Whinwhistle practice session- 25/1/09

I awoke this morning to the sound of heavy rain,not exactly inspiring when a days fishing is on the cards! A quick check of the weather forecast showed that it was due to brighten up during the day,so a flask of coffee was quickly made and I set off for at around 8am. On arrival at the fishery the rain was hammering down,so I spent a good half an hour in the lodge sheltering from the rain and deciding where to fish. I don't get to 'pleasure fish' that often,and when I do I can never decide where to fish. I finally opted to fish the square on Whinwhistle lake as I wanted to try one or two things ahead of next week's winter league. I won my section on here in the last round fishing through the ice,and it was the only time I have drawn the lake in this series. After chatting to a carp angler fishing on the islands I finally settled on Square peg 23.

Around 4lb is usually a good weight on here in the winter league, as there are few big fish and it can be tough at the best of times. Despite this, I planned on mainly fishing pellet to target the small skimmers and hopefully one of the bonus bream or tench that can be so crucial in a tight winter league section. I feel it is far more effective to fish in this way than to try and keep pace with the squatt anglers. I decided to fish two lines at 6m and 13m, and set up 3 rigs to cover my options. My main rig was a 4x10 KC Speed on 0.12-0.10 silk shock and a 20 Gama Black to 6 latex. This was shotted with a spread bulk and was for scratching around. I also set up a 4x12 KC Chimp on 0.12-0.10 silk shock and a 20 Gama Pellet in case the skimmers showed up. This was matched to a 6 latex and shotted with a double bulk of no 10's. Both rigs were set to just touch bottom. My final rig was a 4x12 chimp on 0.12 silk shock to an 18 Gama Pellet and 8 latex. This was set to fish two inches over depth and had a slightly longer line in case the wind got up. All three rigs incorporated a no.10 back shot for stability. For bait I had some micro pellet, a bit of groundbait and some Ringers coolwater pellets in sizes 3mm,4.5m and 6mm,along with a few maggots and pinkies. I began by cupping a golf-ball of micro pellet at 13m,and 3 golf balls of groundbait at 6m. I planned on fishing maggot and pinkie at 6m to see if it was effective as the pellet. I began at 6m on single maggot and had a few tiny roach in the first 15 minutes. It was very slow so I put in a pinch of micro pellet and shipped out to 13m with a 3mm pellet. After about 10 minutes I had my first bite and netted a skimmer of around 4oz. A few more followed before it slowed so another thumbnail sized amount of pellet was cupped in and I went back in at 6m with a 3mm on the hook. Bites were instant and over the next hour I swapped between the two lines regularly taking small skimmers and roach,topping up with minimal amounts of pellet when it went quiet. After about two hours the float dipped at 13m and yards of latex streamed from the pole. There used to be alot of big carp in the square but most have been moved to the islands. However there are still one or two in there and I thought I'd hooked one. The fish was soon under control and as soon as it broke the surface I slipped the net under a pristine 3lb tench-a useful bonus! I caught steadily for the next two hours,alternating rigs and changing between 3mm and 4.5mm pellet on the hook. I would take 3 or 4 fish from each line before feeding a pinch of pellet and switching. It was really interesting fishing as I had to work for each bite and keep tweaking things to keep the fish coming. I finished the day at 3 oclock with around 9lb of small skimmers and the bonus tench in four hours. 12lb would almost certainly be a section winning weight on here next week,and I learned a few interesting things today that will stand me in good stead if I draw the square next week. Interestingly Richard Allin,the league leader, fished The Rail all day for around 5oz of eyes. The fishing is unbelievably hard on there at the moment with lots of blanks and few bites. I'm hoping and praying I don't draw there next week as it could be disastrous for the league campaign. I've almost certainly put the jinx on it now and will no doubt draw there on Sunday!