A Frosty Morning On The Stour

So after a week off on holiday and feeling pretty poorly throughout the whole week I braved the first frost of the year today and fished a Stalbridge Angling Winter League match. After my cuppa and some toast I loaded up the car and headed to the Stour. The thermometer in the car said it was 1c so I thought it would be hard fishing today.

Cold Toes This Morning Walking Through The Frosty Field

I arrived at river where a few early birds had already arrived and loaded up in the field ready. Normally when we fish upstream I draw the same peg almost every time so I was 2nd the bucket to try and reduce my chances of getting it again. I drew out peg 2 which I thought was good and it was confirmed that I drew it again! "Andy you've got that bloody bend AGAIN!" Never mind hey.

Looking Back Towards The Road With The Mill Pool On The Left

Just before we left the roadside we were informed that it was also the Pairs Match and that I was paired up with Bernie. We ventured across the frosty field to our pegs and I arrived to my peg. It was pretty sticky and soft so I am grateful to my box having decent sized mud feet.

Peg 2 For Me As Always

Bait for the day was maggot, caster, hemp and ground bait. My ground bait choice was, as always, Sonubaits Super Crumb River. I set up 2 rigs, both identical. 1 rig was for my 2 o'clock in the deeper water with the ground bait and the rig was for right in front of me which would be my hemp and caster line.

I Use Bait-Tech Super Seed Hemp As It Is Perfectly Cooked, Perfect For Loose Feeding Or Adding To Any Ground Bait. The Best Hemp On The Market!

The rigs were 1.5g Matrix Euro Canal floats with an olivette and 2 droppers tied to 0.13mm Power Micron. Hook lengths were size 20 Matrix Super Pole hooks to 0.10mm Power Micron. Elastics, 4 and 6 solids, again Matrix.

I Use Matrix Stay Fresh Solid Elastics In Size 4 & 6

I started off fishing at 2 O'clock over the ground bait while feeding my hemp line and after a few Roach I was beginning to get pestered by Minnows both on Maggot and Caster. I put up with this for an hour and a half in hope some Roach or anything besides Minnows turned up. Unfortunately all I could catch was Minnows despite feeding a lot of ground bait to try feed them off.

After 2 hours I went on to my hemp line and straight away I was in to a Roach of around half a pound. A few more smaller Roach, Rudd, Chub and Dace came along here and there and even Gavin the Gudgeon made an appearance. Fortunately no Pike showed up today which was rare. I have finished up catching a lovely Dace around 8" long which was great to see. 

The all out was called and after packing up I awaited the scales. Peg 1, Rich Fripp, weighed in with 4lb 2oz and I admitted to him that I had the same. Low and behold I weighed in with 4lb's exactly. We made our way back to the roadside to hear the results and after I loaded the car and changed shoes I joined everyone.

On The Day (Individually) 

Bernie was 3rd with 3lb 10oz

I was 2nd with 4lb

Rich Fripp won with 4lb 2oz

Pairs 2015 Winners

Bernie Ackland & Myself with a combined weight of 7lb 10oz.

So another trophy with my name on it. This is my 3rd winter league and I have manged to pick up a trophy in every one. My next Stalbridge match is the Memorial Shield which I won last from the same Peg I had today so I look forward to trying to defend that.

My next match is November 1st at Sherborne Lake and I look forward to fishing with the likes of Alex Murray, Nigel Garrett and many more of the familiar faces that I see in the tackle shop.

Tight Lines!

League Update

So the League is really hotting up now! The past two weekends  I have been out competing for points.

On the 11th we were at Avalon Fisheries. I have drawn peg 9 and to put it simply I fished poorly. I was beaten from both pegs next to me which helped open up the race for the League title. Both Trev and Ian caught on the tip and Pole to beat me. Definitely one to forget! grrr

So on to yesterday, Round 14 of 15 to be fished on Park Lake at Todber Manor. We would be fishing on the far side which for me has been a bad side. I have always draw between 30 and 34 (old pegs) and never done very off them. I've been given the bag for the draw and Rich drew Peg 2 for me (old peg 37!! 1 away from the flier!) which I was happy with.

Peg 37 For Me

I have got to my peg and set 4 rigs. 2 for across on the far bank, 6m line and an edge line. My plan of attack was to feed meat  to my left and at 6m heavy until the last hours and kinder pot meat across. Bait wise I had 8 tins of meat cut into 6mm and 8mm cubes and as an emergency back up I had 6mm pellets.

For Cutting Up Meat I Use The MAP Meat Cutter, Quick, Easy Dishwasher Friendly

I have gone straight across and caught 2 carp fairly quickly. Unfortunately only a few Carp after that. Few and far between but I have weighed in with 50lb for 2nd in section and overall!. Peg 38 won it with 98lb 4oz, well done Sandy!

Fishing was hard for most all day. Even the tip boys struggled! Trev ended up fishing the whip for Silvers!!!

Low weights on Park

So after the 14th round how do things stand? It is very tight with anyone of the top 4 in contention for the tittle. The final round is 8th of November at Avalon. Bring it!

A very tight table! We have our worst 2 results to be deducted off of this table

A Change Of Scenery

So on the 3rd and 4th I decided to fish the incredible Sherborne Lake. In the past big nets of Bream were very common but due to foot and mouth all those years ago the Lake had to be shut. This, I believe has caused the the Bream to go back to natural baits like Bloodworm, worms etc etc. Ever the optimist I decided to fish the afternoon on Saturday. It was sunny and we had a gentle breeze.

Peg 42

I arrived and I set up in Peg 42. I decided to fish here because all of the other pegs were flat calm and I thought that the ripple would help. I set up my 3.8m Horizon S Class feeder rod and Super Feeder 5500 reel and began casting around. I found that at 80 yards it was all silt and pulling back I found a clear spot. I clipped up and set up my marker sticks and began winding the line around them. I measure 72 yards which was comfortable. 

Bait Selection

What More Can You Ask For? This Was As I Left.

I mixed up some Sensas Explosive feeder ground bait along with a quarter of a bag of F1 dark to darken off the mix. While it was resting I sorted out my other baits and hook lengths. Shortly after I began putting out a big bed of ground bait. I started with 15 feeders full and fished over the top. I added softened micro pellets, some corn and a pinch of dead reds and casters.

Looking Down Towards Peg 1, Flat Calm

Half an hour in to the session I had a Roach around half a pound and a few more followed. I was hoping that these would draw the Bream in but unfortunately it didn't happen. I finished up with 12 roach all in and around the half pound mark. A great afternoons fishing despite not catching some Bream.

Made Some Feathery Friends

So on the Sunday I had awoken to thick fog and a cold Easterly breeze. Today would be a filler match, a change of venue and a change of faces. Like the league I am in I would be fishing with customers of TackleUk. I would be fishing alongside Chris Rowland, who hasn't long come back from a trip to Ireland catching Bream, Roach and some Tench. Also I would be fishing Gary Skarin who whom I know from working with his wife in my previous job, we actually first met at a then colleagues wedding of all places!

So 8am and draw time. I was hoping for peg 33 as a few Bream had been showing from there recently. I didn't fish the pegs that were put in for the match on the Saturday as I didn't want to pre bait the person swim for them haha. I drew 34 which I was happy with and I would have Gary Skarin as my neighbour for the day on 36.

A Rather Misty Peg 34

I set up 3 pole lines. I found the bottom of the shelf at 7m and fished a 1.5g Euro Canal float to an 0.10mm hook length and 18's Silver Bagger hook. I had 6' here  but the lake had a mean tow coming from the right to left. I would fish this until the sun broke through and burned the fog away. I planned to feed 4 balls of Sensas Lake with a quarter of F1 Dark on the deck with caster. Elastic was a solid 6 fitted in a match kit with a pulla bung.

I also set up 2 shallow rigs. Pencil series 6 .4g dotted down to the same hook length as above. I would fish Caster shallow on these rigs to hopefully put a good net of fish together as I know this can produce.

At the whistle I cupped in some ground bait and began loose feed casters short to build up the peg. After a slow start fish started showing. Nothing big but it was a start and I didn't see anyone else catching.

My 7m didn't produce much after an hour so I switched to my short line and began to catch some fish. I was slowly putting fish in the net and I was warming up to which was great as the easterly breeze was blowing in to our faces. I kept at it and I was catching steadily until the last hour when things went slow. I can only assume Pike were nearby as small fish were jumping out of the water just past my shallow line.

The whistle soon blew to end the match and I was shocked at how quick the match went. I guess it would if you fished mainly 6 hour matches 98% of this year so far then fished a 5 hour one. I estimated 7-8lb as I didn't have much in terms of quality.

The scales arrived and I weighed in with 10lb 2oz. Nothing to sing and shout about but a nice net of Roach and Rudd. I followed the scales down and out of the 7 that fished 5 weighed in with double figure bags. Considering Pike were clearly hungry and disturbing us for their breakfast I thought that was a good figure. Over 65lb of Roach and Rudd came out on the day.

I wasn't ready for the photo but hey ho, 10lb's 2oz Of Roach & Rudd

A nice days fishing with some of the TackleUk customers. A lovely, clean and tidy venue that is on the Yeovil & Sherborne membership (Applications only). Credit to the Angling Society and the Groundsman of Sherborne Castle.

Results On The Day, 65lb+ Of Roach & Rudd

So next up for me is: league match at Avalon Fishery :)