Once again Team POHAS had entered a team into the Heronbrook Spring league, so a cheeky practice trip was in order. Luckily several other team members made the trip as well so would be good to compare notes afterwards.
My draw put me on peg 24 on Bridge Pool which is a pool I have not fished before. From last years league this lake was a bit hit and miss. In the year since the previous spring there have been some changes at Heronbrook to the pegging of some lakes and especially to Island pool. My peg was in the middle of a straight at behind the end of Island Pool. I was told after the draw that this was a good area, so hopefully the locals were right.
The peg is roughly 14 metres wide with grasses and rushes along the far bank as well as a tree with branches extending into the water slightly to the right of the peg. With a gap of 2 pegs either side there were plenty of options and must admit it looked good for a few fish.
As Heronbrook is more of a mixed fishery with the chance of catching Carp, Barbel F1's and silvers the rigs have to take all this into account. Based on this I had already re-tied the rigs I use with heavier line and made up some more hooklengths. Due to the room allowed I also set up a short tip rod for trying popped up bread down towards the corner pegs to my left which were empty. Pole rigs would to cover fishing close to the tree and the far bank with pellet or corn, a bread dobbing rig and maggot rig for down the track. Plumbing up revealed a nice flat spot by the tree just under 4ft. Across to the far bank was a little shallower at 3ft, so 1 rig (4x12 Malman Benny)could cover that. Bread dobbing rig was set 6 inches shallower than the far bank swim using a 4x12 Garbolino DC12H. The maggot rig was a 4x14 Chianti for fishing at 6 sections which was just over 5ft deep.
I was a bit late starting the match so I hastily cast out 2 10mm discs of bread down the corner whilst seeing how the others around me were doing. On the second cast I got a bite and landed a Common Carp about 3lb. By this time the angler to my right had started catching a few by fishing across with pellet. After one more cast on the bread I switched to the pole with bread using a 7mm punch against the far bank grasses. First fish was a roach and then a nice Mirror Carp about 7lb (see picture)
Not a bad start. I only managed another F1 on bread so I moved to the swim close to the tree. I started with a 4mm pellet on the hook feeding a few micro's and 2 pieces of corn. Thinking that the corn might hold some bigger fish in the peg. After a few seconds I caught an F1 and after that bites were very frequent. I kept the feeding the same making sure the feed and rig were put in the same place and carried on catching F1's and small carp quite regularly. I did switch to corn pretty early on as I was hoping to catch a larger stamp of fish and hopefully a few more bigger carp. This sort of worked as the F1's started to get bigger, but the biggest carp I could manage was around 3-4lb. Then with about 2 hours of the match this line completely died, from getting bites pretty quickly I was left scratching my head. I tried the same tactic at 14 metres which brought a couple more fish, but again it took a while to get a bite. Into the last hour I tried the maggot line. Similar to Tunnel Barn the first few fish were roach and perch and after feeding a kinder pot of maggots each cast I caught 3 F1's on the bounce and thought here we go, but again this line seemed to die off, with only another F1 added. So the last 2 hours petered out a bit. Meanwhile I must admit the anglers either side of me never really stopped catching. I ended the match with 36 F1's and Carp with a few silvers for 68lb 14oz. The guy to my right weighed 105lb and the angler to the left caught 141lb. So a good match and a good battering as well!!! Have to say it was an enjoyable day despite ending up quite far behind those around me. Looking at the website I have won the section, which must be by triple default. Only hope they have kept the envelope for me??????
The others had mixed days. Lee Clarke finished with 54lb off peg 30 on Bridge. Jon Green managed a low double figure weight form peg 27 on Meadow, and unfortunately Neil Pritchard blanked on peg 2 on the Match Lake.
After the match we were impressed by the weights off Bridge Pool, Island was a bit of a struggle for most and Meadow and Match Lake were mixed. Hopefully the weather will get warmer as the league continues and the fishing should only get better. So here's hoping the team enjoy some good days with good catches for everyone.
Got another double header on the weekend coming with a light hearted practice match for the inter club Dogs Bollocks match on Covey 6 on Partridge Lakes. Followed by the first match on the Heronbrook Spring league on Sunday. Will be tired, but can't wait.
Tight lines.
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