Catching up....

Firstly,I must apologise for the lack of a blog from last week,we are in the process of moving offices at work so it's been a bit busy to say the least!


The Sunday match was the Winter League at Whinwhistle. Going into the match I was tied in first place with 2 other anglers and there were plenty still in the mix. I drew on Keepers Lake again,with the 2 anglers I was tied with in my section. I managed to beat them both but could only manage a disapointing 4th in section,my worst result so far. I had 6lb 12oz of small skimmers on the pole but couldn't find any bonus fish. The angler to my left was third- he had a 9lb carp after around 3 minutes of the match and not alot else! I dropped the result and counted my third in section from an earlier round.Phil James had drawn the out and out flier (peg 7 on The Square) for the second match running and again walked the section with around 20lb odd on the tip- the same as the last time he drew it. To show how hard that section is just 1lb odd was enough for 3rd. So with 3 rounds to go Phil is now in first place,with me a point behind in second. It's all to play for and the draw is going to be crucial from here on-in so fingers crossed I get lucky.


This Saturday I booked into the open match at Greenridge Farm. I'm still getting to grips with the place but enjoy fishing there and will be putting some time in over the coming months. After the usual breakfast it was time for the draw and with a disapointing 9 anglers turning up we were pegged on canal 2 with every single peg in. I fished canal 2 back in November and had a nightmare on peg 17,so this was the only peg I didn't fancy. It therefore come's as no great suprise when I pulled out peg 17...doh! It was a different day this time and negative thoughts wouldn't achieve anything.......

The barometric pressure had plummeted over the previous 24 hours so I expected the fish to be in the deeper water anyway,and the reason I had a nightmare last time was due to the nature of the far-bank (dug with a spoon!). To my right I had Andy Potter on golden peg 18 and Andy Vane to my left. After setting up my gear I got a few rigs out. My first rig would be for the deeper water where there was around 5ft. A 4x12 KC Chimp on 0.14-0.12 and an 18 B911 shotted with a spread bulk of 10's and matched to yellow Drennan Bungee. I plumbed 3 lines at around 10m to the left of my peg,straight in front and over to the right. My next rig was for on the second shelf at around 13.5m. The rig was the same as the first but the depth was a little over 3ft. Again I plumbed 3 lines across at different angles and marked them in my head by using far bank markers. Finally I set up a rig for fishing tight to the far bank in 12 inches of water. Although I didn't expect to use this due to the conditions if people were catching in this depth I had to be ready. This rig was a 4x10 Chianti on 0.14 to an 18 Drennan eyed barbless with elastic again being yellow bungee. I decided to try something slightly different and set up a bomb rod- 9ft Shimano Beatsmster with a small 1/3oz lead and a 12 inch hooklength of 0.18-18 PR36 and a quick-stop hair. I set this up as on my last visit I had caught on corn without feeding and with the weather forecast uncertain if the wind got up too much it could be worth a few.

For bait I had half a pint of maggot,half a pint of damp 4mm pellet,a tin of corn and some expanders. Five minutes before the all-in Andy Potter wanted to have a waggle with my pole as he's in the market for something new. 'Just dont put my rig up the far bank' were my last words. I was tidying my peg up when I looked round to see my rig snagged on a far-bank branch....typical! As it was the 0.14 rig I had to pull for a break and the rig was left over the far side. I now knew I wouldnt be ready for the start as I had to get a new rig out of my box. Andy was very apologetic and felt terrible....not that I reminded him about it much! In all seriousness he's a good bloke and always a laugh to draw next to so there was no intention....I think!

The all-in was called and I wasn't ready so flicked the bomb out to around 10m with a single grain of corn while I fixed my new rig. After 5 minutes the tip dropped back and I wound into a fish. A brown goldfish of around 1lb wasn't exactly what I was after but it was a start. With my rigs in order I decided to go on the pole at 10m or so with a single grain of corn. I didn't have a sign on any of the three swims after 5 minutes in each so it was time to try fishing further over on the second shelf. I repeated the process of 5 minutes in each spot with no signs so started to ping three 4mm pellets to the middle line every minute or so for around 5 minutes. A grain of corn was dropped onto this line and the float didnt even settle and a 4lb mirror carp was soon in the net. This proved to be a false dawn as I couldn't buy another bite across,despite cupping in 3 grains of corn on the right hand line.

At this stage I cupped in 3 grains down the middle and went over the top after 10 minutes. A quick dink on the float saw a koi carp of around 3lb in the net followed by a 1lb brown goldfish 10 minutes later from the same spot. I then had a spell without a bite and couldn't get any signs across. Nobody was really catching across although Andy to my right was picking up odd fish on corn. It was now pretty grim and despite dribbling in a small amount of bait on my left hand middle line I couldn't get a sign here. After 3 hours I was falling behind so put a new line up at 14.5m as far to the left of my peg I could go in the deeper water. I was kinder potting around 10 maggots every put in and had a couple of chunky rudd before a switch to corn saw a small 2lb carp come to the net. This line also dried up and it was proving hard going. Both anglers either side of me had started catching a few fish short on corn and at one stage it looked like the golden peg might be going.

With an hour and fifteen minutes left it was time for one last throw of the dice and I plumbed a new line at 6m slightly to my left in the deepest water. I cupped in 3 grains of corn,10 maggots and proceeded to feed a grain or two by hand every minute or so. This is something I used to use to good effect on the canals at Hillview as the feeding by hand seemed to trigger a response and often from bigger fish. After 5 minutes or so the float buried and I lifted into a substantial fish. After a further 5 minutes I slipped the net under a fat 8lb mirror and was suddenly interested again. I continued to feed by hand and around 10 minutes later the float buried again and although the 5lb fish was hooked in the tail I managed to get it in the net without too much bother by using the short 4 section. This new line then went quiet despite a few put-ins so it was back over the original swims while I kept feeding the short line by hand. With 15 minutes to go and no bites from elsewhere it was back at 6m as the clock ticked down. With a minute or two left I blinked and the float was gone and I struck into another solid fish.

The whistle blew and I shouted 'fish-on' and a few minutes later panned a fighting fit common of 6lb or so. I must admit I was left feeling a bit disapointed after the match as I should have switched to the new line sooner. I put almost 20lb in the net in the last hour and feel that had I fed the line earlier and kept trickling some bait in they would have been lined up. Andy Vane to my left won the match with 52lb,Paul Barnard on end peg 20 was second with 49lb and Pete Newman third with 47lb. My 32lb odd was enough for fifth,just a pound behind Ray Kelly in fourth. Ray is a regular reader of my blog and it was great to meet him and we had a long chat afterwards about the match and both felt we could have pushed for a win had we done things differently. I was too slow to recognise that there were fish to be caught short and I was only three good fish off winning,something that I feel was very possible had I switched sooner.

After packing away I must have talked with Ray for a good half an hour,so much so that I didn't have time to go back for the customary beer as I was going out in the night so had to get my skates on. It was interesting to bounce ideas off eachother and I certainly learned plenty that will hopefulyl stand me in good stead for next time. This Sunday I have the winter league at Whinwhistle with family commitments taking precedent on Saturday.