ULC Mini League Match 6, 24.10.15, The Cunneries – S-Canal

Weather: Rain, 12C, 12mph W wind, Air Pressure 1012

7 Fished

Peg 25

I had fished peg 25 the day before and after only getting 8 F1’s in the first 3 hours the peg came alive and I ended up with 75 F1’s for a 100lb+ weight.  Tim had also pleasure fished the day before on peg 1 (opposite me) but he didn’t have such a good day and ended up with 10 F1’s.

We were due to have 10 turn out today as a few couldn’t make it, but we had a few more drop out on the day leaving us with only 7.  The first 2 legs on the S-Canal can be really peggy, with the first leg, pegs 1-13 being narrower than the other leg and therefore this leg can be a bad place to draw if there are a lot of the pegs taken.  With this in mind we always try to put more anglers on pegs 14-25, even though there is one less peg on this side.   With only 7 fishing today we could give all anglers a lot of space and we pegged out 1,6,13,14,18,22,25.  If you have been reading my blogs you will know that I have drawn well in this mini-league, getting 3 corner pegs on the bounce, so when I drew the flyer, peg 25, I couldn’t believe my luck! The banter erupted when I drew and Tim even handed over the “winner takes all” pot.

With fishing this peg the day before, I decided to keep things simple and just fish maggot with my 2 main rigs being 4ft channel and 3ft top 2 to my right, down the side split.  My plan was to start short and then go across after half an hour, where hopefully the F1’s would have settled.

Set up:

MW F1 Slim, 10X11, 4ft, Guru LWG 20 – track

MW F1 Slim, 8X11, 3ft, Guru LWG 20 – top 2

RW Dink, 4×12, 3ft, .13 to .11 powerline, Guru LWG 18

Bait:

2 pints maggots

Handful of Sonubaits F1 Dark

I had set up two 3ft rigs with the dink having a slightly thicker tip of 1.5mm meaning it was easier to read when fishing at 11M across.  The MW f1 Slim, with a 1.2mm tip would only be used on my top 2.  I didn’t have to plumb up across as with fishing the peg the day before I could just plumb up one of my short lines and I knew the exact spots across, this meant I could leave the far lines untouched until I went on them.  I was expecting a slow start today, hopefully picking up the odd fish before the last 90 minutes when my channel swim would come to life.

The only down side today was that there was a 4 man Open on the third leg and peg 26 was being used – he may take away some of my fish.

On the all in I had a quick look short on my top 2, down the narrow channel and I had 2 F1’s in the first 10 minutes on maggot, I was loose feeding 6 maggots every minute.  I then went at 5M on the other side of the narrow channel, where I would feed the same amount of maggots, but this time I used a tosspot for accuracy, and I had another 2 quick F1,s before they backed off.  4 F1’s in the first 20 minutes was a better start than expected and if yesterday was anything to go by, this swim was going to get stronger – maybe I could ton up!

The 2 short swims died on me so it was time to go across, but I would continue to feed my top 2 swim and my track line – 6 maggots every minute or so.  It was slower than expected for the next 3 hours and I only managed about another 8 F1’s although I did foul hook a few.  I had most success my feeding about 10 maggots and some sloppy ground-bait and then keeping the rig perfectly still, laying on the slope about an inch.

I had a few looks on my track line but it didn’t produce until 75 minutes to go when I got 6 F1’s on the bounce and just when I thought I was going to bag up in the last hour the sun came out and the swim completely died.  I should have went back across in the shaded areas at this point but I rotated between my track and top 2 and with 30 minutes left I decided to abandon the track and just concentrate on my top 2, where the F1’s would have more cover.  I put another 4 F1’s in the net in this time.

On the all out I had 22 F1’s and I was sure this was more than everyone else, some had really struggled.  I was pushed close though as Paul had caught 25lb from peg 6 by fishing a maggot feeder.  I weighed in 33-8 for the win.

On reflection, I’m actually gutted with my weight as after a good start I thought I could do a good weight.  I think if the sun hadn’t of come out the fish would have stayed on the track line and I would have doubled my weight. It’s only 4ft deep down the channel, so at this time of year when they don’t feed like piranhas and they are easily spooked, shaded areas on sunny days is what you need to look for.  Furthermore, the water in front of me today was flat calm and I didn’t have a ripple like the previous day which would have given the fish more confidence to feed.  I don’t think my top 2 was as strong as expected because I had an angler on peg 26 who was also taking fish from the narrow channel.  Not a bad day though, as a wins a win, even in a small match like this.

Well that’s the club scene over now until next May and I don’t think we will be doing the optional Mini-League next year as the demand isn’t there.  We do have a couple more members for the club so we should end up with 16, which is a good amount for club matches.  I’m now looking forward to a winter of Open match fishing at Partridge Lakes, although I’m pretty busy right up until Xmas, so I’m not sure how many times I’ll be able to get up there before then.  I should be there next Saturday.

Tight Lines

UFC Match 1, Cunneries S-Canal, 02.05.15

Weather: Rain, 6C, 25mph SSE wind, Air Pressure 1000

15 Fished

I had a day off before this match so I decided to go and have a day’s pleasure fishing on the S-Canal and get my rigs right for the following days match.  I didn’t consider it a practice as like on all F1 venues the fish respond totally different under non match conditions and you often bag up on the pleasure session but come the match you often have to work much harder for your fish.  We were to be on pegs 1-25 for the match, so I chose to fish end peg 25 which I consider to be the best peg of these numbers.  As expected I bagged up and in 4.5 hours, catching  125 F1’s averaging 1.5lb’s and I could have caught more if I had stayed shallow on maggot, but I wanted to see how the fish would respond to different baits.  One thing that did surprise during the session was how much slower the fish responded to a worm head, with my catch rate slowing right down to less than half the rate. Maggot shallow at 6M and a banded 6ml pellet on my top 2 would produce a fish a chuck (probably 40 per hour).

The day of the match was to be a lot colder than my pleasure session and I wasn’t confident of catching shallow as although there would be a good ripple for cover, the bitter cold wind would surely put them off feeding in the upper 1ft.

At the draw I obviously wanted to draw peg 25, but failing that 1,2,13,14,21,22,24 would be desirable, so there were 8 pegs I wanted and 7 I didn’t.   Last year Tim had drew peg 25 and we all accepted we were fishing for second on that match and unbelievably  he drew the same peg again this year! – what a drawing arm he has!!!  When it was my turn to draw a lot of the good pegs had been taken and I was expecting a bad draw, which is what I got – peg 19.  I did however, consider there to be a few worse pegs than this, so I tried to stay positive.

We drew at 9 and were all in at 10, whilst the match on the other 2 legs went in at 9.  Whilst setting up I didn’t see the other match catching much and just before our all in, a few of their anglers had begun to moan about how hard it was fishing – not a good sign.

Set up:

MW F1 Slim, 10X11, 4ft, B911 F1 20 – track

MW F1 Slim, 6X11, 3ft, B911 F1 20 – top 2

MW F1 Pear, 8X11, 2.5ft, B911 F1 18 – far shelf

Mosella dibber, .2g, 15 inches, B911 F1 18 – shallow, bungee style

All above on .11 to .10 powerline.

Bait:

2 pints maggots

1 pint casters

4 ml pellets

Worms

Sonubaits F1 dark mixed to a slop with dead reds and some soil

I had originally decided to put the worms and casters on the back burner after it being slow the day before, but with me having a poor draw I decided to go on the chop mix hoping that the worm juices would draw a few fish in.

I started across on the all in on chopped worm and I had one missed bite in the first half hour.  I had only seen 2 fish caught at this point, one by Chrissi on peg 24 and one by Paul on the maggot feeder on peg 22.  I tried plumbing up a few more swims across and feeding less and changing one swim to maggot, but I couldn’t muster a bite. After an hour I went on my track where I had been feeding maggots (15 every few minutes) and I would get constant bites here but they were from extremely small skimmers of about 1/6th ounce.  I decided to pump some pellets for the track and I even changed to a banded pellet to make it silver proof but I would get constant bites, of which 99 out of a 100 I would miss as they were from the micro skimmers.  I did manage and F1 on hour 2 and one on hour 3 from the track, but the F1’s would not move in on this line. With 2 hours to go I decided to set up my rod and fish dead reds and micros in a micro pellet feeder, but I discovered I had not put my rods back in my holdall after taking them out the day before.  I was gutted as Paul on peg 22 was catching steadily on the maggot feeder across and Colin had followed suit on peg 21 and he was beginning to have some success.  I persevered with the lines I was fishing hoping that the F1’s would go on the feed towards the end of the match as the often do, but I couldn’t present my bait across in the now near gale force winds.  John Battle on peg 18 switched to his rod with an hour to go and managed 3 F1’s, so considering this and that I could see F1’s topping across, it was obvious that there were fish to be had if you could present the bait properly. Half an hour to go and I was shivering with the bitter cold and struggling to present my bait across, even though I had upped my MW F1 Pear to a 12X11 (.36G) and it was at this point I decided I had enough and started to pack up.  I wasn’t the first to pack up as 5 anglers had already gone home.

Paul won the match from peg 22 by fishing a Korum maggot feeder across in about 2ft of water.  I managed a miserable 9th from the 10 anglers that weighed in, only beating the wife, although she did go and sit in the car for most of the match and probably fished less than an hour.

1st – Paul Fowell 42lb (peg 22)

2nd – Tim Brown 35lb-5 (peg 25)

3rd – Colin Mooney 19lb-7 (peg 21)

4th – BrianMitchem16lb-5 (peg 14)

1st Place – Paul Fowell, 42lb

On reflection, I should have brought my rods!

We are back on Hall Lane, Gwens next Saturday so hopefully I can redeem myself then.

Tight Lines

ULC Match 1, 26.04.14, The Cunneries S-Canal

Weather, Overcast, 13C, Wind 20mph SE, 35mph gusts

Well the first match had arrived and I got there early at 7am so I could be ready for the usual busy secretarial duties I undertake on the first match. Everything was done by 7.45am and I was ready for the 8am draw, until Dave and his lad Dillon turned up and told me that they were after all joining this year, so we then had to re-peg and add another 2 pegs to the 15 we had put down. We were pegged on the left 2 legs as you look at the S-Canal, I think these are permanent pegs 1-25.

Everyone agreed that the end peg (permanent 25) would be the flier and then the other 3 end pegs would also be favourable. When I finally got around to drawing all end pegs had gone and Timmy had drew the flier. I drew peg 14 (about permanent peg 21) which was in the middle of the second leg. Timmy was on the flier and he would be tough to beat, but I was still optimistic as if I could get them going shallow or short I could get a big weight, and also I was told that if you were on the middle of one of the legs I was on the better side.

Bait:

3 Pints maggot
2 Pints casters
½ kilo worm
Expanders and micros
Swimstim black mixed equally with riddled soil to create a heavy slop

Rigs:
2 x MW Slim 8×11, 3ft, .11 powerline, .10 4 inch bottom, B911 F1 18
2 x jigga rigs, .11 powerline, .11 bottom, for fishing shallow on maggot
MW Pear 5×11, 2.5 ft, .11 powerline, .10 4 inch bottom, B911 F1 18
Malmans winter wire 4×14, 4ft, .11 powerline, .10 4 inch bottom, B911 F1 18, track line
I duplicated the first 2 rigs as these are what I had bagged up on in practice.

As this was a match I decided to start across in 2.5ft of water as the fish would probably back off a bit at the start and I had spare water to my left which I could leave, feed caster regularly and let fish settle here. I started off OK with 7 F1’s in the first half hour and I had lost 2 at the net, a couple of them were about 2lb. Then I started to foul hook a few and I was not getting the positive bites, which was down to the fish coming up in the water. I decided to rest this line, so I cupped in a little choppy and tried shallow to my left where I had been feeding caster, but before doing this I decided to take a leak and when getting back on my box I kicked my number 5 section and snapped it! The day was not going to plan and an expensive break of pole to go with it(I telescoped the section so I could continue to use it). The shallow line produced nothing so I tried short where I had been feeding maggot and again nothing. I went back across on my 2.5ft line and although I was getting the odd one they were not coming quick enough and I was foul hooking a few which doesn’t usually happen when I fish with this chop mix as it is pretty heavy and in 2.5ft of water usually keeps them down. I put it down to the fish not feeding competitively enough and the few fish I had there were not settled. For the next hour or so I did try shallow a couple of times, giving it at least 10 minutes and I tried short but these lines produced nothing. Half way through and I wasn’t doing well although I was probably in second place with about 15lb as across on the other leg they were really struggling with maybe 1 or 2 F1’s each, whilst on the flier Timmy was catching steadily. Time for plan B, I put one of shallow rigs away and set up a mud line rig as I had seen a few fish move, but this produced nothing. I decide to target the track, with pellet, with about 2 hours to go and this paid off as I began to get a fish every put in and although they were small I was catching steadily. This lasted about an hour and then it dried up, so I rested it and went across and braved the strong winds and put another 3 larger F1’s in the net. Back on the track line with half an hour to go and they were back and I continued to put the small f1’s in the net until the all out.

Timmy had counted 84 F1’s and reckoned he had between 60-70lb, I thought I had about 40lb, and besides that no-one else said they had over 20lb, so I knew I was second before the weigh in. The anglers on the other leg had really struggled and the wife had the best weight of 17lb from the car park end peg.

Timmy 64lb (peg 25)
Me 43lb (peg 21)
Brian Mitch 18lb (peg 24)
Christine 17lb (peg 13)

There was only about 7 anglers with a weight over 10lb today which shows how hard it fished, or is it bad angling?
Maybe I could have caught more if I had fished the track line sooner and i should have had a go shallow across, but half way through the match I knew I wasn’t going to beat Timmy and I was doing enough for second, so I stuck to what I was doing.

Well not a bad start getting second and hopefully I can go one better at Firswood in 2 weeks time.

Tight Lines