Rufford Canal, Spark Lane, Rufford - NW MD Winter League Round 10 - 27/03/2011

I must say I wasn’t really looking forward to this match. Having not fished a canal since I was growing up in Hawkley Hall aged 14 I knew it would be a challenge and after I saw what Ray had caught earlier in the week having a practice, bit snatching seemed to be the order of the day. I drew peg 2 out of the bag which this week only contained 11 numbers - wonder if that was down to it being a canal? At least it meant a short walk, unlike Bob who I think might still be trying to walk to his peg as I write this on Monday morning it was that long a walk (what a shame). Anyway I was quite pleased with my peg - after negotiating the steepest embankment I have ever been down with gripless wellies and about 60kgs of kit on wheels. I had stick ups at 12m straight across and a moored barge to my right with reeds in front of it - I was certain I'd nick a perch or 2 from here. I decided on 3 swims, swim 1 would be down the track at 9m in 5' of water. Rig was a 0.1g Preston float, to 0.10 mainline and a 0.8 hooklink to a B611 size 20 hook - with a 4's elastic!! Never have I fished so light :-). Swim 2 would be at 12m to the stick ups fishing 2.5' deep to with the same rig but different float. A 0.1g Sensas float with a shorter body. Swim 3 would be to the barge/reeds 6m to my right fishing 2' deep with a homemade 4x10 margin float. As I would be fishing choppy here and not sure what I'd get this was to 0.12 straight through with a double 5 latex and a size 16 hook.

At the all in I cupped in a ball of liquidised bread mixed with a small amount of hemp to swims 1 and 2 (along with caster to swim 2) and a cup of chop and caster to swim 3. I was delighted to hook a small skimmer around 2oz first put in on 4mm punch. Next put in I had a tiny roach about half an ounce. I had 3 more of these before the first boat of the day went past when it dried up. Meanwhile to my left, Sluicer had a small Jack resting on top of his keepnet after it had watched his latest catch swim down the net. Raising the landing net above the pike's head soon saw it shoot off stirring half the bottom up with it. Not much later another Jack (maybe the same one) caused a commotion under my feet to the left as all the reeds moved followed by a splash and the dorsal of the fish cut through the water. An hour had gone now since the first boat and were over 90 minutes into the match and other than the first few fish for around 3oz total I hadn't had a touch. I had tried swims 2 and 3 but couldn't get a knock. I put a little more feed into swims 1 and 2 and tried 3mm punch on swim 2. This brought me an immediate roach smaller than the punch but again nothing else. I could see Noah to my right had got a few roach and Sluicer to my left was getting a fish a chuck before 2 boats crossed right in front of him killing his peg. Word had come that Bob had reached his peg and was actually catching a few decent skimmers. From this I could see that the weights were coming from ends of the pegging, Bob on 11 and Sluicer on 1. I kept plugging away searching the whole of my peg for something trying caster, worm, maggot and punch but I couldn't buy a bite. Then I started a new swim at 13m 10 o'clock from my peg and had been fishing it for 5 minutes before the swim parted like the Red Sea as another Jack shot through the swim.

From a fishing point of view, I struggled as I have in recent weeks although I must say it made a nice change to fish a more natural water (not something I want to do regularly but wouldn't object to a couple of times a year) and I must say on a sunny day like we had the venue is a nice looking place. Speaking with Sluice and Ray the stretch can throw up some decent fish on its day so I may go back for a pleasure session. At the weigh in, it had fished hard for most of the stretch with just over 4lb winning from peg 11, Sluicer 2nd on peg 1 with over 3lb and (I think) Mark 3rd with 2lb from the top end (toward 11). There were a lot of weights under 1lb but at least I wasn't last...well not on my own as Stu joined me in joint last as we shared the embarrassment. Knowing he had 4oz I was praying for 4oz or more on the scales. My confidence couldn't take another last place - especially as after being in the top 5 of the league after 5 matches I have now shipped 45 points in 4 matches which has to be some kind of record!!!

Horns Dam, Preston - NW MD Winter League Round 9 - 20/3/2011

I fished Horns Dam a few years ago when I stayed on site in my caravan and thought the place was really nice and picturesque. There are 3 lakes, a pleasure lake, a match lake and the old 4 acre dam. Last time I had a great day on the match lake (200lb+ in a full day) but mixed fortunes on the Dam (around 10lb silvers) however this was a match I was looking forward to. I arrived on site 15 minutes before the draw and had a look at the lake which looked ideal in the early morning light. We had pegged out 14 pegs starting with the peg closest to he car park as peg 1 - which is where I drew. A relief to be honest after the wheels on my box broke when I got it out of the car and I did NOT fancy a long walk carrying my gear.

I assessed the peg and had a few approaches however it was hard to know exactly what we would  be fishing for. The lake is noted for skimmers and small silvers but also holds some absolute lumps to over 30lb. A brick feature (possibly an old well or extraction system) to my left at 7m which I was sure would have fish around it. Open water in front of me at 11m and an aerator just short of the island for a 30 yard chuck with the feeder. As I set up the pole, it became apparent the aerator bomb rod wouldn't really be an option. As I was on a corner I had Stu to my right and Ste Leather to my left who were both also setting up rods and looking where they cast it would have taken incredibly accurate casting from me (which as Breamy can testify isn't always the case) to not cross lines.

I plumbed up 3 swims. Swim 1 was the feature to my left and I chose a 4x12 inline pencil float to 0.14 mainline, a 0.12 hooklength and a Kamasan B711 size 19 hook. This swim gave me around 6' close to the brick wall where it dipped down. I then had two swims in open water. An 10m swim (swim 2) and a 13m swim (swim 3). I found a very flat bottom here so could use the same rig to search around for the fish. I chose a 4x14 inline pencil float with same line and hook. I had a little over 7' of depth on this line. I also set up a shallow rig to try over the top of swims 2 and 3.

The match started at 8:15 and as this is an out and out fishmeal water due to the amount of carp fishing that goes on, I decided to cup in 2 tangerine sized balls of green swim stim mixed with micro pellet and caster and start with a 4mm pellet over the top. I started on swim 3 to let the close swims settle down after the disturbance. Immediately to my right Stu was into a small silver fish, then another whilst I was waiting for my first bite. I eventually caught a small skimmer (only a few ounces) and this was all I'd had in the first hour so I switched to swim 1 and was immediately into small roach on caster. This continued for 45 minutes but the roach were tiny, 1oz maximum and no matter what I tried I couldn't get through them. Even triple caster brought me a pair of eyes with 2 casters hanging outside its mouth. I then went out to swim 2 and 3 again on pellet but could only get one bite - another tiny skimmer. It was clear that the roach wanted caster and the skimmers wanted pellet, but I just couldn’t find enough skimmers and waiting 30 minutes was just too long for a 2oz blade. Meanwhile around the lake a few fish were being caught but all seemed to be small apart from a rumour that Breamy had lived up to his name and had a largeish slab (a rumour that turned out to be true as it was a lovely bream over 4lb). I tried again on pellet and caster but could only hit small roach whilst Stu to my right had got something right as he was hitting a fish every put in - I later found out on Pellet!!!! To my left, Ste Leather was hitting a better stamp of roach fishing to the same feature on worm - the one bait I hadn't got. He then landed a small eel - not the nicest of creatures but still nice to see one as they seem to have become so rare.

I stuck out the last hour on swim 1 on caster trying to build as big a weight as I could of small roach but struggled to get anything bigger than 1 oz. At the weigh in, the nets were all similar - plenty of bits with a few skimmers to add to the weight. Mine was the same...but with no skimmers (other than the 2 I had at 2oz each). I finished a very disappointing last with 2lb 9oz to pick up another 10 points with what has been a disastrous second half of the winter league.