Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

Well after getting back from white acres I was all set to get cracked on with the winter league, but as I was thinking about making some bloodworm rigs up, when our new captain Andy Oldham rang me and said he wanted me to fish the Drennan Super League Fish Off at Tunnel Barn Farm as he thought with me fishing for F1s all year it would be right up my street. The 5 man team that was selected was myself, Lee Kerry, Steve Ringer, Jamie Masson and Alan Scotthorne, so I was absolutely buzzing about it and Andy had said forget the winter league and just go to Tunnel as and when you can.

There were two weekends before the match so I decided to try and go both weekends both days, so on sat it meant going on my own but I didn’t mind coz the last time I was going to tunnel a lot I did really well and couldn’t wait to go back!!!

When I arrived I was pleased to see Pete Caton and we had a good chat about what is needed at the venue at the moment and he walked me round the lakes showing me the best areas etc, I went and drew extension pool peg 39 which is a really wide section of the lake so I really fancied it as it gives you loads of room. I decided to try feeding a fair few lines and learnt a fair bit about the feeding on the venue as I definitely fed too much but it got me into the right frame of mind for the venue. I ended up with 37lb which considering the many mistakes I had made I was fairly happy with as 40lb won the section.

The following day Lee was joining me and we were really looking forward to it, I drew peg 33 on top pool which is a brilliant peg but I really wanted to be on New Pool as New Pool and Canal where to be in our super league match. Lee also drew peg 33 but luckily was on New so at least one of us was going to get a good look. Top pool is a natural lake so is unlike the other lakes at the venue as it isn’t a snake style lake. Now peg 33 is a peg in a corner with loads of room, reeds and snags aka fish soup!!!!! Anyway I decided to set up 2 rigs as the depth was similar wherever I plumbed up, I decided to start off at 4m next to the reeds to my left and not feed anywhere else until I had to. I had found the day before that u don’t have to feed many pellets at all and as few as 3-4 micro pellets where enough even in 5 foot of water!!!!! Anyway I caught fish straight away and was going really well, the f1s are really small on top pool though but I was still happy with the way things where going. I was using a 4×14 drennan carp 2 on 0.12 with a 4 inch 0.10 hook length and size 18 801 I shotted this with a double bulk arrangement with two number 10s sat just above the 4” hook length. And by feeding very little every bite was a positive indication. I decided I needed another line so plumbed up with the same rig to my right and started again there by feeding 10 pellets and was into f1s immediately and this new line meant I could rest my main line if I had a spell of missed bites. With about 90 mins to go my lines died so I just added another section and went further along the reeds to my left and caught there for the remainder of the match. I weighed 58lb 10oz and won my section and was 5th in the match(maybe 6th I cant remember lol) but I was starting to figure things out in my head about what I needed to do at Tunnel.

Lee also won his section with 57lb so we where both buzzing on the way home about what we had learnt, Lee also stumbled on the ultra negative feeding pattern.

The next weekend we where going down again and because the other lads picked couldn’t make it, it was becoming very important that we made the most of these two visits, the Saturday match was the first round of the teams of 4 winter league and we had both managed to get into teams that were short. I was fishing with Paul Yates’s team and he told me I was going to house pool peg 30 which although is a good peg I was gutted not to be on new pool again!!!! Lee also avoided New and was to be on top 32. I was pleased when I got to my peg that I could reach the island at 16m but was a little concerned about the wind. I had Lee Thornton for company to my right and I wanted to keep an eye on how he approached it as I know he does very well there. I decided on 3 rigs, a 4×14 carp 2 for the open water swims, a 4×12 malman cedar for my 3 foot pellet line and a 4×10 carpa raisor for my 2 foot pellet line,all on 0.10 with 18 hooks. Also ive just been trying doubled elastics as ive not really found a hollow suitable for cold water f1 fishing, and after hearing Alan Scotthorne raving about it and Adam Richards was also egging me on to having ago, so ive been trying doubled up 5 elastic and I can tell you it works superbly!!!!! So all my rigs used this.

Anyway I kicked off at 6m and never had so much as a sign!!!!! so went a bit longer at 9m and still nothing so I decided to try my 3foot lign at the bottom of the shelf and finally found a few fish, Lee had already had 8-9 fish so I was gonna have to get my act together I probably caught up with Lee and soon had 15 fish in the net but I just knew this line wouldn’t last so I decided to go further across and caught straight away again but I just knew I was going across to early and I was going to plunder the fish too soon. This proved the case as with an hour to go I was left scratching my head and couldn’t buy a bite, this was frustrating as the lead I had over Lee was being whittled away and I knew he would end up beating me with his more considered approach. I ended up weighing 41lb 10oz and lee had 42lb!!!! We both got 4th and 5th on lake so good points for our teams, but I was still a bit annoyed with myself for going over too soon.

The Sunday open was to be our last look and with the match being on Canal and Club pools we both could really do with a draw on canal. Lee had to draw Pete Rice’s peg out and drew him canal 4 so I thought his chance had gone but he went on to draw canal 24 which is the end peg on the far bank. I then drew canal 9 and we couldn’t get to our pegs fast enough!!!!! Lee had venue expert Pete Caton on the next peg so he was going to have his work cut out. Now talking to Pete before the start he assured us you would need 100lb to win anything and I looked at Lee as if Pete was mad!!! Anyway my target for tunnel is 12 an hour but pete said 50 fish is 100lb on canal, so after the first hour 18 fish was very pleasing!!!! Then after hour two I had 35 and all was well.

I decided to right my wrongs from the day before and made my track swim work for as long as I could then keep adding a section before finishing in the shallow water across in the last hour or so. The lad to my right started across and absolutely sacked for 2 hours and I must admit I really had to be disciplined and not be tempted to go over too soon as I had a gut feeling he would slow down and my steadier approach would pay off over 5 hours. I caught right to the end more or less and finished with 76 fish for 95lb, this put me 4th in the match!!!! Lee also managed 84lb and we where both gob smacked at how many fish were in the lake and at how well it had fished. Importantly though we had learnt plenty, and with the other 3 going down midweek we were well up for the fish off!

Come the day of the race and it had completely changed! It was minus 1 when we arrived and it looked as thought it was going to be grim!!!! Anyway we all arrived early and had a walk around the lakes to have a chat about what everyone had learnt and we also had the peg listing so we talked about which draw we would like. Anyway when Andy drew his face said it all!

I was to be on New 7 which I was fairly happy with to be honest, Lee was on new 17 which although at the wrong end of his section I felt he had half a chance from, Jamie was on New 39 which he quite fancied but I felt deep down he may struggle as its so narrow there being only 7m wide!!! Alan was to be on canal 11 which I thought would be ok and Steve drew canal 17 which was shocking!

Anyway I didn’t want to worry about them as I had a job to do, Rob Wooton was on peg 1 so was a serious threat and with welsh international Lee Edwards on the next peg I knew I had my work cut out!!!! Anyway Steve and Alan had caught in the deeper water during the week and I had lots of open water so could start loads of new lines up through the day if needed. I set a 4×12 and 4×14 carp 2 up for the deeper water, a 4×10 carpa raisor for 3 foot near the island and a 4×12 carpa belter down the edge. All on 0.10 with the doubled 5’s. Steve had sussed a corn swim so I fed that at 7m to my left into the deep water and just flicked one bit of corn onto it all day, I plumbed up a 6m swim and 4 more in open water which was all a similar depth, I also plumbed several lines across but again would only feed where I was fishing. I was hoping for a good start so an f1 in the net after a minute settled me in nicely!!!! I had a good first hour with 10 f1s from the 6m line. Lee Edwards had roughly the same, but it went dead so I started another section further and had 4 more before repeating a little further, and after 2 hours had 18 fish which I was pleased with as I was probably 6 in front of Lee now. The lines where beoming very slow however so I made the decision to try the island swims and I quickly added another 10 fish off them which really put me well in front of lee, I knew he was struggling coz he started putting bloodworm and joker in!

Anyway the island lines had completely died but I was happy with my 28 fish, I kept trying the deep water and the edge but to no avail so I just had a look on the corn that I’d fed religiously all match, and first cast my hook bait must have literally just hit the bottom before flying under! I added another 10-12 fish in the last hour on this and was really pleased with my match but I couldn’t see two others in my section so it wasn’t in the bag yet! Anyway Rob weighed 15lb on peg 1 the Highfield lad to my right had 8lb and I put a very pleasing 48lb 10oz on the scales with Lee weighing 30lb. But I was so gutted when Lewis Breeze of Drennan North West weighed 50lb, and pushed me into second in section. Still it was a decent result but a win would have been nice as I thought I fished a really good match. Lee came 3rd and did awesome from the area but was beaten by two angler on the better pegs in the 20’s, alan also came 3rd with Jamie and Steve both struggling off their poor draws and coming 4th. We only managed 3rd which was a big disapointment, Drennan North West fished a great match and won 4 out of the 5 sections and deserved the win! Oh well we are going to have to make sure we get to the winter league final and try and get that won!!!!!