By Matt | No Comments
Last updated: Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Sunday the 17th of February saw the last round of the Thorne pairs Winter League on the stainy. Going into the last round me and my partner were lying 6th out of the 19 pairs, so we were hoping for a good result to get us into the top 4 payout.

There had been 3 consecutive hard frosts and even the bubbler for the joker had frozen up in the shed that morning! I drew peg 184 at Wikewell Bridge, and wasn’t surprised to find the canal frozen solid when I arrived at my peg. The all in was put forward to 11am to give everybody time to break the ice. The people on the boats opposite must have had a right old wake up call as we all launched our house bricks and sledge hammer heads in to break the ice.

I broke a nice slip in the ice to fish in, all the way across to the boat on the other side at 16m. I planed on keeping it really simple, as I felt it was going to be hard after all the commotion. I set up three rigs. Two of these were to fish at the bottom of the near and far shelves at 6m and 13m, where I found the same depths. One consisted of a 0.5g Sensas Auchie pencil float, and the other a 0.6g Series Walter Bloodworm float. Both were on the usual 0.10 mainline to a 0.06 hooklength and a size 22 PR26 hook. I couldn’t ignore the boat at 16m in front of me, so I set up a 0.3g Jean Francois for this line, set up exactly the same as the other rigs, with a bulk and three number 10 droppers.

TIME!!!

At the all in I fed 3 balls of damp black leam on my short line, containing 100ml of joker. This was intended to be my starting point for a few perch and maybe the odd roach later on. A further 5 balls went in 13m, with just a small amount of groundbait and 150ml of joker. My long 16m line was then fed with a tangerine sized ball leamed up joker with a few casters sprinkled over the top. I like to leave this far line far at least two hours, as it normally comes good and sorts out the better roach in the last hour or so.

It was an absolutely gorgeous winters day, everything was white over, the sun was shining warm on our backs and there wasn’t even a cloud in he sky or a breath of wind……all we needed now were some bites! I baited up with a single bloodworm and laid my rig in over the short line. He canal was like glass and I had my float dotted right down to a pimple, but after 15 minutes, the pimple wouldn’t go under! I tried joker to no avail but everyone seemed to be struggling. Triana’s Daz Taylor on the end peg started catching small roach about 45 minutes in, and then Ossets Mark Wainrite next to me caught one. It looked like the roach were working their way up, which is often the case on these clear canals in winter.

I caught my first roach about an hour and a quarter in, on my 13m line with joker. Daz and Mark were both catching steady by this point, but nobody to the left of me had caught much. A slow run of fish started to develop on this line, and I’ve found that its best to just keep catching when you can in winter on canals.

After another hour I probably had a pound of small roach and perch. Mark and Daz were catching really well at this point across at 16m, so I decided to give it a go. First drop in I had a lovely dumpy 2oz roach. ‘Ey up’ I thought. Only the small roach and perch followed though. I tried my 6m line, and had a short run of fish of this, but the fish wouldn’t settle on a line, so I decided to drop small nougat of raw on my 16m line and rest it, hoping it would come solid with 6oz roach for the last hour! (Dream on!)

I then just rotated my other two lines, catching 5 fish or so, and then trying the other. My best rig was the 0.5g pencil, and single joker was what they wanted on the hook. I kept picking up the odd better 2oz dumpy, and going into the last hour I had about 3lb. All the ice had melted by this point, and I was hoping for a last hour sprint on the long 16m line to keep me going. I was never going to beat Mark and Daz, as they caught well before me, but it was great when the float buried first put with a 6oz red fin. I had a great last hour, catching slightly better stamp fish. They had certainly settled on that line. I probably put a good pound or so in the net.
Daz and Mark both had a decent 5lb, with Marks 5lb 14oz winning the section. My net went to 4lb 4oz, and I finished fourth in the section with that, getting beat by Gav Lithersage of the other end peg with 4lb 14oz. It was on of those really satisfying winter canal matches, where you have to be busy all the time, and I really enjoyed in.

SO CLOSE!

My partner had finished second in his section to the one and only Alan Scothorne. No complaints there. The overall results revealed we were 5th out of 19 pairs, and only the top four got paid out! Oh well, that’s fishing I suppose. Sean Ashby and Kian Wardle fished awesome to win the series, and Joe Carass with Gary Jubb put in a brilliant close performance, being consistent throughout to finish second. Well done lads!