Croft Fisheries, Adlington - NW MD Winter League Round 6 - 27/02/2011

Sunday the 28th February and day that turned out to definitely be a day of 2 halves! I had never been to Croft before so didn't really know what to expect other than it was clear, deep and not too dissimilar to Coppull Mill in that respect. I had also been told that there was a dam wall which was the deeper end, and it shallowed up to the far bank to around a foot - needless to say I wanted somewhere near the dam wall for a bit of depth. The weather was mild (ish) but with sporadic winds that were bleedin' cold and heavy showers blowing all over the place. The draw was made at 8:00am, and I put my hand in and drew out 13 - unlucky for some. I am not superstitious, so this didn't concern me in the slightest. I made my way to the peg and had my first view of Croft Lake number 1. I must say I rather liked the venue, however the pegging was incredibly tight with only around 15' between some pegs, and the peg I had was on a towpath between the lake and a stock pond around 8' wide which I knew was going to make shipping the pole in and out a real ballache!

I am still without a pole, as it is taken an eon to get a new number 5 for my Exage BX, so I am very grateful (again!!!) to Ray for the loan of his Exage AX! I assessed my peg and noticed quite a few fish topping throughout the lake, so decided on 3 approaches. I would fish at 13.5m on the deck giving me an extra metre should the fish back off a little. This swim (swim 1) had around 9' of water, so I chose a 1gr hand made float dotted down, to 0.14 main line and an 0.12 hooklink to a B711 size 19 hook. Swim 2 was going to be at around 6m and would again be on the deck. I had just over 7' of water here, so chose a 4x16 diamond pattern hand made float dotted down to the same line and hook. As there was sight of fish on the surface, I also decided on a small 4x12 margin float on a 6' rig allowing me to fish anywhere from 1' with a long line right down to 5 and a half foot in both swims. I had brought a selection of baits including maggot, pinkie, pellet and worm so was satisfied I would be able to snaffle at least 10 points.

The all in sounded at 9:15 and my immediate approach was to cup in a small cup 3/4 full of wetted micro, a few casters and 4mm expanders into swim 1, followed by 1/3 cup of maggot, caster and pinkie into swim 2 and begin to fish swim 1 on the deck with a 4mm expander on the hook. After 30 minutes, I hadn't had a sniff, and hadn't noticed anything come out. Mick Peet to my left was striking furiously on the feeder at what later turned out to be gudgeon but other than that it seemed quiet. A few were opting for the pellet waggler or large loaded crystal - a method I really want to get to grips with this year as it’s a method I have never fished and after my 3 year sabbatical from fishing it looks like if I expect to frame in any match over summer I need to know this. After around 50 minutes I switched to double red maggot on the deck in swim 1 and got my first bite, a very (VERY) shy bite saw a small skimmer around 10oz come to the net. Meanwhile, a few were beginning to catch on the waggler, notably Bernard who seemed to be getting one a chuck and a few smallish lumps (if that makes sense!) seemed to be coming his way, and Matt looked like he was beginning to take a few opposite. Around me things were quiet, with Ray 2 pegs down taking a small F1 and a couple of bits but at least he seemed to be getting bites. To my right in the corner, Noah and Mick Cole seemed to be struggling. After an hour and a half and only one bite and one fish, I decided to cup in some more pellet to swim 1 and then rest it and give swim 2 a try.

I started on swim 2 with a single red maggot and missed a completely unmissable bite  which by the way it went under and the few I had later of the same kind were pairs of eyes - not going to get me any points. I continuously flicked 3 or 4 maggots around the float every couple of minutes when I got a small dip and was into something that took off like a jet. Careering toward Mick's peg to my right it felt a lot bigger than the tench around 2lb that finally came to the net - but what a fight it put up! By now looking around the lake that I could see, I thought I might be lying 3rd behind Bernard and Matt who was catching more steadily and also possible behind Martin who I think had a couple of carp in the net. That one bite proved to be my only bit in swim 2 so at 12:45 I tried back out on swim 1 but there was nothing doing and by now Matt was steadily catching and Martin too seemed to be hitting a few alternating between pole and waggler. Norman was also into the fish on the waggler and gave me a right chuckle with some of his strikes. I'm convinced he almost lost an eye at one point when he looked like he was trying to set the hook into a great white at a range of 300 yards and 200' deep. I just saw a loaded waggler heading like a bullet in his direction...without a fish on the end. I tried my shallow rig on my main swims but couldn't get a touch.

I now realised that the fish seemed to be in an area from Matt round to Ste Leather on the dam wall as these seemed to be the only people catching. I decided to open a new swim (swim 3) 10' to the left of swim 1 and cupped in micro pellet and put a small worm head on the hook. Immediately a dip brought me a nice bream of around 2.5lb - a welcome addition to boost my net. But again, nothing followed it at all. With an hour to go I opened another new swim around 2 sections short of this new swim and fished a foot off the deck and 3' off the deck but could only hit small roach about 1oz. Around this point, Dave Matty hooked what looked to be a large carp and was playing it for around 10 minutes with elastic halfway across the lake. Then a bit of jiggery pokery between him and Tel and a landing net met with plenty of abuse from my side of the bank followed by uproar of laughter as the next time I looked up either Dave's carp had scaled the tree next to him, or it had come off and fired him straight into the tree - selfishly at least I thought he hadn't overtook me :-) but did feel a bit (a tiny bit!) of sympathy for him. With 30 minutes to go I went back to swim 3 and decided to stick it out on double red maggot and was rewarded with 10 minutes to go with a chub about 1lb.

The All out sounded at 2:15pm and by my reckoning I had sixth. Matty was first with 35lb 1oz, followed by Martin with 19lb 12oz followed by Bernard with just over 18. I was delighted to find my net topped that of Bob (who coincidentally missed 10oz off my total when recording it to give me and him joint fourth tut tut) and Norman to give me 4th place leaving me 3rd in the league table and had me leaving Croft a happy man! This happiness ended a few hours later when Wigan were narrowly beaten (but slightly outclassed) by St George in the World Club Challenge! Oh well, there's always next year...and next week at Martin Hall, in Preston. Another new venue for me.

Hall Lane Fishery, Rufford, Lake 1 - 20/02/2011

No picture this week as although I believe this water has been open for almost 3 years, neither Google Maps or Bing Maps currently have the venue on their maps, just fields. But it's down Hall Lane between Parbold and Rufford on the left hand side (coming from Parbold) and consists of 3 (it may even be 4) match lakes all in the new commercial style of islands at 14m or just a canal length.

Well after last week's debacle, this week couldn't be any worse surely, an so it proved not to be and for me was definitely a match of 2 halves, or more realistically two thirds and a third!

I arrived at Hall Lane to be greeted by relatively calm conditions, with a slight tow (it was at this point) toward the car park, and the site of a Barn Owl flying low across the complex. Owing to last weeks broken pole, Wokkie brought his spare Exage AX as surely my BX tops would fit it...not a chance. The BX number 3 section is about the same diameter as the AX number 2 section - luckily Ray had been feeling generous the day before and elasticated some tops for me (cheers for that) which would prove crucial later on...or maybe not! Anyway,  The draw was made and I drew out peg 2 - at that point not having a clue which peg this was. I carted my gear off and was really pleased to have drawn a peg right between the islands with a bit of open water to fish to. A bomb rod was definitely going to be an option today. As I began to setup, the anglers opposite arrived and I discovered I would be fishing opposite Laurel and Hardy (Wokkie and Breamy) so a quiet, peaceful match was never on the cards :-)

The peg I had gave me the point of the island at 14.5m to the front left and open water dead centre with rushes to the right between the islands. I decided to plumb up 3 pole swims, swim 1 would be to the point of the island in 3' of water to a 4x10 homemade float, 0.14 mainline and a 0.12 hooklink with size 19 B711. Swim 2 would be 14.5m out into open water between the islands at 6' deep with a 4x10 homemade pencil float to the same line and hook. This rig would also suffice for swim 3 which would be between 9 and 11m dead centre down the track. I would also set up a 1/4oz running lead to fish between the islands to the rushes. By this point I had got all my bait out my bag to a little oversight, I thought I had maggots left from last week so didn't buy any...then remembered I threw them in as there was only a few left - major faux pas it turned out to be!

The all in sounded at 9:16, it would have been 9:15 had Dave not tried to signal the all in by blowing into a matchman hook tyer instead of his whistle - surprisingly there was no noise so back into the box to find the whistle! By now the wind had picked up, especially on the side opposite me however it was still bloody freezing! I potted in a small cup of corn and wetted micros to the island, and a small cup of wetted micro and caster to swims 2 and 3 with 1 or 2 grains of corn on and decided to sit out the first 30 minutes on the bomb. Now I must confess, having not done much fishing at all over the past 3 years (until October last 2010) and then mainly fishing pole it has been around 4 years since I really attempted some accurate casting (give or take the brief stints I have done over the past few weeks). So it took me a fair few casts to get where I wanted, but after 30 minutes I hadn't had even a liner. I could hear from across the way that Dave Matty was into them from the start on the same peg Norman bagged up last time...not a good sign, especially as more than one person had claimed I had drawn the winning peg.

After 30 minutes I went to swim 1 with a 4mm expander pellet and waited...i lifted and dropped and waited...then waited some more but not a touch! By now Dave across had started to catch one or two, and I believe Wokkie had something in the net (hard to know really as he seemed to be claiming only 4 fish in the net from about ten past 9 to ten past 2!). So I decided to switch to swim 2 (dead opposite where Dave was catching steadily - funny how this started to happen about 15 minutes after he 'borrowed' some pinkies off Wokkie, not that I'm suggesting anything...) and started on caster - nothing. I stuck it out on caster for around an hour, trying to tempt the fish with little helpings here and there. Changing shotting, raising the rig, going overdepth, lifting and dropping but I couldn't buy a bite and was now getting concerned. Further down I could see Matt and Martin had both had a carp and I knew something had to change but here was my mistake. I went to swim 3 when in hindsight, I should have gone straight on the bomb rod and searched around as there was clearly nothing in front of me. To my left, neither Chippy Dave nor Arky had had a touch and Don to my right had a couple of small roach in the net. It was now approaching 12:30 and Arky got a carp followed by Chippy Dave at around 1. Shit. I was blanking and it appeared everyone else had a fish when Tel came down to say him, Noah and Stewart were also biteless so maybe I wasn't doing THAT bad (but I was!).

At 1:30 after far too long wasted on the pole I decided to spend the remainder of the match on the bomb rod. After a fair few casts to get exactly where I wanted I put the rod on the rest and relaxed when the tip moved slightly. Was it a liner?? It moved again and I thought it wa sseeing things as it rattled round and I was into a fish. As I netted it, I could see it was a better stamp than any others I had seen come out around 4lb, and whilst I knew Dave had at least 15lb or so, had images of a mighty shoal of carp just waiting to be plucked out one by one over the next  hour and a half. Next cast in at 1:45 and I got too lcose to the reeds, I pulled on the rod and the line was singing when it finally came free of the reeds...followed by that jerking thud thud motion. How had I got a fish on?? And in true Wokkie style, I hadn't hooked it through its mouth! Must have lnaded right on top of it and had it through the dorsal but hey, they all count and at around a pound and half it boosted my weight. My spirits had lifted now (as noted by Chippy Dave) and I was hopeful of more but it wasn't to be. Save for a liner just on the all out. The last hour was the strangest I have known, as by 1:45, almost all my bank had packed up or were in the process of packing up, and across the way people seemed to be packing up early but I had kept going just in case.

At the weigh in, I was hopefull of a top 5 finish to help my points, but my 5lb 13oz got me 6th, as Ray finished 5th, with Mick C in 4th with Mark the Chub (way to go Partner!!!) in 3rd, Dave Matty 2nd with 8lb 15oz and a brilliant 26lb 8oz first for Breamy!

Off to Croft in Adlington next week, a totally new venue for me and I have no idea what to expect - other than to take maggots!

Bannister House Farm, Old Match Lake - 13/02/2011

So after an unhappy match last week, I wished away all of last week waiting to put things right this week. The weather said rain, but no hurricane force winds, the results from the match lake in the AT have been OK, so I was hoping the old match lake would be similar and also Wales won on Saturday (however Wigan did throw away a 16 point lead in 15 minutes against the scouse shite!!!) so all in all life was rosy. What a match it would be, I couldn't wait, nothing could go wrong and surely I was about to set a new match record for the lake...or so everything went in my head. In reality, I woke up to hurricane strength winds, driving rain (in Wigan anyway) and after 3 hours shut eye due to watching said Wigan game after a night out things hadn't started as planned!

I arrived at the complex with around 2minutes to spare to draw time and had a look at the lake. We had 18 pegs and I would have taken any from 1 - 13 with the win at my back. The other 5 I really wanted to avoid, as it would either be a strong left to right wind (14 - 16) or a gale straight in my face  (17 - 18) and a surface ripple akin to the Bay of Biscay in the depths of winter! After a draw I didn't want at all last week, surely the gods would be looking down on me this. I put my hand in the bag and it turned out they were looking down on me...doing evil laughs and a little dance as I drew peg 15! A force 10 left to right wind and only 13m of water to fish at to the island which would make presentation a bit of a challenge.

I got to my peg (20 feet from my car), setup my station and decided on my game plan. I would choose a swim near the island on the far shelf, a swim at around 8m at the bottom of the far shelf, I would feed short under the trees to my left and right if the weather got too bad, and would also setup a small bomb rod where I could try to the head of the island however casting would be difficult due to the trees. I plumbed my chosen swims and found around 3' on the far shelf at 13m(swim 1) which I would fish with a 4x12 margin float to 0.16 main, an 0.12 hooklink and a size 19 B711. I found just shy of 6' where the shelf dropped off at 8m (swim 2) and this was flat all the way in to around 6' from the bank. For this I chose a 4x12 pencil float with the same line and hook. I also used the same for swim 3 as swim 1 as there was only around 4" difference in depth. My plan was to feed a small cup of wetted micros, corn and caster into swim 2 at the all in, then spend 30 minutes dobbing around swim 1 with corn and pellet and also trying a small pellet cone to the head of the island trying to mug an early fish whilst swim 2 settled down. I also decided to target small silvers close in and so decided to loose feed pinkie and maggot throughout the match just throwing in a few now and then and only try it after a few hours.

The all in sounded and I began executing my plan. After 30 minutes, I had had no indications on the long pole in swim 1 or on the bomb rod so baited up with a small 4mm micro and shipped out to swim 2. One thing I had noticed with swim 1 was that the water close to the island was quite calm and sheltered, however the wind was really blowing through the middle of the peg and holding the pole straight was hard enough. Immediately I thought I had a knock, but missed it if it was one so dropped it back in and within 30 seconds the float dipped and I was into a nice skimmer of around 1lb 10oz. I was pleased with this, as I had only seen 2 fish caught at this point, both small carp from pegs  14 and 12 to the rushes. I was buoyed by the early skimmer and decided to cup in around 6 micros before shipping out again. The wind was that strong, I wasn't convinced I would get my pole out using a cad pot and have anything left in so cupped in via my main cupping kit. Baited my hook again and started to ship back out when CRACK!!! Not for the first time since I bought it in August, another pole section cleanly snapped in 2 just above where the insert from the section below finished. It happened on number 5 section and my heart sank! I tried to make it telescopic, but it wouldn't go, so I trimmed it down a little got it through, taped it up but it was just too weak - the wind was bending it like crazy so immediately I thought my chance had gone!

I spent the next hour on the bomb rod and had one liner but no proper takes - accurate casting was an absolute nightmare due to the trees overhanging my peg. I decided to switch to the waggler for an hour but that brought nothing, even when fishing swim 2 where I had thoughts of a hug shoal of skimmers just waiting for my bait (they are my thoughts - they are hurting nobody). I tried close in to no avail and noticed that nobody in my eye line was catching either. Martin had taken a couple of small carp and Dave Matty had taken a small carp from peg 13 whilst the 2 unlucky sods on pegs 17 and 18 were only taking small silvers I was beginning to be thankful for my skimmer! I wandered round the lake to see what was happening and also to pass a bit of time to the all out as I was pretty p****d off to say the least! A few carp had come almost all against the stick ups, and a few had been lost but beyond the reeds it was mainly silvers - oh and a pretty goldfish for Breamy!

I went back to my peg with 90 minutes to go, and decided to stick my top 5 on (I could fish up to half way on my number 5) and fish 3 swims at 10 o'clock, 12 o'clock and 2 o'clock close in and hope to add to my bag. It was slow and I could get nothing on pellet, corn or caster but did manage to add 3 roach and what looked suspiciously like a bitterling - no weight in it but still counts more than Norman's crayfish which would had made a nice snack!

At 2:15 the whistle blew and I knew it was a second consecutive 10 point match for me! And still no sign of a carp in 2011! Stuart took the match with 13lb 12oz from the Dolly Peg, Matt took a good second place with 10lb 14oz in open water (I think he was beyond the stick ups from memory anyway) and 3rd went to Martin with 8lb 5oz. I can't help wondering what could have been, and now have a week to either get Shimano to swap out my section FOC (AGAIN!!) or buy another before Hall Lane next week. Otherwise the Wokkster has very generously offered to loan me his Exage AX should I be struggling! Top man!

Anyway, as me and Breamy have forgotten what a carp looks like - here you go Dave:

Tight Lines.

High Heyes Farm (Cattery) Lake 2 - 06/02/2011

As much as I was looking forward to the Coppull Mill match that was cancelled, I was hoping this match would also follow the same fate! Now granted, maybe if I'd caught a carp I would now be writing what a wonderful place this is...but I didn’t - so I won't be! I have always struggled when fishing High Heyes Lakes 2 and 3 but have had some good days on lake 1 - pity this was on lake 2!

The day started with a 6:45 alarm clock and an extra 15 minutes sleep than usual due to food being available at the lake (more on that later). So flask was made, waterproofs out and I stepped out of the front door and nearly got blown back in. Oh joy, and seeing as High Heyes is about as sheltered as a North Sea oil rig, I knew conditions would be tough. I arrived at the lake 15 minutes before the draw and had a wander round the lake - which in parts didn't look too dissimilar to the North Sea, especially at the far end. A decision was made to only peg the left bank (1-17 as 17 of us fished) as the wind was so strong that sitting into would have spelled all sorts of trouble - especially if the rains came which was a definite possibility. The draw was called and I was second into the bag hoping for anything above peg 5 and below 14 so was delighted when I drew out peg 2 - honest! The narrowest part of the lake, near the car park (the only saving grace) and what I had been informed was very shallow (Bob - never quote me a building job with those estimations after we had almost 6' in front of us!!!).

I arrived at the peg via the quagmire that was the path having had to dig my barrow out twice and knew I should have carried the stuff but my box is just too bleedin' heavy. I assessed the peg and had an island at 14m and a gap to the left of the island between it and another island. Then peg 3 arrived and I noticed it was Breamy - my heart sank as that could only mean one thing - I was in an area where plenty of pairs of eyes would be present as I have noticed pommiecatcher (I mean Breamcatcher, slip of the tongue there) has a knack of catching these!! I decided on setting up a straight lead for between the islands, a swim up to the island (well, 2' off it) and one 6 sections out. My 6m swim would be a 4x12 diamond bodied float with 0.14 mainline to a 0.12 hooklink and a Kamasan B7111 size 19 hook. The island swim would be a 4x12 pencil float to same line and hook. I plumbed up and found close to the island was around 2' deep so moved a little left to where it dropped off to 4' and decided this would be my first approach. I plumbed up the 6m line and found close to 6' which I thought would produce a few fish. After a 15 minute delay (which I welcomed as it took me 5 minutes alone to tie a 3 loop boom on my bomb rod as the wind was blowing the line all over the place) Dave blew his whistle and we were off!

Well if the beginning of a match sets out your stall for entire duration - the signs were not good! I shipped out 14m to the left of the island with a small cup on my cupping kit containing a small ball of groundbait and a few maggots and casters and 2 grains of corn. Slowly tipped it in and watch the cup fall off the end of my kit!!! Araldite failed me on this occasion! I watched it bob along upturned to the far bank before promptly turning over and sinking. So from now on in it would be feeding everything via a medium carp cad pot. Things started slow for me, and I noticed Bernard to my left on peg 1 was also suffering. It was about 45 minutes before I saw a fish as Pommiecatcher hooked his first pair of eyes - but to be honest it lifted my spirits as it proved there were actually fish in this lake. I had started on a single piece of corn to hopefully mug an early carp and after 15 minutes switched to caster. Breamy was into another roach that looked a little bigger so I decided to switch to single maggot. This produced a pair of eyes immediately which I bumped as my VERY softly set doubled 5 latex was way too big for this stuff. So I promptly switched to a single number 6 and began to hit the pommies. It was now 11am, and after having no breakfast and with no sight of the "food lady" who we were promised would be coming round to take breakfast orders, I was beginning to become like a bear with a sore head!!! I had been consistently feeding the 6m line with half a dozen casters every 10 minutes or so in the hope of building a swim. The owner had said that 44lb had come out the day before so I decided on a positive feeding approach on this line as the fish were obviously enjoying a bit of food. 11:15 and I could take no more - I reached for a barm out my bag!!!

By now, the increasing presence of pommies was driving me mad!!! I was catching them one a chuck no matter what bait I tried, maggot, double maggot, caster, double caster so decided to have a go on the 6m line. After around a 10 minute wait the float disappeared and I struck into what I immediately knew was my best fish of the day so far and it proved to be so as a roach of 1oz came swinging in!!! I decided a quick stint on the bomb rod was required to rest my swims and hopefully nick a carp as news was filtering down that a few lads were into the carp further down. The first cast between the islands brought back a leaf, the second a twig and some line, the third another leaf so I decided to stick it out on the pole as I didn't want to sit for half an hour on a bait that was hidden by a leaf. To my right Bernard was into a carp and I was beginning to think I was the only person on the lake without one! Then in the distance, approaching a bit gingerly on the slippery path, like an oasis in the middle of Sahara was the lady I knew would bring me some scran!!! Things were looking up as I ordered a bacon and sausage on toast. To my left Breamy was consistently hitting some decent fish with roach and skimmers coming regularly and I too was enjoying some sport from slightly bigger fish.

The wind was making life difficult though. My pole roller wouldn't stay upright for 2 minutes without blowing over, my slices of bread for punch had already joined my cupping kit and I just knew my pole was going to break at some point -it just had to (but it never did!!!). We were now past the halfway stage and I probably had just over 1lb of bits in the net as the food approached (Bernard was still trying to haul Nessie in). Whilst munching away on my scran I hooked my nicest roach of the day as a fish of around 12oz came to the net - I was feeling a little better about things until Dave shouted that Mick on peg 5 had already banked a double figure carp!!! I just wanted it to end and if it wasn't a league I probably would have done. With 90 minutes to go my only hope now was that my doubles partner was bagging up on carp further down the lake - and even this hope was dashed when he suddenly appeared with all his kit on his way home!! Beltin!!! Cheers for that one - there's no I in TEAM is there :-) oh well - this was just going to have to be written off as bad job. As the all out sounded, things hadn't changed for me word had however filtered down that Ray had foul hooked a 2lb bream with around a minute to go - could have only happened to him!!!! I had fed off the pairs of eyes with over half a pint of casters and was consistently hitting roach of a few ounces but at the weigh in I was lucky enough to finish bottom of all those who weighed - but at least I weighed in and only had 1- points against my name and not 12! Mick finished first with an incredible 41lb dead of carp - a well deserved win in those conditions. Matty was second with 12lb odd and I think 3rd was somewhere around the 9lb mark. I finished with 2lb 9oz of silvers and severe wind burn to the face - we actually cooked a couple of lamb chops on my cheeks when I got home they were that hot! After Wokkie posted the scores, I am now lying 4th after 2 rounds - a position I would have gladly taken before the league began.

[The Winning Net]

Off to Bannister House farm next week. A venue I have only fished once back in December through the ice where the match was abandoned after 3 hours with 2 perch, a gudgeon, 2 penguins and an arctic fox the only things caught! Hopefully we will fare a little better next week.

Coppull Mill - 3/2/2011

I was really disappointed when our Coppull Mill match was called off last Sunday as I was looking forward to giving it a crack after hearing so much about it but also to test out some new floats Nick Gilbert had sent me after I asked for some heavy floats. So having realised I had some flexi leave at work, decided to take the afternoon off and get in a couple of hours.

I arrived at around 12:45 and was surprised to see 5 men already fishing as it wasn't the warmest of days. A quick call to Breamcatcher to figure out where to fish pointed me in the direction of the car park bank (left on pic) or the right hand bank (bottom of picture) - and that this was the favoured bank. Seeing as this bank he guys fishing every other peg, I didn't want to go between them so picked the second peg from the corner as indicated by the red dot above. 

I decided to set up 3 lines for fishing 2 swims - a 10 o'clock 13.5m line dead depth with the NG 2g float feeding caster and pellet, a 2 o'clock 13.5m line dead depth with the NG 1.5g float feeding maggot and caster and a 0.6g 6' Drennan Roach float for fishing shallow (4' - 6') over both lines. I began by cupping in a few 4mm pellets and a couple of pre soaked 4mm expanders in original and dyed white with Sensas Tracix for hookbait offerings on the 10 o'clock line. I then cupped in some maggots and casters on the 2 o'clock line and began to set up.

I decided to fish the 2 o'clock line first. A single red maggot was baited and I had to wait 30 seconds for the first bite which turned out to be a nice perch of around 8oz - would love a net full of them on Sunday along with a few carp!!! Fish then came steady for the next 15 minutes with a fish a chuck before Breamcatcher himself arrived for a chat - at which point bites slowed off a little...coincidence?? Anyway I plugged away and tried a caster to no avail before getting a few small roach. After an hour and a half on the 2 o'clock line I decided to switch to the pellet line and gave it 45 minutes trying caster, white pellet, brown pellet, half a pellet and didn't get a touch.

Time for visitor 2 as my Granddad arrived on his way home from Southport (the logical way obviously - Southport to Wigan via Coppull) bless him. I had switched back to the maggot line again and was getting a few nice roach and the odd perch. Then bites dried up completely. The weather had changed from blue sky and calm to grey and quite windy and as 4 o'clock approached i thought about wrapping up before I tried a red/white maggot cocktail top and tailing the maggots. Immediately I hooked a lovely perch of around 10oz with a throat crammed with maggots (I was putting a cad pot of maggots in every put in). The next 7 put in's between 4 and half past brought me 7 fish on double maggot with not one of them below 8oz - if only I'd switched baits sooner!!!

Anyway, a nice way to round off the afternoon and much better than spending a Thursday in work!