Around the first weekend in November a strange phenomenon happens in the Duchy, local match anglers that have seemingly hibernated
AT Winter Leagues
The last two weekends have seen me fishing the Angling Times Winter League with Maver Barnsley. Round 2 was on the Horbury canal near Wakefield, and round 3 on the Stainforth canal.
Horbury
This canal is a typical small cut, between 13 and 18m wide, with most sections fair with small fish throughout. I drew the same section I was in last year, so I had an idea of what to do.
My peg was 18m wide, with a track down the middle shelving up quickly to the far bank. I set up to fish a line short at 5m on the near side of the track. Here I had a good 5 feet of water so I set up a 0.3g Jean Francois with a bulk and 4 number 11 droppers, and fed this line with 3 balls and a small amount of joker to start with. I then set up a rig to fish two lines at 13m up the far shelf of the canal. I planned to catch most of my fish here, and fed each with three balls containing quite a bit of joker. I set up two rigs for this line, a 0.2g Jean Francois, and a 0.4g Tomas Walter series, both with a bulk and droppers. My last line was a caster swim at a6m, where I fed a few casters and a bit of joker just in case there were some better fish to be caught. I used a soft 3 elastic on all the joker rigs, and a 5 on the caster rig.
I started short on the 5m swim with single bloodworm, and caught the odd small perch and roach in the first hour whilst my long lines were settling. After an hour, most people were catching long, so I had to give it a go. The short line had about died by then anyhow.
I was into small roach straight away on single bloodworm, and caught on and off throughout the match alternating between these two lines, catching two or three fish before switching. I then hooked a pike, and had another one swirl in the peg a few times, which put an end to the roach! I had been flicking casters over the long line, and decided to give it a go in the last hour. A caught a dumpy roach first drop on caster, but not another bite followed! A switch to bloodworm brought a few more roach and perch later in the match.
At the all out I didn’t think I had done any good. Everybody seemed to have caught more fish, but following the scales from the end peg revealed I was third in the section for good points with 3lb 9oz. I was really pleased with the result, but I think I could have been second if I’d have shipped in and out a bit quicker.
The rest of the team had done brilliant! We had 6 section wins, two thirds and a couple of lower ones for 26 points to win the teams on the day.
Stainforth
This canal has got to be one of the best in the country, and these early bloodworm matches always see it fish it nuts off, with Sunday being no exception. I drew peg 34, in the second section up on the tall trees. I had Jonathon Ploughs on the right, as well as Spanky from Triana, and the Osset lad on the end peg.
The canal is between 16 and 20 metres wide here, and a top 4 deep in the middle, a proper canal! I decided to fish three main lines, as well as the usual short line for perch on a top 3. My first line was at 6 sections, where I fed 5 balls containing joker and a few casters. My main line was then at 13m, just creeping up the shelf. I fed this line with 10 big balls at the off, by hand, as well as cupping in three balls containing joker. I used the same rigs on these two lines, as it was the same depth, and I didn’t need to set up tonnes of kit. I set up floats from 0.6g to 1.00g, both the usual bloodworm patters as well as a Tomas Walter for the heavy rig with a double bulk. My last line was at 16m, going up the shelf, in around 6 feet of water, where I fed three balls with loads of casters!!!! All the rigs had 4 and 5 elastics so I could swing them fish in.
Starting short, I had three small perch in the first half hour, before exploiting the 6m line. I didn’t even get a sniff here, I couldn’t believe it. I was starting to think I maybe shouldn’t have fed so positive. After an hour, I had to go on the 13m line, where I had some fish lined up, phew!!!
I caught dumpy roach and perch between half an ounce and 3oz steady for the next two hours, putting maybe 4lb in the net. Everybody around seemed to be doing similar. Every time I felt the swim dying, I topped up with a red ball. I kept trying the short line, as I would drop onto this and catch a dumpy perch or two, as well as having a go on the caster line where I caught the odd better roach to 6oz. It was hard to hold in the strong wind though.
I had a quiet spell going into the last hour, but it came good last off. I had a disaster last off, missing bites and catching bags and leaves and the odd micro perch, but it was only the last 5 minutes.
I followed the scales up the section. There were several 5lb weights, before Spanky put 9lb 08oz on the scales and Johnny ploughs next door put 7lb odd on! I was surprised to weigh in 8lb 4oz, which put me 2nd in the section; I was really chuffed with that.
The team had done really well too, 36 points, which was good enough to win on the day. I’m off on holiday this weekend, so its no matches for next two weeks, I’m going on a cruise with the family, and I’ve been told there strictly NO FISHING TACKLE! I’m sure I can get a bit of trolling gear in and some big spinners, mind you, I might have to put some more line my reels to reach the water!
