As always I try to be positive and the one thing that might make a difference was the fact that I had a spare peg either side,something that I find especially important on canalised venues as the fish will often settle in the quiet areas. After looking at the peg I started to consider my approach. In the last couple of matches I have found corn in the deeper water to be very effective,so my first line was on a top 2 + 2 (about 5m) slightly to the left. This was at the base of the near slope and was a 4x12 chianti on 0.14-0.12 and an 18 Gama Pellet. This was shotted with a spread bulk of 10's and shotted at dead depth in around 5ft of water. The peg was fairly flat down the middle and I had the same depth straight out at 10m. I also plumbed over to my right towards the spare platform although I wouldn't feed/fish this for a while as I wanted any fish to settle in the quiet water as mentioned. For fishing across in around 2ft of water I set up a 4x10 Chianti on 0.16-0.14 and an 18 B911. Shotting was a small bulk of 10's at half depth. The depth was very uneven along the farbank so I picked two spots where I had the same depth,although the one was very snaggy and I actually lost my hooklength and plummet so this line was sacked-just the one line across then! Lastly I set up a rig for fishing to the side of the spare platform to my right in 3ft of water- 4x12 chianti-0.16-0.14 and an 18 B911. All three rigs were set to yellow drennan bungee with a pull bung. For bait I had a tin of corn,a pint of maggot,some 4mm pellet and 6mm expanders.
The all-in was called and I potted a dozen grains of corn in at 10m,half a pot of maggot down the edge and flicked a few grains of corn in at 5m. Not bites on corn to the farbank saw me attach a small cadpot and dribble in some maggot but the double maggot hookbait resulted in a few 1/2oz roach....hmmm
All the while I had been flicking the odd grain of corn in at 5m but despite dropping in a couple of times I hadn't had a bite. Mark was getting the odd small carp to my left and Andy Potter was catching really well on the peg behind me on canal 2. After an hour and 15 minutes the float buried at 5m and a 3lb carp was soon in the net. This was a false dawn however as I couldn't buy another bite here. A quick carp on corn at 10m offered some encouragement followed by a 2lb skimmer soon after. This line was then also biteless and I was starting to realise why the middle of canal 1 was the place to avoid....
A quick bite down the edge saw a small 1lb stockie on maggot but I could only catch one fish from a line before it died. I even knocked up a shallow rig and started pinging 6mm pellet towards the far bank but 15 minutes on this told me that it wasn't going to work. With around two and a half hours to go any chance of the golden peg seemed to have gone as I had just three carp and a skimmer in the net for around 7-8lb. At this point I plumbed a line towards my right,with 10m of pole fishing about 5m out from the bank. I cupped in a dozen grains of corn and left it for 5 minutes. By this stage I realised that my best bet would be to stick with one line and make it work,rather than chopping and changing every 5 minutes. The depth was the same as my 5m line,and with the float almost overshotted and brought back with some vaseline the rig was a sensitive as I could get it,something that I felt would be important in the flat calm and bright conditions. After 10 minutes of lifting and dropping the float finally dipped and I lifted into a good fish. A few minutes later and a fat 8lb mirror was lying in the net. I shipped back out,tipped 6 grains of corn out of the cadpot and a few minutes later the float again buried and I had a 5lb carp in the net....game on! By regularly sprinkling corn through a cadpot I was catching quickly and they were a decent stamp of fish. The thought started to cross my mind that the golden peg might be on....
Alot of people had stopped catching although pegs 10 & 11 down to my right were catching quite regularly they were fishing to the farbank and the fish were of a smaller stamp. People started to take notice and 'the golden peg's going today' was being said by a few. I knew I was still quite away behind but by regularly feeding corn,lifting and dropping the hookbait I was bagging. The only problem was I had a couple of spells where I went 10-15 minutes without a bite which wasn't ideal,but by dribbling in some more corn the fish would return. It was nice fishing and I don't think I missed a bite and didn't lose a fish.
The all-out was called and I really wasn't sure how I'd done. My clicker told me I had 19 carp but I also had a skimmer and a couple of brown goldfish in there aswell. Some of the carp were proper lads but there were also a few 1-2lb fish in the net so it was hard to guess a weight. Most people were adamant that I'd done enough to take the Golden Peg but I kept telling them I hadn't. My main concerns were Andy Potter behind me and the guy on end peg 1 on my canal who had seemed to have a few. I was very anxious packing up as I thought I had 60-70lb in the net and Andy was admitting to 60-80lb. This could be close.....
They started weighing canal 2 in first and Andy put 81lb on the scales. I shook his hand and congratulated him as deep down I knew I wouldn't have that much. Dave on peg 11 then put 63lb on the scales followed by a 44 and a 50. After two weighs my weight was called out at 71lb odd.....just two proper fish short. I was a bit gutted by this as I had caught really well in the last two hours and had I made the switch earlier I might have had enough. The guy on end peg 1 then put 80lb on the scales knocking me back into third place and £35 for second in section. After the match there was a nice buffet put on as it was the end of the winter series that was won by Pete Newman. Heading home I was a bit deflated as I had come so close to a bumper payout. The only consolation is the fact that no-one had expected me to have a chance from my peg,it would have been far worse if I'd have blown a flyer. I just had to hope I could go one better and win the Winter League at Whinwhistle the following day.
Sunday dawned an hour earlier due to the clocks changing but I was still awake before my alarm as today was the final round of the Whinwhistle winter league. If you are a regular reader you'll know that following a win last week I was now tied on points with Phil James with a 3lb weight advantage. After tucking into a breakfast the banter was flying around as we awaited the draw. It was also the final of the knockout cup which saw me against Phil so it was going to be 'winner takes all'. The peg I really wanted to draw was Whinwhistle 6,with peg 7 being my second choice. These pegs are spot on for the method feeder and I had actually stopped on after the match the week before and spent a few hours fishing the tip on peg 7 as it's always been my weakest method so I need to improve. Following a good practice with a few fish caught I was confident in using it and hoped I'd draw one of the few pegs that it was suitable for. Into the bag I went and looked in sheer disbelief at the disc in my hand....W6! I couldn't believe it,just when you think the drawing gods are against you THE peg you want sticks to your hand. The draw was always going to be crucial today and I now knew I had a big chance of winning the league. Phil drew Whinwhistle 1,the end-peg and a great peg on it's day. This made things very interesting but made my task as simple as can be....beat Phil to win both the league and knockout....game on!
As you can see in the picture opposite the peg has a tree going into the water next to the platform on the farbank. This would be the main focus of my match as I know it holds carp,the trouble is getting the casting bang on the money as you have to get right up against the tree...overhanging branches and all. For this I got my ready made rod out of the bag- 11ft Shimano Beastmaster,Daiwa TDR,6lb sensor with a doctored 30g small preston feeder. The reason it's doctored is due to the fact that Whinwhistle has an 8-inch hooklength rule. This is far from ideal for fishing the method but Andy Shanks came up with a way of gluing a swivel into the top of a preston inline feeder which makes it easier to fold the hooklength over and bury the hookbait in the feeder by layering the groundbait 3 times. Sounds simple......ha! Hooklength was 8 inches of 0.18 Silk Shock to a 20 GURU MWG- spot on for two dead reds. Groundbait was Green Swimstim mixed the night before and riddled four times.
I spent a good deal of time clipping up with a 1oz lead to get bang on the money- my practice session the week before was proving crucial. With the feeder line sorted it was time for a Plan B. The temptation was there to only set up the tip but being a league match I needed a back-up in case it didn't work. This would be my standard pellet line that has served me so well all winter- a 4x12 KC Chimp on 0.12-0.10 and an 18 808. This was set at dead depth in 4 1/2 feet of water,shotted with a bulk of 10's with 1 dropper and matched to double 5 slip. I plumbed two lines,one at 11m and another at 14.5m. If I ended up on the long line I would be struggling!
For bait I had a kilo of groundbait and half a pint of reds for the method,some damp micro,crushed pellet and some 4mm & 4.5mm Ringers expanders. With everything ready I got 'in the zone' and awaited the all in.
The whistle went and the feeder was despatched to the farbank.....first cast and I caught a branch,losing the lot,not the ideal start! If it wasn't for the fact that I'd sussed the method the week before I would normally have picked the pole straight up and thrown the rod up the bank. However I knew that the method was key to winning the section so quickly rigged up,checked the clip which was still bang on and recast......and caught ANOTHER branch! Things weren't going to plan....I was now 5 minutes into the match,lost 2 feeders and hadn't spent any time actually fishing. Time for a clear head,remind myself of the fact there was still almost 5 hours to go and start fresh. After taking half a turn off the clip I cast out for a third time and this time it was inch perfect,landing right on the spot with a small plop. As I was sinking the line I felt a tap on the tip and after placing the rod on the rest it was pulled off after 2 minutes....fish on! A few minutes later and a fin perfect 4lb carp was in the net. This was a big relief and certainly settled my nerves! The next couple of casts were spot on but didn't result in any fish. After the third cast (after the last fish) the tip again pulled round after a minute or two and carp number two was on it's way,this time a fat little mirror of around 3lb. This was now the ideal scenario as these early fish settled me down and gave me the confidence to spend some time on the tip. A few more casts were uneventful before the tip dropped back on the 45 minute mark and a skimmer of around 1lb was soon in the net. Things then went quiet and after an hour I changed from casting every 3 minutes to every 5. This seemed to do the trick as the rod was pulled off the rest soon after and a 2.5lb tench was soon in the net. The next cast went a yard too far and crashed down through the overhanging branches. Before I even had chance to do anything the rod was almost pulled out of my hand as a fish hooked itself almost instantly. Frustratingly the hook pulled. The next 8 casts didn't even give so much as a liner so I potted in a small ball of crushed pellet with a few micros at 11m. The next cast on the tip was biteless so with a fair bit of bait on the tip line I decided to rest it and have an hour on the pole,hopefully putting a few skimmers in the net in the process. The rest of the section was fishing very hard,with just a few small skimmers showing. Crucially,Phil was blanking......
Lowering a 4mm Next Generation expander down the float barely settled as a 2oz skimmer snaffled it. Over the next hour I put exactly 30 skimmers in the net,averaging 2oz but with a better 12oz sample and the odd 6oz fish it kept my catchrate ticking over nicely. With two hours to go I had two carp,a tench and around 5lb of skimmers in the net for around 14-15lb. This was comfortably winning but I was well aware that Phil needed just two carp to wipe that out. Peg 1 threw up an 11lb last week so I wasn't resting on my laurels by any means.
First chuck on the feeder was spot on again,and I actually said 'that's a fish' as it was bang on the money. Sure enough after 4 minutes the tip slammed round and another carp was on. Again it was around 3lb but it settled me down again as it showed me that the rest had done some good. However this was a bit of a false dawn as I didn't add anymore in the next half an hour. Hmmm....decision time. With 90 minutes to go I was back on the pole but as I hadn't been trickling in the small amounts of pellet required to keep the line ticking over the fish had all but gone,with just three 2oz skimmers and a 2oz carp in the next 15 minutes. There was now one hour and 15 minutes to go,Phil was still near enough blanking,I had around 18lb in the net and with the pole line not really working I made the decision to spend the rest of the match on the tip. Would it be the right decision.....?
After a couple of casts right alongside the platform the tip flew round again and a 2lb carp was soon in the net. Although they were a pretty small stamp I was grateful of any fish I could get. Ten minutes and two casts later the tip was once again flying round and another carp was on,this time a bit bigger at 4lb or so. I then added another carp with 15 minutes to go and victory was almost in the bag. As the clock ticked down the rod slammed around with seconds to spare and carp number 6 was soon in the net with his 5 mates,netted a minute or two after the whistle. Phil had struggled bigtime and apart from Oscar to my left who had caught two late carp on the method by chucking towards the sluice nobody had really caught.
I was relieved when the whistle went as I had achieved what I set out to do and won the Winter League. Phil was the first person to come over and shake my hand. Unfortunately it hadn't happened for him today but he's a top angler and is always there or there-abouts. The win was confirmed when my 7lb 10oz of silvers and 21lb of carp gave me a 28lb 8oz total comfortably winning the section and match overall. Oscar was 2nd with 17lb and Bob Wackrill was third with 4lb odd of small skimmers. After packing away I drove up to the lodge where we were treated to an end of series meal of steak pie,chips and peas....delicious! Next came the presentation where the top 5 were announced. In fifth place was Oscar Wylde,followed by Phill Timms in fourth,Roger Clacey in third,Phil James in second and myself winning. I ended up winning by four clear points as my four section wins,two seconds,two thirds and a fourth gave me a 15 point total (dropping the 4th as worst result). I picked up £40 for the section,£65 for winning the knockout and £135 for the league giving me a £240 total payout. This went someway to compensate for my Golden Peg near miss of the day before. As you can see in the picture I also picked up two nice trophies that are now proudly sitting alongside the Summer League one I got last year. That's now four leagues I've fished at Whinwhistle,coming third in each of the first two and then winning last years Summer League and this years Winter League. Winning the Knockout Cup was the icing on the cake as it meant I'd won everything possible at the venue over the past 12 months. There was talk afterwards of making next years league 'Englishmen Only'.....
There's no summer league this year and I'm not sure what to do about next years Winter League. Part of me thinks it's time for a new challenge but I really enjoy the matches as they're a great bunch of blokes and the fishing's always challenging. I've got plenty of time to make a decision and for the time being I'll reflect on what's been a succesful winter campaign.
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