Whinwhistle Winter League- Round 1- 18/10/09

Well it only seems like yesterday that I was enjoying the post summer series BBQ at Whinwhistle, yet this Sunday saw the first round of the winter league. After winning the summer league quite comfortably (drawbag!!) I was determined to do the 'double' and win the winter league, especially after coming third last winter (not a drawbag-the rail 6 out of 9 times put paid to my chances!). I had spent the past few months getting things ready for the winter league and have never been as prepared. The format is a bit different this year. After last years league it was decided that The Rail would be left out this year as it produced so many blanks last time. The league would be based around three sections of 8 anglers, with two sections on Keepers lake and one on the square. This time however Keepers was pegged so that all anglers were in a line on the far bank, whereas it has always been pegged both banks. This meant that the tip was likely to play more of a part. Similarly the Square had a lot of work done to it and would be pegged with 8 anglers in a line on the newly formed bank. This was likely to make things interesting as it would be very different from previous matches.

Arriving at the fishery at around 7.20 I sat down to a superb breakfast as all of the anglers arrived. By 8.30 we were ready for the draw and first of all was the draw for the knockout. Despite most anglers getting a Bye I drew against Peter Smith. Ready for the real draw and my lucky left hand pulled out K12- Keepers 12. To be honest I was quite pleased with the draw as the Square would be a bit of an unknown quantity following all of the recent work. Arriving at my peg I had Andy Shanks to my left on 11 so a £1 sidebet was immediately struck up. To my right on peg 13 was Peter Smith so atleast I'd know how I was doing in the knockout!

I had already pretty much decided how I would fish Keepers,and I would be basing my match around a light pellet approach. Although the target fish were 1-6oz skimmers I personally find pellet is more effective than the more traditional groundbait/maggot tactic that everyone else seems to favour. I planned to have a pellet line short at around 5m,a throwaway groundbait and maggot line at 3m to my right and a straight lead for the far bank that I wouldn't spend long on. I set up two main pellet rigs- a 4x14 KC Chimp on 0.14-0.12 and an 18 Gama pellet. This was shotted with a double bulk of 10's and matched to double 5 slip. I also set up a lighter rig- a 4x14 malman winter wire on 0.12-0.10 and a 20 Tubertini 808. This was shotted with a spread bulk and matched to double 4 slip. My maggot rig was a 4x14 KC Porth on 0.14-0.12 matched to double 5 slip. Although this was a bit heavy you can sometimes pick up some quality perch on this short line and there was a decent colour in the water. My tip rod was an 11ft AX Beastmaster with a 3012 TDR,6lb sensor and a 12 inch 0.18 hooklength to an 18 PR36 with a korum quickstop on a hair. I plumbed the pellet line at 5m slightly to my left where I had around 6ft of water. I then plumbed right out to 11.5m. The peg deepened off to around 11m where it then sloped up and I found the exact same depth at around 11.5m. I didn't plan to feed this longer line but it would give me somewhere to go should I be struggling. For bait I had some crushed pellet,some damp micro,3mm & 4mm expanders,a pint of red maggot,a tin of corn and around 1/2 a kilo of groundbait.

The all-in was called at 10am and I dropped 5 balls of groundbait in at 3m to my right (I wanted to leave this for a few hours without re-feeding) and then cupped in a golf ball of crushed pellet and micro's in at 5m. I then attached a small PVA tea-bag to my single corn hookbait and cast the lead around 6m from the far bank,alongside some dying lilly pads. 15 minute's and just a rattle later I reeled in and decided to have a look on the short pellet line. Jumper Collins two to my right then hooked into something on the lead to the far bank and soon after netted a carp of around 5-6lb-GREAT! I started on the lighter rig and after a few minutes of lifting and dropping the float dipped and a 2oz skimmer was soon in the net. I then took another 5 or 6 in the next 20 minute's or so but it was by no-means hectic. From what I could see no-one else was catching although the bloke on the flier end peg 10 was hooked into a lump from down the edge. He finally netted it and at around 15lb I knew that I was now fishing for 2nd in section at best as my peg wouldn't be worth much more than 10lb. I was still catching the odd skimmer which was more than most people. After around an hour and a half the short line died so I went out to 11.5m on the double bulked rig with a 4mm expander. After fruitshooting some micro's I had a small skimmer before repeating the process. As soon as the pellet hit the deck the float dipped and I lifted into something more substantial. It was clearly a better fish so I took my time and as soon as it broke the surface I had it in the net-a fat little common of around 4lb. With the whole lake fishing hard this was a real bonus. I continued catching small skimmers,although the 5m line had now died so I sacked this with two hours to go. The short groundbait line gave two quick bites from small skimmers before this also died. A quick spell on the maggot feeder to the far bank was also fruitless.

Andy to my left and Peter to my right both had less than 1lb although the guy on peg 10 had now caught two more carp and would be the clear section winner. I felt sure that I was in 2nd place as no-one else was catching. With just over an hour to go disaster struck as Jumper then had two quick carp on the straight lead which clearly knocked me back into 3rd. At this stage I knew that I was comfortably clear in 3rd place so decided to spend the remainder of the match on the straight lead as I had nothing to lose but if I could snare one or two carp I might sneak 2nd.

As it happened despite a few casts tight to the far bank I didn't manage so much as a liner. Jumper had trees opposite him and fished to these whereas I didn't. Andy had spent most of the match on the tip without a bite so there clearly wasn't alot in front of us. The all-out was called at 3pm and after packing up the section was weighed in. Eddie on end peg 10 had caught 3 carp (including one of 15lb 11oz) for 29lb odd. Peg 10 really is a flier as it has it's own little bay to the left that always holds carp. Andy then put 10oz on the scales and promptly handed over a quid-cheers mate! My 33 skimmers went 4lb 13oz and the carp went 3lb 13oz giving me an 8lb 11oz total. Peter then put 1lb 4oz on the scales so I was through to the next round of the knockout. Jumper's three carp then went 20lb which was enough for 2nd. The rest of the section had fished really hard with 1lb 12oz good enough for fourth!!

All in all I was quite pleased with how I fished. The two anglers that were in first and second could just have easily blanked and will not be consistent fishing that way throughout the league. I was the only person to really catch on the pole which vindicated my decision to fish the pellet. I would have had closer to 10lb if I had not spent the last hour on the tip but it was the right decision to make as I had nothing to lose and 10lb would still have got me the same section points. Third in section isn't a bad start as if you can finish in the top 3 every match you will be there or thereabouts at the end. I'm not fishing this weekend but will be back at Whinwhistle in 2 weeks and I'm undecided what i'll be doing on the Saturday at the moment