By Joe | No Comments
Last updated: Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Well after what seems like months of freezing weather we finally had a brief break in it this Sunday but more of that in a bit, I have two rounds of our Thorne Pairs to tell you about and a match at lindholme. The first pairs match was the Sunday before the so called ‘big-freeze’ and it was freezing and trying to snow all day!!!! I drew peg 140 at the NewInn which to be honest is pants, and Lee was on peg 295 next to where I won from the previous round but we knew it would be rock hard but I was shocked as to how hard it was!

I decided on a similar approach to last time, and kicked off at 7m over some leam in the hope of an early fish or two and after 15mins nobody had, had a bite. I drew first blood with a micro perch followed by another and after two hours my 2 perch was winning the section!  I did manage one more. I decided on a walk as it was so pants and got a picture message of a bacon sandwich from lee so I gathered he wasn’t catching! I walked up to the next section where the boats are and watched em all bagging with roach and when I looked back to my section there was no one on there box!!!!! At the all out the lad on the end peg won my section with a perch and a gudgeon for 3oz and next to him was 2nd with 2oz my 3 perch went an ounce and that got me third in section.  Lee managed to claw his way back with an odd roach and perch in the last hour and won his section with 1lb 10oz, I must say to come away with 4 points was brilliant and it could have been much worse and hats off to lee for sticking at it. Although tri cast calders Jonny Plows and Craig Ellis beat us with 3 pts, we still stayed well clear at the top of the league.

Chasing Ladies

The weather turned for the worse that week and everywhere was iced up and snowed in for the week! So I decided a weekend off was called for although me and Lee decided on a last minute trip to the River Nidd for some grayling, Lee had never caught one before so he was looking forward to it. I decided to take him on the Nidd in Knaresborough a mile or so from my house, its lovely on the bit we fished all shallow fast runs and stuff and when I’ve fished it before ive always caught plenty but the water was freezing. Anyway after fishing for 20 mins or so he hadn’t had a bite so we dropped downstream a bit and luckily we found a few and lee quickly had 6 or so grayling and was delighted with that and his first ‘lady’s’.

This weekend looked a little better but a harsh frost on Friday night put any thoughts of a big extraction on hold and lindholme was where I was headed for another round of the teams of 3. The lakes where frozen solid so I wasn’t expecting much and drew peg 44 on laurels which is tucked away in a little bay, it’s a lot shallower in that bay than the others so I know why the carp don’t seem to be there but I still half fancied some trout. Unfortunately I was wrong and only had one trout and 2 chub on a waggler, still not to worry. Lee had 12oz and alan had 7lb so I don’t think that will add much to our total!!!!!

Thorne Pairs

The following day I was much more optimistic as it was the Thorne Pairs and they had moved all the sections onto the good bits so everyone was sure to catch plenty of fish, the weather was much milder and thins where looking up with little wind on the day and maybe even a bit of sun if we where lucky. I drew peg 246 which is on West Street and Lee was on peg 172 at Wykewell which is next to the best peg in Yorkshire so I definitely fancied lee’s chances. West Street is as it suggests on a street so the road directly behind you can make looking over your shoulder a priority for shipping back!!!! But nevertheless its full of fish and with no long walk I was buzzing. I had jonny plows for company in my section along with second placed angler Rob Holt from Sensas North West and local hero Bri Werrit also so a tough match was in store.

Now West Street is funny because its on the opposite side of the canal so is very deep close in and gets shallower further across, so you can quite often catch close in. with this in mind I decided to fish on a top 3 under my keepnet for perch where it was 6ft deep a line at 7 sections and one at 14.5m up the slope. I knew 10lb would be needed so decided to fish fairly positive on both my ‘main’ lines.

I mixed up my usual mix consisting of Dynamite Baits Canal and Lake, Roach and River with brown crumb and also some leam added. I fed 5 balls with 200ml of joker at 7 sections and 6 balls with 250ml long and just a one handed squeeze under my keepnet. I set up 2 rigs for my long swims and one for under my net, the long ones where a 0.6gr senses lomme with a 22 fine match on 0.06 and a heavier 1gram version with 8’s droppers and a 20 incase things got a bit ‘hectic’ and a big extraction was on the cards!

I kicked off under my net and soon had a few perch about an ounce each but I looked up and saw lads landing skimmers so thought ‘go on then’ and I shipped out to 7 sections and caught some nice stamp roach and perch straight away although I wasn’t bagging, the stamp of the fish kept me going. The swim did go strangely quiet very quickly and a pike that must have been 20lb next chuck was probably the reason!!!! For some reason its solid with them at west street and they are enormous things!!!!
I decided to go long after an hour which to be honest is much earlier than id have liked but I had little option, either side of me where catching very little and I was soon bagging on my long line and also added a couple of 8oz skimmers which where handy along with several better ‘net’ roach. But I wasn’t catching aswell as the other end and I had a terrible hour where I couldn’t catch much at all. I suspected pike to be the problem as the croc was swirling for every fish I caught at this point!!!! I was getting very frustrated as the other end was miles better and catching one a chuck still and the lad to my left had started bagging quality roach and decent skimmers on caster while me and the lad on the end peg to my right sat twiddling our thumbs.

Big Hit

I decided to make a decision and I put a big hit of joker on both lines ready for the last hour and it turned out to be a blinder!!!! I had another couple of skimmers short and some roach and with 45mins to go went long and it was solid, ive fished fast a few times but I was proper quick this week and was striking and throwing 14.5m back in one motion with my elastic and fish still being where I hooked it!!!! I was flying and making some ground back up on the lads at the other end, the lad who was on the caster had slowed but mush have had 5-6lb in a short spell and I was sure he would win the section and I thought with the lads at the other end catching all day it was a damage limitation job. I caught right to the end and managed 9 fish in the last 5 minutes for another pound!!!! At the weigh in the lad to my right on the end had 5lb and I thought maybe 7or 8lb but put 11lb odd on instead!!!!

That last hour was awesome for me, Lee Hall on the caster had 11lb and a few ounces more than me but I was pleased as I thought I was going to be a mile behind but I then thought well Jonny and Rob must have 15lb they have caught all day. Jonny had 10lb odd and Rob 9lb odd so I’d managed to sneak second in section and 4th in the match which I was pleased about but also gutted that I didn’t catch the extra few ounces but hey that’s fishing. Lee was soon on the phone and he had posted another section win (shock!) with 14lb which also won him the match.
With our 3 points we won the day again and our 14 points is 9 clear of second place so luckily we have a bit of a cushion, the canal fished awesome this week and the change of the sections used was a massive success, the lowest weight in lee’s section was a big 8lb and apart from a 5lb in my section everyone had 8lb plus, good fishing I think you’ll agree.

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