Well we seem to finally be getting there with the weather and the last fortnight has been our first real spell of settled weather in 2009 and the fishing has improved as a result. The first match ill talk about is last Saturdays teams of 3 at lindholme, with alan and lee away at barston I had to call up the super subs adam Richards and james dent and with it turning mild we really needed a big extraction to try and take the lead in the league again. We had a good draw, I drew point peg 63 on laurels with the wind in my face which was sure to bring some trout into my peg, james was on laurels 33 which is another good peg and adam drew bonsai 15 where Lee had won from the previous Thursday so we where all happy.
I got to my peg and had loads of room and as long as the wind didn’t get too bad I fancied my chances of framing. It was smack in my face which is horrible to present a pellet as its always trying to come towards you. I decided to fish a pellet swim at 7m to start with and also plumbed 3 more at 13m for later on but I wouldn’t feed them until I was ready to fish them. I also fed for trout down either side in 2 1/2ft of water. Rigs for the day where 4×14 4×16 and 1gram preston inter 4s for the pellet all with a bulk and a second bulk of 3 11’s 4 inch from the hook, on 0.10 with an 18 801 hook and double 4 elastic. Rigs for the trout where 4×12 carpa bully’s on 0.14 with an 0.12 hook length and a 18 silverfish pellet hook and double 5 elastic.
I was straight into stockies right from the off and soon added 15 or so on the 4×14 rig untill the wind got up and even the gram rig wanted to trip towards me. I decided to go on a longer swim but at an angle to try and get the tow going from side to side instead of it in my face as it makes things a little easier to control. By adding an ssg back shot I managed to keep my rig still but I just couldn’t get going on the new longer swim so I decided to have a look down the side and had 8 trout in as many casts all roughly 2lb each!!!! Game on!!!!
I then went on my left hand edge and had 1 more but didn’t feel that side was very good so put 2 more sections on and went around the corner and that’s where they where hiding!!!! Several more spotties and things where looking up. I did manage a few more stockies in the last hour when the trout lines died but even still in the last 15mins I added another 5 trout for 10lb so all was well. Id seen James catching really well early on so knew he would have had a few and I had a feeling Dave Cheetham would have bagged on peg 3 with the wind blowing in. when Neil came round with the scales Dave had, had 47lb and I thought this was gonna be close and I was a little gutted to weigh 46lb 8oz, but I was pleased to have learnt plenty and had a good days fishing!
James had 39lb so we were looking good on the team front. Unfortunately neil only paid one section on our lake and with 14 anglers on I was surprised but hey that’s life. Adam had 53lb for 3rd in the match and our combined total easily won the day. With the semi just a few weeks away the fishing is starting to pick up and there is plenty to be learnt now which is good and a few things are starting to come together for us.
Going To The Dogs?
That night me Ben and Tom had an night out at the dogs and round Sheffield planned so we went round to the Scholey household and a good night was had by all, we had a knock up planned at Carter Hall Fisheries but only us turned up and with the wind across me I decided to give it half an hour then walk for the day!!!!!! Ben managed to stick at it thought and had 10lb of silvers with a cracking perch also which was a highlight.
This weekend it was back to serious stuff (well as serious as I take it!!!!!) and another match at Lindholme on the Saturday, Alan was doing a show in Italy so once again adam stood in for him, with 57 on the match and only two lakes available I thought it would be hard but really fancied a draw on Willows Lake as the trout were sure to feed as well as the small stockies. I drew peg 59 which I really fancied but the wind was blowing into peg 4s corner leaving my peg calm which was dodgy for the trout. Lee managed to draw next to me on peg 57 which is tucked away in a corner, but his peg was also calm which was a nightmare for the teams point of view.
Adam drew peg 4 on oasis which can be ok but that lake is a bit of an unknown quantity at the moment as nobody has really been on it for a few weeks. I decided to fish pellets at 13m and down either side at 5m for trout but also plumbed a 13m and 16m swim up for down into the corner which I was hoping to leave alone until the last hour or two. Both me and Lee kicked off on the pellet and was straight into stockies but I knew there wasn’t loads there as I would catch a few then nothing for 5mins then 2-3 more so I wasn’t too confident of a weight of em, lee seemed to be in a similar situation but managed an extra half an hour on them. I decided on an early look down the side and caught 3 trout straight away but then nothing else and I couldn’t get a bite down my left hand side. Lee was also looking for snookers after 2 hours, and we both spent an hour catching very little mid match.
The whole match was fishing very hard and I went on a recce at 13m down the side and had a few chub and lost a trout and with 90 mins or so to go went 16m into the corner and probably had 20ish chub in as many casts on caster which got me out of jail big time!!!! At the all out I had 26lb 4oz and lee had 25lb odd phew!!!!! My weight was second on the lake and also sneaked my section by default which was nice. Adam had a hard match on oasis for 19lb but we still won the day with our combined total. With one round to go we are still in the lead so hopefully we will get a few nice pegs next week!!!!
Thorne
On Sunday it was the penultimate round of the Thorne Pairs and as we were in a very strong position being 9 pts clear. With the weather being so mild I expected it to be a roach mecca and I was proved right! I drew peg 164 at Wykewell which is off the boats but I still expected it to be solid! With Mark Silman on the end peg though and Barnsley Black Steve Barroclough in my section I was gonna be in for a bumpy ride of it!!!!
I decided to feed short and shorter and put a line at 4m and one at 6m and set up a 0.6gr senses lomme and a 0.8 version too. I also put a perch line in by my net. I kicked off with 1 ball at 4m and 6 at 6m and a ball by my net, I kicked off by my net and soon had a pound in 10 minutes before getting bored with perch and moving out to 6m. I was soon catching a roach a minute and absolutely flying as hordes of roach were feeding right the way through the canal.
And after 2 hours easily had 100 fish, I’d put lots of joker in at the start and there was still no need to top up, and by switching between 4 and 6m I was catching a fish every cast albeit a small fish. Everyone seemed to be in the same boat, except Mark Silman who was just fishing casters at 16m and had a bream and other better roach, and Andy Pickersgill had caught some skimmers where I had only netted 2 fish and they where swingers really!!!! So I thought I best just get my head down and keep going.
My peg did go iffy an hour from the end so I gave it 2 big red balls of feed and they came back strong again. At the end we all realised how well the canal had fished, and I hadn’t a clue what I had as I don’t count my fish and they where much smaller than previous matches. Andy to my left had 160 fish and I reckon I had 80 more than him at least so was well up there. At the scales andy pickers gill had 9lb and andy to my left had 9lb odd so I thought maybe 10-11lb. I had 13lb 12oz, Steve then put 12lb 4oz on and it was just down the mark on the end peg and he had 14lb 5oz so another second in the section, but a brilliant days fishing was had by all. Lee once again proved his mastery of the venue by winning his section with 13lb odd.
Our nearest rivals Craig Ellis and Jonny Plows also had 3 points so we tied for the team money and I also tied for 3rd in the match with craig, so a big shareout was in store!!!! So with one match to go we are still 9 points clear and look to be in the driving seat!!!!!
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you were surpised he only paid 1 section for 14 pegs? Ive seen a 23 peg section on Laurels before now
top class blog i really enjoy your match fishing exloits
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Stewart
