Division 2 National.

Hi all.

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.

River season begins again.

Hi all.

As per normal I have left it a while since updating my blog. I will start with some river trips.

At the start of the River season I began fishing the matches on the River Mersey again. On the first Sunday of the season I fished the Warrington AA match at Victoria Park. I drew peg 21 and decided to fish a pole match. There was not much colour or flow in the river, so I set up to bulk and dropper rigs and 1 rig with strung out shots for catching on the drop. As usual I don't tend to fish any further than 11 metres out. I mixed up my usual groundbait mix of 1 part Sensas Lake, 1 part Sensas Noir and 1 part dark leam. I mix the groundbait as normal and add the leam afterwards and check it holds together enough. If not, very carefully add some water, but too much will ruin it very quickly. I then separate enough of the mix to make 5-6 balls into another bowl. To this I add a pot of casters and a pot of hemp and make 5 balls to cup in. I dare not throw them in case I break the pole or more likely be inaccurate. The leam adds weight to help get the bait down in the flow and depth, but will also break the balls up quickly once on bottom.

In the past I used to have an half to an hour on the feeder whilst the pole line settled but I found last season that you could start catching pretty quickly by fishing straight away so this is what I did. Also last year I found that loose feeding over the top did not help much. If bites slowed down I would cup another smaller ball in and usually the fish came back again.

In this match I caught mainly perch and some small roach on maggot. Not many fish were caught on caster, and after 21/2 hours the peg died off and the rest of the match found bites hard to come by. Topping up did not help either. I weighed 5lb 11oz for 3rd in the match. So a nice start to the season. After the match most others had the same experience good early on then poor afterwards.

My following matches on the river were not very productive, drawing on deep water pegs which were bream or bust, I bust. They have been some good weights with bream but not everyone gets them so its not been great. So far in comparison the weights on the pole seem to be lower than previous years and the roach have been smaller. I have been catching the same amount of fish for 5lb that would have caught over 10lb in the past. However the matches I have fished have been early summer and it should pick up around Aug/Sep until Christmas.

2 pegs on Mersey which have been bream or bust. I bust.....

So far I have only managed 1 trip to the River Severn where I fished at Emstrey. The river was low and clear and despite seeing barbel rolling where I was fishing I blanked. A bit disappointing but nice to be on the river again. Hopefully will go again before the weather turns cold, but will need some rain to add colour and flow to encourage the barbel to feed more freely.

River Severn at Emstrey, feeder with groundbait and pellet cast to far bank trees.

During the annual POHAS Jolly boys trip this I managed my first trip to the River Wye near Hereford with my dad and Phil Clare.

After visiting Woodys Tackle shop in Hereford for day tickets and advice we set off to the river. Of the several spots we were advised to try one was taken so a walk further downstream so me settle on a peg below some fast shallow water which was still close in and the main flow flow was just short of mid river. I thought that by casting to the edge of the faster flowing water would see me catch some chub and barbel. It was a very hot still day so it could be difficult. Apart from seeing a monster perch close to the bank stalking minnows I had no bites. After a couple of hours the local bailiff told me to move a little upstream and fish right in the fast shallow water below a riffle. Local knowledge works and I managed 7 chub and 2 barbel fishing a groundbait feeder packed with groundbait, pellets and hemp with a hair rigged pellet for hookbait. Unfortunately my dad and Phil struggled to catch any big fish fishing a bit further downstream in steadier water. Without the bailiffs help I probably would have struggled to catch. Needless to say the guys in the tackle shop and on the bank know their stuff and are really helpful to anyone visiting the area. Will be good to have another go sometime.

Barbel and Chub from River Wye. Bottom picture view across River, bailiff told me to cast just past the fast water.

At present that's been about it for my River fishing so far. Hopefully I will get back on the Mersey again and have some trips to the Severn.

Tight lines. 

Heronbrook Spring League Round 1

Hi all.

1st round of the Heronbrook Spring League took place on 15th Feb.
Team made up of myself, Neil Pritchard, Alan Lamb, and Jonathan Green.

I was drawn on Meadow pool peg 23. This peg had not much previous form, so did not quite know what to expect. The weather was relatively calm, but still a bit cold. Mainly fished similar tactics to Partridge, maggot down middle and going up the far shelf as well as bread across. I found around 3ft at 13 metres, so started there on maggot whilst potting in some maggots in the deepest water around 6 metres.

Unbelievably (or maybe not), I lost 7 good fish on maggot either they were fool hooked or the fish were too powerful for my rig and broke the hooklengths. These fish were good carp and too strong for the light gear. I did switch over to white hydro and managed to net a couple to settle me down a bit. Bites slowed in this area, so tried the deep water at the bottom of the far shelf at 11 metres after potting in 4 maggots I started to regularly catch good size F1's. It was a little too late in the match for a serious comeback and was left wondering what might have been if any of the lost fish had been landed. I weighed in 28lb and got 7 section points. Team wise we did ok, scoring a total of 23 points, Neil Pritchard was 4th in his section on Island pool and manage to get in the overall top 20 with 42lb.

After the match we decided to stick to same pools for the duration of the league instead of switching anglers about. Makes a lot of sense, as hopefully you will have a better understanding of pegs and tactics if you keep drawing the same lake.

Tight lines.

2015 A bit of a crash bang wallop.

Hi all.

Once again it has been a while uploading any blog messages so here we go again and hopefully I will keep more up to date.

Partridge Lakes Team of 4 Winter League 2014-15.

This year POHAS put a team together to fish the winter league at Partridge Lakes. A venue on our doorstep, great facilities and full of fish. We knew from the outset that we would be up against some brilliant anglers who fish the venue very often and as a club team my thinking was this can only help us improve. The league started back in Nov 2014 and to be honest we have had some mixed results. In a lot of matches the fishing has been close enough to make just a few extra fish mean getting good section points. So far it has been a bit disappointing as none of us have picked up any money. My best matches have been a third on the lake fishing Covey 3 peg 52 catching 42lb of F1's in the first match of the league. Also catching 18lb after breaking the ice in December in a really close section. As it turns out if I had not lost a couple of the fish I would have won the section. Such is life.

In the main the tactics have mostly been maggot fishing at 3 feet deep up the far shelf and down the middle in the deepest water. Along with some bread "dobbing" in different areas of the peg.

The first league match (round 6) in the New Year was greeted with storm force winds and made for a very difficult match. Mine was quite disastrous. Before the all in my No 8 section had been blown in and shortly after the match started my No 7 section was broken in two after being blown into the aerator power supply. I was feeling very down and ready to go home with thoughts of having to buy a new pole going through my head. Anyway I started on top 2 +  1 section going down the near shelf with maggot, but had no bites. I tried the bomb with either bread or maggot, again no bites. After my pole getting wrecked I started to get a bit down. Later into the match the wind did reduce a little, and I mean a little so I was still able to reach the aerator to my right with the 6 sections of pole I was able to use. Fishing as best as I could with this in the wind I managed 5 fish for just over 8lb, caught on maggot and pinkie. It was no great surprise to know I only beat 1 other in the section. Despite the conditions some good weights were caught. However for some the match and like many more around the country over that weekend were carnage, stories of multiple section breaks, seat boxes getting blown in etc. It was no doubt the windiest I had fished in.
After all this  I arranged to have No 8 section retrieved by a diver and my No 7 section repaired in less than a week and at a cost of less than replacing a No 4. So in hindsight it could have been a lot worse.

Round 7 brought calmer but cold conditions. In the days before the match the lakes had been frozen, but thawed the day before. Therefore the water temperature had dropped and effect the fish behavior, proving to be a hard match. This time I drew peg 50 on Covey 3 with the bridge to the spit to my right. In the first league match the angler on this peg caught a lot of fish under the bridge so I was optimistic. On plumbing up the deep water was mainly in front of me and to the left, the closer to the bridge the shallower it became. As usual rigs were set up for the deep water, 3ft up the far shelf and under the bridge and a bread rig for fishing off bottom. I started on bread under the bridge about 6 ins off bottom, no bites. Moved on to maggot on the bottom again no bites. I started fishing on the 3ft rig in front of me and caught 2 F1's one after each other.  It was then a case of moving round to try a catch other fish. Unfortunately I only managed 6 fish for 7lb 7oz, 4 F1's and 2 Ide caught at 3ft up the far shelf from different swims in front of me. I never had a bite under the bridge and nothing on the deep track rig. The angler to my right on peg 52 after a slow start weighed 29lb by fishing towards the corner near bank at 16 metres. Team wise was again not great, Jon Green managed 4th on Covey 1 with over 8lb, James Bryan and Neil Pritchard only managed a couple of fish each for weights of around 2lb, It was that bad, pegs that had won recent matches surrendered very little.
The next round is the last, so hopefully the conditions will be better and we can catch a few more.

Round 8 and again cold day with a breeze blowing down the lakes. I was lucky to have peg 23 on Covey 2 again next to a bridge and the wind blowing from behind me most of the time. Again usual rigs set up. I was noticeable that the bridge peg was deeper than in the previous match so I was hoping for a better return. As normal I started on the 3ft rig fishing close to the bridge with maggot. I missed a couple of bites and came inside to fish at 4 metres in the deep water down the near shelf. 1 bite on this resulted in a 5lb carp that led me a merry dance all round the peg on 6's elastic. Glad to get that one in. In the end I managed about 8 fish for 15lb and 5th in section, so a slightly better result. most of the fish came at 3ft in various parts of the peg. Again any line fished in the deep water struggled to produce much sport.
Team wise we suffered a blank and a next to last in section so again our points were high and we remained bottom of the league. There were other blanks as well, so it was another difficult day.
Hopefully do better next time.

Onward now to the Heronbrook Spring League, hopefully the weather will become a bit more milder and the overall fishing will improve.
Tight lines.

I'm back (well nearly)

Hello everyone.
It's been a long time since I updated my blog. So thanks to anyone who has took the time to read any of my posts.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and NewYear.

Before Christmas 2013 I decided to enforce a little break on my fishing and I need to sort out some house stuff. So hopefully I will get all the decorating and improvements done in the next couple of months and get back to fishing again.

Since I stopped writing regular blogs I have enjoyed some good matches with a degree of success both for myself and money wise.

I have probably fished more matches on canals and rivers than commercials, but I have enjoyed it and the people I have fished alongside have been great and most of the time the fishing has been good.

My main highlights have been good section points in the last 2 Division 1 Nationals on the Bristol Avon and Trent and Mersey Canal. I have managed good catches on the local River Mersey, both on feeder and pole. Very proud of my 16lb+ of mainly roach and some dace on the pole in Oct 2011. See pic.

Also I managed to catch 33lb of bream from the River Mersey, which would have been the match record if Bob Clough had not caught 49lb of bream from the next peg. Need to track down some pictures of that. Still a great catch and shows that on it's day the river can produce some great fishing. Last year especially the fishing on the river has been good from summer through the winter. I think mainly due to the more settled weather than the previous couple of years.

Warrington Anglers continued to enter teams in the Angling Times Supercup and last year we got to the semi final stage held at Lindholme Lakes in Lincolnshire. A great venue with loads of fish. I was lucky enough to win my section with 74lb of F1's, carp and skimmers caught on method, pellet, meat and dead maggots in the margins. Unfortunately the team did not make it to the final.

So that's a brief summary so far.
I am looking to fish more commercial matches this year and I am thinking of going to Blundells Fishery. This will offer the option of not only pole fishing but some method feeder and waggler fishing for carp and F1's. I am looking forward to more commercial fishing, canals are wearing a bit thin, especially when catching tiny fish. I prefer catching weight builders and have a chance of bonus fish.

Anyway that's about all for now.

Tight lines.

Warrington Teams of 4 League.

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.

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.