank cover and lots of small dace and roach on the stick or waggler.
On my peg there were nearside grasses and reeds close in and a bank of underwater weed however it was only about 3 foot deep and little actual flow, so I was not sure how good this would be. Anyway I fished this with a 4x14 dibber to fish a piece of worm over chopped worm and caster. At 6 sections of pole I found about 5 feet with a nice steady pace. Here I fished a 1 gram float over the same groundbait mix I use on the River Mersey, and due to the flow I also loose fed caster and hemp over the top. This is were I also set up a small stick float so that I could run on the same line down past the range of the pole. On the waggler the water was a bit deeper at around 7 feet. I fed maggot and hemp here. My feeder set up was a 50 gram Kamasan blackcap feeder and 18 hook for double hook maggot.
At the all in I placed 2 bait droppers of worm and caster down the peg close to near bank weed. Threw 5 balls of groundbait at 6 sections and fed maggots and hemp for the waggler. While that lot settled down I fished the feeder for about half an hour, caster and hemp in the feeder with double maggot on the hook. Worryingly I did not have any bites on the feeder, I expected a couple of small fish rattles at least. I then moved on to the chopped worm line and caught 6 quick perch, although small at least I had caught. After an hour I tried the pole rig at 6 sections. I caught a couple of dace but missed a lot of quick bites. In hindsight I should have fished a heavier rig to help with control and slow the bait down a bit. I also thought that the fish may not have settled properly on this line, so with the clear water in mind I changed to the waggler. It some became clear that I need more practice on this type of fishing, especially in faster water. I did catch a few dace on this but also missed a lot of bites and suffered some bad tangles. Bad angling.
So I came back to the inside line this time fishing the stick float. This was a lot more consistent and I managed to catch dace and a couple of roach for the remainder of the match. I did miss a lot of quick bites and suffered from people standing behind me at times spooking the fish in the clear water. I also caught a few more perch close in before the end, but this line was not great.
The all out came too soon and my 36 fish total gave me 2 kilos 250 grams. This was average in the section. There were a lot of 2 kilo weights and I was at the low end of 2 kilos. Over 3 kilos would have been really good points. Anyway I earned 12 points out of 27 for the team, so just below half way in the section. Back at HQ and we had not performed any better than last year finishing 26th out of 27 teams. We suffered 2 blanks and only had 2 of the team getting into the top 10 of their sections.
Its been said before, hindsight is the best angler in the world. The team did not practice so were not used to the river and tactics required. It was clear during my match that my wagglers were not heavy enough and my skills at waggler fishing need more work on. I should have maybe fished the pole at 6 sections instead of the stick float feeding more groundbait to concentrate the fish further up the peg. These are the things you only find out by practicing at some form or other. Finding out on the day that your gear is not up to scratch is not good enough.
Once the results were read out, to gain promotion by finishing in the top 10 we needed to average a top 10-12 finish in the section. With some practice I feel we could have done that. But that's my opinion. Next years match is on the Birmingham Fazeley Canal, so should suit us more. Having said that if we don't practice enough we will come found wanting again.
Finally must thank Jeff Stoll team captain, and all the others in team for fishing the match. Warrington AA for their continued support and funding our participation. Angling Trust for their organisation and to all the clubs who provided their waters for us to fish and stewards to run it.
On to next year.
Tight lines.
